Fiction is reality

That well worn phrase, reality is stranger than fiction, isn't really true. Which does not prevent us at the K-Landnews from using it.

Hey, it's there, so why not not use it.

In private, we'll admit that both are frequently indistinguishable, or that one manifests itself earlier than the other in a cosmic dance of concepts, or, more banal or prosaic, in the enterprise of linguistic labeling, the creation of reality through words, we humans excel at.

The point?

A while back, we were issued a "Fiktionsbescheinigung" by the German immigration folks, attesting to the fact that we were legally here while they were working on the extension of our stay.

The term Fiktionsbescheinigung tickled us, of course. It's a compound, sure, and we still get the odd thrill or two out of German compounds, but this one has the word "Fiktion", fiction, in it.  The second word "Bescheinigung" is certification, or attestation.

The physical manifestation of the intriguing sounding paper is somewhat of a letdown,  it is a plain white, letter size sheet of paper, stating you filed for an extension of stay in the country. Basically telling other government agencies your status is legal and not to worry about the expiration of your passport stamp or the plastic card.

The term they use to say this, however, can feel a little weird if words matter to you. Did we somehow become fictional, are we in a state of suspended reality, how did the German authorities come up with this term?

Despite the slightly odd ring to it, the term does not qualify as a euphemism. At worst, its meaning is neutral. At best, it is positive: you filed the papers correctly and you  maintain legal status.

The twists and turns in immigration law of the Western countries we can claim to know a little bit are interesting and very confusing.

For the group of people who are neither fully legal nor fully illegal residents, they seem to have managed to come up with a legal codification that oddly resembles the old Catholic state of "limbo".

It is nice to see that the German government has not turned immigration paperwork into a for profit business, at least as far as our filing fees as individuals not recruited or sponsored by a company go.