In which we get a letter from the CPAM

The CPAM is the social security program in France, in case you were wondering. And, unfortunately, it was not a letter telling us that we had successfully subscribed. No, that would be much too convenient. Instead, it was an envelope containing all of the papers that we had previously provided and a list of all the papers that we evidently still have to provide.

1) Copies of our cartes de séjour, for the adults. That's easy enough for Blaise, since he has his. (He didn't when we filled out the original application.) I have yet to be scheduled for my visite medicale, which is a prerequisite for actually obtaining the card. Furthermore, according to my contact, who was able to get Blaise an appointment, the OFII (office for immigration and integration) is far more backed up than it was in November. I'll merely observe that if part of the reason for the visite medicale is to prevent the transmission of tuberculosis and other illnesses of public health concern, they might be better off trying to get people in quicker than the 6+ months they're doing now.

2) A copy of Blaise's birth certificate that lists his parents' names. We now have such a certificate. Of course, it hasn't been translated yet, so that's in process.

3) Copies of birth certificates for the children that list their genders. Actually, Cherry's and Ezio's already do. (Evidently they weren't read very carefully. There is, admittedly, a lot of information on them, mostly irrelevant to what the French need. Like our address in Palo Alto when Ezio was born. And the name of the doctor who supposedly delivered Cherry but who didn't actually show up until 30 minutes after she was born.) Sapphire's does not. A call to the St. Joseph County Health Department determined that federal law did not require them to put gender on official birth certificates until May 2008, so they didn't. Color me unimpressed. The request for a new copy is in process, and hopefully we'll have a translation within the next couple of weeks.

4) A letter from Cherry's headmistress proving that she is in school, I suspect to prove that she is actually in France. (Alternately, I could bring her to the CPAM office and turn her loose, as a means of proving that she was, indeed, in France. Do you think that would speed things up?) I could also provide a French health record for her, but of course I don't have one. Her vaccination record is American. This, at any rate, was relatively easy to get. I've added it to the file already.

So, of the 7 things they want us to provide, 2 they actually already had, if they would have bothered to read a bit more carefully, 2 are easy to provide, 2 will be a pain in the rear, but are at least under our control, and 1 is totally and completely up in the air. I'm hoping that once we have the (new) translated birth certificates, that we will be able to get the kids attached to Blaise's record without me, so at least their health coverage will be simpler to deal with. In the meantime, I'll try to be the squeaky wheel, in the hopes that it will get me scheduled for a visite medicale sooner rather than later. Once I have that, there's a one month wait to actually get the carte de séjour. (Unfortunately, that means that I'm going to need to go to the sous-préfecture next week to get yet another 3 month receipt proving that I've applied for the carte de séjour. Ugh. At least I'll know enough to bring passport sized photos with me this time.)