MM Dix-Sept: Permis de Conduire

I'm realizing I'm pretty terrible at these Monday Minutes, but here's finally a new one!  And it's definitely, an "Ohhhhhh, France" one (similar to my prefecture post).

You would think now that we've lived here for almost 10 months that we'd be done dealing with applying for things.  But no, we're finding that paperwork is never ending here in France.  So here's the story of getting our permis de conduire (driver's licenses).

We knew moving here that our U.S. licenses were valid for a year and then we'd have to get new French ones.  Thankfully, Texas has an exchange program that just allows you to switch it out for a French one (with loads of paperwork of course), but it meant we didn't have to go through driving classes or take any French driving tests.  Oi, I can just imagine how that would have gone!  Also thankfully, Nick's company set us up with someone who helped us handle the paperwork.

So I know what you're thinking, well this sounds easy.  But you'd be wrong.  We spent several months filling out forms, translating official documents, and collecting all the necessary documents.  Literally, it took this long...every day we found out something new.  Oh, your wife's name is not on your electric bill or bank account?  Well you better find some translated copies of your marriage license or find a way to add her to the account ASAP.  And in the middle of all this arrived two certified letters in the mail:

For those of you who can't read French, this is from our car insurance company basically saying that as of February 28, our insurance on our cars here is dropped because we didn't hold up our end of the bargain (which was sending them a copy of our French driver's licenses).  After a minor heart attack, we realized they must just send these notices 6 months ahead of time.  At least, that's what we're telling ourselves.

Anyway, we finally had everything in order and headed out with our huge manila envelope of copies to the prefecture in late September.  Of course there's a million prefectures in Paris, but only one that deals with permis de conduire, and it is possibly the one that is the farthest away from our apartment.  Having heard from other ex-pats that lines can get very long, we decided to arrive a good hour plus before it opened.  (Aka leaving the apartment at 6:30am...keep this in mind later.)

Nick looks pretty happy waiting in an hour+ line!

Once they finally opened, we were one of the first in line (woot!) but of course were told that we were missing copies of papers.  Copies that were not listed on their list of documents needed mind you, but they need them nonetheless.  Luckily, they had a photocopier upstairs, whew!

We quickly (amazing!) got called up to submit our paperwork and are told to go back and wait in the chairs.  A few minutes later, the lady I was working with calls me up and tells me that my photo is not acceptable and does not conform to the specifications because a tiny part of my hair is covering my face.  I try telling her it's the same picture I submitted for my visa last year, but she says it doesn't matter and there's a machine upstairs I can use for a new picture.

Two problems....one, it only accepts coins and 10 and 5 euros bills.  All Nick and I have are 20s and higher.  Two, remember how I said we left at 6:30am?  Yep, glasses on, not showered, hair a mess and now I have to take a picture.  Luckily, after asking everyone in the waiting area if they had change for a 20 a nice French girl had two 10s.  However, the other problem was not easily solved and the resulting picture was quite possibly the worst picture ever.  Even worse than my US driver's license picture...

But, the lady said it was an acceptable picture so that was that.  They told us to come back in 3 weeks to pick up our licenses.  Wait, what?!  Trek back up here in 3 weeks?? 

So, fast forward 3 weeks, and I hike back up there armed with all the things they told us to bring (including a note signed by Nick giving permission for me to pick up his, which they also told us would be acceptable).

Again, I was quickly helped and brought my permis, but when I began to show Nick's things, she looks at the note and tells me in French that the verb he used in the note is incorrect.   That's right, not that right verb.  I try to explain that we only speak a little French, so we're not quite up to speed on the nuances of different French verbs, show her his residence card, US driver's license, and passport but to no avail.  "C'est impossible!"  she tells me.  That's pretty much the standard response here in France when things are difficult.

So, I left with my permis, but Nick still doesn't have his.  The lady told me to go to the prefecture website and find an example so he would know what to write for next time, but so far we have found nothing like that on the website (even with a native French speaker's help), so I think Nick will be making the trek up there soon.

Yes, I definitely covered up that awful photo!

Oh, and did you notice that Crist is on there?  It is also on my residence card, along with Guldan, but this one does not have Guldan anywhere on it.  HAHAHA!  Is it worth going and fixing, I'm starting to think no....