Waiting – Ausländerbehörde (aliens registration office)

Waiting to be registered as an alien. Unlike other recent bureaucratic waits in Berlin this takes place in newer building – still huge – with smaller waiting spaces but which are absolutely packed with people, families, children, young babies - many are Turkish but there are others from the world over – and not nearly enough chairs. A queue winds out of the door. The sound is the constant murmuring of subdued conversation, people changing places, shifting positions, greeting familiar faces. Your interview number is displayed only visually (no sound alerts) on a pearly white screen. It is the room's focus. There's nothing to do except wait, play with your phone and keep an eye on the slowly changing black and red numbers. Many are there all day. Some start at 4am. But I'm lucky and a privileged European; my number appears after only 25min. I give in my passport, photo and all the documents gathered together in the last two weeks and, unbelievably, 30min later can walk out again with a residence visa and permission to work in Germany for life - yes, for LIFE!! It's amazing how supportive Germany is to us Brits suffering this absurd Brexit madness. I shall be for ever grateful. But it is a disconcerting visit. As I leave most of those still waiting are the same as when I arrived. These queues move very slowly, for some it is glacial. These sounds and image will be a lasting memory too.