FRIDAY / Processing the Carte de Séjour at the Préfecture

With translation in hand and a load of other documents, I and my other classmates made our way over to the Rhone Prefecture Office of Immigration, Foreign Students Division, which is technically, not in the Prefecture building itself but rather in a grungy, run-down building right across the street.

Luckily I and my colleagues arrived about half an hour before the office opened. By the time 9 o'clock (opening time) came around, the line was well over fifty people long. In my line were people with appointments made through the Internet; in the line next to us were people without reservations hoping to get their paperwork done that day. (If they were not able to do so, they would have to come back another day.)

Once inside the building, one of my classmates dashed to be the first to process her paperwork. No being polite here, the more aggressive you are, the father in line you are and the earlier you can get yourself processed and out of the building!

I was processed about third among all the students and dutifully pulled out my documents one by one from my file. Birth certificate, proof of address, bank statement, birth certificate with translation, copy of school certificate, revenue stamp, photograph, copy of passport and visa. It had been just as nervewracking at the San Francisco consulate when I got my visa done, but luckily everything went smoothly and I got my temporary carte de séjour (residence permit) issued that day. Apparently, though, it will be another two months before my official residence card is issued and until then I may have to carry the temporary one around with me whenever I go out. It's an unwieldy piece of paper and I'm kind of at a lost how to keep it from getting crumpled. It's not like I can put it in my wallet or anything.

The bureaucrats here (oddly enough, all women) were surly as usual and (even though I'm sure they speak English) spoke only in French. For me it was not so bad, but some of my classmates don't speak much French and so I can only imagine what it was like for them, especially if they were berated for not bringing the right document ...

One guy in my class showed up at the Prefecture, only to realize he hadn't brought his papers with him! So he went back to the school dormitory to retrieve them ... fortunately, he got his paperwork done in time before dinner that night.