carte de sejour visiteur versus long stay shengen visa

@GreenMountain

Hi,

I saw your post , and I plan to do the same thing, living between two places , although I am sorry can’t advise on the burocracy.

I just thought I would drop you a line in case you were looking for a nice place to stay. I have a  4 bedroomed house to rent for 400 Euros per month plus bills  near VILLENEUVE sur Lot . The house is available until July 12th 2023 . If you wanted to try the area, I would gladly send further info if you were interested…

best wishes ,

Lottie 

I am in France at the moment from the USA with a D visa (temporarie)

The paper that came with my passport said to checkin online within 3 months.

I tried to check in but my temporary visa does not exist in the drop down choices on line.

So I contacted the help desk and was told I didnt have to checkin on line, however they offered no help on what to do?

I want to extend my visa beyond the 6 months they gave me, but so far have only the circle of french web pages that do not offer an answer just a link back to the one from whence I came.

My next step is to contact the prefecture in person to see what the real answer is.

I also used VFS for my VISA and can URGE you STRONGLY to use any other visa service available for that part.

I hope I can get an answer that can help you and others along the way.

Bobmo

Hi everybody! My name is Chris( Australian; French wife) and I arrived in France, via Lyon airport,in June 2022. No sign of any visa in sight, just an entry stamp. Repeated applications to the French Immigration Dept have resulted in one interview at the Prefecture in St Etienne: aborted because we didn't have 1 year of cojoint utility bills from Australia, in both our names ( not mentioned on their website btw).

My 2nd application was rejected because,silly me, I submitted it under the wrong heading but the 3rd application was accepted. that was back in November 2022

Since then, not a word. I check in regularly and look at my online file, but all I find are my increasingly desperate messages to my "manager". Are Immigration here really this slow? Am I an "overstayer" atm,liable to arrest and deporting on sight? Anyone else in this decidedly ticklish situation? My wife went through this BS in Melbourne in 1989 and it was smooth and free from complication.

Any advice,anecdote,etc,would be welcome.

@lottiehorsman

Thanks Lottie, probably not interested at this time but where is Villeneuve sur Lot locatated? 

@GreenMountain

The carte de sejour is a long road and requires that have been there legally for min 6 months. The Long Stay Visa is the easiest start. I did that for three years. I have a French Wife, and we have a house in France. And I has been complicated. We do 182 days in France and 183 in the US to not involve Tax Status. The part-time thing is something they do not understand. The Rich can do it because they have Lawyers. I did the long-term Visa. You have to do it on the Internet, and there is no way to get one without having a school, job, or family. You can try the application. The first question is why, and then you are asked one item at a time to justify your request. So you go down a path until it says NO. Start over with another path, and so on. You can do this over and over until you get through the maze. Please do Not Push the send button until you are sure what you declared is true and you are ready to do it. When I got my first Long Stay Visa, I was required to report to Immigration "OFII" within 30 days. This was done by Internet and the appointment with all the paperwork in 90 days. When I got to the office with all my documents again, I found out that I was immigrating. My first carte de sejour  "2yr" runs out April 10. I have sent all those documents and more by mail from the US and have gotten a 90-day extension. I will be legal to go to France for the next round. I learned many things, and I enjoy being able to navigate the system. For all the years since our wedding in 1979.  I being American, could come and stay as long as, we wanted until 2016, when the EU started tracking entry and exits.       

@lottiehorsman Would love to have taken up residence in your house, however while we will be in France we will be heading north to leave! Perhaps another time!

Cheers,

Saundra

@lottiehorsman  That would have been ideal for us! However, on that date we'll have already left France to return home. Maybe another time?

cheers,

Saundra

@chris48oconnor hi Chris, I’m Lucy me and my partner are in the same situation , we have had 2 appointments and got our temp cartes sejour paper and they told us our cards would be ready in 2 months well that’s been 7 months ago now. I’ve tried to contact them , make appointments, sent letters but heard nothing, we are very lost on what to do now. We have animals here as well, and I’m worried if we leave france we won’t be able to get back in. Any help from any one also Chris have you heard any more for yours? Thank you.