Back at the beginning of April, I had applied for a long-stay visa that would allow me to (hopefully) live, work, study, and travel in France for more than the typical 90-day tourist visa. The application itself was relatively easy to fill out and print, but scheduling the appointment at my nearest consulate was a completely different beast. The French consulates in the United States recently changed their scheduling method (and software), which has resulted in an already difficult process becoming even more so. I started trying to book an appointment for my visa on 10 April and four days later, after several calls, emails, and frustrating online attempts, I was finally able to schedule an appointment. However, that appointment wasn’t for another over six weeks, on 30 May. Even the people at the consulate were frustrated by the new system; when I called and spoke with the young lady in Boston, she said “I’m so sorry – prior to this new system, I could have helped, but now, my hands are tied.” I got very nervous that there wouldn’t be time for me to complete another application/interview if my first one got denied or to get my passport back in time for my planned departure at the end of June. I also became hesitant to book anything (classes, lodging, etc) any further out than 60 or so days after my arrival because I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to (legally) stay in France.
Since so many of my future plans in France depend on my ability to get a visa, I have been a bundle of nerves since my initial decision to go to France. Boston is about a four hour drive from where I live, so I went down the day before and stayed with some friends in Georgetown, which is about 40 minutes outside of Boston (according to Google Maps; according to my friends, it’s more like two hours outside of Boston when you consider morning traffic). It really helped me to be with friends the night before because they helped keep my mind off of the appointment the next morning, whereas if I had been by myself in a hotel room, I’d have just spent the whole night stewing in my anxiety. My friend and I had supper out, inadvertently participated in some pub trivia, and then went home to turn in early. My friends had suggested that I take the train into the city, rather than driving in during morning rush hour and subsequently trying to find a place to park. Since my brain was pretty fried, I had my friend write down the directions for which trains I needed to take, which tickets to buy, and where to go between each station “as though I was a five-year old” (as I told him), which he very obligingly did. I ended up going to bed a bit later than I had planned, but it ultimately didn’t matter, since I didn’t sleep more than about a total of 20 minutes all night for tossing and turning.
I got out of bed super early and headed in to the commuter train station. Thanks to my friend’s super-exact instructions (for a five-year old), I had no issues getting the commuter train, switching to the subway system, and walking to the consulate building. Since I had gotten in to the city almost an hour prior to my appointment, I headed over to Starbucks to have some oatmeal and a green tea. While I was at Starbucks, almost as soon as I had been handed my order, the fire alarm started going off. In Maine, when a fire alarm goes off, people clear the building and wait at a pre-arranged location until the fire department says you can go back inside. Apparently, in Boston, when the fire alarm goes off, you don’t even bat an eyelash and you get your morning Starbucks fix (so weird!). I finished my oatmeal to the sound of the fire alarm, then walked over to the consulate building. I arrived at the building around 0840, checked in, but was told I couldn’t go upstairs until 0900, which was my appointment time. I waited in the (gorgeous!) lobby until shortly before 0900, was cleared to go upstairs (in an elevator that was more technologically-advanced than any other elevator I’ve ever seen), and headed down the hallway to the consulate office. I got to the door, showed my appointment letter and ID, and was instructed to go into a small waiting room and have a seat. At one end of the room was a young man seated behind a bank teller-type glass window. Before I could even sit down, the man beckoned me over, asked my name, and asked me for my application. I signed the application (I hadn’t been sure if it was supposed to be signed in front of them, so I waited) and handed it to him. He then asked for my passport, copy of my passport identity page, and a number of other documents that had not been on the list of things I needed. He then asked me what my plans were while there, if I planned to work and as what, about my lodging arrangements, and how long a visa I was after. I told him that I am a nurse in the US and could look into getting a license there, but would also be willing to work in retail or another establishment. I told him that I was also already registered for some classes and had looked at a couple of Masters and PhD programs. I then told him that my long-term goal is to become a French citizen. He stepped away to ask his boss (I’m assuming the visa officer) a question, came back, and told me that they could issue me a long-stay tourist visa, but that I would not be able to work on that visa and would therefore need to write a letter to the consulate affirming that I would not work while in France. I asked him whether I could convert the visa to a student visa once in France and registered for classes and he told me I could (I’m not sure that that’s true, though; I’m afraid I’ll need to independently apply for a student visa and then come back to the US to get it), partially because the student visa would at least allow me to work up to 20 hours a week. I also asked him if I could renew that visa while in France and he told me I could (again, I’m not sure about this and will need to confirm with… someone). He captured my fingerprints digitally, then told me that the application fee was €99, and asked how I’d be paying. Since I hadn’t been sure what forms of payment they accepted, I had gone to my bank and purchased euros prior to leaving Maine, but he said “Oh, we don’t accept euros”, so I ended up paying with a credit card. As he was filling out my receipt, he told me “you can go ahead and start registering for classes if you want” (though I’m still a bit nervous to do so until I actually receive my visa). The biggest “discomfort” of my appointment was that other people had come in behind me and were sitting in the room waiting for their appointments, but able to overhear all of the information that he and I discussed.
I told the consulate my departure date of 24 June and gave them a copy of my airline ticket. The man asked whether I’d be returning to Boston to get my passport back, but I told him that I would prefer to have it mailed back to me, signed a waiver absolving them of responsibility if my passport gets lost, and gave him a pre-paid, addressed envelope to send my passport back in. I was completely done by 0915, got the trains back to my car, and headed back up to Maine. I was pretty surprised by the fact that I never got asked if I spoke French at all and didn’t have an actual “interview” with a visa officer (the young man seemed to be more of an intern, of sorts). Once back in Maine, I submitted my FBI background check request online, went to my local police department to have the fingerprints done, and then to the post office to overnight my fingerprints to the FBI. I came home and wrote my letter of understanding about not working and emailed it to the man at the consulate. Now, I just sit and wait (and hope that my passport gets here before I’m scheduled to leave).
Here’s the synopsis:
Items I was told to bring:
– Appointment confirmation letter (without which you won’t even be allowed in past the lobby security guards)
– My passport (which they keep when you leave, unless they deny your visa request that day)
– A color copy of the identity page of my passport (and any pages with stamps on them)
– Visa application
– Proof of residence (drivers license, utility bill, etc)
– €99 processing fee (they didn’t accept euros, though they accepted credit cards and US cash)
Items I was not told to bring, but they requested once there/took:
– Bank/Financial statements
– Proof of expat health insurance
– Travel arrangements (plane/train tickets)
– Lodging arrangement confirmation
– School/Class enrollment confirmation (if applicable; otherwise, job offer confirmation)
– Reference letters
– Prepaid, pre-addressed, trackable envelope to mail the passport back to me
– FBI criminal background check
– Letter stating I wouldn’t work while on a long-stay tourist visa
As always, thanks for reading this! I welcome your feedback or questions!
À la prochaine,
The Expat Maineiac
#expatmaineiac #intlteflacademy #movingtofrance
The Expat Maineiac 