Visa-vis Part 1:Research & Documentation

This is part of our Visa-vis collection where we
talk about applying for our long-term visitor visas for France.

by Céleste

This post will cover the first part of a French long-term visitor visa: research & documentation. I’ll walk through each part and provide some tips. If you have other topics you would like to see, or if anything is unclear, let me know and I’ll add it to the notes at the bottom.

What type of visa should I apply for?

This all depends on what you’re doing in France. Are you a student? Did you get a job (good for you!)? Or are you just bumming around and checking out what this whole European life is about while your husband toils away (lucky me)?

There are several types of visas you can apply for, which you can view on the Chicago Consulate page. They range from work visas, to short-stay visas, to long-term visas of different types. I’m going to focus on the long stay visa for visitors, which is what we applied for and received.

One of the first things Vincent and I did when we had finally decided in earnest that we wanted to go to France, was to look up the requirements for getting a visa. We knew Vincent would have to get approval to work for his employer while in France (more on that later) but what would I do? I wasn’t a lazy Euro-bum visitor at first, I promise you. I had big dreams of getting a work visa, teaching English to adorable French enfants and experiencing Paris from the inside (we had originally planned on living in Paris). I even had a Skype interview and job offer of teaching 3-year-olds English and providing basic care after the school day. However, my dreams were soon dashed by the turning wheel of the French consulate bureaucracy.

I was told by the job agency that if I wanted to work for them, they would not provide a work contract for me. However, if I wanted to get this job, I would need a work visa. Which means I would need a work contract. This confused me, because it’s basically a Catch-22: You can’t get a job without a work visa, and you can’t get a work visa unless you have a job lined up. The woman I talked to said, “Oh, it’s okay, you can just sign up for a student visa. Then you can take classes in the morning and work in the afternoon. A lot of our employees do this, and it is a great way to experience France as a visitor.”

This sounded wonderful to me. Work with little kids (which is what I do in the US), go to some classes, get coffee at chic cafes. I started to look into classes. I found some nice classes through Alliance Francaise, which I thought would work out, as they were about 10 hours per week. I started to go through the Campus France process, look at the budgeting for my classes, and start the application at Alliance Française. Then I started thinking, Wait a minute. Is there a number of hours I’m expected to go to class? How many hours can I work? And most importantly, Can I even afford this?? I emailed the woman from the agency and asked. She replied that in order to show the consulate that I was serious about working in France and getting a student visa, I would need to take 20 hours of classes and work 20 hours at the agency.

Oh hell no. 40 hours per week in class and working? Isn’t this supposed to be a get-away, a vacation? How would I visit other cities and maybe even other countries? Most importantly, with the calculations I did, the job would have paid about $9000, and the classes would have cost about $10,000. Yeah, not cost effective. So the student visa and work visa are out the door.

So now we’ve decided on the long-term visitor’s visa for both of us. Okay, so a long stay visitor visa will allow you to stay in France for up to one year, as long as you check in with the local prefecture within your first three months. Side note: If you are planning on staying for fewer than 90 days in a 6 month period, you do not need a visa. Anything over that, you must get a visa. And no, you can’t cheat the system by going for 90 days, leaving for a few days, and returning. You can only live there for 90 days within a 6 month period.

The Consulate: What should I prepare?

As we live in the Midwest, our go-to French Consulate was in Chicago. When you are looking up your consulate, be sure you find the right one. You will not be approved if you have the wrong consulate.

Vincent and I wanted to stay a year in France so we decided on applying for 11 months. Why 11 months? No real reason except to not have any problems brushing up to the 12 month maximum. So we knew we needed a long-term visitor visa, as enumerated above. After the many headaches listed above, we were ready to take the plunge to get the visitor visa. The final decision of visa type could be different for each person, but this is what happened to fit for our family.

We started to look up the requirements for the application. Oh boy. They are listed on the consulate’s website, but they are not really clear. I’m going to include notes about each requirement below, to help you through the process. Remember this is ONLY for the Chicago consulate. The other consulates may have different requirements (welcome to the French bureaucracy!). In fact, we checked the other consulates for ideas about what to bring as well. You can’t be too prepared, so we would suggest you do the same, to get some extra information that could be helpful. We’ve tried our best to include as many notes as possible to help you out.

