I arrived in France last week and yesterday went to get my carte de sejour here in Paris. I am a student attending la Sorbonne and they now have a specific prefecture set up just for foreign students. Anyhow, I took all required documents, did the whole process and to my surprise, everything went quite smoothly - then she begins to tell me that they no longer issue year long carte de sejours to students and that I was receiving a temporary one for 3 months in which I must return and reapply for another one that will be good for only 6 months, then 6 more months and so on. I realize that in France nothing is ever the same for different people and most certainly not for different prefectures, but this is quite odd. With my 3 month temporary carte, I can not take work nor open a bank account. I was really depending on summer work this year to help with tuition costs. On top of that, it seems like not only is it a huge pain to constantly keep reapplying, but by doing so I am ever so often increasing my odds of my carte not being renewed. I have read many, many accounts and this is certainly a new one to me. I have my medical exam on July 22 and then have to take the results with me when my next appointment at the prefecture is (not sure yet - must take an appointment online in 28 days).

Any info or help would be great.