Carte de Sejour Hell

We are law-abiding citizens. We try to follow the rules, really.

We've had our "carte de sejour" (french resident permit) for a little over one year. We had difficulty getting it the first time, but that was partially our fault.

This last go-around, which started in September, has been even more taxing than normal. We can't even really complain to our friends because they think we're crazy or incompetent. Why should this be so hard? We're just renewing an existing card. They've already let us in the country for a year and nothing bad has happened.

For this year's renewal, we got an appointment, well before the expiration date of the carte. We got the letter from the Prefecture de Police with all the things we have to bring. We followed it to the letter. But, in a little box at the bottom of the page that outlines what we need to bring there's a note that says that the "fonctionnaire" (civil servant) that handles our case has authority to demand more things than the items listed on the form.

We got to our meeting, nicely dressed and early. The receptionist handed us two folders, one for each of us. We were given instructions to put copies of all relevant documents into each folder. It's kind of a stressful moment because you don't know if you have five minutes or half an hour to complete this and it requires shuffling through all the paperwork that you've brought.

We filled our folders and waited. Eventually our number came up on the screen. The screen is a digital thing in the waiting room that dings when it changes so that you look at it and then it has two sets of numbers, your "ticket" number and the cubicle number that you should go to. We went to the cubicle noted on the screen and I immediately realized that the woman fonctionnaire who had put a note in our file that caused us a lot of trouble at the border earlier this year, was going to handle our case. We are finished. She is horrible.

Needless to say, she tortured us for about 30 minutes. We retorted to the best of our abilities but finally she sent us packing with an extension on our cartes and a huge list of things that we needed to produce the next go-around. We actually had to negotiate several points, at first she asked for six (6) months of financial statements, plus 2 copies each (4 total copies). The original statements for six months are probably four inches high. It would have been impossible. We negotiated her down to three months and felt lucky to get out the door.

We staggered home, ready to sell our apartment and move to Italy. I'm sure they wouldn't hassle us this much.

So, now the appointment is next month. It took us two months to get an appointment. We're about to leave for Christmas.

Tomorrow, I'll head to the copier place to make all the copies. I hope to make one "master" and then put the "master" through the machine so that I don't have to collate them all by hand. Then, when I get home, I'll have to put all the originals into a separate place for safekeeping. I am very afraid to lose things like my birth certificate, which can't be replaced.

Then after the meeting, we'll have to re-file all the originals and put the extra copies in a safe place for next year's meeting.

Is it all worth it? At this point, we're not sure, we're very close to telling them to keep their "carte de sejour", we'll pay taxes and buy stuff in another country, a country that wants us.