That Elusive Carte

Settling in France can be quite a challenge, and a perhaps bit of a surprise for Americans who are accustomed to the visa-free access they enjoy when traveling to the country. I've had the pleasure of getting to know French bureaucracy both as a student and as a jeune fille au pair. M. and I signed a PACS some years ago, and we married last year. All required a long list of documents, photos, certificates, even a chest x-ray, a blood test...The long list of required papers for a titre de séjour was therefore no surprise:

• Valid passport;
• Birth certificate and its certified translation;
• 3 ID photos;
• Proof of domicile dated within the last three months;
• If you are being accommodated, attestation of accommodation by the person accommodating you dated within the last three months, their national identity card or titre de séjour, and proof of domicile;
  
• Proof of your resources and your spouse's resources (tax statements, work contract, pay stubs dated within the last three months, etc.);
  
• 2 22cm x 11cm window envelopes;
• Long-stay Visa bearing the mention of (D) overseas département - Guadeloupe - family member / Spouse;
  
• Customs (police aux frontières, PAF) entry stamp specifying the date of arrival in Guadeloupe;
  
• Family record book;
• Marriage certificate;
• If the marriage was celebrated outside of France, the foreign marriage certificate with its transcription;
• Copy of the national identity card of your French spouse;
• Sworn statement of a shared life;
• 2 documents proving shared life (rental agreement, bank statement, tax statement, social security statement, etc.).
  

Plus photocopies. And of course, they reserve the right to request further documents.

Despite having everything in order, I did not receive my titre de séjour yesterday. Instead, I received what is essentially a receipt documenting the fact that I began the official steps towards getting a titre de séjour (une récipissé de demande de titre de séjour). It can be a maddeningly frustrating to jump through hoop after hoop, and have nothing in return. M. and I often wonder what an absolute nightmare it must be for people with much more complex situations, lack necessary papers, etc.

The highlight of the five hour wait at the Bureau de l'État Civil et des Etrangers was the man who wore a large oversized red tshirt emblazoned with the raging face of Al Pacino as Tony Montana in Scarface to his appointment. I have the feeling that the absurdity was lost on the man.