Pondering #3: Social Security

One of the first things that we had to do when we got to Dijon was sort out Michael’s working visa and my social security. These proved to be two things that took longer than we thought possible. It was Michael’s introduction to real French red tape and my introduction on how to become Frenchified.

To be able to work legally in France, most foreigners need a carte de séjour. Even citizens of EU countries other than France need this work permit apparently. However, because of the red tape many people are living and working in France without the necessary papers. Some of my friends had been living and working in France for 3 years before finally getting the piece of paper that allowed them to be legal money-earners. Michael went to the Prefecture (regional immigration registration office) countless times and even travelled in and out of the country in the time it took for the ‘system’ to award him his carte de séjour.

Michael’s first brush with French red tape was in Sydney with the French Consulate before we left. They had told him he needed a visa to enter France, which would allow the process of getting a work permit to begin. As part of the paperwork requirements for this visa, Michael had to provide the Consulate with an itinerary of his trip. They said that this is normally obtained from your travel agent. Alas! We didn’t have a travel agent. We were flying standby. And alas! Michael made the mistake of telling them this fact! They then refused to award his visa without proof that we were definitely travelling to France. They needed an official itinerary or he wouldn’t get the visa. So, being a smart person, I printed out an itinerary of our standby flights on United and, not being smart people, the French Consulate accepted it! Phew! Michael could now enter France legally. All he had to do was visit the Prefecture within 7 days of his arrival in France and he would be given a carte de séjour.

You would think this was too good to be true, and it was. After lining up for an hour, he was swiftly told that he could have his carte de séjour only after he provided another set of papers. These needed to be faxed over from Australia. Several months later, when he went to hand in some more required documents, he came across another man at the window of the Prefecture office who suggested he get a 10-year carte de séjour, since his wife (that’s me) was French (on paper anyway). This process cost more time and finally after 9 months and many renewals of permit pendings, he was granted his 10-year carte de séjour. Yay!

But what about me? I am French on paper but I wouldn’t know how to be French if I tried. Having a French passport and a French Dad should automatically give you a free ticket to access the French health system, shouldn’t it? Apparently not. The first 2 or 3 three visits were pointless. Each time I explained how I had dual nationality but had never lived in France and each time I was directed to the same desk (the one for foreigners). There I was told the same thing yet again, that I couldn’t have access to the French social security system with an Australian passport.

So one day, having learned my lesson, I went in there and only showed my French passport, explaining that I was born in Australia but had never lived in France and needed to know how to get social security now that I was living in France. This tactic worked and I was directed to take a number to make an appointment to come back (in 6 weeks!) and see the man who could help me.

When the day finally arrived, the man did actually appear to know what he was talking about but I still had to obtain documents from Australia to complete the dossier they needed to process my request (part of the problem with the bureaucratic system in France). I, of course, gave up and only tried again after a few more months. This caused the lady at the front desk to remonstrate me for not organising it straight away when I arrived and she promptly sent me to another counter to fix the situation. And wouldn’t you know, this time, at last, the lady simply said, “Oh yes, all you need to do is fill in this form and return it to us. You should have you social security card in the mail within 14 days.” And get it I did, within 14 days!

The most frustrating thing about the system is the system itself. The employees at the respective offices seem to be armed with a minimum of information and a maximum of buck-passing tools. If a customer has a query or question that the employees can’t answer, they’re taught that obviously the customer hasn’t come with the right form or piece of identification and they should be promptly sent away. But don’t dismay, the French people themselves know that perseverance is the key and this always works in the end. As it did for me. I ended up receiving my social security card in January, a mere 8 months after starting the whole process.

In the meantime, while I was still trying to sort out my social security problems, I had the bad luck to need to visit a dentist. I’m not one for going to the dentist every 6 months for a clean and $60 thank you very much. I hadn’t been to the dentist for a clean for maybe 10 years? So, silly me, after brushing my teeth one night before bed, I felt a hole on the inside of one of my bottom teeth. I thought I’d chipped one of my teeth and even my aversion to dentists had to be put aside in this case. Michael was worried about how much it was going to cost to go to the dentist and I slept very badly for several nights, dreaming that one of my teeth actually fell out! I have these dreams sometimes...I wonder what they mean? Actually, don’t tell me – maybe I don’t want to know!

Anyway, after ringing a dentist and having a very rude lady on the other end of the phone tell me that I needed to find out what health cover I had before I could see their dentist, I got in touch with a different dentist, a lovely lady who booked me in that afternoon.

To my great relief, when she saw my teeth she said it was only tartar! Yay! And she inspected my other teeth with interest then stopped and asked me how old I was. That's when I started worrying again. Were my teeth really going to fall out? But no need to panic! She just asked me why I had such good teeth and why I didn't have any holes or tooth decay! Phew! (I did start wondering that maybe it wasn’t such a good thing to have no holes or decay…why else would she be so shocked?)

In the end I had to go for two tartar cleaning sessions and she even told me how much it was going to cost before I committed to making a booking with her. It was unfortunate that I didn’t have my social security to claim back the expense but she was such a nice dentist! She has completely changed my view of dentists (but she has also confirmed that I don’t need to go for cleans every 6 months…not yet anyway).