# Some long stay visa questions



## Scoandpdx

My wife and I, retired Americans, are planning to apply for a France long stay visa for non-working visitors this winter and have several questions we haven’t seen answers to before. Answers on any of them, or references to relevant statements official sites such the France visa site would be appreciated.

1. Our vision is to travel in France and neighboring Schengen countries by bicycle, without fixed lodging declared in advance. We have sufficient resources we can declare to cover our expenses for the year, but we’re uncertain about whether we need to maintain a permanent address or need to keep France informed of our travels. I’ve seen conflicting information on this, including the idea that you don’t need to show proof of lodging in advance as long as you declare sufficient resources. Are we free to move about and stay multiple places without maintaining a single declared address?

2. We are uncertain whether we will want to apply for a residence permit at the end of the year. An alternate vision would be to just return home and apply for a new long stay visa. Is this allowed, or is it the LSV regarded as a one-time option to facilitate beginning the residency process?

3. We are currently in Europe, Schengen-hopping our way through a nine month bicycle tour - 3 months in France, 3 in the UK where we are currently, and 3 more in France. We plan to apply for an LSV as soon as we return home this winter. if the application process is successful and goes fairly quickly, it’s possible we might be granted our visas before we’ve been out of the Schengen Zone for 90 days. Could we reenter France early in this case, or do you have to have been out of Schengen for the normal length of time before entering it under an LSV?

Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer.

Scott


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## Bevdeforges

OK, I think you maybe misunderstand how a long-stay visa works here. But to answer your specific questions:

1. On a long-stay visa (for France or anywhere else in Schengen) you must maintain a residence in the country that issued your visa. Your right to roam freely throughout the Schengen area is limited to 90 days (total of all Schengen travel or wanderings) in any given 180 day period. The significance of the country based residence is that you must be contactable at that residence at all times - generally just for the various formalities related to immigration (primarily a medical exam or any requests for additional documents for your dossier). Contact is usually done via registered postal mail and there may be other formalities that require "proof of residence" (like a utility bill for your residence address) - for things like opening a bank account, signing up with the CPAM for health insurance, buying a car and registering it in France, etc. Whether you are resident in France or not, you will enter other Schengen countries as a tourist with all the same conditions for "visa free travel" as if you were coming directly from the US. Being resident in France only means that your time spent in France doesn't count toward your 90 days in any 180 day period total because you're resident there.

2.


Scoandpdx said:


> We are uncertain whether we will want to apply for a residence permit at the end of the year.


It is not a matter of applying for a residence permit ("carte de séjour") at the end of the first year. During your first year in France, your validated visa (the one in your passport) serves as a temporary residence permit ("titre de séjour") during your first year. IF you have a renewable visa, you then renew the temporary titre de séjour toward the end of your first year in France for a "carte de séjour" given that you can show that you still fulfill all the requirements you met to get that first visa. Only if you applied for a non-renewable visa (i.e. checked "six months to one year" rather than "one year +" on the form) would you have to go back home to apply for a new visa. As I have mentioned before - a visa is the document that authorizes you to enter France for "the long term" whereas the titre de séjour is a residence card which allows you to remain in France as a resident for however long. Without a residence permit, you're just a tourist and you're limited to 90 days (in the Schengen zone).

3. A long stay visa is a separate document from the 90 day "Schengen visa" for tourists. Your tourist time is not considered on entry with a long-stay visa as you are not re-entering on the Schengen tourist visa.


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## Bob & Patty

Thank you, very informative. If I understand this correctly we will have to have to (in our case) rent a residence or several consecutive residences for 12 months to keep the long stay visa valid. Does that (those) rentals obligate us to be a tax residence also - which is staying in France for 183 or more days during a year? It sounds like visiting other Schengen Area countries counts as living in France also.


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