Nice Prefecture

I am afraid it probably is still the same, I live in Toulon and every time I go to the prefecture, theres a long wait. The last time I went, I waited two hours sitting in the designated seats. After while I noticed a long line on the other side of the room and wondered what it was all about. Eventually I went to discover and found out that because they were renovating part of the room where you go through the doors to do the business, they were processing people in an official line over the other side. Suddenly everyone cottoned on to what was happening, and chaos was everywhere. I got my second titre de sejour but only after fighting my way through the hoards of people. No one annouced what was happening and there were no signs pointing people to the new queues.

So prepare for the worst and maybe it wont be this time for you. fingers crossed , sigh...

I was there recently to change an address on my CdS and while the stampede wasn't as bad as I'd heard about from friends who'd been earlier in the year, it was still a slightly stressful time.

You go straight to join the queue at the étrangers desk. There are lots of staff monitoring and helping the people queuing to get their number (which is good). Once the last number for the day is handed out (at 09:30 I think) they close the metal doors on the étrangers room and shut everyone with a number in. It's small and stuffy (really quuite stressful and very crowded). And there you wait until your number is called. It might take many hours and there might not be enough seats for everyone so go in with a book or game or whatever and a calm attitude (take some water - it's very close and it's quite an epic to leave once you're shut in).

Let us know how you get on (have to renew in a couple of months - dreading it!)

Just a quick update for everyone on my recent visit to the Nice Prefecture for CdS renewal.

We arrived at about 7:10am, and there were about 20 people in front of us in the queue. The line was at the front door this time rather than the gate, so that avoided the 8am stampede with injuries which was good. By about 8am there were around 50 people there. At about 8:45 some Prefecture staff came outside to the line to inform everyone which desk was for which enquiry - a welcome addition. Despite a few people pushing in line, and one guy urinating against the wall in front of us, it was slightly better than last time.

Then the doors opened at 9am, and the police only let in 5 people at a time, which once again made it better than last time (no run to the Etrangers desk). We lined up and got number 14. Although later we were told that we should have collected two numbers, as my wife and I were renewing at the same time.

They seem to finish handing out numbers at about 9:30, with many people in the queue still. But then, they appeared to hand out appointment times to those left in the queue. I can't confirm this, but that's what it looked like.

We eventually got seen at about 11:30am, and the service at the desk wasn't too bad, despite us having to convinve the lady that we had shown our two CdS, and only received one ticket, and the standard requirement to have every document you have ever received in life with 4 photocopies. We were out of there by 12:00.

So all in all, the safety issue of the stampedes has improved, which is good to see, but still, the 5 hour experience is one of the least fun aspects of living in France.

Thanks to all who responded to my original post.