residence card

[yeehoo]

Hello, I'm an american and have been living in Nice, France for 5 years now and this June will be eligible to apply for a ten year "permanent" residence card. Does anyone have any experience with this? Any idea what it *really* takes to get one? The official line from the french govt web site is pretty vague. My situation is that i have a cdi (permanent post working in research as a fonctionnaire). On the other hand i'm not married and have not had any kids born in France (which i understand is a sure-fire way of getting the permanent resident card - and at my age i don't intend to do so). I've also been living with a french woman for the last 3 years but we have not married or pacsed. My french is decent i suppose but far far from perfect. Thanks in advance for any shared experiences, advise, etc.

[Bevdeforges]

If they've been renewing your carte de séjour all this time with no fuss, chances are you'll just get a carte residente next time your due for a renewal without having to do anything special. Can't really advise you, since I got my carte residente by marriage to a French national. Never had a carte de séjour because of my immigration hassles and by the time we got it all sorted, I was eligible for the carte residente.

I think my American friends wound up just getting the ten year card automatically, though, after surviving 5 years of "clean living" in France. Besides, if you're a fonctionnaire, they can't really turn you down...

Congrats! You're in!
Cheers,
Bev

[yeehoo]

Well that would be great! From what i've heard things haven't changed in recent years. I'm up for renewal in June so we'll see what happens.

[giantpanda]

Originally Posted by yeehoo

Well that would be great! From what i've heard things haven't changed in recent years. I'm up for renewal in June so we'll see what happens.

Hi!

see here, present regulations:

Travail des étrangers - Service-public.fr

Yours,

giantpanda

PS. What type of " fonctionnaire " - for organisation? Then your employer will have information on your statute!

[yeehoo]

In case anyone is curious about this question of residence cards: in fact i was turned down and have to wait another year because, although i've now had five one year carte de sejours, my type or status changed between the first and second year. I had held a temporary post and had the status of "scientifique" and then changed to a permanent job giving me the status of "salaire" - or something like that. So whenever you change status you reset to zero. So you have to have the exact same status for 5 years running.

A related question i have is whether anyone knows anything about their french language requirement. I know they require you to speak french but does anyone know how this is determined? Is there a test? Is it really used? Anyone have any idea of what level of "perfection" they are looking for?

Thanks for any and all input!

[giantpanda]

Originally Posted by yeehoo

A related question i have is whether anyone knows anything about their french language requirement. I know they require you to speak french but does anyone know how this is determined? Is there a test? Is it really used? Anyone have any idea of what level of "perfection" they are looking for?

Thanks for any and all input!

Hi!

There is basic knowledge required.

However the "décrêts d'application" are not out. So at present it can not be applicable. Really still at discussion stage of details.


-First the criteria have to be determined.
-They have to determine if the tests are done before coming or after?
-Then they have to determine, who does the tests.
-Then the staff has to engaged and approved.
-They have to determine if the tests are payable.
-They have probably also to make special courses ( at whose costs)

All this means money, and there is very little around.

At present, the is this: contrat d'Accueil et d'Intégration

Objet, nature du contrat d'accueil et d'intégration et publics concernés - Service-public.fr

Can anybody report, if there is anything really behind this?


Apprentissage de la langue française:
Lors de l’entretien individuel au cours duquel est signé le C.A.I., l'étranger effectue un test de connaissance à l’écrit et à l’oral du français.
Si les résultats de ce test sont suffisants, une attestation ministérielle de dispense de formation linguistique (AMDFL) est remise. Elle garantit la maîtrise suffisante de la langue française.

Si le niveau prévu par le test n’est pas atteint, une formation linguistique est mise en place.

Elle est obligatoire et est d’une durée de 400 heures maximum.

Lorsqu’elle est achevée, son bénéficiaire doit passer un examen afin d’obtenir un diplôme qui attestera de son niveau en français : le diplôme initial de langue française (DILF).

Seule la première inscription à cet examen est gratuite.
La formation donne aussi lieu à la remise d’un certificat d’assiduité.

NB. It is not because it is posted on the Service Public, that it is applied.

eg; They tell you since over a year, that all foreignors have to register at their local Mairie within 3 months.

This is not applicable, because no décrêts, and here there are problems with the CNIL ( Commission National Informatique et Liberté ) because it mean listing foreigners, so it can not be applied.

Yours,

giantpanda

PS. there was some 5 or 6 years ago a plan to facilitate the integration of foreigners - There has been a test in Lyon. Otherwise big silence.

[Bevdeforges]

Originally Posted by yeehoo

A related question i have is whether anyone knows anything about their french language requirement. I know they require you to speak french but does anyone know how this is determined? Is there a test? Is it really used? Anyone have any idea of what level of "perfection" they are looking for?

It has changed since I went through the process, but my understanding (from a friend now going through the process) is that there is an actual test that you, in theory, have to pass. The level they are looking for seems to be a sort of basic, functional conversation level, but you are supposed to be able to read, write and speak.

What I suspect is that they may waive the test if you walk in, conduct your business in understandable French, including filling out any and all forms. If your level of French is deemed inadequate (like my friend, who basically didn't speak a word) you must attend 400 hours of language training over the next year.

But I believe they are doing this only for those getting their first carte de séjour (the one-year card) - with the proviso that they have to fulfill the terms of the "contrat d'integration" before the one-year card will be renewed. If they didn't make you sign the integration contract, I think you're home free. (But as in all things here - your mileage may vary. My friend moved from one departement to another during her year and is finding that her new departement does things entirely differently....)
Cheers,
Bev

[yeehoo]

Thanks to giantpanda and bev for your quick responses.

Well i guess i'll see next year how they decide to do it. I've interacted exclusively in french here (other than web browsing and email) for the last 3 to 4 years so if they don't require a test i should be fine. But if tested i'm sure i'd make a million mistakes.

I don't know how it is in other departments but here in Nice the process of renewing your carte de sejour used to go fairly smoothly. It would often take the better part of half a day if you had all your papers, and there were a fair number of unnecessary annoyances, but it worked. I'm not sure what they've changed, but now it's a real disaster. We almost had an emeute break out the other day, people were so mad - coming in day after day and waiting for hours and not getting a number and then having to come back again the next day. Ha! Well i'm laughing now, but .... Suffice it to say that there were some extraordinarily frustrated people there who had had about enough.

I lost it myself on my last day there - i'd finally gotten through everything but they couldn't print out my recepisse so i had to come back the next week. I come back the next week and wait forever, finally get to the guichet, explain to the lady why i'm there and she has the gall to tell me they don't give out the recepisse in the afternoons, only in the morning. Not to mention i'd been there in the morning but not early enough to get through the line before they closed for lunch. She wanted me to come back again the next day at 9 - which now means much earlier, waiting outside before the gates open if you hope to actually succeed in getting something done that day.

Ha Ha! J'ai peté un plombe! I really lost it and started complaining in a very loud voice - it would only take her 30 seconds to go get the thing, was she trying to tell me the thing disappears in the afternoon? Some not so polite words, the whole thing. It was their fault that i had had to come back in the first place and no one had said anything about it needing to be a certain time of day. Finally the lady (who i remembered from a previous year as being one of the good ones there) in the next guichet over stepped in and told me to wait and went and fetched the recepisse for me. Ai yai yai.

I don't think i've ever given someone behind a counter a hard time like that in my life. But at least it worked. I think the french way would have been to calmly explain and then refuse to move until they did something. That would have been a lot better and would have probably worked just as well. Although then who knows how long it would have taken for the lady with a brain in the next guichet to overhear the situation.

cheers and thanks again