# Bank won't open account without Titre de Séjour :-(



## footsoldier

I hold a long stay visa equivalent to a Titre de sejour. I have validated my visa, but I won't have the Titre. I'm trying to open a bank account, but the bank insists on submitting my Titre and won't accept my visa... Does anyone know how I can meet the bank's requirement? They only need a digital copy, so is it at all possible to get a digital Titre without actually having a physical one? Thanks.


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## Sneetch

I had a similar situation when applying for my carte vitale. I went to the CPAM office to give them my documents and make sure that everything was in order. I included a copy of the VLS-TS that's in my passport and the guy that looked at my dossier said it wasn't acceptable and insisted that I needed to go to the préfecture and get a carte de séjour.

I explained that the system had changed and that the first visa becomes the equivalent of a titre de séjour after being validated online. That's when the lightbulb went off and I realized that I should have included the letter I had received when I did the online validation.

The letter has the heading "Confirmation de la validation de l'enregistrement de votre visa long séjour valant titre de séjour", which makes things pretty clear. I had a second appointment at a different CPAM office and included that letter and my dossier was accepted without any issues.


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## Crabtree

The power of paper in France.When I develop super hero powers I want to be known as "Piece of Paper Man" I will fold myself into a paper plane and glide in to solve all issues "By the Power of Paper"📜🧻


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## footsoldier

@Sneetch Thanks for sharing. Unfortunately for me, the bank is an online bank, and the submission of documents are entirely automated, so anything that's not a titre de sejour will be detected and immediately rejected. Even my visa, which somehow resembles the Titre, is also rejected, not to mention a text file (and on top of that, the system only accept images, so a pdf file is automatically unaccepted). The reason I chose an online bank is precisely to avoid hassles with human beings, but I guess I'll have to turn back to human beings.


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## Bevdeforges

Um, I think the online bank is your "problem" here. Generally speaking, you can't open an online account until you have a "bricks and mortar" account established here in France (or at least within the EU) to serve as "validation" of your identity. The banks here are obligated to "Know Your Customer" (KYC) and apparently the online banks have to rely on the in person validation done by your bricks and mortar bank and banker since they can't otherwise meet up with you face to face. 

Not sure if things have changed over the past few years, but when I set up my online account, most of the online banks would not accept any "US persons" as customers, either, due to the FATCA regulations (for the banks - nothing to do with your filing of FBARs). Some of the online banks are more "upfront" about admitting that they won't accept US customers than others are. But as far as I know, all of them require that you have an account in a physical bank before they'll open an online only account for you.


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## LoriEleanor

We also had a few challenges opening a bank account in France. We have 10 year residency cards and we were still refused by several banks due to the simple fact we are American. We had many years of French tax returns in our hands, our titres, our attestation de domicile, etc., etc., etc. Nope, flat out said bye-bye, out you go.

After a bit of research, I found out that if you are legally resident in France, you have the right to open a French bank account. I also found out that banks CAN (obviously) refuse to open an account for you. 

However, if that happens, there is a process to follow in contacting the Banque de France advising them of the refusal(s). They will then assign a bank near your address to open an account for you. The assigned bank will not be able to refuse you. In the end, we didn't have to do this. We found a bank that accepted all our residence documents, verified our tax id numbers and opened a primary resident account for us. 

You can read about this process here:









Droit au compte bancaire : la procédure est simplifiée


Un décret simplifie la procédure de saisie de la Banque de France pour obtenir un compte bancaire




www.service-public.fr





and here:









J'ai besoin d'un compte bancaire, comment exercer mon droit au compte ?


Aujourd’hui, disposer d’un compte bancaire est indispensable: pour percevoir son salaire, ses prestations sociales, réaliser des paiements, régler ses factures…Si malgré vos démarches vous n’arrivez pas à ouvrir un compte, vous pouvez exercer votre droit au compte. Faisons le point sur cette...




particuliers.banque-france.fr


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## Bevdeforges

Yes, there is a process through the Banque de France to force a bank to open an account for you. But just be aware, it may well be a "limited" basic account. (Not sure how limited that is.) However, sometimes just insisting that you get a formal letter from the bank stating that they won't open an account for you is enough to get the local bank manager to suddenly "change his/her mind" on the matter.


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## BackinFrance

Definitely do NOT use the BdF to force a bank to open an account for you because that account will be very restricted and that will follow you if you try to move the account elsewhere. Far better to do a bit of legwork and go into various branches and banks (bearing in mind that it is normal in France to have to make an appointment at the reception desk in order to open an account).


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## LoriEleanor

Agree it wouldn't necessarily be the ideal route, but it is an option for those who want to take it. We visited 4 different banks - made the appointments, etc. and they all said no. This took several weeks as appointments were not granted quickly. In the end we found a bank that took us. 

What are the restrictions on the account if BdF gets involved?


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## BackinFrance

Things like the bank they tell you to use may only allow you to write 2 cheques per month, which can become further complicated if the recipient does not bank your cheque during the same month


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## LoriEleanor

Gee, that's crazy. Silly rules like that must require all kinds of software and staff to monitor the clients account usage.


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## BackinFrance

LoriEleanor said:


> Gee, that's crazy. Silly rules like that must require all kinds of software and staff to monitor the clients account usage.


Actually it's not hard for a bank to tweak the controls it already has in place.


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## footsoldier

For me, the only obstacle is in the final step in the automated process: submitting documents, which include an ID and a RIB. I do have a RIB from another EU country so that isn’t a problem. The problem is with the ID, as it seems the system won't accept anything other than the Titre. I then emailed customer service, and they replied that I have to submit a titre, without which it's not possible to open the account. Well, I guess I'll drop by a local bank office to try my luck.



Bevdeforges said:


> Um, I think the online bank is your "problem" here. Generally speaking, you can't open an online account until you have a "bricks and mortar" account established here in France (or at least within the EU) to serve as "validation" of your identity. The banks here are obligated to "Know Your Customer" (KYC) and apparently the online banks have to rely on the in person validation done by your bricks and mortar bank and banker since they can't otherwise meet up with you face to face.


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## jweihl

We opened an account at HSBC as US citizens, while still living in the US. We used this online application:
Open an online bank account - Online current account | HSBC

While we eventually opened an account with a different bank (with a local english speaking advisor), we still have our HSBC account and it's perfectly fine. If you get in a pinch, give it a try.


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## effendi

If you have an HSBC account in one country then in my experience they will happily let you open an account in another country.


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