Without further ado, let’s get to the requirements:

1. One application form (click here for the English version) filled out completely and signed by the applicant.

This one was easy. Just fill out the form. We only brought the English version of the application and we were accepted.

2. One passport photoglued/stapled onto the application form (white background, full face, no glasses nor hat, closed mouth)

You can get this done at any passport photo place. We stapled one to the application and brought extras, just in case. We got our photos taken at the UPS Store, and they were very nice.

3. Questionnaire duly filled out in French

This questionnaire (or as the French say, “questionnaire”) is only available in French. It’s easy to do if you know the language. If you don’t, we translated it to English for you. Some of these questions didn’t apply to us (we don’t own property) so we just answered N/A. You should write your responses in French too. Google Translate is your friend if you don’t know French.

A small note: You are not required to know French to get this visa, but it helps A LOT. Vincent doesn’t speak French, but I do. We’ll talk about this in another post on actually applying for the visa.

4. Original passport or travel document (+ ONE COPY of the identity pages). Your passport must have been issued less than 10 years ago, be valid for at least three months after your return to the US and have at least 2 blank visas pages left.

This is just standard passport stuff. You can learn more about that here. I suggest making sure your passport is in order several months beforehand.

5. Status in the US — If you are not a US citizen, copy of your green card or visa.

We brought the originals and certified copies of our birth certificates and social security cards. We did not need them, and no one asked for them. They did ask for our state-issued IDs (driver’s license) and made copies, which was not a surprise.

6. Letter explaining what you intend on doing in France.

This one is my favorite. Yes, I understand what it means, but what exactly do I need to include here? An important note about this is to make sure you include the dates you intend to stay in France. Here is a template of our letter of intent. We got this letter notarized, just in case.

7. Letter promising not to engage in any employment in France (signature certified by a notary public)

Are we in a college writing class here? So much writing! Here is a template of our letter, for your consideration. Both Vincent and I submitted the same letter, even though Vincent would be telecommuting (see next section).

We then took it to Wells Fargo to get it notarized, which was free. Most banks will provide notary services for free. Wells Fargo didn’t even ask if we had an account! They were very helpful.

8. Letter of employment in the US stating occupation and earnings

Vincent and I both asked our places of employment for copies of letters that listed our occupations and earnings. Mine was relatively easy; I just emailed HR and they mailed me a copy.

But how does this letter work when you will be working remotely, like Vincent? Vincent asked HR and his manager to provide a letter stating his occupation and earnings as well as his intent to work remotely. Since Vincent’s work does not require a work permit, the consulate just needed a letter from his employer saying he was working remotely and was signed by his manager. Vincent will be writing more about this experience in a separate post since it deserves some detail.

We are not sure what to provide if you are between jobs or retired—sorry about that. It would be a good idea to email the consulate (they hate calls) and ask.

9. Proof of means of income — letter from the bank, investment certificates, pension slips, …

We printed out our bank statements for the three previous months before going to the consulate, and put that information into a nice little packet. We included our checking, savings, and credit card accounts. It wouldn’t hurt to provide your retirement accounts if you have any (401k, etc.).

In a later part of the series, we’ll go into more detail about financial planning for our trip. The rule of thumb is to make sure to have enough financial support to cover your entire trip; we had been saving up for the past few years. We also applied for our visas before paying for the apartment lease and airline tickets, keeping our bank account full.

10. Proof of medical insurance

That is all the Chicago consulate has to say about this. Vincent took care of this research. He checked the other consulate sites and buried in the FAQ of the New York consulate’s site found an explanation.

For those who have to produce evidence of medical insurance, please provide a letter from an insurance company stating that they will be covered, for a minimum of 45,000 Dollars for the duration of their stay in the Schengen states, for medical, hospitalization and repatriation expenses (these three words must appear in the letter).

You should check your primary insurance provider (ours is Blue Cross Blue Shield) because chances are they won’t cover that last bit: repatriation expenses. This is the cost of sending back your remains if you die abroad (grim, I know).

