After the birth of Livia, it was a mad rush to get her a passport as we were leaving for Canada on December 15th, not quite a month after her birth. We applied for both a Canadian and a French passport thinking the odds were pretty high that one of them would arrive in time, right? Ayva's French passport had taken 11 days to arrive so we thought the French would arrive first.
The days passed quite quickly and with our departure date looming we started to freak out a bit as neither passport had arrived. Henri checked in quite regularly at the Mairie (Mayor's office/town hall) as that is where the French passport would be sent when it was available. They never had any helpful information and they told Henri that there used to be phone number that you could call to check on the status, but they stopped that because too many people called it. Um, nice.
So Henri started trying to track down the status on the Canadian passport. The first go around they rejected Livia's pictures because there was "a slight shadow on the side of her face". Do you know how hard it is to take a newborn's picture within the strict parameters they have these days? Anyway we got re-takes and these were approved. By this time, Henri was on a first-name basis with the lady at the Canadian Embassy in Paris who was handling our file. They exchanged phone calls and emails - she was really great keeping us informed. When she called to tell us that the passport was on the plane from Ottawa and would be in Paris on Friday we were ecstatic until we realized that there was a big chance it wouldn't arrive in Corsica in time for our departure on Sunday. There is postal delivery on Saturdays, but only until noon. We didn't like the odds, so Henri actually flew to Paris to pick it up. It was a lot cheaper to do that than to have to re-book our trip. (The Canadian Embassy is not far from Le Champs Elysee all decorated beautifully for Christmas. A perfect place to find a special present for me, right? Ha ha. Henri spent the time in between his flights in a McDonalds as it had free WiFi.)
Fast forward to when we got back from our trip. We picked up our mail at our cousin's, thinking the French passport would be there. Nope. But Livia is now the proud owner of a carte nationale d'intentité. That's great for 20 years from now when she writes checks and needs proof of identification, but she can't travel on that. On the form Henri filled out, you can mark either passport or carte nationale d'intentité and he was sure that he marked passport. This was verified when he called my old buddies at the préfrecture. The lady he spoke with even spoke English and she confirmed that yes, he had marked the correct box and yes, they had made a mistake. Did she say, "I'm so sorry, we'll get right on that. You'll have your passport asap." Ha ha ha. Henri asked if they could just take all the paperwork/pictures they still have on file and actually do the passport this time. She said no and that he would have to do everything over again. Henri was almost speechless. And the kicker? It now costs money to apply for one when last year it was free.
Only in France...
French passports have never been free in France. There has always been some kind of "timbre fiscal" to pay. I know this because I've paid for the kids' passports (and I just verified with a French colleague).
Carte d'identité's on the other hand are free or, at least, they used to be.
So perhaps that was the mix up. There wasn't any payment attached to the passport application and so they thought that the wrong box had been checked.
Ah well. All's well that ends well.
BTW: The Canadian Embassy and I have a love/hate relationship. They love putting me on hold when I call and I hate that.
Posted by: JennC | March 04, 2009 at 02:32 PM
OK. Your talking about the Canadian Embassy reminded me that I needed to call them and I need to vent about it.
Only in Canada! It is impossible to actually talk to a real person. I had forgotten how the automatic information givers over the telephone used to drive me up the freaking wall when I lived in Canada. At least in France, you can have a real live person from Senegal to talk to if you need to talk to someone about something.
Case in point: I call the Canadian Embassy (just 10 minutes ago) and I tell the guy at the reception desk that I would like to make an appointment to get my birth certificate translated into French. The fellow transfers me to the Consular Service's voice thingy where it takes me on a good 5 minutes roundabout without actually getting a REAL LIVE PERSON. I swear to god, I HATE the Consular's voice thingy. It takes FOREVER!
I hang up. I call back. I tell the guy that he had put me through to an automatic thing and that what I wanted was a REAL LIVE PERSON to make an appointment with.
He gives me the direct number and then mentions that I can only call in the mornings between 9:30 and 11:30.
And I think GAH! Why didn't he tell me that they didn't take calls in the afternoon when I called the first time? Why?
Grr.
Sorry about venting on your blog, but it just fit your blog post somehow. Or maybe I'm delusional.
Gah.
Posted by: JennC | March 04, 2009 at 02:51 PM
Hey Jenn - Previously, if you were under 15, you did not have to pay for a passport. Sarko passed a new law though and now you do have to pay as well as pay more for adult passports.
http://tf1.lci.fr/infos/economie/conjoncture/0,,4109729,00-inflation-de-50-sur-le-prix-du-passeport-.html
And yeah, the CDN Embassy has crazy hours of availability. We should all be able to work those hours. Were you able to get through and make an appointment? I could ask Henri for that helpful chick's number if you want. Not sure she works in that dept., but she could maybe hook you up somehow.
By the way, you can vent on my blog anytime!
Posted by: cara | March 05, 2009 at 11:13 AM
Hmm. I must have been between laws because I'm sure that I've paid for the kids passports in 1999 and 2000 and then again when Kilian's was renewed.
Whatever.
I did manage to get through this morning. Yay! I have my appointment. Woot!
Posted by: JennC | March 05, 2009 at 01:37 PM
oh how totally frustrating! we had to reschedule our plans to take the girls to Disneyland cuz we discovered a little while ago that Emily's birthcertificate is wrong! it took us 9 1/2 years to realize that it said Male!! the Dr filled out the forms wrong, so I had inquired to get it corrected and about 6 months later I FINALLY got her corrected b/c this week! so now I can finally get us all passports, oh the joy, hopefully that goes smoothly!!!
Posted by: lala | March 06, 2009 at 05:23 AM
Oh this so reminds me of the time they screwed up my carte de sejour, shortening it by 6 months. When I told them and asked them WTF, the lady told me it wasn't her job and that I should call and make an appointment to ask someone what to do. This after 3 months of of meetings, phone calls, running all over Paris and selling my soul to the dark one.
Posted by: angelaineurope | March 08, 2009 at 12:27 AM
Not fun, eh? It was so nice to see you guys. Love to you all.
Posted by: Patti | March 09, 2009 at 05:49 PM
Oh, man! That stinks... what's sad is that I don't even have a passport. Your kids are much more worldly then I am already.... and Livia is what, 4 months old?
Posted by: Heidi | March 24, 2009 at 08:48 PM
Know how much they cost and the services.
Posted by: security | May 17, 2011 at 03:24 PM