Residence certificate

[allanb]

I need to produce, for a foreign administration, a certificate or attestation of my residence in France, signed by the local maire.  It can be in French.  On the internet I have found what seems to be a suitable form, but it offers the following two options:

Monsieur X est domicilié …

or: Monsieur X réside …

… depuis le xx/xx/xx dans notre commune, à l'adresse suivante:

Does anyone know the exact distinction between those two phrases?

[NormanH]

Only a guess, but I would have thought that the first was the equivalent to 'has a home/house in C', and the second 'lives in', but your French is at least as good as mine.

[BJSLIV]

A good guess..... but it's the other way round. The domicile is the place at which you receive all the administrative stuff, taxes, TV licence etc

Il nous faut tout d'abord rappeler les articles 103, 104 et 105 C. Civil

- Art. 103 : « le changement de domicile s'opérera par le fait d'une habitation réelle dans un autre lieu, joint à l'intention d'y fixer son principal établissement ».

- Art. 104 : «la preuve de l'intention résultera d'une déclaration expresse, faite tant à la municipalité du lieu que l'on quittera, qu'à celle du lieu où on aura transféré son domicile ».

- Art. 105 : «à défaut de déclaration expresse, la preuve dépendra des circonstances ».

[Patf]

You might find that they have a suitable form at the Mairie. I once got one, I think it was for a french driving license.

[AnOther]

Exactly.

For my 2nd tax return I was asked for such a certificate so I just went to my Mairie and asked upon which, from under the counter, they produced a pre-printed pad which they filled in, signed and stamped, job done.

[allanb]

Thank you all for the replies.  The question may seem a bit peculiar, and I didn't want to bore everyone, but it's the state of Luxembourg that's asking for this certificate, and until I provide an acceptable certificate they've stopped paying my pension, and I need my pension to put bread on the table.  I've called the pension office in Luxembourg to find out what is acceptable, and a very nice lady on the switchboard has given me the extension numbers for the department I need, but I've been been trying for 3 days and there is simply no reply.  The switchboard lady can't answer my question, for which I don't blame her.

In case you wonder why I didn't just go to the local Mairie and ask: a French Mairie may not know what Luxembourg needs, and in any case the Mairie in our village is only open two half-days a week, and time is a problem.

So in the brief time tomorrow when the Mairie is open for business, I want to go prepared, if I can, so I can say "here, sign this" and come out with a document that will do the job.  So that's why I posted the question, and I appreciate your input.  If all else fails I will just take whatever the Mairie gives me, send it to Luxembourg, and hope.

[Pierre ZFP]

I can sympathise with your struggle on the 'phone with the Luxembourg tax Office.  I've been trying for weeks now to sort out my tax code (I admit it was my fault in the first place, I incorrectly filled in a form).  Getting them to answer the phone is near impossible.  Yesterday I found out why, I visited the tax office in person, a grim, dark place, and there were a LOT of people wanting to sort out queries.  I was lucky in that I only had to wait 10-15 mins to see someone.  I have to say he was very helpful and said Oh yes, you filled out X when it should be Y, fill in this and this, send it back and we'll correct your code.  Job done!  However while I was there the phone was ringing a lot but they just don't have time to answer it and deal with people in front of them.  Not good I know but if you're not too far away it could be worth a personal visit.  If you decide to come, contact me and I'll buy you a beer [B]

Edit: BTW, the tax office is really near the main train station

[allanb]

Pierre ZFP: unfortunately we are about as far away from Luxembourg as it's possible to be in France, but thank you for the offer.  If we ever make the trip, mine's a Bofferding.

(It's the Luxembourg pensions office (CPEP), not the tax office, that I'm dealing with, but the experience is probably similar.)

Here in France, the Mairie (when it finally opened its doors) was very helpful.  They suggested that what I need was a certificat de résidence, which they not only produced and signed on the spot, but faxed direct to Luxembourg for me, free of charge.  But when I called the CPEP later in the day, to confirm that they had received it, the Luxembourg telephone experience continued. 

The nice lady on the switchboard said she would put me through to department that dealt with my file.  It rang for a few seconds, and then I will swear that someone picked up the phone (I could hear office-type noises in the background) but nobody said anything.  So I hung up and spoke to the switchboard again and exactly the same thing happened a second time.  So I hung up again, and called a third time, and told the switchboard lady what was happening.  "Well," she said, "I wouldn't be surprised if there's nobody there; it's after four o'clock."

So the question is: who picked up the phone?