Do I Need a French Visa to Live in Paris? Part 1
Understanding visas for France is a key part of living in Paris. If you have dreams of spending your days eating brie and your nights sipping wine and strolling the Seine, you can absolutely live out your dream, provided that you have properly established your legal right to live in France.
Note: This information is intended only for Americans who want to live in Paris, who are over 18 years of age. If you are not a U.S. citizen, please check with your designated French consulate for your country’s visa rules.
The main thing to remember is that you need a visa for any stay in Paris exceeding 90 days. The type of French visa you need depends on what you’ll be doing while living in Paris. If you’re going for work, you need a work visas for the specific work you’ll be doing (au pair, language assistant, etc). If you meet the student visa requirements and are enrolling in classes, you’ll need a long stay student visa. If you’re just hanging out (enjoying the brie and wine as mentioned above), you’ll need a long stay visitor visa. Let’s look at some of these situations in detail.
I Want to Spend a Couple of Months Living in Paris, Just Hanging Out
Good news! U.S. citizens visiting France for less than 3 months (90 days or less) don’t need a visa — a U.S. passport is sufficient for travel. (You might hear this being referred to as a “Schengen Visa,” which basically means that U.S. citizens can travel within the 24 Schengen countries for up to 90 days without needing a visa.) So book your flight, grab your passport, and off you go.
I Want to Live in Paris for a Year or for Several Months, Just Hanging Out
If you are staying in Paris longer than 90 days, you will need what’s called a long stay visa for non-professional purpose, also known as a “visa de long séjour,” “a long stay visa,” or informally as the “visitor visa.” This is what you apply for if you’re spending a sabbatical in Paris of fulfilling your dream of living there for a year. Be warned, they take the “non-professional purpose” part seriously. You must write a letter stating that you will have no paid professional activity in France which would require a work permit, and you will have to prove that you have sufficient financial resources to support yourself for the duration of your visit to France. The long stay visa is valid for a maximum of a year, and may be renewed at the local prefecture in Paris.
I Want to Study in Paris for a Year (Or Less)
Student visas are not just for college kids. So go ahead and take that French language or art history class in Paris you’ve always wanted to take. As of March 23, 2009, students enrolling at a French institution for less than 3 months no longer need a short stay student visa. A U.S. passport is sufficient. Those wanting to study at an institution in France for more than 3 months should apply for a long stay student visa.
Getting a long stay student visa is a two-step process. First, you must enroll at member institution within CampusFrance, which is a consortium of French schools (including language schools) and universities. Then you use your CampusFrance confirmation letter to apply for a long stay student visa at the French consulate. Long stay student visas are valid for up to 12 months.
Previously, getting a long stay student visa required that you apply for a residency card (Carte de Séjour) at the prefecture when you arrived in France, but that is no longer the case according to the French consulate. “You will have to apply for a resident permit (Carte de Séjour) at the local government (Préfecture) only if you intend to stay for more than a year (in this case, check your situation with the Prefecture during the last 3 months of your long stay visa). You will have to register at the local branch of the OFII sending back a form you will have provided with your visa application and that will be stamped by the consulate if your visa has been granted.”
In Part II, we’ll discuss the requirements for getting visas for France to work or be self-employed in Paris.
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