U.S. citizens may travel to France and stay for up to 90 days under the terms of the Schengen agreement. If you will be staying over 90 days, you will require a long stay visa. As of June 2009, long stay France visas allow visitors to stay in the country for up to 12 months. A long stay visa does not entitle you to work in France so you'll need to prove that you have sufficient income to support yourself during your stay.
The first step is to make an interview appointment at the General Consulate of France that services your state. There are 10 General Consulate of France offices in the U.S. Each consulate office services a specific group of states. These are located in the cities of Atlanta GA, Boston MA, Chicago IL, Houston TX, Los Angeles CA, Miami FL, New Orleans LA, New York NY, San Francisco CA and Washington DC.
You must have a valid passport that is good for at least one year from the day you plan to leave France. Make a copy of your passport, as you must present both the original and a photocopy. You must then fill out a France visa application form that you can pick up at your consulate office or web site.
To show that you will not be a financial burden, you must provide bank statements for the past 3 months, showing your monthly balance. You must also show proof of medical coverage; a letter from your insurance company that verifies your coverage while in a foreign country or a copy of travel insurance with medical provisions is sufficient. Also, include documentation that shows where you'll be staying in France, such as a lease or rental agreement. To show that you are an upstanding individual, you'll also need to submit a police record, which shows that you haven't engaged in criminal activity. Many companies offer background check services for this type of request.
Get a visa for France the quick and easy way.
The processing fee for a long stay visa for France is currently $148.00 and is only payable by credit card. The processing time for extended stay visas can be as much as 2 months so start the process as soon as you know your travel dates.
Please note that all documents must also be translated into French for a visa application.
You may be able to submit your application by mail, but this requirement varies depending on the particular consular issuing the visa. The best thing is to check with the consular servicing your state. It takes approximately 10 days to process a visa request for U.S. citizens who plan to travel to France, but don't wait until the last minute to apply.
Visit often to learn more information from our updated Travel to France.
