Our Carte de Séjours

When we moved to France for the first time back in 2008, we got our Long Stay Visa and then had to go to the Prefecture within 3 months of arriving in France to get our  carte de séjour, which is a residency card.  But this time it's a different process.

From the 1st of June 2009, long stay visa holders will be allowed to reside in France for up to 12 months according to the validity of their visa and purpose of stay. They will no longer be required to obtain a residence permit (carte de séjour) from the French local authorities (préfecture) as long as their visa is valid. However, they will have to apply for a carte de séjour at the préfecture if they intend to stay for more than a year or if they are renewing a resident permit such as vie privée et familiale.


What we had to do this time was register with the French Office of Immigration and Integration (OFII). Once we arrived we had to make a copy of our passport page showing when we entered France, copy of our passport, our address in France, the residence form that was included with our visa application, stamped by the consulate when they granted our visa and we had to send it in to OFII.  Then we had to wait until we heard from them.  We sent ours in November 1st, 2010 and 2 weeks ago we received the letter from them with our appointment time of Friday 25th of February at 1:30.  We would have a medical exam and a chest x-ray (to rule out TB) and an interview.

We brought with us:

* passport,
* a proof of accommodation in France (lease, utility bill, etc),
* one ID picture (of your head only),
* payment for the processing fees of 55 € for workers and students or 340 € for visitors.  Yes,         340 € for each of us!  What you have to do is visit the Trésor Public to get "timbres" which   are stamps with a value, get enough to cover the 340 euros and bring them with you.

We were in Spain 3 days leading up to our appointment and we tried to re-schedule it, but here is where being here in frustrating.  We called the office no less then 15 times trying to get a hold of someone.  It would ring 2 times, you'd get a message saying they'll be right with you, the message would play 3 times and then you'd get disconnected.  It happened over and over and over.  Argh!  So we cut our climbing trip short by 3 days to make the appointment.

The office we went to was in Toulouse.  We arrived at 1:30 and we thought we'd have to wait forever, but we were pleasantly surprised with how smooth things went.  1:30 we went in, 1:35 we had our interview, 1:50 we had our x-ray, 2:00 we met with the Doctor, 2:15 we met with the final person who reviewed all our documents, asked a few questions and placed our new carte de séjour on one of the pages in our passport and by  2:30 we were out of there.  Amazing!  I guess you pay the big bucks for service, although they could answer their damn phone.

So, we are official...for 1 year.  We plan to stay after the 1 year, so in August we need to visit the Préfecture in Montauban and request another year.  I'm not sure it will go as smoothly, I have heard it could be a nightmare and a long day, but I won't worry about that until August.  Right now I'm just glad we have our carte de séjours.

When I was in with the nurse for the medical interview I heard Bruce talking to someone in English.  When I went out into the waiting room he was talking to a couple and he told me they were American and introduced me.  He then told me they were from California, from Los Angeles and actually lived about 2 miles from where we did.  Small small world.  They are retired and just moved here in September and live about 20 minutes from St. Antonin.  They are hoping to stay too.  The didn't speak French, so we helped them with what was going to happen during the appointment (because they people at OFII didn't speak English).  Lovely couple and I'm sure we'll see them again soon.

Our last camps at the studio

Drawing the big pepper tree 

Today we finished Camp #13 at Art-Works Studio, our business that we sold in May.  We are Independent Contractors right now, helping the new owner, training new teachers for classes, etc...  The studio had 13 camps over the summer, they are day camps and we do amazing projects with the kids.  I think we have done about 150 camps over the past 10 years.  They are a piece of cake, fun, easy and casual.  We worked a few in June and then 1 the end of July after we returned from our first teen camp in France with our new business Raison d'Art.  Then we took August off and came back for the last 2.  

It's strange to think we will never do another summer art camp at Art-Works Studio.  A bit bittersweet, but we had a good run and it's time to move on.  We had a great group of kids the last 2 weeks.  We had a girl named Emily in both camps.  Emily started at the studio when she was just 6 and today she turned 14!  We are very close with her and her family and it was great that our last 2 camps had her in them.

print by Emily

Abstract Tree

Miles

Next week we will be at the after-school classes, but we are slowly turning things over.  We only have 4 more weeks until we leave for France.  It will be good to see everyone coming back for Fall classes, kids we haven't seen since May.  We are putting out an email this weekend to all our customers letting them know that we'll be moving in October.  Many don't know that we are leaving, for good.

