Letters: My French admin nightmare due to name error
Reader says the problem arose because officials do not have an ü or umlaut key
Reader now has different names on her identity card and carte Vitale
ArTono / Shutterstock
To the Editor,
We have an ongoing dilemma with the French administration around the use of the trèma [ü or umlaut] as it seems not to exist on the keyboards of the bureaucracy.
Our name is spelled with a u trèma, being of German origin. The accepted equivalent is ue and due to issues with international travel, our passports and ID cards use this variant.
Now enter the carte Vitale! According to the exchange of documents and correspondence, the name on the Carte must be as shown on the birth certificate - thus u trèma.
However, the bureaucrats, apparently having no trèma simply changed it to u.
Therefore, the name on my husband's carte Vitale does not match either his ID card nor his birth certificate but is a totally different name.
The response to the request on receipt of the card asking for verification of any incorrect information was simply ignored.
Of course this leads to continuous discussions with the health providers. Probably good for improving our French but one does just have to shake one's head at the imprecision of all this online information.
We find that in France we are generating aliases with frightening ease and proliferation and any attempt to correct invalid information disappears into the void.
Carol Muecke-Davis, by email
Have has spelling of your name caused any problems with the French bureaucracy? Let us know your experience via letters@connnexionfrance.com
