Playful Rooted

To the United States Department of Motor Vehicles,

I’m sorry.

I’m sorry for every time I mocked your inefficiency, cursed your incompetent employees, or complained about having to wait in a long, slow-moving line. I’m sorry for believing that you were the source of all evil in the world and for dreading my mercifully sporadic visits to your offices.

You see, I hadn’t yet moved to France. Cozy in my American cocoon, I could continue to believe that the DMV was hell on Earth. Back then, I didn’t know what inefficiency was. I had no idea the level of incompetence government employees could reach. I’d never before encountered a line that literally did not move for hours, and I had never been required to make so many visits to so many different offices, where the rules are constantly changing, in order to obtain one tiny piece of paper.

Please accept my deepest apologies.

From,

A traumatized (legalized) American in France

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This extremely long post is about immigrating to France as the spouse of a scientific researcher specifically. The information won’t necessarily apply to other situations, so take my experience with a grain of salt, and always confirm that you have the latest information. Things in France change all the time.

I wrote about Ben’s experience immigrating to France as a scientific researcher previously, but since my experience was totally, nonsensically different, I wanted to share those details with you as well. I’ve been waiting to write this post until everything was straightened out and my visa was approved for the whole year. Note that we moved here at the end of August and it took until the middle of April to be approved. That’s almost eight months to get approved, and four months validity until it expires.

Vive la bureaucracy.

July – October

Here’s where it starts. As I’ve mentioned before, at the consulate, they gave me the wrong paperwork. They gave me a Demande d’Attestation OFII, which is the same thing that Ben got. However, Ben was able to just send his, along with the accompanying paperwork, to the OFII office. I did the same thing, and they sent mine back, saying I hadn’t followed instructions and I was supposed to go to the Préfecture instead.

So I went online to schedule an appointment at the Préfecture to drop off my dossier of paperwork. But the online appointment system didn’t work. They book for three weeks at a time, and the appointments reset on Sunday at midnight. Since there were no appointments available for the next three weeks, I waited until Sunday at the very stroke of midnight. But, I failed to take into account that it was Daylight Savings that exact Sunday, so my midnight was actually 1 AM, and by that time, every single appointment for the next three weeks was taken.

Desperate, I went to the Préfecture on Monday to seek advice and beg them to make me an appointment. It was desperate, sloppy, and fruitless. They basically turned me away roughly and said there was nothing they could do for me. I would have to wait for the next Sunday at midnight.

The next Sunday night, I was practically hyperventilating as midnight approached. Ben stayed up with me, and while trying to find a Préfecture hack, he stumbled upon the information that a scientific researcher’s spouse is supposed to turn in their dossier not to the Préfecture, but to an office called PRES. I was really skeptical at first, having never heard of this organization, but after I read up about it, I realized he was right. Why had no one ever mentioned this office to me??

I made an appointment at the PRES office right away and scheduled it as early as I could the next week. My appointment was at 9 am, and I showed up at 8:30, dressed super professionally. This was definitely overkill, as the employees started sauntering into the office at 9:05 dressed in jeans, but better safe than sorry. I also had my giant folder of every document that exists in the world related to my identity, finances, legal status, etc. This came in very handy, as they asked for forms which were not listed on the website. (Tip: If you’re going through this process, bring every document containing any kind of personal information you can think of. You truly never know what they’ll ask for!)

The PRES office workers were actually extremely nice, helpful, and competent. They were the most gracious group of people I dealt with in this whole process. My appointment went really smoothly and they sent me on my way with a récépissé de demande de titre de séjour, basically a form saying that I had applied for and was waiting to receive my carte de séjour, or residency card. This form would be valid until March, before which I should receive my actual card.

Should.

