Renewing My Carte De Séjour In France Posted by John Bauer on Nov 2, 2016 in Culture
While I’ve been looking for a job and finishing mon mémoire, there has been another big source of stress in my life here in France: dealing with l’administration française (the French administration/government) and le paperasse (the paperwork) that comes with it.
“Prefecture” by Lynne Hand on Flickr. Licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
Ma carte de séjour (my residence permit) recently expired, and I had to go to la préfecture (administrative center) in order to renouveler (renew) it. For many people saying the word “préfecture” brings up thoughts of le paperasse and les queues (the lines). It can be difficult and intimidating dealing with l’administration.
The first thing I needed to do was prendre un rendez-vous (make an appointment). I figured out where to prendre un rendez-vous on le site web de la préfecture (the administrative center’s website), and then printed it out.
Before I left for la préfecture I made sure to prepare tous les documents requis (all the required documents) and des photos d’identité (some ID photos).
Attention !
Watch out!
If you only have des photos d’identité from the US, then they will not be the right size! Cependant (however), it’s cheap and easy to get une photo d’identité that is the right size. Heureusement (luckily), there are photo booths spread around les centres commerciales (malls) and les gares (train stations).
“Le hall de la gare d’Alès” by Isabelle Blanchemain on Flickr. Licensed under CC BY 2.0.
With my new photos d’identité, tous les documents requis, and un rendez-vous I could finally go to la préfecture!
I promptly arrived ready to face the last obstacle of l’administration:
Il faut savoir attendre.
You have to know how to wait.
Je prenais un numéro (I took a number) and took a seat in la salle d’attente (the waiting room) and began l’attente (the wait). With all the stress of school, work, and la carte de séjour weighing on me, l’attente seemed to last forever.
In the end I was more worried than I needed to be and it was over quicker than I expected!
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About the Author: John Bauer
John Bauer is an enthusiast for all things language and travel. He currently lives in France where he's doing his Master's. John came to France four years ago knowing nothing about the language or the country, but through all the mistakes over the years, he's started figuring things out.
Comments:
Alison:
I lived in France for a year on a teachers’ award, and getting my carte de sejour was stressful, to say the least! Many visits to the prefecture and dealing with the fierce women there… all up, it took 6 months! But I did love living in France. 🙂
Beatriz:
Bonjour, j’apprécie beaucoup cette page, mais je voudrais poser une question,qu-est ce que signifie “”I need to be though and it wall over quicker than I expected “” ma langue maternelle é l’spagnol, sorry for bother you.
Beatriz
John Bauer:
@Beatriz Merci pour votre commentaire Beatriz ! C’était une faute de frappe de ma parte. Je l’ai corrigé 😀