Sprogster, In my opinion, I do believe that you have "hit the nail on the head." Lori was lucky to have gotten her permanent residency when she did. ( Thank you Lori for your offer to help us!) We did apply for permanent residency at the end of five years. In fact my husband received a letter saying he would get a ten year Carte; yet, when his Carte arrived at the marie, it was only the one year Carte as was mine. The man who was the head of the bureau d'etranger in Sete at that time even called the Prefecture on our behalf. Because of reciprocity, we were able to exchange our state driver's licenses for French ones quite easily within the one year time limit. I firmly believe that the various changes the Bush administration made after 9/11 affected the way Americans were and are dealt with here. Without question, it also does matter a great deal how the various Prefectures handle things. And again how the marie decides to act. Where we are in the Herault, there are few Americans outside of Montpellier, basically a student town. I doubt most Americans have even heard of Sete or the small village where we now live where the Maire seems to make the laws to serve whatever suits his purposes as do most politicians. Perhaps now that President Obama is in charge things will change, but in the meantime, Americans are being affected by the politics of the Bush administration IMHO. About 2 years ago, either the Prefecture or the marie lost my son's renewal papers and told us we had to resubmit them. Well, he had left to study in California, thus we did not have posession of all the necessary papers. When he found out, he basically said forget it and just returns for short visits. After many discussions with French friends, we are trying to decide whether to just consider our dream finished or to hope Obama can mend the broken fences with France and other European countries. This is difficult when one loves a country as much as we love France. Given our experiences, I would caution any Americans about planning to live in France UNLESS they are married to a French person or have strong French family connections here.