Legal Immigration: Check

In order to complete the immigration process my visa had to be validated through a doctor appointment at the OFII office (Office Immigration and Integration).  The appointment consisted of four parts:

1) x-ray of my lungs
2) examination by a nurse
3) examination by a doctor
4) paperwork

When I arrived to the office today for my 10am appointment I was sent to a waiting room that was full of other language assistants.  After chatting with them for a bit someone called “Mademoiselle Desmond” and my appointment began:
(Note this entire experience was all in French, bien sûr.)

-X-ray:
So in France they don’t give you gowns to change into; instead, the x-ray technician showed me a little place to “change”…aka take my sweater and my bra off.  So as I awkwardly stood there trying to cover up I was waiting for her to hand me a vest to protect from radiation. That did not happen.  She just told me to get in the x-ray machine, then to press face-foreward against the cold wall in it.  Next I had to breathe deeply in order to get a good x-ray of my lungs. So very awkward.   (Did I mention that this x-ray was to make sure I do not have turberculosis…. bizarre!)  Luckily it was quick and I got changed as soon as possible!  After that I had to go back to the waiting room for the nurse.

-Nurse:
About a half an hour later the nurse called my name and I went into her examination room.  There she checked my eyes, height, and weight, while gathering general information about my medical history.  She was really nice and saying the letters with a French accent for the eye test was kind of fun. (I’m a nerd, deal with it.)  After this it was back to the waiting room once more to wait for the doctor.

-Doctor:
The doctor finally called my name and she took my blood pressure, checked my ears, throat, lungs, and glands.  She also reviewed my x-ray and confirmed that I passed all the medical aspects of the appointment. Cue instant relief.  I knew I would pass but it is just nerve racking to have your ability to stay in the country depend on one appointment.  After this I had to wait a bit more to finish up some paperwork.

-Paperwork:
This was the quickest part of the appointment, surprisingly!  I simply had to present my proof of residence (I used a rent receipt), an ID photo for their files, and then they placed an official OFII stamp in my passport making me a legal immigrant. WOO!

The entire process took an hour and forty-five minutes but all in all it wasn't too bad.  One surprise was that they gave everyone the x-ray of their lungs to keep.  So now I have an awkward, unexpected “souvenir” from the experience.  Who knows what I’ll do with it but I plan on doing something…can’t let a random x-ray go to waste! (Never thought I’d say that haha) Ah, the joys of being an immigrant.

(not my lungs but I now own something similar to this)

Word of the Post:  une radiographie – an x-ray