French / In France? Getting a visa during the strikes / Votre visa pendant les grèves

Khandoma

Namaste Friends / Bonjour à tous,
This message is aimed at people living or staying in France during the Nov. 07 strikes. Message en français plus bas.

I got my visa today, during the major transportation + civil service strike, and that was a bit of an adventure. Thought I'd share. Mostly, obviously, for the benefit of French residents.

5:30. Leaving home on my bike. Arriving at the consulate at 6:30. Second in line. Cool, as typically people start queuing up at 4 AM, if not the night before. The guy in line before me works for a company that gets visas for you for a fee.
9:30. This guys knows the Embassy personnel and tries to spot the women who work at passport counters. Consulate supposedly opens at 9:30. But the passport ladies are stuck in the traffic jam / subway strike somewhere.
10:15. A Consulate executive comes to tell us that the visa counters may or may not open. My toes are completely frozen by now so I stay in line. Mental note : wear woolen socks.
10:30. A passport lady is spotted arriving at work. Soon after that, consulate doors open. The same Consulate executive announces that because he is short on personnel, they will only serve people who are leaving in a couple of days. I'm leaving in 10 days and have no intention of queuing up again, so I stand my ground and get a numbered ticket.
10 : 40. The Visa counters open. Counters, plural : one for Westerners, one for Indians - . They will give about 50 Western visas today.
10 : 55. The guy before me is done, and an Indian couple with an emergency request has been serviced, so it's my turn. I pay 93 Euros : 50 for the visa and 43 to have it done today. Otherwise, I may get my visa next week, or not. I'm told to come back at 3 PM.
2:15 PM. Back at the consulate. 5 people before me. Nice atmosphere. If the gentleman who lives in the Amma ashram reads this, my warmest cheers.
3:00 PM. Doors open.
3:15 PM. Yes, Madam, this is being my passport. I know I look like a jerk on this photo, but it's me all right. Thanks much !
3:20 PM. Cycling home with my visa in my passport. With the strikes and the rain, traffic jams all the way.
5:30 PM. Home at last. Took me a full 12 hrs but got my visa. Next time, I'll spend the extra 20 Euros and go through one of those visa agencies. They can queue up and freeze their toes and I'll stay home during the effing strike. No sense wasting a full day.

Message en français :
Le consulat de Paris est ouvert pendant les grèves... avec quelques aménagements. J'ai eu mon visa aujourd'hui, 20 Novembre, voici comment.

5h30 du matin. Départ en vélo. J'arrive au consulat à 6h30, nuit noire. Je suis deuxième dans la file. Incroyable : d'habitude les gens commencent à faire la queue à 4h du matin - mais c'est la grève... Devant moi, un employé d'une agence qui obtient vos visas à votre place.
9h30. Le monsieur en question, Luc, connaît de vue tous les employés de l'ambassade. Il cherche les dames qui délivrent les visas. Chou blanc pour l'instant. Sont-elles dans les bouchons, dans le métro, ou au fond de leur lit ?
10h15. Un responsable du consulat nous avise que les visas ne seront délivrés que si les employés arrivent. Dans la queue, le ton monte.
10h30. On repère enfin une employée qui passe la porte du consulat. Peu après, les portes s'ouvrent. On nous annonce que seules les demandes urgentes seront traitées aujourd'hui. Départ dans les deux ou trois jours seulement. Je pars dans dix jours, et mes orteils sont maintenant complètement pris en glace, alors je reste, et je prends un ticket.
10h40. Ouverture des guichets. Un pour les Indiens, un pour les Occidentaux. Ils délivreront dans les 50 visas occidentaux aujourd'hui.
10h55. Luc a fini, un couple indien animé d'une requête urgente a été servi, c'est à moi. Je paye 50 € de visa + 43 € pour un traitement dans la journée. Sinon, je l'aurai peut-être la semaine prochaine, ou peut-être pas, c'est sans garantie. On me dit de revenir à 15h.
14h15 : Il y a 5 personnes devant moi. Bonne ambiance. Mes amitiés au monsieur qui vit dans l'ashram d'Amma.
15h pétantes : ouverture des portes. Attention, il n'y a pas de tickets numérotés, il faut se ruer sur le guichet.
15h15 : oui madame, c'est bien moi sur la photo. Merci madame !
15h20 : A vélo, je frôle la mort. Entre la grève et les bouchons, les gens pètent un câble.
17h30 : Ayé ! Je suis chez moi. Il m'aura fallu 12h pour avoir mon visa. La prochaine fois je paierai 20 € de plus et je laisserai Luc se lever aux aurores, se geler les arpions et paumer la journée à ma place.

