visa for France?
 

Our daughter is going to be in France at a language school for just under 3 months. The website is full of information about visas which is a bit worrying. If she is there less than 3 months will she need a visa? if she leaves France for a week or so and returns for a possible second session of less than 3 months would she be okay sans visa? Thanks.

is she an EU citizen? if so, no problem.

if not, she will probably need a visa or to comply with Schengen regulations if she wants to stay for longer than 90 days.

you need to look them up! [try google]

but to help you she is entitled to enter the Schengen zone for 90 days within 6 months; she must leave the Schengen zone for the next 90 days before entering again.

so she can't just hop over to the uK for a week and then go back.

Here is the process if she plans to be there over 3 months (I'm assuming she is a US citizen). As annihig said, if staying over 90 days, no, she can't just leave for a few days and return.

http://www.consulfrance-washington.o...php?article385

http://www.usa.campusfrance.org/en/page/getting-started

Is her stay sponsored by a U.S. school? If so, they should have the information concerning visas and how to obtain them to study in France.

It sounds as though she should get a visa because there is a chance that she may want to extend her studies. Thanks for the information.

One more question--will she be able to get a visa for 6 months if she has only actually signed up for one session? Any help appreciated.

Contact the nearest French consulate to find out how hard it is to get a visa as a student. I suspect that it is easier to get before entering France.

I was in the same boat eons ago. I never got the visa, I just had a piece of paper stating that I had applied for the visa. I stayed in France 15 months.

If your daughter applies for a study visa for 3 months, she will get a visa to start around 5-7 days before the course commences and ends about a week after. If she wants to stay longer, she will first have to leave Schengen (not just France), say for UK, and return to start her Schengen visa-free stay of 90 days. As she enters UK, she will get a stamp in her passport which acts as evidence of having left Schengen at the end of her study visa.

Alec--If her term is slightly less than 90 days and thus she does not start out with a visa, then she leaves at the end for a week or so and goes to the UK-- would she be able to return to France for less than 90 days again? I am not sure that she will return, as it will depend on how much she enjoys and learns in the 1st term. But I want the option to be there. I have no real reason to not want her to get a visa except for the hassle involved. If she goes without a visa, and then decides to stay, do you know if she could get one while in France? She went to university in the UK and was able to renew her visa while there, but I don't know about starting the process while out of the US. Last question--would they even give her a 6 mos visa if she is only enrolled now for just under 3 mos? Thanks for any help.

<<she leaves at the end for a week or so and goes to the UK-- would she be able to return to France for less than 90 days again?>>

No. This was already explained above.

Alec says that basically she starts with a 90 day student visa, leaves the country and comes back as a tourist for another 90 days. With no visa you cannot piggy-back two 90 days periods with only a few days in between.

And she cannot get a visa in France - it has to be obtained in US.

For a 3-month course (she will have to supply evidence of how long the course is), she won't get a 6-month visa, only one long enough to cover her course, plus maybe 5 days or so before and after.

Presumably she was on a student visa in UK longer than 6 months, which could be extended in-country.

So as I've said, the best way is to apply for a study visa to cover her course, and then, if she wants to extend her stay for tourist purpose, leave Schengen and re-enter for 90 days. This will work and is quite above board.

May be worth following this thread on this subject : http://the-languedoc-page.com/phpBB2...pic.php?t=4207

Okay--I guess we will go with the visa. I am assuming that our daughter will find the classes worth signing up for a second 3 months (so that she actually ends up speaking French), so better safe than sorry. She studied in Scotland for 5 years, and I happened to be flying over with her once when a boy she knew slightly was also on the flight, coming as a junior year abroad student. He had neglected to get a visa, and was sent back to the US on the next flight to get one. Would like to avoid that. Thanks for all the help.

hope it works out, DDA.

will you come back and tell us how she gets on?

Sure--Thanks!

If she decides to come bak after the first semester the visa won;t stop her from doing so. But once she's three she has to come back at the end of 90 days - so her options are very limited.