# Renewing my expired visa, do I need a birth certificate or not?



## ADragonFire (May 4, 2017)

Hey gang, I've currently got an expired student visa (it's been expired for a little over a year, but that's a story for another day) and would like to renew and change my status to vie privee et familiale. I looked on service public, where it says "Copie intégrale d'acte de naissance (sauf si vous avez déjà une carte de séjour) comportant les mentions les plus récentes". The thing is, I DO have a carte de sejour, albeit an expired one. Would the expired card be enough to go through with the renewal process? Or would I need to order a birth certificate and treat the matter as someone who never had a carte de sejour in the first place? I emailed the prefecture and explained my situation. I finished my email with, "given my situation, would I need to include a birth certificate? Yes or no?" and I got a response today that didn't even answer that question. They simply asked for a photocopy of my passport, my SO's ID, and a justificatif de domicile. I do not want to show up to my appointment without the necessary documents, but from the looks of things, the prefecture didn't really seem to care. What would be the best action to take here? Thanks all!


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

There are some rules and procedures for obtaining the status change to vie privée et familiale with an expired titre de séjour. If they sent you a response listing what they need to see, I'd take it at face value - and bring a copy of the response along with whatever other documents they have asked for. The préfecture can't issue you with a new visa - visas are only available through a consulate. 

If you are married or PACS'd to your SO I would bring some documentation of that (livret de famille or a copy of your PACS document) just in case (i.e. to "prove" the relationship). But worst possible case, they may ask for one or more additional documents - but it's rare that they ask for multiple birth certificates. (The birth certificate they got when you made your initial visa application should still be available.)


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