[hulagirl]

lane:
Aloha! I made it to my appointment at the SF Consulate and back in Hawaii in three days. Flew over 2 thousand miles for an appointment that took merely 15 minutes!! Spent about a thousand dollar on airfare, hotel and expenses. I stayed at the Executive Hotel Vintage Court on Bush Street, the same street on which the French Consulate is located. So happy it was only a three minute walk away. Relieved all the stress.

The fonctionnaire was a cute, young guy casually dressed. He sat behind a glass window and first asked me for my demande de long sejour. Then he asked me how long I intend to stay in France. I said, "More than a year." He was surprised until he saw on the application that the reason was because of marriage. He said to me, "So you married a French man." He seemed to find it amusing. Then he asked me if I had a "proof of rent" of my husband. I told him that I didn't because the website didn't say to bring one and, also, when I called the consulate, they didn't tell me to bring it either. He asked his colleague/supervisor if it'll pass and he said, "on verra (we'll see)." And that was the end of it. He said just to make sure that on the application my husband's home address and contact info is listed. That was the only snag.

I proceeded to give him all the other required documents and copies (REMEMBER to bring copies; they don't copy for you). They were: passport, my husband's passport, the OFII form filled out, livret de famille and copy of my flight itinerary. And I handed him a self-addressed express envelope with a stamp on it. Don't forget that. He took my fingerprint. And that was it. He kept my passport to mail me later with my visa. And he gave me back my livret de famille and my husband's passport.

My appointment was at 10:30 am and I had the rest of the day to enjoy San Francisco. I must admit I was kind of mad that I had to go all the way to San Francisco just for that. They could've easily done that in Honolulu. There's an honorary French Consulate. I heard that it could change in the future and that they might bring over someone to do it here because it's hard on large families. Even the French has to go to San Francisco now for consulate business.

All in all it was a successful and fun trip.

 

[Bevdeforges]

Congratulations - you're done with the hard part (well, except for the waiting). Yeah, it is pretty lame to make folks travel all that way to the consulate for a 10 or 15 minute appointment like that. I guess they want you to "prove" that you're really serious (and possibly to introduce you to some of the idiotic bureaucracy you'll come to know and "love" when you get to France).
Cheers,
Bev

 

[rynd2it]

lane:
Aloha! I made it to my appointment at the SF Consulate and back in Hawaii in three days. .......All in all it was a successful and fun trip.

All right! You are on your way here (nearly). Keep us in the loop

Cheers

 

[hulagirl]

Thanks. Been enjoying your blog. cheers. hulagirl

 

[Zoom]

So, let me me get this straight... you found yourself "stuck" in one of the world's great, most beautiful cities and you didn't know what to do with all that extra free time... Wow, yeah, really..... YOU BET I can "feel your pain" - sometimes life can be SO difficult. I pray you make it through all the trials and tribulations you poor girl..... (Zoom - sniff, sniff - wipes a tear away from below his left eye)....... It's just such a super hard world we all must cope with.... (Oh God, the tears are now just rolling down my face like some Niagara Falls impersonator - SO embarrassing !!! People are staring....)

(Special note: Obviously all in good, lite fun. Zoom strongly feels it should be left up - and not deleted - to give the peeps on the board a bit of a laugh in these hard times)