Applicants are asked for the original of the photocopy, the copy of the original, and proof that they have no proof.
In the corridors of the Department of Clarity, everyone looks for the line reserved for those who don’t have a line.
It’s 7:58 when the line splits in two in front of Counter 12, closed because open, according to the little sign. On the light-up board: “Take a ticket to get a ticket.” To request an appointment, you first need a pre-appointment, available only in person, from Monday to Monday, from 10:12 to 10:13. At the entrance, an agent directs you to the opposite corridor, where another agent directs you back to the first. “It’s the procedure,” he smiles, before adding that no procedure is available at reception.
The list of required documents, obtainable online but only on paper, requires “proof of address less than three months old, dated four months ago.” It also lists: “Photocopy of the original and original of the photocopy,” “proof of absence of a middle name,” and “identity document bearing the same photo as the one provided today, taken the day before yesterday.” A supplementary notice specifies that the missing document may be replaced by another missing document “of equivalent administrative value.”
On the digital side, the Single Portal multiplies the single: account creation with a code received by post after entering the code received by email, sent on request via a form available after logging in. Files must be PDF-JPGs smaller than 1 MB and larger than 5 MB, signed “electronically by hand.” The hotline refers you to the FAQ which refers you back to the hotline; the chatbot politely invites you to wait offline.
“We have simplified the simplification: from now on, a single step repeats until success,” says, serenely, Ms. Ruban-Rouge, acting head of the Office of Improbable Coherence. Officially, everything is clear: to prove that you are not lost, you must arrive at the place where you shouldn’t have gone, carrying what could not be given to you before you had it.
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