Luc Leroy

Review of Consulat général de France à S...

In my experience, staff is nice and they try to do...

In my experience, staff is nice and they try to do their best, so I have to disagree with reviewers blaming them, writing they 'nap in their office in the afternoon'. A couple senior clerks are very professional and arranging. That being said I'm French and maybe the experience would be different if I didn't speak French; who knows?
However, the way French administration works is driven by bureaucracy from the 19th century! If you don't follow the EXACT steps of the process, you're screwed. And it's all your fault and you may have to wait weeks before you get another appointment.
With their new office on Kearny it's even worst as it gives the feeling it's hiding and less accessible than it was before.

I'm giving it 2 stars because I'm still naive enough to hope that mediocre reviews will make French authorities think a bit about it and try to improve their services (go online, go paperless, make things easier.... please! In the US a passport can be obtained in few weeks at the DMV!)
What I dislike the most is the fact you need an appointment for almost everything. In a country where you have 10 days of vacation, you'll enjoy wasting 2 or 3 of them for going to the consulate ;) And that's even the case for children passports. Since the consulate operates during hours that are arranging for virtually nobody, you'll have to take children out of school to show their face at the consulate (which hopefully is not too far away - some drives hours or travel days to get there!) in order to make the thing happen.
Compare that to getting a passport in the US, which by the way is produced by the same (French) company with the same level of security...