“L’administration”……

Another “meeting” with French bureaucracy, affectionately known by the French as “l’administration”.

Monday was my real appointment at the main prefecture (police station, sort of…) for Paris. The appointment at the previous prefecture was just an interview to see if I was dodgey, a check of key documents (but not all documents….) and to have a “convocation” issued. A convocation is a special document to authorise an appointment at the main prefecture. No convocation = no appointment.

My flatmate (who grew up in France) tells me to put on a nice, business-attire style outfit, do my hair nicely, makeup, heels etc. He said that looking nice (as well as being white and from Australia) will make things much easier for me, that I’ll get less resistance from the prefecture employees who manage my carte de sejour (residency card) application. Its sad, but true, that while one of the 3 precepts of the French is “egalité” (“equality”), it is still very easy for people, even government officials, to effect racist or classist discrimination without detection or consequence. If you’re black, arabic/midde eastern or asian and you want a carte de sejour in France – good luck. If you walk in wearing traditional dress  (eg from morocco, a long-sleeved smock and long loose pants) – you’re in for an even longer wait. Maybe I’m wrong, and I hope someone will tell me I’m wrong, but no one I speak to here had disagreed yet….

One of the easiest ways that prefecture employees can exercise power (and therefore make themselves seem more important) or act in a discriminatory way, is through their power to ask any questions and demand any documents that they think necessary. Thats right. An unfettered discretion. They can even say that the paper you used for your document is too shiny. Someone told me that they had seen people take lawyers to the prefecture with them to try to get some logic into the decision making process. I didnt believe it until I saw it with my own eyes….

My appointment was for 3pm at “Place Louis Lépine”. Sounds easy, yeah? Well, there are 3 official police buildings on the site. As well as a flower market with permanent buildings for their stalls. Guess which building I went to first? Thats right. The wrong one. [Note: although, another interesting social experiment proved correct: the security guys in the wrong building wouldnt let a man before me pass until he had stopped beeping in the metal detector. I went through, beeped, the security guys turned, looked me up and down, smiled and said "oh, please pass through, madame, not a problem, its probably just your high heels". They were then only too happy to direct me to the correct building: "its my pleasure to help you madame". LOL Pair of heels, skirt and some makeup will get you just about anything here - too easy].

So I get to the correct building. Its now 3.10. There are about 100 people lining up to get in the door. Security is only letting 10 people in at a time. Thats right. It was a long wait.

I get inside, find the correct building (Asie/Oceania). There’s a small hospital like waiting room with only 10 chairs and no visible reception. Just a mysterious, non-descript door and a sign saying “carte de sejour” (which is what I am there to ask for). I get a ticket, wait. Everyone walks in and looks confused too. Then a prefecture employee comes out of the mysterious door and calls my ticket number (more seductive smiles). I show him my convocation. “Oh no madame, its the room just across the hall”.

I go across the hall to another small entry area, a tiny foyer. The walls are white, the 3 doors are white and flush with the wall. There’s a fire emergency door (which I assume contained fire extinguishers etc), a cleaning closest, and another mysterious door with a little red sign at the top (not eye level) that simply says “Asie/Oceania”. I tentatively turn the handle, and voila! There’s the reception! And all the appointment counters!! What a Tardis moment….

Nice lady at the counter checks my convocation, smiles and gives me a number. Luckily (actually, unbelievably), it comes up straight away and I walk straight to my “booth”. The booths look like visitors booths at jails, except without the glass separation.  “Madame” is busy chatting with her next door neighbour. She barely even acknowledges my presence. I sit and wait. Finally she turns to me, unsmiling. She tells me to give her all my documents. I know this trick though – they want you to give more than what is necessary…I start with passport, birth certificate (english and the french translation that cost me 50 euros) etc. She tells me to sit back down in the waiting area. 20mins pass. She calls me back, asks for more documents, queries why I’m in Paris, what my job is in Sydney, tells me to sit back down again. More waiting, this time for 30mins.

The place is full of people with babies and families. One family has a lawyer with them. There is lots of running to the photocopier (so grateful that was there) and back to the counters. There are lots of faces full of anticipattion, worry, frustration and for some, disappointment.

So, it turns out that, not only do they have the power to ask for any document they think necessary (including a copy of my law society membership card and the letter from the law society that I havent been subject to any legal proceedings relating to my membership – which I just happened to have on me, although why they were necessary I have no idea), but they can also contradict the prefectures own document list. The list says to include a copy of the bank statement from your foreign bank account. This was good enough for the consulate in Sydney, good enough for the first prefecture, not good enough for Madame. She wants 3 different statements from my bank manager in France, one of which showing that I have 1000 euros in my account for every month I will be here (12,000 euros).

In the end, all I need is to have my travel insurance translated and the 3 docs from the bank manager, which isnt too bad. My flatmate says that I’m very lucky that I only have those documents to provide – maybe the outfit worked? Flatemate says if I had an appointment with a Monsieur I wouldnt have needed anything….lol

So I received another convocation to come back with the documents……on 2 July. Yep, the next available appointment is in 2 months time. Hilarious!

On the upside, I did get my “récépissé” – an official document to provde that my residency application is being processed. I think this allows me to stay in the country even if my visa expires and I havent received my residency card yet. So that is very cool.

And, I did have another truly French adventure!