The travelling world has changed

OPINION: Five years ago when our boys Hugo, 12, and Tom, 7, received their first French passports it was a fairly straightforward affair, writes Cherie Sivignon in this week's L'expat.

There was a requirement for a good-quality photo, an original birth certificate, the completed application forms, including proof of their entitlement to French nationality, and not much else. There was no fee and the whole process was completed via the post.

Their new passports, collected last week, required a lot more effort. Firstly, their original birth certificates (a British document for Hugo and a New Zealand-issued certificate for his younger Invercargill-born brother) had to be sent to the Foreign Affairs office in Nantes. The good bureaucrats in Nantes issued official French certificates containing the boys' birth information.

We also needed the Livret de Famille. This is another official document outlining the details our of family – the marriage of my husband and I and the birth of our three children. There's also space to add the details of our deaths.

But wait, there's more.

We also had to provide proof of the boys' entitlement to French nationality, their old passports, good-quality photos and prepaid Government stamps as payment for the new passports.

Yep, it now costs to get one of the newfangled travel documents. We paid 17 (NZ$33.55) for each child's passport.

The boys had to be present for the processing of their passport applications (about 10 minutes each) and an electronic scan was taken of each of their hands (a requirement that applies to children aged over 6).

They had to be present again for the hand scans to be repeated in order to collect their new passports. Phew, what a change. At least the whole process could still be completed at our local council office and we didn't have to troop up to Paris. Who knows what we'll have to do five years from now.

Still, the passport technology in France, like the rest of the world, has come a long way. From handwritten details and photographs literally stuck into the books, to microchips and digital photos – it's a big leap in a short time.

However, there are scary reports out of Britain that the data protected by this new technology is already able to be accessed and copied by would-be fraudsters. Where will it end?

That 2001 attack in the United States has caused a massive fallout. It's getting tricky and expensive to be a traveller.

We do need valid French passports living, as we do, on the border with Switzerland with ski resorts that straddle both countries. I also feel the need to keep our New Zealand passports valid in case we head Down Under for any reason.

Applying for passports is a hassle but at least we are free to travel. We are able to get passports and see this amazing world. I won't moan about that.

» Cherie Sivignon is a former Southland Times journalist who has moved to France with her French-born husband and their family.

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