After a long process of applying to Campus France, enrolling in the Alliance Française, applying for a VISA, selling our house, moving to France, foraging for documents, applying for the carte de sejour, receiving my récipssé, receiving my letter to go to the Préfecture, but only on Fridays from 9-3, I finally went yesterday and got my carte de sejour.
It was perfect timing because just the day before I got an email from a company I had interviewed with in October. It is a job teaching English. I am not sure if I am doing another interview or if they are going to offer me the job but they needed to know I could officially work. Someone told me that with your recipissé for your carte de sejour you could do a lot of things but you couldn’t work until you actually had your carte de sejour in hand. Well now I can.
It’s too bad though because now that I have started my French classes, and finished my first class, I was hoping to speak English less and less but if I start teaching it I will be speaking more and more. I don’t really have to work yet but I think I should take the job if offered so that I can maybe pick up some private clients too. Oh yeah, and earn some Euros, the dollar is still in the toilet.It’s an interestingsounding job, teaching English to engineering students at a major university, ENAC, École Nationale de Aviation Civile, air traffic controllers, engineers, etc. Note to self, cross fingers.
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Congrats and good luck!
Congratulations…now only six more months til you have to start the renewal process! LOL
Congratulations on the job offer. Yeah, I would take it for the euros also.
6 more months, I can’t wait that long. I just noticed that our Orange bill is only in Jean-Jacques’ name so I have to get that changed so I can use that as justificatif of joint domicile or whatever they will call it. We have a lease together too but I want our GDF, EDF, and Orange bills to show joint account as well as having a lease, our 2 domestic partnership papers from the US, PACS from here, and a whole mountain of other paperwork should satisfy them.
I have to say that since being here I hear lots of stories about people who complain that they had problems getting their papers in order but it is usually partly their fault as well. While I wish the French were a little more accommodating in their beaureaucratic processes they aren’t entirely wrong. I just had a conversation with a student who has to go back, they wanted to stay longer but only had about half the papers. I asked if they really thought the French were going to let them in with half of the required papers. He said, well in Brazil they would, you might have to give a little money or invite the official out for lunch etc. My attitude has been if the required list is X give them X and then give them other things that support X in greater detail just in case. It seems to have worked in my case as I did eventually get everything in order, not without an amusing story or two but that’s life, a series of interconnected amusing stories.
Congratulations on the carte de séjour! Dealing with the French administration is always a trying experience. If you want to celebrate, I just posted a few party flyers on my blog!
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