In order to get my visa for France (which I have to have before I can actually go to France) I need a piece of paper called an "arrêté de nomination". This piece of paper is sent by my Académie as usually arrives sometime in June or July. Once I have my piece of paper, I can go to my local consulate (which is located in Los Angeles, CA) drop off everything important to me (passport, arrêté, guarantee to give my first born child to France, etc) wait two to three weeks and get everything back in the mail and then enter France.
So knowing all this, I know that, at the very latest, I need to go to my consulate August 31st (and then hope that there are no delays). However, being logical, I have planned to go LA around August 15th. (the LA consulate, oddly, also allows assistants to mail in their visa applications, but it adds 2 weeks to processing time, so I would have to do that on, oh, Monday?)
So knowing all this, I very impatiently check the mail everyday, only to be disappointed that my arrêté hasn't arrived.
Fast forward to Yesterday --
I receive an e-mail that my académie is running a bit behind and we should expect to receive our arrêté by the end of August. My reaction: WHAT?!?!?!?!? And here's the reason:
"The person in charge of the arrêtés is on vacation until August 15 (this is France after all!), so they probably won't be able to mail them out until at least this date. "
Ahh... on vacation, eh? Yeah, that seems like a totally reasonable reason to not get the administrative work done for 50 people who need a visa to fulfill the job that we were hired for!!!!
So, our very nice contact person at the French Embassy has offered the following:
"If you are leaving for France in late September and have a visa appointment for late August, please sit tight for now and wait for your arrêté de nomination to arrive. You should receive it sometime between August 15 and August 30, hopefully before you go for your appointment. If it is a couple of days before your appointment and you still don't have the arrêté, then let me know and I will intervene to make special arrangements with the Consulate. Since there are a lot of you in this situation, please be patient for the arrêté to arrive and only contact me about stepping in if it is truly urgent (i.e. one or two days before your appointment). I will be doing this for a good number of people, so it would really help me out if you can wait to contact me until you are absolutely sure you won't have your arrêté before you go to apply for your visa. "
The trouble for me is that I'll be in Wisconsin for my cousin's wedding from the 24 to 31st of August - So basically, I need to schedule my appointment for sometime around the 20th and hope that it all works out!
GAAA!!! The bureaucracy! It's killing me!
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