# Renewal for long stay visa



## DC12345

Bonjour,
My family and I are in France under the long stay visa Visiteur (Titre de Sejour) and already nearing our 1 year mark and need to renew (and apply for Carte de Sejour which begins the 2nd year in France). For anybody who has gone through this process recently, can you give me any tips/anything I need to know/do? Thank you so much. Merci beaucoup.


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## Bevdeforges

Basically the process for renewing your titre de séjour tends to vary from one prefecture to the next. Then, there is the renewal option online. First check the website for your prefecture to see what they say. 

The last week or so I keep getting this "news item" on my electronic devices: Titres de séjour: en France, le recours exclusif au service en ligne ne pourra plus être imposé

Basically, it sounds as if you can't be "required" to do your renewal online. But the first request for an actual card may require an appointment and a visit to the prefecture or one of the sous-prefectures.


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## seirahsam

You must justify permanent residency in France in order to apply for a long-term residence permit. If you're doing an internship, a visa may be awarded for the duration of your stay but not much more. Long term visas are generally awarded to foreigners who can justify a stable situation in their home country e.g. someone with a job, a house, supporting children, to show that he is not likely to overstay his visa. This is usually not the case of students/people looking for internships.


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## dpdapper

I renewed my visiteur carte online in December and had a notice of approval back in 10 days or so. Étrangers en France. IIRC, it walks you through the process pretty clearly, including what you need to upload to support your application. It’s pretty similar to the documents you had to provide when you first applied.


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## Bevdeforges

I may have posted this before, and if so, just ignore this. But this article popped up on my social media a week or more ago:








Titres de séjour: en France, le recours exclusif au service en ligne ne pourra plus être imposé


En France, les autorités vont devoir permettre aux ressortissants étrangers d'avoir accès physiquement aux préfectures pour leurs démarches administratives. Le Conseil d'État, la plus haute juridiction…




www.rfi.fr




Basically they are saying that the prefectures can not insist that you apply for your titres de séjour only online. If you are having difficulty you have to have access to the prefecture. They are looking into exactly how to handle this across France - but for those who have had difficulties with the online system, it is a glimmer of hope.


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## dpdapper

Bevdeforges said:


> I may have posted this before,


Post #2 above.


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## saffron_gin

Is it true that the online system can only accept renewal applications after the 2month left mark? It seems the prefecture system allowed applications at 3month left mark...


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