As a foreigner, renewing the visa is one of the most daunting tasks you'd imagine: You must make sure all the documents are sorted (I mean you double, triple check), hoping that the person who deals with your case is nice to you and not picking on your small things.
When I was a student in England ages ago, I had to make 2 trips to the UK's notorious Home Office in Croydon after an officer pointed out that my bank statement wasn't sufficient and needed to have the special statement issued from the bank. I was so gutted, having to coming back this nasty place twice on the row. The Home office was very secured and there was even the X'ray machine before you enter the building. It made me feel like being a criminal or something, so my impression to this shabby city of Croydon has never been any good even, when ironically I ended up commuting for work sometime later.
I recently discovered that for those who live more than 5 years in the EU countries can actually get the residency in other EU countries. Having lived in the UK over 10 years, it was my fault not to study prior to my departure to France. It would have been so much easier if I got the French residency straight away.....
My 1 year visa (Carte de sejour) was about to expire by the end of the month, so we went to have it renewed. Bless him, my hubby, who's a French himself and is a tax payer have had to bear this for the last 3 times of my renewal. I am really thankful for that. Perhaps it's just me, but I can see most French who are there accompanying their foreign partners, looked very nice (or sometimes compassionate) to each other as if they're bonded by a mutual adventure : 'having a foreign spouse'.
Luckily, the Nice prefecture had made a huge improvement in their service. They were helpful and even smiling. The operation was much more efficient and no confusing. When we arrived at just after 8am, there was a queue of about 30 people, which was far less than what I remembered the last time. Even before the office opened, we were instructed which office to go depending on our requirements. It went all smoothly - before the mid day, we managed to get the temporary visa (Récépissé de demande de titre).
Hopefully, this time I will get the 10 years residency so that we can forget about this hustle for a very long time....
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