We’ve mentally committed ourselves to the plan of applying for a long stay visa for France when we return to America at the end of our current tour.  We’ve been reviewing the primary websites for how and where to apply and procedures after you arrive (France Visas and VFSglobal), but there are a few questions we haven’t been able to find an answer to so far.  Does anyone know the answers to any of these or know where we could get a definitive answer to any of them?  We could wait until we begin the actual application process, but if anyone knows we’d like to hear of it.

1. We understand that if you want to stay in France at the end of your LSV period you need to apply for a residence permit at least two months before your visa expires.  Another option though would be to just let it expire, go home, and start all over again with a new application for a second LSV.  Is this allowed?
2. We will have used up nearly all of our 90 day allotment in the Schengen Zone when we fly home in December.  How soon after this can we reenter France with an LSV?  That is, if we applied for an LSV immediately after returning home and it was approved expeditiously, could we reenter France earlier than after 90 days?
3. Does time spent in France under an LSV visa affect our eligibility to enter the rest of the Schengen Zone?  So, for example, if we spent the last three months of our LSV tour in France could we just immediately move on to another 90 days in the Schengen Zone under normal visitation rules, in effect staying for 15 months instead of 12? 

Hi Scott - Unfortunately I can’t answer any of these questions.  But I wanted to refer you to www.expatforum.com.  Check out the forum for France on that site.  Bev DeForges is the moderator and she’s super knowledgeable.  If anyone other than an immigration lawyer can help you, she can.

Thanks, Rich.  Looks like a great resource, one I don’t remember seeing before.  We’ll study it for possible answers to these and other questions we haven’t thought to consider yet.

Speaking as a UK citizen, the current system for travelling in the Schengen zone post Brexit allows for 90 days out of 180 under the current scheme. So if you stay in the EU for 90 days, you then need to leave and cannot return for another 90 days. I hope this helps

Yes, and that’s exactly what we’re doing now.  After 90 days in Spain and France we’re in England for 90 before returning to France.  A constraint, but on the other hand without this we might never have realized what an amazing cycling destination England is.

Just returned from nearly 3 months in Spain myself - an awesome country for cycling and I've saved myself a week so if needed I  can get trains across Europe and out of the Schengen zone before my 90 days are up!

The UK is pretty good, especially in the North of England and up through Scotland

Hi Scott,

In answer to your questions:

1.  It depends on which type of Long Stay Visa you apply for - do you want one that is only issued for 6 months, or 12 months, or renewable which allows you to live in France full time.  The Frasiers and ourselves originally applied for the renewable.  When we renewed our visas (the 2 months before they expired) we were issued Titre de Sejours (somewhat like the US green card), which we renew yearly for the first five years.  Since both the Frasiers and ourselves were planning on living in France full time, this is the type of visa we applied for in the beginning.  If you end up applying for the 12 month visa, you will have to return to the US to re-apply for a new one.

2.  Once you obtain a visa, you can return to the Schengen zone without concern of the 90/180 day limitations even if it is within the 90 days from your last visit.

3.  I am NOT positive about this question of yours, but from what I have read I believe you can stay the full 15 months before leaving the Schengen zone.  

You may want to look through this website as it has good information and it is fairly current.  https://mafrenchlife.com/

Good luck.  In our opinion we live in a little piece of heaven where the cycling is incredible.

Sanna (living in Foix, France which is an hour south of Toulouse in the Pyrenean foothills and an hour west of the Frasiers in Limoux.)

You’re living in Foix!   You really are living in heaven on earth, aren’t you?  We’ve spent enough time there and biking in the surrounding countryside to know how lucky (or wise) you are for resettling here.

Thank you for your detailed response.  Since I started this thread we’ve already made our decisions about next year and won’t be pursuing an LSV for now.  The thought is definitely still out there though so this is valuable input.

Hi Scott- I am friends with Sanna, and recently got a 6 month French Visa myself.

The only thing I would add to Sanna's excellent advice is: get all your paperwork in line and in the order they ask. I had to go to San Francisco for my interview. Half the people didn't print out everything, which really gummed up the process. I had my papers all printed out and in the exact order of the application. My interview only took 20 minutes (including being fingerprinted).

I received my Visa three weeks after the interview. My wife and I will be in Nice, trying out that area first.

Best of luck to you!

Thanks, Christopher.  We’ll definitely keep that in mind if/when we decide to go forward with this (but not this winter - we’ve decided we’d better make it to Greece one more time before the bodies get any older).  

You’ll be starting out in/around Nice?  We might meet up if you’re staying I’ll around the last week of November, when we’ll be in the vicinity (mostly Menton) before we fly home from Nice on 12/01.

Enjoy your half-year!