Carte de sejour - Renouvellement (How long?)

SureshJ · #1 (**permalink**) 7th October 2009, 11:17 AM

Hello everyone,

Does anyone know how long the renouvellement takes?

As in, I have lived here in Lyon for a year, I have a carte de sejour, I have a recipisse from my last attempt to renew my carte, and the recipisse expires on the 31st of October. The problem is that I will be travelling til the 1st of November, so if I go in this week to "finish" the renewal process, do I have to wait on a new carte?

Thanks
-SJ

Bevdeforges · #2 (**permalink**) 7th October 2009, 12:12 PM

Go in to the prefecture (or whoever issued you the recipisse) just before you leave and if they don't have your new carte, they should be able to issue you a new recipisse to tide you over until your return.

When I applied for my carte de sejour, they would only give me recipisses good for a month at a time. I had to renew my recipisse two or three times before they finally turned down my carte de sejour request. (Long story - which I will save for another time.)
Cheers,
Bev

SureshJ · #3 (**permalink**) 7th October 2009, 06:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bevdeforges

Go in to the prefecture (or whoever issued you the recipisse) just before you leave and if they don't have your new carte, they should be able to issue you a new recipisse to tide you over until your return.

When I applied for my carte de sejour, they would only give me recipisses good for a month at a time. I had to renew my recipisse two or three times before they finally turned down my carte de sejour request. (Long story - which I will save for another time.)
Cheers,
Bev

Hey Bev,

Thanks for the idea (but that seems like quite the interesting story about the carte refusal), its what I was thinking about doing. I was hoping they would give me a recipisse, but on the other hand, I thought they take my old carte de sejour, so I was kind of worried about how that would go down with travelling.

My other plan was to get a recipisse instead of renewing the carte, because I know I can travel that way...

But, so is it known if they send a new carte? Or do they just place a sticker on the old one? I find that the government websites don't mention time delays as much as they should.

Cheers,
-SJ

Bevdeforges · #4 (**permalink**) 7th October 2009, 08:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SureshJ

But, so is it known if they send a new carte? Or do they just place a sticker on the old one? I find that the government websites don't mention time delays as much as they should.

AFAIK they will issue you a new card. I assume you had to submit i.d. photos, and that's what they use them for in the renewal process.
Cheers,
Bev

SureshJ · #5 (**permalink**) 27th October 2009, 10:03 PM

Alright, well, the hassle of the French bureaucracy made it impossible for me to travel until the 1st of November, but some notes:

It took 3 trips to the Prefecture and hearing different requirements EACH TIME! One person says that I can get an extension without problems, I just forgot a form. The next one says that it is impossible, but if I come back again with another form, they might be able to put me through with something. The THIRD person accuses me of lying!!! And each person wanted different forms each time. Ridiculous...

I think you can all imagine my state by this time, but luckily, I discovered that Lyon Campus over near Saxe Gambetta was also performing carte renewals until October 16th. So, I decided to head over there on the 16th, thinking they can't screw up things more than the Prefecture...

And I must say, I was downright impressed by the system. They had people validating all of the documents that each person brought, to reduce the time spent with those who actually had the authority to perform the renewal. This led to a pretty smooth system and the people were very helpful, nice and (dare I say) HAPPY. Albeit, they did ask for another set of documents, which had previously never been mentioned to me (nor were they on the website, or my school's website), but I was so impressed by what I saw, I gleefully skipped home to bring back the final documents.

As it turned out, I received one of the final receipts that Lyon Campus handed out...

I HIGHLY recommend this to those who need to do their renewal next year.

Bevdeforges · #6 (**permalink**) 28th October 2009, 06:42 AM

Hate to say it, but "welcome to France." After a while you get used to that sort of insanity.

For any bureaucratic procedure (like renewing a card), I set myself a limit of 3 visits - and then see if I can reduce it somehow. The usual ploy is being obsequious as heck, wide eyes, and hang on the bureaucrat's every word, even if they clearly have no idea what they're talking about.

For submitting my dossier for nationality, I got it in two visits - and managed to avoid having to get birth certificates for DH's children (who had nothing whatsoever to do with the process).
Cheers,
Bev