How I Got My Visa to France

I have loved France since my first trip to Bordeaux in 2010. The friends I met in Thailand accompanied me to the region and introduced me to French culture. It was my first time in France and I loved the food, wine and people.

But this love became an obsession when I left the Paris metro after Bordeaux and onto the Champs-Élysées. Lights, energy, mystery! There was magic in the air. I felt like I had known the city all my life and was simply returning home.

Since then, Paris has held my heart tightly. Over the years, I have spent countless visits exploring France and Paris in particular. I toured the city and spent a few months living there in 2019.

Last August, after another stay, I thought to myself: “What if I came back?”

I was a little tired of the New York City dating scene, the high cost of living, and felt like I was a mess. With the advent of AI for creatives like me and the industry changing, I was confused about what would come next, career-wise.

In short, I needed a change.

Paris seemed like the best place to go.

It’s cheaper than New York City, I already had friends there, I always wanted to learn French, it would be a great base for exploring Europe, and I could start writing my next book there. There’s nothing better than a change of scenery to stimulate creativity!

But the question remains: how He does Are you moving to France?

After all, they don’t have a digital nomad visa, and your visit is limited to three months if you visit on a regular Schengen tourist visa.

Well, it turns out that’s actually not the case Which difficult. (And while I can only speak for Americans, I suspect the standards are similar for Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders, and other “developed” countries.)

If you want to move to France, you have four main options:

• Student visa
• Long-term visitor visa
• contractor
• Talent visa

The student visa is very straightforward. You must enroll in a full-time university program and show that you have sufficient funds to support yourself (about 600 euros per month). A friend is currently there on this visa, as she is doing a nine-month intensive French language program to become fluent. You still have to apply for a visa, but if you are enrolled in an accredited school, you will likely be approved. Another benefit of this visa is that you can work part-time on it!

But this visa is conditional on your being in school, so if you leave it or leave it, it is invalid. However, upon completion, you can change this to a ‘job seekers’ visa, which can give you up to a further six months in France (or more depending on the length of your programme).

I have considered applying for an entrepreneur visa, but the application process is very complicated and can take months to be approved. You have to set up your business in France, and this requires a lot of paperwork. You have to prove that your business makes money, has clients (at least one of whom is French), and can support you full-time (you have to earn at least the French minimum wage). They will check your assets and finances frequently and you will need to register your business in France and pay French taxes.

In addition, France offers a talent visa. If you are an expert in your field (with verifiable credentials and accolades), this may be a good visa to apply for, especially if you plan to stay in France for a long time and want to actually work there. But, again, you will need some source of income and plan to do actual business in France. If you are not an academic but an arts person, you must show how you will add to the “culture of France” in some way.

Although I would meet the requirements for both of these visas, the process of obtaining either would have been time-consuming, and since I was not sure that France would be my forever home, I decided not to go through the process.

So I went on a long-term visitor visa, officially called a VLS-TS visitor. This allows me to stay up to 12 months in France which is renewable in the country. However, it comes with a lot of restrictions: I cannot physically work here and I am not allowed to join the French social welfare system.

It’s also the visa that many Americans (and most retirees) come with. If you have passive income or retirement savings and just want to live in France, this is a good option for you. It allows you to create a bank account and can be renewed almost indefinitely.

The paperwork for this visa (which I’ll get to in a moment) mainly relates to whether or not you can support yourself. The French authorities want to make sure that you will not be a burden on the system.

My biggest question was whether or not I could “work” on this visa. Many creatives and digital nomads apply for and receive this visa.

But remember: you are not allowed to work under this visa, so how will you work if you can’t work?

So let me take a moment to talk about “work” from a legal perspective.

As I mentioned, there is no digital nomad visa that allows you to work in France. The French tax office said last July that remote work is considered taxable – but there are no official laws for that. This is just their opinion and no progress has been made in codifying this opinion. In fact, my visa does not come with a tax number, so it is impossible for me to be taxed. I couldn’t pay taxes even if I wanted to.

The visa office asks you how you will support yourself when you are in France and one of the sources of income they accept is “income from work”. I’ve been very open that my means of support will be income from this blog and my books.

The system there hasn’t really caught up with remote work. “Work” is still defined as something you do physically that can take away a job from a French person.

Can I do walking tours in Paris? no. Can you work in a cafe? no.

But does writing this blog post count as work? After all, no one pays for it. It is a free resource. Is going to a coffee shop to work on the next great American novel a big deal? What about my weekly newsletter that has affiliate links (that generate income) in it? Is writing considered work?

The gray area is large, so the best thing you can do is talk to a lawyer. I recommend Daniel Tostado (yes, that’s his real name), one of the top French-American immigration lawyers in Paris. He has a huge law firm and regularly meets with government officials to clarify the rules regarding this matter. He gave me some solid advice.

For a long-term visitor visa, the application process is very easy. You go to the French government websitefill out your application, take the application number to TLScontact websiteAnd set an appointment. (France outsources the recruitment process to this company, which then sends everything to the French consulate for approval.)

The main things you want to prove are that you have housing for 90 days on your application and enough income to support yourself. They just want to make sure that you won’t be a burden on the system. I went to sea. Here’s what I brought with me to my appointment:

• Application (you need to bring a printed copy)
• Confirm appointment
• Additional passport photos
• Proof of accommodation (this could be Airbnbs, hotels, or someone’s home – if it’s the latter, make sure it’s the owner!)
• A letter certifying that I will not work
• A financial summary letter explaining why I moved there and my source of income
• Health insurance that meets French legal requirements (I used Mundasor.)
• Three months of bank statements show regular deposits
• A second bank account, my tax returns, and my W-2 card

I didn’t need the second bank account, tax returns, or W-2 (they weren’t required) but the woman at the appointment said the more proof I had the better and it wouldn’t hurt. Another friend who received this visa did not go beyond what was required on the application form. But I didn’t want to take any risks!

At your appointment, staff will double-check your paperwork, take your biometric data, collect the fee, and then send your passport to the embassy for processing. Officially, it takes up to 15 days to process a visa, but everyone I know seems to get it back within a week.

The worst part is not knowing if you have been approved until your passport is returned. While you can track the progress of your application, you don’t know the ruling until your passport is back in your hands. While I waited (and worried), I looked on Reddit and found that most of the rejections were due to lack of income or residency issues, which seem to be the two most important things to be perfect in your application.

Once your visa is restored, you can enter France at any time after your start date. After you enter, you have 90 days to register your visa with the country (they give you a little QR code with instructions). This allows you to be “officially” on this long-term visa. (It’s kind of more paperwork.)

Once this is done, there is nothing else to do and you can stay in France (and Europe) until your visa expires!

So, if you are thinking about moving to France, these are your options. But, as always, I am not a lawyer and this is not legal progress. Regarding work and other issues or questions, it is important to seek legal advice and get their expert opinion!

Get your in-depth budget guide to Europe!

My 200+ page step-by-step guide is made for budget travelers like you! It cuts out the fluff found in other guidebooks and gets straight to the practical information you need to travel and save money while backpacking around Europe. You’ll find suggested itineraries, budgets, ways to save money, things to see and do on and off the beaten path, non-touristy restaurants, markets, bars and much more! Click here to learn more and get started!

Plan your trip to Europe like a pro

Get the best Europe travel tips plus free planning guides sent straight to you and see more of the country for less!