Renewing French ID from overseas

 Most passports require travellers to have at least six months still valid on their passports in order to travel. Mine had more than 6 months but less than a year and I was in the process of trying to sell my house in order to move back to France. How long would it take to sell my house? How long is a piece of string?

I couldn't risk running out of validity by the time my house sold so I thought I'd be a wee bit proactive and renew my French passport while still in NZ. How hard could it be? Renewing my NZ passport last year was straightward, dare I say easy online, and 10 days after filling out the form and supplying a new photo the new passport arrived in my hands. Done and dusted! 

Ah but what about the infamous French bureacracy, I hear you say? You would be right but each time I encounter it, the system surpasses itself in frustration, worry, ridiculousness, slowness.

I received a message from the French Embassy (I am a French resident registered as living overseas) alerting me that a consular representative from Wellington would be doing a tour of the South Island and meetings must be booked in advance.

OK, I whipped off an email to secure a spot with the consular representative visiting Christchurch. I was awarded a spot and told what I needed to bring with me.

• An identity photo less than 3 months old
• My current French passport 
• A copy of my livret de famille if I wanted to keep using my married name. I don't have one of these as I have never had children or married in France so I brought along a copy of my French birth certificate which shows the same information 
• Copy of my Déclaration de Nationalité (French) and my NZ passport 
• Proof of address in NZ (using IRD or bank statement)
• Payment proof via timbre-électronique (a printed receipt issued via a French government website which would only accept payment from my NZ bank account (????) 
• A track and trace envelope issued by NZ post with my name and address on it to have my passport sent to me.

 The meeting was held at the premises of the Alliance Française and conducted in French. I was very nervous as my French is now very rusty and I don't hear well, even with hearing aids, but it all went well and the consul was extremely nice. She complemented me on my excellent preparation of documents. I had brought along the 'kitchen sink' and more because - you never know. My fingerprints were taken, every document was scanned and popped into her satchel. Then she asked me if I would like to renew my Carte d’Identité (national ID card). 

I hesitated as I had about a year left on it and thought it might be easier to do once I was in France. "It's free," she said. "Once in France you can have it 'digitised' on official governement websites which makes using ID easier and means you can vote with it." Oh well, why not? Luckily for me I had brought extra documents and passport photos. Lots more forms to sign. I had to hand over both my passport and ID card. I explained I was sentimentally attached to them because of the process of getting them in the first place and what they meant to me. France chose ME and I appreciated the Republic recognising my qualities. She smiled, delighted, and said "Yes you WERE chosen and you will always be welcome in France." It felt as if big warm wings envelopped me and I belonged. 

After exchanging pleasantries I left and hoped I'd have my new documents in four to six weeks time as per the email.

When will I learn? Such optimism is not warranted. 

Three weeks went by and I received a phone call from the embassy who were about to destroy my passport, they said. Was I sure I wanted to do this? Yes, and explained the situation. Three weeks had passed and that's where the process had gotten to? Two more weeks went by and I received an email from Wellington saying that since I wanted to keep my married name I would have to get authorisation from my EX husband - a letter and proof of his identity as in passport. Ridiculous! I had not had to do that to get my first set of IDs. What if he was dead? I dug around my email boxes and found an address and sent him a request.

He replied, none too impressed with the French insistence but two days later he sent me a written letter and a photo of his passport. Twelve days later on I got an email from the embassy saying that the letter did not have a physical signature (just electronic addresses and phone numbers) and that the 'stamp' (from a Justice of the peace) on it dated 2023 would just not 'fly'. 

Steam was coming out of my ears and probably those of my EX as I sent him yet another request. He kindly resupplied a fresh letter with a hand-written signature and a copy of his passport without the stamp on it.

I heard nothing for weeks and was too scared to ring as French public servants do not like to be checked on. After more than two months of waiting I finally received a tracking number for delivery of my passport, requiring a signature. Whew! But wait! You then have to go to the ANTS website with an access code and a scan of your new passport and its number to validate it otherwise it gets cancelled by Interpol.

I then received an email informing me I would need to make an appointment with the consul based in Christchurch  (yes, a different one) to get my ID card which is now credit card size rather than the larger one I had previously. They will not send these to one's home for security reasons.

Eventually I rocked up to her home with the required ID and cash (for her services). Things were signed and stamped. She preferred to speak in English and was very nice. I described the rigmarole I had been through. She replied that there are 70 million inhabitants in France and they are constantly having to deal with identity fraud. Only 5 million inhabitants live in NZ so it's a matter of scale, she explained.

She asked me how it was that I had citizenship - was it through marriage or my mother? No, I proudly replied, I earned it by myself, living and working in France. She seemed pleased and wished me luck selling my house and arriving back in France. She will have understood how difficult it is to become French, on one's own. Things are even stricter now with the rules and processes. I can't wait to use these new documents.

A French biometric passport allows citizens to travel to over 185 countries visa-free or with visa-on-arrival.