Australians, Canadians and Americans don’t need a visa for a short visit in France or Europe. But all need a visa long séjour if wanting to stay longer than 3 months. This can be obtained in French embassies in your city and usually involves showing letters/papers attesting the purpose of your long stay in France and how you plan to finance it (and temporary work permit obtained by your employer in France if you intend to work for a French company). Once you obtained your visa long séjour don’t think that all is set and you can arrive in France and set up house. Nothing is further than the truth.
You will get introduced to French administration from the moment you go to the center where they receive foreigners (Centre de reception des étrangers which is your first point of starting the process after arrival) who would then give you an appointment time at the Prefecture to get your carte de séjour or residence permit (a card issued to everyone non-French living here temporarily or permanently). Prepare yourself to have papers that you might never have heard of (When I first arrived here, I had to get a fiche d’état civil. Luckily my embassy was able to provide a formal letter attesting my identity in place of). Copies of passport, electricity bill (as proof of residency (they ask for this for everything such as getting a bank account, getting a driver's licence etc. Obviously, we get the impression that homeless people should not exist though you see them more and more on the streets of Paris or under bridges), identity photos, letter from your employer and temporary or permanent work permit are the papers that might be asked (there might be more!). They will also look at your visa. You have a week after your arrival to get the process going. It might be a good idea to ask the immigration officer at the airport to stamp your passport with the arrival date, just in case. At airports, they often wave you without bothering to stamp passports, so ask.
And especially, prepare yourself for long lines and long wait at the prefecture. Your appointment may indeed be at 2 pm, but you may get called at 4 pm (and this after spending a long time in line to get into the building!). And of course, the agent who calls you and looks at your papers will find a missing paper that is obviously missing because it was not on the list given you by the other agent, but somehow, this missing document has become extremely important. Be prepared also to meet a lot of agents who are not the friendliest lot on earth. They have absolute power over your case, that much is clear, and they will let you know very clearly too. This is because the laws are numerous and very complicated which mean rarely clear and transparant which leave a lot of room for interpretations by the agents themselves. So if you happen to find yourself face to face with a constipated agent who woke up on the wrong side of the bed that morning, well, the law might suddenly becomes much more complicated too. I have been lucky here though, as I have mostly met the few nice and friendly agents. Luck of the draw I guess. That said, I have also had personnels who looked as if the last thing they wanted to do was be there and even less to be there talking to you.
Of course it helps a lot when you speak French well as many of these agents will use administrative lingos that may even leave French speakers baffled (not to mention the fact that certains types of documents do not exist in your country). Insist politely on clarification, as this will save you a lot of time even if this would tick the agent fruther (you probably get another person when you come back anyway). And be vigilant for small errors that the personnel may make such as misspelling your names! You may think this is not important, but it will be later on, trust me. And it may take a long time and a lot of time to fix it later despite it not being your fault!
If you don’t need to come back with another type of necessary document, you will be given a piece of paper that is your temporary card valid up to 3 months and will be notified by mail (snailmail of course) when your card is ready to be picked up. Depending on your situation, these cards could be for temporary residence valid anywhere up to a year, or the much coveted permanent card valid normally for ten years. The new law is that to get the residence card (permanent, I think) one needs to speak French and show integration to the French society.
Luckily, subsequent renewals can be done by post and you only need to go there to pick up your card.
My advice on this: Patience, patience and patience. Don’t ever loose your cool as this will only slow things further. Bring a good book and just wait for your turn. This is what the French have had to deal all their lives (the same process for getting a driving licence for instance), so think of it as your very own introduction to the infamously bureaucratic French administration experience.
Renting and bank account: the catch 22.
Having a residence (logement) is very important here as they will ask for proof of residence for any administrative process. If you rent an apartment, they will ask you for quittance de loyer (rent receipts) or the latest electricity bill. If you're living with a friend, he or she has to write a letter saying that you're indeed housed in their residence along with a copy of his or her identity card/passport. But, here's the catch (if you parachute into Paris all alone with no one to house you for the time being): to rent an apartment you have to have a bank account, but to open a bank account you have to have an address (and not a hotel). Well, this makes for an impossible situation to say the least.
The thing to do is to visit all the banks and ask if they could open an account for you. Different branches of a bank may apply the rule differently and you may get refused in one but can open an account with no problem in another branch. Once you open an account, you will have what is called a RIB or Relevé d'identitaire bancaire which is a piece of paper containing all your bank account information. This piece of paper will be asked when you wish to rent an apartment, to open an electricity account, and to have anything that involves payment. Now, you can start looking for that dream Paris apartment (see my blog on Renting in Paris).
