What's happening in Amsterdam?
Trip Start
Apr 15, 2003
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100
119
Trip End
Ongoing
Amsterdam,
Netherlands
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
It's been quite awhile since we created an entry that just talks about what's happening in our lives - and a lot IS happening right now, so we thought it would be a good time to break from the travel shots and talk about "real life".
About a year ago Melanie's bank was bought by a consortium of 3 banks. The sale was finally approved by the Dutch National Bank a few months ago and now work is moving ahead to break the bank into several pieces. Including the previous U.S. sales, in the end the bank will be divided among no less than 7 different entities.
What does this mean for us? Well, one thing is that Melanie's job is no longer relevant. For the last 5 years (and even before) she worked on pulling the parts of the bank together to make them more cohesive and to reuse things from each other. In the new environment, the focus is first on separating the bank into it's various parts and getting those parts to the new owners. So, many of the global jobs like Melanie's will disappear before the end of May. Many of the expats working here have already returned to the U.S. and either taken jobs with Bank of America (who bought the U.S. retail bank last year) or have been laid off (made redundant). There are a few of us still left in Amsterdam who don't yet know our future. It is anticipated that there will not be any appropriate jobs with the bank in Chicago. Because of this, management in the Netherlands has agreed to extend Melanie's expat contract, which would have expired last week, for 3 weeks in order for us to have been here 5 years. This date is important because it allows us to apply for indefinite residency (the equivalent of a "green card"). So, we will apply for that and see what happens next.
We're in discussions with HR and management, and should know more shortly. Meanwhile, we continue to make the most of our time here by doing as much travel as possible, although admittedly it is stressful not knowing where we will be living 6 months from now!
All the best,
Melanie and Chris