January

All was quiet for a while until January, when I received a convocation from the OFII office for a medical exam and a half-day ‘Welcome to France’ session. I was not expecting to have this type of visit, but it actually went smoothly for the most part. I met with a nurse to talk about my health condition, then she took my blood pressure and administered an eye exam. Next, I got to walk around topless in front of a different nurse who took an x-ray of my chest. (That was such a weird feeling, wearing jeans and boots and nothing on top!) At the end of it, I met with another OFII worker who interviewed me about how long I would be in France and what I’m doing here. Again, most of the people here were pretty friendly, and I felt really comfortable speaking only passable French with them.

I left the OFII office with copies of my passing medical exam forms and a promise that they would send the original forms to the Préfecture, and then the Préfecture would send my carte de séjour. There was nothing for me to do now but wait.

Or so they said.

March

As the days went by, the clock was still ticking on my récépissé validity. It expired March 15th, and by the middle of March, I still hadn’t received my carte de séjour. The day before my récépissé expired, I went to the Préfecture to inquire about where my carte de séjour was. At 12:15 PM, after standing in line for about 90 minutes, I finally reached the inquiry desk, where the worker told me I could only make this type of inquiry between 9:30 AM and 12:00 PM. I would have to come back tomorrow.

The next morning, I was in line right when they opened.  The worker remembered me from the day before and shuffled me over to the office that deals with this type of problem. I had to wait outside the door for someone to come out, which was super awkward. Finally, a girl came out and asked about my situation. She told me they had all my paperwork but needed a copy of my medical exam forms (which OFII had promised to send, but apparently had not done).

Luckily, I had a copy of the forms they needed with me. (Seriously, at every appointment you go to, bring every piece of paper you possibly can.) Since they apparently couldn’t give me my actual carte de séjour at this point, the girl came back with a new récépissé that would be valid until the middle of April.

April

As the beginning of April rolled around and I still hadn’t received anything from the Préfecture, I had a feeling I would have to repeat the process again. But just at the last minute – JOY! I received a convocation from the Préfecture telling me I could come (with a stack of paperwork) to pick up my carte de séjour. It could be any day between the hours of 1:15 and 3:15.

I went the next day at 1:00 PM, and there was already a line of people snaking through the building and out the door, even though the office is closed for lunch until 1:15. I waited for about an hour, and the line had moved by maybe 10 people. It definitely wasn’t going to happen by 3:15.

So I went back the next day at 12:30 PM, knowing I’d be waiting for at least 45 minutes until the office opened. Again, there was already a line, but it was much shorter this time. Ben had come with me, so we killed time in line together, but of course it was still the misery that line-waiting always is.

When it was finally my turn, I stepped up to the desk, where they looked through my paperwork and handed me a number. I went to wait again in another section of the building. After about a half hour, my number was finally called! I went up to the desk and handed over the required paperwork. The girl looked very skeptically at all my documents, muttering to herself, asking her coworker about some of my forms; all the while, I was sweating bullets and whispering prayers. I knew I had everything they had asked for, but you never know when the rules will change.

Fortunately, just a few minutes later, they decided I was clean and passed my beautiful, beautiful carte de séjour through the slot in the plastic window. Hallelujah!

I’ve never treasured a laminated piece of paper so much. Even with the misspelled name and the picture that makes me look like a child bride.

So this carte de séjour means I’m a valid resident of France… until August 31st, 2014. If you’re doing the math, and thinking “this is nuts,” you’re right. It took almost eight months to get this residency card. It’s valid for the next four months. At which point, if we were to stay in France, this situation would repeat itself in its entirety.

All the more reason to cut and run.

If you made it through this whole post, you’re either crazy or going through the same process (or both)! If it’s the latter, good luck! Living in France is a real trip, and this is just one part of the experience. It feels eternal, I know. It sucks, and it’s hard and ridiculously frustrating. You will probably cry. You will certainly curse. When you get that precious piece of paper, though, you will feel like you have conquered the world! If you can handle this, you can handle anything.

French word of the day
casser les pieds (à quelqu’un) – To annoy someone, to bore someone stiff  (literally: To break someone’s feet)