4 June 2008
Bureaucracy rules
Posted by Rob under: General .
You may already know that France elevates bureaucracy to an art form. They say that Germany is even worse, but I have my doubts. I’ve had two recent encounters with French bureaucracy, and neither was pretty…
1. Driving licenses
Despite being in France for two and a half years, we still have only our UK driving licenses. Though they are perfectly valid, we read that it’s advisable to change them as they can be difficult to replace if lost. We investigated what the process involved, and found that in theory, anyone who is resident in France and has a driving license from another EU member state can easily exchange it for a French one. However, we already had some doubts as to how straightforward the process would be, since we read on a UK expats forum that experience differs greatly in different parts of the country. (In fact, this is one of the things that makes French bureaucracy so difficult to navigate - each local body interprets and applies legal provisions in whatever way it chooses, so there is no consistency across the country.)
To cut a long story short, we went down to the sous-préfecture (the main official government representative office in Le Havre), explained at the desk what we wanted to do, and were given a ticket and told to wait in a queue until our number came up. After waiting for around 45 minutes, we were finally called by a typically officious and unsmiling bureaucrat, who firstly advised that since there were two of us, we should have had two tickets, then gave us some forms and a list of requirements and told us to come back when we had everything ready.
Apart from various annoying things like having to provide three copies of the existing license etc., one of the requirements on the sheet is that you have to have a “carte de séjour” or residence permit. Now, we know from looking into this separately that citizens of other EU countries do not need to have one of these to reside in France. So how can you be required to present something to change a driving license that you’re not legally required to possess anyway? I looked into how to obtain a residence permit, and found a government website which says that if you want one, you have to apply within one month of arriving in France - something we originally tried to do when we arrived but were refused as I was unemployed.
We haven’t yet worked out how to move forward on the driving license front, but it will probably involve printing off official texts, going back to the sous-préfecture and arguing the toss with them. Ho hum.
2. Tax returns
I already had to file a business tax return back in March. I’ve just had to file a personal one, including the amounts calculated in my business one. Now I don’t doubt that filing tax returns is a relatively painful process in any country, but it seems to be doubly so here. I had to fill in no less than five separate forms, with multiple cross-references between them and so-called “explanatory notes” which do little to explain. In the end, the only approach you can take is either to pay an accountant to file your taxes for you - which is an expensive option here - or do it as best you can and hope for the best. So that’s what I’ve done!
I read somewhere that around 25% of the working population are government employees here. Well, I suppose someone and something has to keep all those civil servants in employment!
3 Comments so far...
Huw T. Says:
10 June 2008 at 8:30 pm.
Is bureaucracy the work of the devil?
If it makes you feel any better bureaucracy is growing here as well and British jobsworths are rapidly catching up with their French counterparts.
You know how sometimes something wonderful happens and it feels like a very small taste of heaven - well bureaucracy is the opposite of that!
Rob Says:
10 June 2008 at 8:39 pm.
Hi Huw! Unfortunately I’m aware of the growing trend in the UK, even if I don’t have to experience it much myself. The growing power and influence of the uber-regulated nanny state. The only consolation is that the UK has a long way to go to catch up with France.
Steve Says:
20 June 2008 at 8:00 pm.
I’ve no RECENT experience of German bureaucracy, and I do know they like their paperwork and assorted rubber-stamps, but at least they are formidably efficient with it. Ordnung muss sein! isn’t a motto in Germany for no reason….