As so many people have said already Survive France is an excellent source of information as so many people are willing to share their knowledge and experiences. So I am very grateful for the help I’ve received so far. I am in the process of applying for a titre de séjour and I am sure there must be many others who have an EU spouse who will need to go through the same process.
I did come across a posting on survive France from an Englishman with a wife from Luxembourg. He went to the prefecture with his documents and apart from a complaint that he had no visa he had no problems. I have not been able to find this posting again to recheck it so maybe it was just my imagination or maybe it’s been deleted.
So I hope this posting will be helpful to others and to myself if any problems arise.
We did live in France three years ago and went to the local CPAM and tax offices and had no problems so I thought I’d do the same with the prefecture.
So I went last Wednesday with all my docs. Very disappointed to find that I had to have an appointment. I asked if I could make an appointment but no I could not except by sending an email. This is the address I was given
So I sent my request in on Wednesday evening. So far I haven’t had a reply or acknowledgement. The only question in my mind at the moment is how long do I wait before I send another email.
Geoffrey, you didn’t imagine the post (see below).- I was that Englishman with a Luxembourg wife. I had to book a meeting slot online for our prefecture. I don’t know if your prefecture requires the same, and if they do it might be worth checking on their website since you typically get immediate confirmation of your time/date. You could then cancel your email request. As well as a slight case of pursed lips from the prefecture lady at my not having a visa (not required in my case) , I was also told that I should have had my EU citizen wife with me. This is not a requirement either in the EU regulation for this type of carte de séjour, nor is it on the Immigration Ministry website’s list of required items to ‘bring’ with you to the meeting. However it does make sense since it is obviously only by virtue of the relationship with an EU spouse that you can claim this particular carte de séjour.
Unfortunately, I have the feeling that the days are long gone when you could just turn up at the Préfecture and expect to be seen by someone for a titre de séjour. At best, you might get a general information person, who might tell you what you need to prepare the application file. Most Préfectures are severely understaffed, even more so in the Services des Étrangers. The online appointment booking systems also do not appear to be ubiquitously active on all Préfecture websites. For example, the Préfecture du Puy de Dôme only offers 3 types of online appointment, only 1 of which relates to immigration services, and even that is for informational purposes only. Having just checked the page, it specifically says that you can’t use that appointment booking service to apply for, or renew, a titre de séjour. There is a separate set of links on the main Préfecture page that you have to drill down through in order to apply for a TdS, which takes you to a form you then have to download, fill in, and send in by postal mail with all the other bumph they require for your application.
So much for the “transformation numérique” that the French government has been banging on about for the last 5 years. It is this individualisation of each Préfecture’s services that is probably the most frustrating for any would-be applicant.
I think imminently you’ll go here: Étrangers en France for everything like this, the whole system is being moved online to a central portal. I don’t think it’s currently active for every kind of visa/ titre since it’s still in its early stages, and clearly this is no help perhaps to the OP, but it is happening, and, afaik will include anything to do with WA cards too (loss/damage, renewals etc). Perhaps it’s this changeover situation that’s making matters even worse if you just turn up at prefectures, if there’s specific people who know what needs to be done what way at this moment in time they’re probably the ones behind the email address, rather than the first contact person at the desk.
@geoffrey_Croshaw
We live in Charente and in 2019 for our CdS we had an email from the prefecture as follows:
so the address you have is essentially correct (just the sejour element added).
I suppose you could copy your mail to the address without the sejour element to see if that works…
I would definitely second @graham 's suggestion to try the other email address.
When friends moved out of the Charente around the time we were all applying for CdSWA (ie brexit)… they got stuck with no replies to their e-mails to the Charente Préfecture.
Our Mairie (Dordogne) stepped in to help them and… hurrah… suddenly emails were answered by the Charente and the problems were resolved… double hurrah.
Seems that sometimes emails can drop into black holes… and a different route/address is what is needed.
Thanks for all the suggestions. I obviously must spend a bit more time learning to navigate SF. I don’t feel happy about doing nothing so I will try out all the your suggestions. Also you’ve prompted me to look at the Angoulême website and it came up with this
So I thought I would send a request by post containing a short letter and copies of my UK passport and my wife’s EU passport and proof of house purchase. That way at least they’ll be a bit of paper on someone’s desk which is not quite so easy to ignore as an email.
I think that’s quite common - préfectures are booked solid for these sorts of things. Do you need it earlier? As if you have a confirmed appointment that shows you are trying to do the right thing.
(People who have just been naturalised are trying to get appointments to hand in dossiers for passports - first one also in October. Angouleme does not have a good reputation)
OTOH, during the CdS-WA round, Angoulême had - in our direct experience - an extremely good reputation borne out by comments from others on SF and friends and associates.
That was not always the case in regard to other prefectures (of which I had no direct experience).
A good strategy might be to book the first available appointment that you can attend, and then keep checking back. There will be cancellations and sooner or later you will be lucky and log on when a slot has just become available. Then you can take that one and cancel the appointment for October. Which somebody else will snap up!
I’ll certainly do that. My problem is that I didn’t get a visa as the French govt website suggested I didn’t need one. My 90 days will be up by the end of June.
No, cartes de séjour are solely the responsibility of the the préfectures. And only Mairies who can deal with dématérialisation are now able to do passports and CNI.
Geoffrey, when you apply online for your EU family member carte de séjour appointment, you should also receive an automated ‘waiver of deadline’ (can’t recall its actual name) that you can show to anybody querying why you’re still here, date wise. The key is that you have applied for the CdS within the 90 days required by the EU regulations, irrespective of when the prefecture can then actually meet you. The former is under your control, the latter is the responsibility of the prefecture.
Thanks George that is a relief! I was thinking I 'd have to go back to the UK for a couple of weeks to get a visa. But at the back of my mind I had the feeling that that was the case
Maybe then hedge your bets! Book your appointment, and do screen print of this so you have something to show Then apply by post as well, which maybe they’ll accept and maybe they’ll send back, but all you’ve lost is the price of a stamp.
Are you plan img to leave the country before October 25th? As that’s probably the only time you will need the card. They don’t have swarms of border force guards ready to descend on people on the 91st day.
