Residency Renewal Madness

We had to postpone our exodus to Spain until December 15 because I had to appear at the Prefecture for the renewal of my Carte de Sejour (my residency card). I waited until the two month period prior to expiration to make an appointment and felt like a fool (but also pretty lucky) to squeak in the first available on Dec 15, with my card expiring on Dec 22! And what a day it turned out to be.

A friend offered to ride shotgun with me and we agreed that we would have lunch afterward for our personal little Christmas celebration. We got to Perigueux (about an hour away) with no problems, but mistakenly went to the wrong address. My friend stated that she knew exactly where we needed to go, but it was the address for new British CdS’s, but not for the ‘rest’ of us. Then I started sweating bullets, as they stated very clearly on the confirmation for the rendezvous that timeliness was of the essence and they would allow 1 minute past the appointed time or else they would cancel the appointment! And they were adamant that you come ALONE, due to Covid restrictions.

Well, I was in my newfangled Volvo and hardly knew yet how to manage the GPS, but somehow we wiggled through the streets until we found the right address. I jumped out from behind the wheel with my armful of dosier papers and left the car with my friend to park. Got in the door with seconds to spare. I’m standing in line, wondering why I had even worried about being on time, when the family in front of me mentioned that if I was assigned to “Door Number Two,” then I’d better get my tail in there! Well, get out of the damned line then!

I sat down and presented my expiring card and started to produce paperwork in the order they prescribed. Then she looked cross-eyed at me and asked me if I was married. I replied YES. She said, “Where is he?” I explained that the paperwork clearly stated to come alone. I did not know he was supposed to accompany me. She said that he MUST appear in person for them to even consider my application. Ruh-row. After explaining my situation in the best French I could muster (with a little groveling and perhaps a little tear in my eye) that I was leaving tomorrow for five months in Spain, she was actually very empathetic and asked if my husband could get to Perigueux? I, of course, said YES and she kindly gave me a second appointment for after lunch at 2 pm.

Then began the challenge of getting hold of Theo. He is the one who never plugs in his cell phone, never answers the home line, and did not respond to any Messenger texts or call. Ugh. Then I remembered our gardener had been at the house that morning. I quickly called him and explained that he needed to go pound on the door to the house and have Theo call me immediately. It was URGENT. After 20 minutes of not hearing from Theo, I called the gardener again. He had misunderstood (he has just enough English to kind of understand, but didn’t understand fully this time). Finally I got Theo on the phone and he skedaddled to Perigueux JUST in time for the 2:00 appointment. We went in and presented the rest of my paperwork and Theo-in-the-flesh, the whole process taking maybe two minutes. And we were off. Whew!

Now, fingers were crossed that everything in my dossier checks out fine. I’m expecting a 10 year card this time, so I don’t have to go through this again anytime soon. And thankfully, they said I could pick up my card in May, as I need to schedule a rendezvous anyway. Just got a text yesterday that it is ready, so guess I’d better get to scheduling that pickup for May ASAP!