As I mentioned in an earlier post, a few days before we left Fenouillet we each received yet another letter from the Office of Immigration and Integration (OFII), and this time they did tell us what extra information we needed to provide in order to have our visa application processed. There were four pages of instructions. I typed these out and translated them as best I could to make sure I understood them.

In summary, the pages explained that we had several appointments in Montpellier on Tuesday 19 March.

No “ifs” or “buts” or “please contact us to make a suitable time”…… simply “be there”!

Luckily, the date fell between two house sitting assignments. We had just finished the one in Bouzigon and had plans to make our way towards Montluçon where we are to collect a car and make our way to our next assignment. We ‘lost’ one train ticket and one bus ticket – costing us about €100.

The map shows you the ‘detour’ did indeed cause us some inconvenience.

And what were the appointments for?

We were booked in for a chest x-ray (unless we had results for one within the last 3 months – which we didn’t!!) and for a general medical examination. Mick’s and my appointments were at the same time – 11.30am and 1.30pm. Thank goodness.

Once these appointments were completed, we had a final appointment where we had to provide:

• our passport
• a photograph of our face, bareheaded
• proof of our address in France (rent receipt – electricity bill – gas – water or fixed telephone number in our name or in the absence of any of that, a certificate of being hosted – an ‘attestation’)
• the medical certificate relating to the medical examination passed by the doctor approved by the OFII
• the stamp corresponding to the amount of the tax as indicated on the attached document.

One of the ‘attached documents” we had received indicated we each had to pay €250 tax and that is what the last dot point is referring to.

We were very fortunate that our hostess and friend from Fenouillet was happy to write an ‘attestation’ that we were staying with her for the year and that during the times when we were not travelling around France, we would be based with her. I don’t know what we would have done without that support.

We arrived in Montpellier on Monday 18th March in order to prepare ourselves for these appointments. We had all the documents we were asked for, but were worried about the medical appointments. Before we left Australia, we asked our doctor to write a letter about our general health, because I had read information on the internet mentioning medicals etc.

Our first appointment (at 11.30am) was for the chest x-ray, and of course we arrived early.

 

It was all over in about 5 minutes. We each had to strip down to nothing on the top half, and to hold our breath when instructed by the radiographer. We were not charged for the appointments and we left with our x-rays and the reports (as we had to take these to the next general medical appointment at 1.30pm). And of course we looked at them.

We were surprised the reports were not exactly the same, but both were clear.

We spotted this amazing mural on two flat walls in Montpellier as we whiled away the two hours between appointments. We had to get up close to them to make sure though.

We arrived early for the next appointments, as we were keen to get this over and done with.

 

But once though those gates we realised were not the only ones who had been told the interview was at 1.30pm!!!!!

And more arrived after I took this photo.

There was no way we could get to the office until 1.30pm because the lift would not stop on the first floor until 1.30pm. We were able to get the third lift up.

We were met by a security guard who checked us with a wand. I was unsure if it actually served a purpose because we were already in the office. Perhaps it would have been better to check us down at the lift doors before we came in. But I did not tell him that.

We handed over our x-ray results and were told to wait in possibly the worst waiting room ever. Nothing to read, no information on the walls, just chipped paint and a miss-match of chairs.

Over an hour and a half later, just after 3.00pm, Mick and I were called in for our medical by a young woman wearing a white lab coat. We assumed she was the doctor. When we got to the ‘office’ we found a second women dressed in a white lab coat who sat at her computer for the length of our ‘medical’ – a whole 5 minutes.

They checked our x-ray results and then we each had to fill out a survey about our lung health. Have we been coughing up any nasty stuff? Have we recently lost weight? Is there any history of tuberculosis in your family? etc etc

Then came an eye test where we had to read some fine print from a distance.

Finally, they wanted our height and weight. They thought they misheard Mick when he told them, but he assured them it was all muscle. They two (female) doctors did giggle.

They then advised us to return to the waiting room.

After another relatively short wait of about 15 minutes, we were called in for the final meeting where we had to present all the material I described earlier.

The woman immigration officer conversed only in French, and quite quickly at that. But, we were able to provide everything she needed and she finally stuck an extra piece of information into our passports, explaining this now meant we could come and go out of France until our visas run out on 9 December 2019.

Mick and I picked up our belongings and got out of there as quickly as we could. We headed straight for the railway station to catch the next train to Nîmes, where we had decided to spend the night.

We were quite surprised to see the dozens of police officers in front of the Gare – they were not there when we went in for our medical appointments. We found out this was because there was to be a protest and that starting at 8.00pm there would be a series of strikes and disruptions by public servants for 36 hours.

The message had obviously got out, because the train to Nîmes was so over packed it was worrying. Apparently the trams had stopped running to some destinations earlier than the 8.00pm start,  and people were trying to get home.

But, we arrived safely in Nîmes and explored the old city before having some dinner.

To get to the old city from the Gare we walked up a very impressive promenade to get us to the Esplanade Charles de Gaulle. We liked Nîmes much more than Montpellier, even though we had only spent a short time in each city. Nîmes had a much nicer feel to it. And, it felt a lot safer than Montpellier.

And we spotted this – Arènes – a Roman amphitheatre – built around 70AD, but remodelled in the mid 19th Century as a bullring.

Now, we have our fingers crossed that the train we are booked on to Clermont-Ferrand later today is not affected by the strikes.

POSTSCRIPT

If you are trying to apply for a long-stay visa in France you might like to read these other posts of mine.

Applying for a Visa

French Long Stay Visa Update

A Step Closer – Long Stay Visa Approved

Long Stay Visa Update #2