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Living overseas

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Original poster

Any British or Irish MNers living in France: advice on carrying passport please

7 replies

NulliusInBlurba · 12/09/2013 20:07

D1 (15) is 10 days into a 3-month language exchange in Nantes and started at her lycée last week. She has British and Irish citizenship but travels on her Irish passport, and we normally live in Germany.

Today there was a ticket check on the tram and DD got taken out by the inspectors because although she has a valid ticket, it is still only a provisional one. At that point they asked for her carte d'identité and it seems I have made the big mistake of strictly instructing DD to keep her passport in her room so it can't get lost. Oops. All the things we thought of before this trip, but totally forgot that you have to carry ID in France. And according to this source minors can only carry a passport, not any other substitute document. So what do you do if a passport is your or your DCs' only ID? Do you really carry it with you everywhere? How often do you get checked? What are the consequences of not carrying it? I'm rather worried about her losing it and us having to get an emergency one issued (while also acknowledging that if she's old enough to be in a different country, she should also be able to manage her own documents).

OP posts:

butterfliesinmytummy · 12/09/2013 20:46

I used to carry a photocopy of my passport when I did exchanges in France. Never got stopped and this was a long while back but it's what we were advised at the time. Hope she's OK, that's a great way to practise her language though

frozentree · 13/09/2013 06:58

I've now lived in France for 10 years and although I carry a photocopy of my passport in my wallet, I have never been asked for it. Thinking about it, my 3 children (who are British citizens and therefore only have a British passport, but have lived in France most of their lives) never ever carry any id with them at any point.

DoudousDoor · 13/09/2013 07:03

9 years in france and i never carried id (unless i knew i needed it for bank etc)

Friend is a commissaire and told me it wasnt legally necessary but that if you are checked you have 24hrs to report to police station.

Original poster

NulliusInBlurba · 13/09/2013 17:25

Ah, OK, looks like she's been really unlucky then. If she'd had the full monthly travel ticket (which she picks up today) they would never have even asked her for ID. We were lucky that it was ticket inspectors and not the gendarmerie doing the check, so in the end they took pity on her and - wait for it - checked her identity by taking her school ID (which doesn't have a photo on it and asking her to confirm her own name! Which she manged to do. Then by that time all the rest of her class had moved on back to school and she didn't know the route, so they helped her find the way back. It was all rather sweet really.

"Hope she's OK, that's a great way to practise her language though" -absolutely, that's what we told her too. You don't get that kind of scenario in French classes at school! She seems not to have been too traumatised by it all and was giggling as she told us about it.

"Friend is a commissaire and told me it wasnt legally necessary but that if you are checked you have 24hrs to report to police station." That's really interesting if true - and much more reassuring. That's what the rule is here in Germany, which is why we would never carry our passports around with us normally.

I gave her a photocopy of her passport though before she left - might be an idea for her to carry that around. Thanks for the idea.

OP posts:

eurochick · 13/09/2013 17:27

I lived in France for a year and didn't carry my passport around with me and I was never asked for it.

Goldfishfinger · 13/09/2013 17:37

Out of 6 years in Paris, I was asked once when I inadvertently found myself in the middle of some sort of demonstration. It only seems to happen when in some other sort of situation like your DD, not really completely randomly. I was always under the impression though that you could carry a photocopy and go to the commissariat afterwards to show it. I had a carte de sejour that I used but they don't give those to EU citizens nowadays. I wouldn't keep my passport on me though for fear of losing it, one of my friends lost hers a couple of times and the embassy would only grant her a new one for a year at a time as they were convinced she was selling them on!

NomDeClavier · 13/09/2013 17:52

I keep a photocopy plus my driving license plus my military spouse ID on me but then we used to live on base so it became a habit!

Tbh the gendarmerie are usually better informed about needing to show it within 24hrs but if it was a condition of the ticket then she'll know in future.

I hope she has a fabulous time :)

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