Back in 2005 I applied for and got back my German citizenship as a hedge should the political situation in Venezuela become intolerable. A German passport would give me access to most of Europe. The attention and service at the German Embassy in Caracas was top notch, A-1! I could use either German or Spanish. While my Spanish is fluent my German is very limited, having learned it at home in Caracas.
It’s time to renew my German passport in Portugal. In Porto I can use German or Portuguese while in Lisbon I can also use English. With the help of Google translate I have managed so far.
I need the original or certified copy of my “Einbürgerungsbescheinigung” Naturalization certificate
German would be easier if they used CamelCaps when stringing words together: “EinbürgerungsBescheinigung.” Even better if they used apostrophes: “Einbürgerung’s Bescheinigung.”
To make sure I use proper protocol I downloaded the 173 page “Domestic Protocol of the Federal Government” PDF document available only in German, not a big problem as with the help of Google Translate I would manage. Not so fast, if you don’t have the password the PDF will not let you copy any of it. Surely Adobe Acrobat could fix that with the “Save as text” feature. No such luck. PDF cannot stop me from taking screen dumps. How to convert images to text? Google knows everything so I asked it for help.
- Screen dump the selected text (Shift, Control, Command, 4)
- Create a .png with Preview
- Drag .png to Google Drive
- Open Drive.png with Google Docs
- Magic Happens!
If I live long enough I’ll find what I need.
BTW, the German Embassy in Caracas sent me copies of my Birth and Naturalization certificates. The Köln office did not respond to my request of a certified copy of my Naturalization certificate, the original is back in Caracas. I’ll try again on Monday with better or proper protocol.
One needs patienceCracy to deal with bureauCracy!
The Captain