Wednesday, 19 October 2005
One Giant Leap
This morning, I received a return receipt for an envelope full of papers that I sent last Friday. This little, pink slip of paper is a sort of recognition that I finally took the big step.
Last Friday, 14 October 2005, I applied for French nationality.
Mailing in my application was the culmination of a process that I started more than a year ago, and was delayed by technicalities. Those of you (all three of you) who read those entries when I made them, were perhaps thinking that I was talking about marriage. Nope, though that also ended up becoming recent news. Or perhaps you thought I might move, maybe back to the U.S. Or maybe you thought "whatever" and didn't give it a second thought.
I still remember a former U.S. coworker saying that I'd probably last three months or so in France, and then return to Minnesota. I didn't much care for his, er, candor - but for all I knew, he might be right. When I left to live in Paris, it was to see whether or not I really did want to live "real life" over here. I had no set time to stay, other than long enough to be sure that I wouldn't have regrets for never trying.
But wouldn't you know it: I've done well here. It isn't always easy, but I'm a part of France and it's a part of me on a daily basis. I didn't do it to prove anything to anyone - it just sort of happened.
So I made the decision to try for French naturalization. It's something I want for myself - and more importantly, it's something I want for my children. Heather had the same goal to become a naturalized citizen from before we even met, and she also wants to be able to offer dual citizenship to her children. Earlier Friday, before I mailed my own request, Heather went to the government office to get the necessary paperwork.
Heather's just reached the required residency time that qualifies her to make the request.) Like her, I qualified when I received my fifth carte de séjour (which was last year). I quickly ran out of that proverbial gate, getting the lion's share of my paperwork (birth certificates, my parents' marriage license, copies of police records, etc.) last October.
Then I got caught up in work and lost momentum, until I got my rear in gear once again this spring. That's when I found out that I needed additional certification (apostilles) of my documents. By the time I had those and had the final documents translated by someone approved by the Paris court circuit, my carte de séjour had expired and I was waiting to find out about my situation. Well, as we know, that turned out well.
Armed with all but a couple of documents, I spent the first couple of weeks of October completing and assembling the mass of paperwork that composed my application. Friday, I sent it in. Monday, they received it. And today, I received that confirmation.
Now I wait to see if my dossier is accepted as complete. If that happens, I have up to an 18-month wait for the French officials to make their decision (including interviewing me in person). An upside of my carte de résident is that it should help my case and perhaps even accelerate the process. This was even spontaneously confirmed by the woman who handed me my carte de résident, so it's good to have that reassurance.
Now comes the wait.