At first it was hard to let go of the studio, it was our baby for 10 years.  But now it's done, it's not ours anymore and we feel really good with the new owner and what she's doing.  She's psyched and excited for her new life as the owner and we are excited and psyched with our new life in France.  A win win for all of us.

Getting ready for the movers

5 Weeks.  35 Days until we leave Los Angeles.  Let the countdown begin.  We are starting to get ready for the movers, who come in 2 weeks.  We are using Rainier Overseas Movers.  We had California Relocation services come to the house to do a survey of the things we were taking.  They work with both of the companies we looked at, so they both had the same information.  We decided on Rainier because they were a bit (not much) cheaper and No Regrets for Me also used them when she moved to Brantome.

We are looking at what we have, how much it's worth and if we should pay for it to be shipped or could we buy a replacement in France.  Things like the old couch won't go, we'll get another at Ikea.  Things like my cookware and such will definitely be going.  It's not cheap to ship your stuff and since we are paying for it ourselves, we have to smart about what we'll be taking.  I'm not a hoarder and really have no sentimental ties to my "stuff",  so getting rid of things is no big deal to me.  There are a couple things, like these etchings my mom got in New Orleans about 50 years ago, an antique dresser and a few other things that I would never give away, but that's about it.  I don't like clutter and believe in less in more.

Once the movers pack us up, we won't see our stuff for 75-90 days.  Luckily the village house we are renting in St. Antonin will come furnished until our stuff comes.  The hardest thing is that we will be  without our bikes for 2-3 months.  We'll have to run, rock climb, do yoga and join the "club du musculation" the local gym in Villefranche so we can stay fit.

We'll leave Los Angeles and head east to Michigan to see my family for a few days and then we'll drive down to Chicago.  When we left on our sabbatical in 08 we drove to Chicago and left from there, because it's only 7.5 hours to Paris, 12 hours from Los Angeles.  We have the dogs and 12 hours is a long time.  7.5 isn't too bad.  They have done the trip before and they were fine.  We are flying United again, since they took such good care of them last time.  We have decided to fly to Brussels instead of Paris this time.  We are going to spend 2 days there looking for a used car.  The used cars in France are very expensive and they are not so in Belgium.  We are looking for a good reliable car, a bit newer than Claude (our 1985 Peugeot station wagon we had last time we lived there).  We are thinking of a Peugeot 305 estate (station wagon) or a Skoda estate.  We had great luck with Claude and all the french mechanics know how to work on Peugeots.  We want a wagon, so we can pack up the bikes or the dogs and still have a bit of room.  Once we find a car, we'll drive down to St. Antonin.  I have heard that the Brussels airport is so nice and easy, CDG in Paris is a nightmare!

Claude our 1985 305 estate

A new 307 estate

I'm also going to start throwing pottery again.  I haven't thrown in almost 2 years.  I couldn't find a place to throw when we were living in France last time and then when we came back to the states last October, we didn't move back into our house (my studio was in the garage) and I had no place for my kiln.  I sold my wheel and just sold my kiln and slab roller.  We'd like to find a small space to rent in the village where we can have our studios.  I'll throw and Bruce will paint.  We are also going to offer some art classes on Wednesday and Saturday for local kids during the school year.  We'll focus on our art in the winter/spring and hopefully get it into some galleries/shops.

some of my pottery

For late spring/summer we'll focus on Raison d'Art  our new business.  We'll have women's retreats in May & September and Summer art camps for tweens/teens June-August.  Our first trip this July was a huge success and we know that we can offer kids a very unique experience, something they will never forget.  We'll take kids from all over the world, but the focus next year will be on the US and England.

Right now I'm a bit nervous but super excited.  Our one year sabbatical was amazing and life-changing and we knew we wanted to go back for good, but when it's only 5 weeks away it's a bit scary.  No turning back.  The business has been sold, the movers are coming, the one-way tickets have been purchased...we are so ready for our new life!