22 Jul 2013

Our experience and some tips

Obtaining the required Long Stay Visa in Australia is only part of the journey in becoming a legal resident in France.

Once we arrived in the country we had to lodge documents with the French Immigration Office (OFII) to advise that we had entered the country. From there OFII requested that we come to their nearest regional office (in our case Bordeaux), where we would be required to undertake a medical examination, have a chest X-Ray and a basic interview to demonstrate that we had a place to live and sufficient funds to look after ourselves and not be a burden on the French system.

Tip 1 Do this as soon as possible after your arrival in order to expedite the process.

We had read a number of online blogs before-hand and they all painted a fairly unfriendly and grim picture of what to expect, ranging from the need to strip stark naked to the expectation of spending an entire day for the process.

We were advised by mail of the date and time of our appointment, but also warned that everyone receives the same appointment time so it is a case of getting onto the line earlier rather than later. We arrived at the office on a hot Monday afternoon around 1.20pm for a 1.30pm appointment (this is when they open their doors after lunch). There were a few people waiting outside but not as many as we expected. As a result, we were able to get into the office reasonably quickly. Here they separated those people seeking their “first” Titre de Sejour from those seeking extensions or other services and so we were ushered to a separate waiting room where surprise surprise, we were the first clients.

Tip 2 Arrive a little early for your appointment and try to get to the front end of any queue.

We were each ushered into different rooms (I went to a general medical office to answer a few questions and to be weighed and undertake an eye test). At the same time Kerrie was sent to the X-Ray room for her basic chest X-Ray to ensure that she did not have tuberculosis. At the end we simply each switched rooms and then back to the waiting room.

From here we each were called to a basic medical interview by a doctor who asked about our general health and any existing conditions or medications. All parties so far spoke at least a little English and we had no great trouble communicating. When we had finished this process we were then required to see one of the administrative staff who simply wanted to see proof of our residential address and after that she added a new “sticker” into our passport – this was the official Titre de Sejour, which we need to produce if we leave the country and then return or if requested by authorities within the country as proof of our right to reside in France.

Tip 3 Try to speak as much French as possible, but at least a little. Always be friendly.

The document allows us to reside legally in France for 12 months and around the 10 month mark we then need to attend our local Town Hall (Mairie) to have it extended and then receive a new Carte de Sejour (ID card). This is required to be rolled over each year, and currently 99.3% are rolled over without any problem. So much so that the French are now considering making the Carte Sejour for a longer duration to save work.


We were amazed that everything went smoothly and without problems. Indeed we found ourselves completed and “stamped” within a little over an hour. So much for some of those stories online.

A bientôt

It's official - we can stay !


It’s been about 10 days since our last post and we’ve been busy .

We visited the French department of immigration last week, but I’ll let you read about that on Graham’s separate post as he wants to explain the process. At least we are now “official”.

Bastille Day is called Fête Nationale in France and was celebrated in our town with a great fireworks display. While it wasn’t New Year’s Eve in Sydney, it was an impressive display for a small country town and went on for about half an hour above the river. Everyone seemed to be on the bridge opposite our house to watch, but we had just as good a view from our window. 

The chateau along the river from our house. I'm sure they loved having the fireworks go off overhead.

We have spent lots of time waiting for tradesmen (mostly English) to turn up to do work or to quote. Now just have to wait for them to get back to us. Already overdue!  As all of France goes on holiday in August very little can be done because you can’t get materials (like January in Australia) so we are not expecting to get any work started until September. Frustrating .

As an aside, we were told recently that frenchmen only wear shorts in July and August, never at any other time no matter the weather. It’s true!  Any man wearing shorts in any other month must be english or, perhaps, australian….a dead set give-away.

Since our last blog, we’ve been to a few more brocante/vide grenier (empty the attic) markets and bought a few interesting items including the drinks trolley. I know some of you will be saying “why?”  Don’t think it’s all that old but just couldn’t resist such a quirky item. The basket in the photo is made of grape vine cuttings and I am using it to carry my gardening tools . The two volumes of Larousse’s Histoire de France are in good condition and beautifully illustrated. Don’t know how old they are but hopefully, one day, we will be able to read them.




