Putting aside emotions, there was a to-do list waiting for us before we could up and go. First up, we have to serve 3 months' of notice period. During this time, we had to figure out the various termination notice periods with different service providers, such as Telenor, Canal Digital, the eletricity & water suppliers, etc. The Mister had to take our car for the EU inspection before we could sell it. We were very lucky in this aspect. Our colleague gave our car its' next home and is happy to have the car whenever and as it is.
At this time, we have begun informing the authorities that we are leaving for good. First, it was with the tax office. One could download the form and post the completed form to them no more than 14 days before the departure date. I would highly suggest handing in the completed form in person as the personnel on site could have questions or tips to help with your particular situation. I.e: the lady who helped us actually ran through the whole form with us and reminded us to check & fill in our income taxes on altinn.no next year.
Next we called folkeregisteret, to inform them of our departure date. At the same time, we informed our bank (Sparebank 1) of the situation. The bank waits for the folkeregisteret to update the database once every end of the month. The helpful lady placed an internal note on all of our accounts, cards and for the banking device about our move and the updated overseas address.
In the meantime, we have been making enquiries about our pension account. After a number of attempts and many unsure answers, we believe it is possible to transfer the pension amount and continue the pension scheme under a similar policy in our home country.
And, guess what? In between packing boxes and farewells, we went into crazy trip planning mode. We went on a month's holiday before the big move! It certainly dampened the sadness of leaving and gave us something to look forward to.
It has been a month since the move. We are glad to be amongst family, whom are the main reason why we are back. We were able to spend some time with a loved one before her passing. Even though we miss our time in Flekkefjord, the peaceful, lovely Flekkefjord, we are also glad to be back.
ABE