Conseils pratiques :
Si vous téléchargez le formulaire, il faut dater et signer au bas de la deuxième page.
Agrafez (ni trombone ni scotch) vos 2 photos sur le formulaire à l'endroit prévu.
Puis pliez en deux, dans la longueur, votre formulaire, et insérez-le dans le passeport. Gros gain de temps.
A l'entrée, surtout, prenez un ticket numéroté !
Attention : pour récupérer votre passeport, allez bien au guichet où vous avez fait la queue la première fois ! Et brandissez votre reçu.
Les résidents français de nationalité étrangère (carte de séjour) doivent produire une quittance EDF ou quittance de loyer. Impératif !
Pour un traitement dans la journée, préparez 3 Euros de monnaie. Sinon, vous risquez d'attendre longtemps que quelqu'un en fasse pour vous...
N'écoutez aucun conseil visant à vous inciter à revenir demain, même si c'est un responsable du consulat qui vous le donne. Tenez bon.
Il n'y a pas de WC sur le trottoir... ni dans l'ambassade. Faites garder votre place et remontez la rue jusqu'à La Muette où vous trouverez des cafés.
Prévoyez des chaussettes chaudes, un parapluie et de quoi grignoter.
Comment dit-on "bon courage" en hindi ?

__________________
Khandoma
Visit my India photo gallery on IndiaMike

brownboy66

That was a most impressive post - primarily due to the fact you did it twice!

10 days and counting

Khandoma

And I thought you were impressed by my cycling prowess and / or my cucumber coolness in the face of adversity...
That countdown is horrible ! Among other things, it makes me realize my brand-new oh-so-cool torchlight will probably get stuck somewhere due to post-office strikes until I am in the middle of my trip...
Best,

brownboy66

so if I put another post in here tomorrow saying "9 days and counting" that wouldn't be appreciated?

Yes - the cycling and tolerance was most impressive as well - but if you were doing the same thing here then it would have required all that AND a extra passport photos, a copy of your birth certificate, a character reference from your employer, copies of all your academic records, and a DNA test!

and of course - best regards too!

Zeppy

If you subtract the strikes, it wasn't so different last year at this time! I waited around 7 hours to turn my passport in and pay--and I didn't get my visa the same day.

pontesnm

brownboy66

Not really. I just applied for Overseas Citizen of India status for me and my kids who were born in the US; the application was sent to the Indian consulate in New York. You fill in part of the application online. It assigns a tracking number. You print out the form, send it in with copies of my last Indian passport and the birth certificate of my kids. Then I could track the progress of the application through the 6 stages just like one would track a Fed Ex document. The information and pictures are electronically scanned in NY and transmitted to Delhi where the actual OCI card in printed. The application was mailed Oct 6 and the OCI card was printed in Delhi On october 31 and received in NYC on Nov 14.

Everything was done by mail, Only a copy of the kids birth certificate was required for their OCI card along with a copy of my old passport

brownboy66

hmmmm...clearly the little smiley face at the end of my post wasn't a strong enough clue that I was only joking (if not the exaggerated reference to a DNA test which has never been a requirement). But the detailed factual description of applying for citizenship in the US was very interesting. cheers.

wonderwomanusa

Totally impressed with all of the above, Khandoma ... so bon voyage!

Khandoma

Merci beaucoup, Wonderwoman !

Brownboy, I know there can be much worse administrative hassles - hey, that DNA test is being seriously considered here in France, so I wouldn't be too surprised. The local ingredient here was the strike : it's been going on for a week and may stop tonight or continue until Krishna knows when. Do you have those in India ? Must be something, an Indian Railways strike. Besides, you know what ? 9 days and counting.

Zeppy : Yeah, it's always been tough. The fun part is, with the strike you're not even sure the consulate will open at all. Moreover, the executive in charge of visas is known (among the visa courier guys) to have refused entrance to the whole waiting line for the day, after an irate visa seeker gave him lip service for opening late. So I guess my point was that the consulate was indeed open during the strike - but I'm much too talkative to stick to that !

Nick-H

Of course we have strikes in India! Kerala, particularly makes a speciality of it.

These days, the TN State government even calls strikes to protest against central government!

__________________
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Just one member of the IndiaMike Mod Team

brownboy66

yes - it is a fairly serious strike isn't it! And I have no doubt DNA tests at the border are on the way....sigh......

so 216 hours....all packed, travel insurance, medicine, camera....now where's the ticket and passport......

Khandoma

I hate you !

You should know that such antagonistic behaviour is not recommended when in presence of a compulsive planner. It heightens the neurotic peaks. Especially when said planner is late in her confounded planning. It also distracts me from posting about essential things such as henna on IM. From that last angle, however, it could be said that you did your good deed of the day...

brownboy66

for some reason or another I get that alot

but just think how much you'll enjoy the trip having gotten over the anxiety of leaving something behind once you arrive (provided you don't actually leave anything behind like your credit card, charger for a phone, adapter, shoes for different occasions, an umbrella, etc).

Just think...tomorrow - less than 200 hours till departure

brownboy66

now of course your passport is current...and isn't likely to expire during the trip? Same with your credit card presumably? Wouldn't want that to expire while you travelling.....

Khandoma

I still hate you

But I'm not that bad a planner. Passport valid for another 9 years, so that should be Ok. Likewise for all things electric. My current hells are more sophisticated : making sense of all the info on cell phones, retrieving city maps, locating vital services such as beauty parlors, compiling data on local foods, identifying the best memory cards for my camera...

I should be all set in about 200 weeks...