Which brings me to our french class. We have enrolled with a language school in our town and started with a group of eight english women and men of varying degrees of competence. I think we fall in the middle so we are pleased with that and hope our conversation skills will now improve to the extent that we can at least answer the phone.

Last night they held a country and western soirée in Port Ste Foy. It started at about 2pm and carried on into the night with line dancing and live music and a barbecue, judging by the aroma.  Very popular from the amount of people walking past on their way home and the cars parked everywhere including the footpath outside our house. The no parking signs are only a suggestion, after all.

We are saving ourselves for the other music events in the area over the following month – blues, jazz, choral, chamber music. Lots on now the tourists are in town. The Saturday morning market at Ste Foy was packed with people speaking everything but french, and the roads are crowded with mobile homes. You thought driving behind a caravan was bad ! Everyday we see number plates from The Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Great Britain, and even one from Morocco.

While the weather has been hot everyday it is lovely driving through the countryside. The sunflowers are now showing off, everywhere is lush and green and the vines are luxurious. If this weather continues I expect this vintage will be a good one.


parking at a brocante marché


Which brings me to our cellar! Graham has started collecting wine in the cellar, instead of drinking it all as he buys it. A big step forward and I’m sure he is looking forward to many more tastings and purchases. 


Just the beginning of something great !






â bientôt mes amis



10 Jul 2013

An interesting week in Sainte Foy la Grande


Getting back to normal…….


Our boxes from Australia arrived last week (a little earlier than expected) as did our dining chairs, so there is now less of a feeling of “camping out”. For those who have asked to see what the house looks like now we have some furniture, here is the living room at the back overlooking the garden. The rest of the house is still building.

Shipping through the UK is good from an administrative point of view, but will add to the time for delivery of your goods. It remains an important consideration depending on what you wish to take with you.




still living out of boxes !


One more thing to tick off the “to do” list….........Le Tour

On Sunday we decided to drive down to Bagnères de-Bigorre at the base of the Pyrenees to see the finish of stage 9 of Le Tour. After a 3 hour drive and a long walk from the carpark we found a good spot to wait along the main street and in the shade of a house. Despite it being 30 deg we appeared to be the only people wearing sunhats - Europeans don’t seem to understand about skin cancer. The “caravan” of sponsors took about 50 minutes to roll past and a bevy of attractive girls (Graham noticed) threw promotional give-aways at us. At least it was entertainment and added to the carnival atmosphere with lots of loud music and cheering from the crowds. Exciting to finally see the riders streak past us so fast that it was difficult to identify anyone and had to watch the reply at home to find out who won! Great fun and hope the route brings them closer to us next year so we can do it again.

The Pyrenees in the background are snowcapped




Yes, we were there

a bit fuzzy but GO CADEL


Le Tour loot

The local community…………..

What do you do when you want to become part of the community?

On Friday night the town held un repas (a community dinner) on the bridge outside our house (see our photos below). The local mairie (town hall ) closed the approaches and set up trestle tables and everyone brought their own food and drink. Lots of loud music, a local Spanish dance group and then a line dancing group performed, then the local French couples got up and danced after dinner (the english and australians not really into this). In order to get to know your local community and also to become part of it, it is wise to take part in these types of events. A beautiful evening as the sun set at about 10.00 pm and there was a cooling breeze blowing down the river. We sat between an older French couple whose accent was extremely heavy and we couldn't understand though they were friendly and we all shared our wine, and a family on holiday from Taiwan. You never know who you will meet here. All in all another interesting experience on the night.

The Dordogne River from our bridge





In order to also fit into the community, Graham went down to the local bar on the corner to watch the rugby on Saturday. Fortunately they run the rugby on TV and serve a half decent beer. He was not happy about the result but it was good to know that he can watch with the local boys.


à bientôt