What may very well be the final chapter in my carte de séjour battles held court today. I rode out to the prefecture bright and early (well, 9am or so). Proudly striding through the queue (which, to be honest, was by far the shortest I've seen), probably much to the displeasure of the poor souls waiting with a number, I plonked down my invitation and other papers.
"Do you have your work permit", she asked.
"No, I don't need one", I replied.
"You're a student, you need a work permit," she insisted.
I waved my hand. "You don't need to see my work permit. That isn't the paper you're looking for. You will just go and get my carte de séjour."
She seemed confused, but repeated, "I don't need to see your work permit. Let me just go and find your carte de séjour." She shuffled off, and returned with the above laminated marvel.
That's how I roll. Move along.
"Do you have your work permit", she asked.
"No, I don't need one", I replied.
"You're a student, you need a work permit," she insisted.
I waved my hand. "You don't need to see my work permit. That isn't the paper you're looking for. You will just go and get my carte de séjour."
She seemed confused, but repeated, "I don't need to see your work permit. Let me just go and find your carte de séjour." She shuffled off, and returned with the above laminated marvel.
That's how I roll. Move along.
5 comments:
Did you say it in English? Maybe that confused her.
I'm a foreign student in France so I know how hard it is to communicate with people that have the slightest power in carte de sejour departments. Every time you go there they ask you for a new (and usually useless) document..... I'm surprised to hear that she cooperated.... Whenever I go there I wanna go "Columbine" on them =).... And when they finally (FINALLYYYY) hand you that little plastic laminated card you can almost hear a background music goin Hallelujah =)
James, how long did it get you to get the application processed? Mine's been in the works for 3 months so far, just want to have an idea how much longer will it take?
I'm afraid I really don't know, Elena. Mine took about 18 months or more, but that was mostly due to things I did wrongly. If you're worried, I'm afraid there really isn't much alternative than going back to the prefecture to ask. I lost a few months because a letter they sent went to the wrong address, and didn't know until I went back to ask. My experience was 5 years ago, too, so it may have changed since then.
Wow! For real? 18 months?!! That's dry... Thank you for the response, now I know not to worry yet regarding the 3-month threshold... Although I am sure that I am going something wrong with this whole process as well... Thanks again!
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