BCBS did cover the rest (in fact, turns out we have unlimited coverage abroad) but we still needed to cover the last part. We ended up buying international travel insurance through Atlas. This didn’t cost too much even for 11 months of coverage (up to $50,000).

It’s possible your consulate might not care about the details. The Chicago consulate never asked for more detail on our coverage so your mileage may vary on skipping the whole international insurance thing. You will need to print and provide the visa letter from your insurance provider to give to the consulate. We provided letters from BCBS and Atlas.

The other important thing to note about most international travel insurance is that it is “secondary” insurance after your primary insurance provider. This means we can rely on BCBS abroad and fall back on Atlas when needed. Be sure to read the coverage guide on any insurance you buy. Most travel insurance providers also have a clause that say the coverage ends if you return back to your home country after the coverage takes effect. Atlas allows 2 weeks (15 days) for “incidental” trips home, which was fine for us. This means if you’ll be returning for more than 15 days, you’ll need to buy coverage again. I have no idea how they’ll know but you should be aware.

11. Marriage certificate or family book + Birth certificates for children

We don’t have kids, so we didn’t have to worry about birth certificates for children. We are married, however, so we brought our marriage certificate, as well as several copies including a certified copy (which you can get through your county’s vital records office). Bring copies, because they need to take one as part of the application.

12. Enrollment in a school for the children.

This didn’t apply to us. Just like housing, I guess you’ll need to do this before you apply.

13. Proof of accommodation in France (title deeds, lease or rental agreement)

We brought a lease for our apartment in Aix-en-Provence in French AND in English. Oh yeah, did I mention, you have to have your housing set up BEFORE you even know you’re going to get approved for a visa? We’ll go into more detail in another part of the series, so don’t worry too much yet.

14. Processing fee

The processing fee is supposed to be around 50 euros. We paid like $200 for the two of us. Be sure to have MULTIPLE forms of payment available. We brought checks, because another consulate said they only take checks. However, the Chicago office said they only take credit cards. So be wise and bring both!

15. If you intend on staying in France for more than 6 months: One residence form duly filled out (upper part only)

The residence form only needs the top portion filled out. This form is also only available in French. We also have translated it for you. This is the form you will be presenting to the prefecture upon arrival within 3 months if you are staying longer than 6 months.

16. A self-addressed prepaid EXPRESS MAIL envelope from the US POST OFFICE ONLY — NO FEDEX / UPS / AIRBORNE EXPRESS accepted. You may use one envelope per family if you buy `flat rate.`

We bought one envelope and one stamp at the post office for both our applications. Don’t use FedEx or UPS! The stamp should be about $20.

Fill the envelope out as follows:

From:
Consulate General of France
205N Michigan Ave, Suite 3760
Chicago, IL 60601

To:
Your full name
Your address

Oh, and yes, the French Consulate is on Floor 37 of Illinois Center!

Last notes:

Wait, I need an apartment?

As you may have caught above, you will need to have housing set up before you go to the consulate. Yes, you need to get your ducks in a row before you even know if you will be approved for the visa. We’ll cover this process in another post.

What about plane tickets?

We emailed the consulate to ask if we needed plane tickets because the site recommended having reservations. We were told we did not need to buy tickets and we didn’t have any issues applying. This was big plus because why should we have to buy tickets if we didn’t know if we’d be accepted?

Did you bring anything else? How did you organize it?

You can never be too prepared. We brought two binders, one for each of us. I organized both of them into sections (Forms, Identification, Letters, Housing, Bank Statements). We started these binders early on in the process because we started planning over a year ago and there’s so much to keep track of. We have digital copies of most of this besides identification. We used OneDrive and Google Drive to store research and documents so we could share across PCs and phones.

We also brought:

• 2 copies of everything above, per person
• Immunization records
• Copy of current US apartment lease
• Copies of emails from the consulate(s) regarding remote work
• Certified copies of our birth certificates which you can get from your birth county’s Vital Records department
• Police clearance letters which you can obtain from your police department’s records department

We ended up not needing any of the extra documentation.

So how did the visa meeting go?

As you already know, we were approved. Please continue through the saga to hear about how it went!

Follow Aix Squared to stay-up-to-date with our experiences while in France. This post is part of our series on applying for a visa, Visa-vis.