Preparing my case for "carte de sejour conjoint"

Hi.
Are you married or paces? Make sure you have the required 6 or 12 months of living.together (depending if it's marriage or pacs.). They ask for minimum 1 proof/month

Hi Talatta,

My wife (Dutch) and I are married for a month now, we got married in Amsterdam earlier this month and we already have an apartment signed on both name, joint bank account opened last week and i have a french number already.
We know each other for almost 2 years now but the only thing is that she is still looking for a job in France, not easy with the language barrier but i have a couple of interview planned already so if i get a promise of employment that will make my case better.

Any suggestion from your side?

In that case,know that normally when you get your récépissé de demande (proof of your demand of carte de séjour,not the final answer),it's supposed to mention you have the right to work during the waiting time. They tend to "forget"..... If you don't see it mentioned on the paper you receive (1-2 weeks after you hand in your file,or the same day,depending on where you are) ask for it to be written on your récépissé.

Where are you in France?

Oh,sorry. Nice,saw it now
If you have ANY  trouble,get in touch with Les Amoureux au Ban Public,the Marseille office is your closest. They can help you.

Hey thanks for these little tips and I will make sure they put it on the recepissé. I already went to look aux bancs public and here in Nice they don't have it but something similar called COVIAM and they help us a little bit. They only said that it should be fine because we have our savings but if I get a promise of employment it would definitely go through.

By the way here in Nice the recepissé is given right away.

But did you personally went through the same procedure " Cds conjoint European"?

Can you share your experience and how did it go? The interview etc?

I was married to a French,but my procedure took place more than 20 years ago! Things have changed. I'm volunteering at Ban Public,so I meet quite a few couples in your case.
Normally,you won't go through an interview. That's why your file has to be as complete as possible.Make sure you have all the papers. Make copies for the file,and.bring the originals to show. Do you have the appointment already?

I was married to a French,but my procedure took place more than 20 years ago! Things have changed. I'm volunteering at Ban Public,so I meet quite a few couples in your case.
Normally,you won't go through an interview. That's why your file has to be as complete as possible.Make sure you have all the papers. Make copies for the file,and.bring the originals to show. Do you have the appointment already?

Good morning,

I just sent you a private message in your inbox.

Cheers

I don"t know what a Carte de Sejour conjoint is! I have, however, just received my carte de Sejour, valid for ten years.

If they're one and the same I would be happy to tell you the procedure I went through though apparently it does change from department to department.

Hi Euston,

"carte de sejour conjoint europeen" means cds for spouse of european citizen.

Of ourse you can share with me, i will take all the infos and experiences I can.

I will do mine in prefecture Alpes maritimes cotes d'azur.

Maybe there are some similarity.

Where was yours done?

O.k; Mine was a straightforward Carte de Sejour application. I have lived here for 20 years and it was only on the advice of the both French and British governments that I applied for the Carte.
I live in the Pays Basque so my local Sous Prefecture is in Bayonne. I went there, without an appointment and was told I needed proof of residence for the last five years. (Electric bills etc) I also needed bank statements showing adequate funds and income. I needed a birth certificate, translated into French and my passport. Three  head and shoulder passport photos completed the dossier.
Once a assembled the documents required back I went.

My fingerprints were taken and I was given a recepissé, in effect a receipt. This is a temporary document lasting for six months and has one of your photos attached.
Two months later I received a phone call letting me know my Carte was available for pick up.
It was as straightforward as that. I have read of people waiting a very long time and various sorts of problems. I understand that applications vary from Region to region. My advice would be to go there and simply start the procedure. You may find that you have to make an appointment (I didn't) They will tell you what documents you need. Don't argue or be awkward; Assemble the documents and take them back. Be patient with whom ever you are dealing with. You have to understand that perhaps the person is somewhat cynical! They are dealing with all sorts of foreigners and many are simply trying to be here simply because of the benefits of living in France.

HI Euston,
Thanks for these informations maybe our case differs from each other and not in the same prefecture but the basic is more or less the same. We were told to go straight to the prefecture without appointment as well and you are not the first one telling us to not be awkward or arguing to just listen and in case something missing just say thank you and come back with what's missing.

Well we are putting together everything and all information we can gather  to put all the chances we can on our side.

But some informations you gave will be for sure very useful.

Thank you again and if anything comes up don't hesitate to write back.

😉

Hello,

This response may be a little later than you now need but wanted to relay my experience for the same visa in case you are still in the process of applying.

My husband has joint German/U.S. citizenship and I only have American citizenship. I applied through the prefecture in Toulouse. While there is some variation in the process among the various prefectures, there are some commonalities.

You generally need to provide copies of your birth certificates (yours and your wife's), your marriage certificate, proof of health insurance, your lease or attestation, and proof of income. Any documents that are not already in French should have a corresponding copy that is also a certified translation. You will also need to have a copy of your passports and the stamp in your passport that demonstrates when you entered France. Additionally, you will need to standard passport pictures.

The process took six months, in part because my husband has an unusual work situation and I needed to provide additional documentation demonstrating the nature of my husband's business (he is a solo practitioner attorney who still handles cases in the U.S.). It was sufficient enough to provide a copy of a tax ID #.

I would advise bringing anything you think you may need. If you have it scanned on your laptop, bring your laptop with you. You can usually arrange with them to provide it later that day to facilitate the processing of your application.

If you don't speak French well, it is advised to have someone with you who can translate. They really appreciate it and it helps to process your application.

Once my carte de sejour was ready, I received a text to pick it up.

Hope this is helpful.

Hello everybody,

So I'm getting back to you all to inform you that I received my carte de sejour valid for a year already since now almost 2 months. Brief summary of how it went.

So as my wife have didn't a job and I  couldn't work with the tourist visa I came with so we had to show sufficient money to prove that we can rely on ourselves until one of us get a job. So we build a strong file case with everything that we thought they might ask us before going for the application. Half all these documents were not even checked!!!

So I got my recepissé with right to work right away valid for year and 3 weeks after that received an sms saying that my CDS was ready for pick up ss simple as that.

Now I'm working in a great company at the airport of  Nice, couple days ago received my permanent social security "secu" number, I bought my first vehicles and is under the process of transferring it on my name (a bit painful this one) and we are moving in our new appartment at the end of this month. Everything went way better than expected so I would like to thank all of you that helped by sharing your experiences, giving us advices etc you guys made it more smooth.

Si now I'm living the French life on the "Cote d'azur" and also discovering the French Taxes!!!

😉