In which we deal with more bureaucratic shenanigans

While my mother was visiting, a few weeks ago, Blaise and I went to the sous-préfecture because our temporary cartes de séjour were about to expire. They provided us with replacement receipts, assured us that we would be contacted about our medical visits soon, and advised that we would be able to pick up our cartes as soon as our medical visits had been completed.

Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago. Blaise met with a woman who works for an organization whose job it is to help foreign researchers navigate the bureaucracy that is France. Originally, he contacted her because he wanted help figuring out how to sign up for a mutuelle. (Basically, that's top up health insurance. For most things, the government insurance pays 70% and you pay 30%. For serious things, they pay 100%. The mutuelle pays for the 30% that you're responsible for.) She was very upset that we (he) hadn't had our medical visits yet, and sent an angry email off to the OFII (Office of French Immigration and Integration), demanding an appointment for him. Three days later, he discovered an email in his spam folder stating that his appointment was the previous day. He phoned the woman back, and received a new appointment for this Wednesday morning at 8:30.

Along with the email, he got two letters. The first listed the documents that they wanted him to provide: passport, copy of the letter, vaccination record, all of his recent chest x-rays, and copies of the bills from his hospitalizations. Fortunately, we were able to provide the first 2. The second explained that in order to get his carte de sejour, he would need to purchase some special stamps, valued at 15€ (9 of these) and 55€ (3 of these) and provide the stamps to the people at the department of foreigners. Evidently they were available at tax offices, and at certain tobacco shops. (They were not available at the Fontenay-sous-Bois town hall. I checked.)

So, at 7:15 yesterday morning, he left on the hourlong trek to the south side of Paris for his check up. He arrived, got checked in, and was called back with the first group of 20 or so people to be seen. He was weighed, measured, and given a chest x-ray. They checked his blood pressure and blood glucose (and we think for malaria). He met briefly with a doctor, who discussed the importance of vaccinations with him. (He does have them. It just didn't occur to me to bring that particular piece of paper with me to Paris. When we get home, I will be scanning each and every piece of paper we own.)

Since he was done by 9:30, he decided that he had time to take the train to the sous-préfecture and walk home afterwards. So, he found the building, and went to the cash desk to buy the stamps. Then he brought them, and the certificate from the visite medicale to the desk of the department of foreigners, where they said, "Oh, we don't need those right now. Now that your file is complete, you can expect a letter in the mail in about a month telling you to come and pick up your carte de séjour."