Alternatively, you may get a residence first and get a bank account later. This can be achieved through short term rental, often of furnished apartments. There are real estate agents who deal often with foreigners and rent furnished apartments all around Paris. Though more expensive, they nonetheless provide the much needed starting point for foreigners coming to Paris. Most of these agents speak English, so that's a big help too when you still have to improve your French.
You will get introduced to French administration from the moment you go to the center where they receive foreigners (Centre de reception des étrangers which is your first point of starting the process after arrival) who would then give you an appointment time at the Prefecture to get your carte de séjour or residence permit (a card issued to everyone non-French living here temporarily or permanently). Prepare yourself to have papers that you might never have heard of (When I first arrived here, I had to get a fiche d’état civil. Luckily my embassy was able to provide a formal letter attesting my identity in place of). Copies of passport, electricity bill (as proof of residency (they ask for this for everything such as getting a bank account, getting a driver's licence etc. Obviously, we get the impression that homeless people should not exist though you see them more and more on the streets of Paris or under bridges), identity photos, letter from your employer and temporary or permanent work permit are the papers that might be asked (there might be more!). They will also look at your visa. You have a week after your arrival to get the process going. It might be a good idea to ask the immigration officer at the airport to stamp your passport with the arrival date, just in case. At airports, they often wave you without bothering to stamp passports, so ask.
And especially, prepare yourself for long lines and long wait at the prefecture. Your appointment may indeed be at 2 pm, but you may get called at 4 pm (and this after spending a long time in line to get into the building!). And of course, the agent who calls you and looks at your papers will find a missing paper that is obviously missing because it was not on the list given you by the other agent, but somehow, this missing document has become extremely important. Be prepared also to meet a lot of agents who are not the friendliest lot on earth. They have absolute power over your case, that much is clear, and they will let you know very clearly too. This is because the laws are numerous and very complicated which mean rarely clear and transparant which leave a lot of room for interpretations by the agents themselves. So if you happen to find yourself face to face with a constipated agent who woke up on the wrong side of the bed that morning, well, the law might suddenly becomes much more complicated too. I have been lucky here though, as I have mostly met the few nice and friendly agents. Luck of the draw I guess. That said, I have also had personnels who looked as if the last thing they wanted to do was be there and even less to be there talking to you.
Of course it helps a lot when you speak French well as many of these agents will use administrative lingos that may even leave French speakers baffled (not to mention the fact that certains types of documents do not exist in your country). Insist politely on clarification, as this will save you a lot of time even if this would tick the agent fruther (you probably get another person when you come back anyway). And be vigilant for small errors that the personnel may make such as misspelling your names! You may think this is not important, but it will be later on, trust me. And it may take a long time and a lot of time to fix it later despite it not being your fault!
If you don’t need to come back with another type of necessary document, you will be given a piece of paper that is your temporary card valid up to 3 months and will be notified by mail (snailmail of course) when your card is ready to be picked up. Depending on your situation, these cards could be for temporary residence valid anywhere up to a year, or the much coveted permanent card valid normally for ten years. The new law is that to get the residence card (permanent, I think) one needs to speak French and show integration to the French society.
Luckily, subsequent renewals can be done by post and you only need to go there to pick up your card.
My advice on this: Patience, patience and patience. Don’t ever loose your cool as this will only slow things further. Bring a good book and just wait for your turn. This is what the French have had to deal all their lives (the same process for getting a driving licence for instance), so think of it as your very own introduction to the infamously bureaucratic French administration experience.
Renting and bank account: the catch 22.
Having a residence (logement) is very important here as they will ask for proof of residence for any administrative process. If you rent an apartment, they will ask you for quittance de loyer (rent receipts) or the latest electricity bill. If you're living with a friend, he or she has to write a letter saying that you're indeed housed in their residence along with a copy of his or her identity card/passport. But, here's the catch (if you parachute into Paris all alone with no one to house you for the time being): to rent an apartment you have to have a bank account, but to open a bank account you have to have an address (and not a hotel). Well, this makes for an impossible situation to say the least.
The thing to do is to visit all the banks and ask if they could open an account for you. Different branches of a bank may apply the rule differently and you may get refused in one but can open an account with no problem in another branch. Once you open an account, you will have what is called a RIB or Relevé d'identitaire bancaire which is a piece of paper containing all your bank account information. This piece of paper will be asked when you wish to rent an apartment, to open an electricity account, and to have anything that involves payment. Now, you can start looking for that dream Paris apartment (see my blog on Renting in Paris).
Alternatively, you may get a residence first and get a bank account later. This can be achieved through short term rental, often of furnished apartments. There are real estate agents who deal often with foreigners and rent furnished apartments all around Paris. Though more expensive, they nonetheless provide the much needed starting point for foreigners coming to Paris. Most of these agents speak English, so that's a big help too when you still have to improve your French.
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