°µÍø½ûÇø

Hi Vinsi!

Welcome to °µÍø½ûÇø

Armand

Hello Vinsi,

If  my husband and I can figure out how to get to Lyon, we'd be happy to meet you!  In the meantime, we're having difficulty figuring out the visa process.  We want the long-stay visa, which, according to the French Consultate website, requires a copy of signed lease---but we don't even know if Lyon is the city we want to live in yet, so we certainly don't want to sign a lease agreement before arriving in France!

Do you (or anyone else) know how this works and if there is anyway to get the long-stay visa before signing a lease?

Thanks!
Terri, and American presently living in Ecuador

Holla terrihager!

Well paper works and more paper works are along the way!

I can see two options for you:

1) you enter in France as a tourist and look around (Paris, Lyon, Bordeaux, Aix en Provence.. when you know where you wanna settle down, make a lease agreement, bring all your paper work to the "préfecture" and ask for a long stay visa. moreover you have 3 months to figure out all those details.

2) go to this website they explain in details what to do:

i'm sure you are not the only internationals in this situation, they must have a way around or something more adequate for you. (but it's France and administrations are pretty slow and weak)

I hope that will help a little!

good luck

Thank you for your answer, Vinsi!  I think I have read that it is not possible to go to France for 3 months as a tourist and apply for a long-stay visa while there.  The French consulate website states that the visa must be applied for in one's country of residence.  In Ecuador, where we are living at the moment, it is possible to apply for a residency visa while here on a tourist visa, but I am not sure about France.  I hope you will be able to prove me wrong!

I have question---how much interest in tennis is there in Lyon?  My husband is an avid tennis player and will be happier if he can find people to play with, should we decide to settle there.

And I will be happier there if there is a good orchestra---can you speak to that?

Thanks!
Terri Hager