# Long Stay Visa address changes



## nrlaurin

I will be applying for a long-stay visitor visa this Fall, for a one-year period. I have three different airbnb's lined up to last the full year, all prepaid and ready to go, while I shop around for a more permanent apartment rental to begin my second year in France. My question is...assuming I get the visa, arrive successfully in France, and register once I'm there (I never take anything for granted!), my initial airbnb address will obviously change a couple of times during that first year. All three address are located in the Finistère department in Brittany. I'm concerned that, as I wait for OFII appointments and apply for the carte vitale and visa renewals, etc, over the course of the first year, will the address changes delay and confuse things for me? Is it worth it - or even possible - to instead have mail sent to a virtual mailbox in France that will remain constant throughout my stay, rather than keep changing my address at La Poste and (I assume) with the prefecture? I just don't want to miss anything or make matters more difficult for myself once I'm there...


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## bhamham

I arrived in Brittany (Morbihan) last Oct on my VLS-TS and stayed at a chambre d'hotes for the first three months. I then found a house to rent. I registered/verified my visa 30 days after arriving but would suggest that you do it sooner. I was notified of my OFII medical exam by mail about a month later, and had the exam in mid Dec in Rennes.

After finding my rent house I went on the Administration de Etrangers en France website:





Étrangers en France







administration-etrangers-en-france.interieur.gouv.fr




to record my change of address. I sent them the bail and an EDF bill. They sent a message through the site that said to notify them of the address change when I renew and kept the old address on file.

I guess you can do address changes through la poste, and tell the first BnB to notify you of any mail you receive after leaving. I don't know if France has virtual mailboxes like they do in the US, I rather doubt it.


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## Bevdeforges

One possible issue with multiple AirBnB locations like that may be your ability to receive postal mail at each one - and then whether or not that address will allow you to have mail forwarded after you move on. Like so many things, it varies by region and area, but in some towns the local post can be sticklers for insisting that you have your name on your mailbox before they will deliver anything to the address for you. Mail forwarding by the post office here may work a little differently from what you expect - and some mailings from the government are marked "do not forward" if related to anything where your place of residence may be crucial. 

It may be possible to rent a post office box, but I don't think either the visa processing people or the OFII/prefecture will allow you to use a PO box as your "residence address" like that. Besides, PO boxes can be difficult to find as they are in pretty limited supply. 

Depending on the timing on your AirBnB arrangements, you may want to jump on the process of locating some form of more permanent housing before you have to move from the first location.


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## nrlaurin

Bevdeforges said:


> One possible issue with multiple AirBnB locations like that may be your ability to receive postal mail at each one - and then whether or not that address will allow you to have mail forwarded after you move on. Like so many things, it varies by region and area, but in some towns the local post can be sticklers for insisting that you have your name on your mailbox before they will deliver anything to the address for you. Mail forwarding by the post office here may work a little differently from what you expect - and some mailings from the government are marked "do not forward" if related to anything where your place of residence may be crucial.
> 
> It may be possible to rent a post office box, but I don't think either the visa processing people or the OFII/prefecture will allow you to use a PO box as your "residence address" like that. Besides, PO boxes can be difficult to find as they are in pretty limited supply.
> 
> Depending on the timing on your AirBnB arrangements, you may want to jump on the process of locating some form of more permanent housing before you have to move from the first location.


Interesting. Since I will be at each location for so long, I will have to make sure I can get mail from any source pretty reliably, so I will check with my hosts to ensure that they arrange for me to be able to receive mail for the months I am there. Apparently there is a french virtual mailbox service called "French-office" but it wont do much good to have a mail forwarding service if I still can't receive mail at the airbnbs! I guess I will take it one step at a time, try to keep updated addresses on the Administration de Etrangers en France website and just pray that my airbnb hosts will keep me informed as mail arrives until I have a permanent address. I will start looking for a permanent solution as soon as I arrive.


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## baobabtree

nrlaurin said:


> I will be applying for a long-stay visitor visa this Fall, for a one-year period. I have three different airbnb's lined up to last the full year, all prepaid and ready to go, while I shop around for a more permanent apartment rental to begin my second year in France. My question is...assuming I get the visa, arrive successfully in France, and register once I'm there (I never take anything for granted!), my initial airbnb address will obviously change a couple of times during that first year. All three address are located in the Finistère department in Brittany. I'm concerned that, as I wait for OFII appointments and apply for the carte vitale and visa renewals, etc, over the course of the first year, will the address changes delay and confuse things for me? Is it worth it - or even possible - to instead have mail sent to a virtual mailbox in France that will remain constant throughout my stay, rather than keep changing my address at La Poste and (I assume) with the prefecture? I just don't want to miss anything or make matters more difficult for myself once I'm there...


Hi, I am looking to move to France on a long-stay visitor visa like yourself in the near future. Was wondering if it's possible to do what you did and book multiple short-term stays and then cancel once you find a real place from a visa perspective? Like can you change what you put on your visa for housing? I just think it would be very expensive to do airbnb for a whole year vs doing it until you find an apartment or something. Thanks!


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## Bevdeforges

When applying for a long-stay visa you are required to provide your initial residence address. Depending on the type of visa you are applying for, there are various registration procedures you have to carry out and for this, you need to be reachable by postal mail at the address you give in your visa application. Using an AirBnB for your initial "residence" can cause problems if you are changing addresses, as you may not be able to receive postal mail and/or mail sent to you at the address may not be forwarded to wherever you go to next. 

What many folks do is to find a temporary place - for the initial 1 to 3 months. This could be a short term residence - perhaps a short term rental or even an apart-hotel (one of those hotels with a kitchen or kitchenette facility often used for longer term business stays). Let the visa application agency know that during this period of time you will be looking for more permanent housing. The key thing is that you must be contactable by postal mail.


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