Visa, Bureaucracies and Documentation

Smile and be nice to everyone behind a desk, everywhere, all the time.

And then expect nothing to happen until you meet with someone.

Bureaucracy. It’s a French word.

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Our visa process was surprisingly easy. Then again, we had learned from mistakes we made with our visa application in Portugal – we took ever requirement seriously, provided ever single thing that they asked for to the letter. And they asked for a lot.

We went to our paperwork review at VFS Global in midtown Manhattan and nervously sent our passports off to Washington to see what the French authorities would say. We’d dealt with them before when we had applied for our stalled Portuguese visas and we’d had a lot of time consider the process. VFS seems to handle the intake for most consulates and visas, at least in the United States.

At their office, bring everything, be super nice to everyone, then wait for the process to play out. Considering that Portugal had our visas stalled for over 8 months, we were sure that it would take several weeks for the French to handle it. As I’ve mentioned before, France is kind of famous for its bureaucracy in the way that airports are famous for delays or restaurants are famous for poor service.

It is known, but not loved.

There are sometimes surprises. We had our passports and visas back in our hands in a week. I couldn’t believe it.

That part was easy. As specific and complicated the visa process was, we’d soon realize, was exactly how it is with pretty much every piece of paperwork you need to handle. The French are oddly Teutonic about these things.

The visa process was just the ticket to entry to the theme park of French paperwork.

Something will be missing from your dossier.

The French administrative system is notorious for its meticulousness and requirement for extensive documentation. It's not uncommon to submit a 100-page dossier of documents, only to be told additional papers are needed. Patience is not just a virtue but a weapon. If you do manage to lose your patience with someone, you can be sure that there will be some problem with your paperwork. Smiles and thank you all around to everyone behind a desk, everywhere, all the time. I am sure that there are people behind desks who like to piss people off just to create a reason to delay their process. It must be.

Moreover, the language barrier presents its own set of challenges. Even if you arrive with a basic understanding of French, someone will inevitably correct you. The nuances of the language of official documents is not the same language you’ll use to order a coffee at a bistro. It can be overwhelming and my pantomime game is pretty strong, but it’s really difficult to pantomime your way through the fine print of a lease.

Speak to people, however awkward your French is

Maybe you could embrace these moments as opportunities for growth, for integration into French society. Again, speaking to people in person seems to be the best way to get anything done. It can be really awkward if you don’t speak French very well, but you just won’t get anywhere until you speak with people here. It’s almost like the internet isn’t connected to anything at all when it comes to certain agencies.

When I worked for the NYC Department of Education, a bureaucracy so dizzying it would make Kafka blush, they used to have a system where things had to be printed off, only to be handed to someone else and typed back into the same system.

I watched people work with this every day like it was the most normal thing in the world. The program was still on a green screen like in the 1980s while printing out thousands of reports that could just be shown on a screen - every day. That paper is then recycled or just thrown out. I left the job 3 years ago and it likely is still the exact same way.

The French love paper

Beyond whatever actual, physical paper you’ll need for each system you encounter, the French systems , from healthcare to banking, operate differently from those in the U.S. Setting up a bank account or navigating the healthcare system is bewildering.

France has so many bright spots and it’s been wonderful for us here, but the paperwork is just not a part of that.  I do have to say, that once you actually get some of these annoying things done, it feels like a real achievement. I didn’t change the system in my old job and I am not going to change these ones. However, getting my health insurance card helps me to feel like I belong here, or at least I’m getting closer to it.

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