CAF have asked me for "la copie intégrale de l'acte de naissance de moin de 3 mois". afaics this means a complete copy of my birth certificate less than 3 months old. I guess the recentness needed is because the French birth certificate is an ongoing record unlike the UK one (or in my wife's case Australian). Could I get away with just copying these and writing the date on them do people think?
Any suggestions?
Hi Patrick,
you have three choices
1. Write a nice letter to let them know that you have already provided (if you have of course) an original full birth certificate (with your parents names on) and if applicable - its' certified copy.
2. Order a new one at a cost of £10, send as is in English and ask them to compare it to the last one sent so they can see no change
3. Same as two but pay 45€ for its translation (court approved of course) and send with your original.
We can help you with those three steps IF you wish but that’s up to you.
Quoting them European directives will not help you though, they dig in pretty well. (Rightly or wrongly)
Thanks
John Dislins
Email us
pleasehelp.fr
Hi Patrick,
I can give you an explanation. Birth certficates in France should be requested at the mairie of one's birth place. An electronic/physical copy is thus issued and dated.
If you can get a certified copy of your UK birth certificate (the original is probably a little bit older than 3 months if I believe your profile picture ;-)) with a date on it , that would be accepted.
Christian
They are not asking to see the same birth certificate every three months, they want to see a newly issued certificate (from the UK of course). No Mairie in France can issue those yet.
Would the Mairie certify a copy for me, or do I need a notaire?
No, they really don't certify anything . They can only confirm having seen the original. An original which is more than 3 months old. I have come across this several times, go in to see them the CAF, make an appointment.
I guess I could possibly get a new UK one for me, but my Aus born wife is another matter and they've asked for both. I think I'll just try simple copies first. And take it from there.
i have previously been asked for a birth cert less than three months old when i was applying for my social security number, I made an appointment and went in to see them, explained that the uk system was different and that a uk certificate is valid for life, and that i could not provide a new one quickly, with that the woman i was speaking with then called some head office and explained the sittuation and they accepted my old one without a translation. it may be that the person who has requested it has just skimmed over the paperwork checking it against a checklist applying french regulation to it
i would make an appointment, go in with everything you have, passport, driving licence, medical insurance, a few utility bills never hurts etc etc and explain the sittuation,
i find having far more paperwork than you actually need shows them you are not trying to pull a fast one and are willing to provide anything they ask so they don't ask for as much.
Interesting, thanks I'll try that. It is odd that for instance a carte vitale, driving licence, even a bank account requires all the same info from scratch, when showing one should prove ID. Reassuring I guess, I wonder what the stats for id theft are in France?