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Category Archives: Visa

Renewing our Titre de Sejour

23 Friday Nov 2012

Posted by pvaustralien in Bureaucracy, Itinerary, Languedoc-Roussillon, Locals, Visa

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australia, France, french visa, Languedoc, préfecture, sous-préfecture, titre de séjour, visa

About 3 months after we arrived in France on our 1 year visa de long sejour, we started to think that we would like to stay longer.  The cost of living was much lower than we expected and with a little bit budgeting we felt we could stretch our resources another year. I had taken 2 years leave from my job, so there was no problem with that and Paige was “inbetween jobs” at the moment.

We had our initial year approved after going through the obligatory paperwork in Australia and then once we arrived in France we completed the next step of the process (identical to our friends Wayne & Sue’s account here, same place too) and obtained our first one year visitor’s titre de sejour. Fortunately French immigration laws allow for the titre de sejour to be extended each year. The process involves collating a lot of paperwork and proving that we can support ourselves financially. As visitors, we are not allowed to work here, so financial support is what we have in savings and any income stream we have back in Australia.

Unlike our initial titre de sejour which was issued by the L’Office Français de l’Immigration et de l’Integration (OFII), extensions are processed (more informally) by the local prefecture (or sous-prefecture) in our region. The prefecture is an administrative body that manages car registrations, driving licences, naturalisations and identity cards, as well as renewals of the titre de sejour.

Renewal applications can only be made within 2 months of the expiry of the current titre de sejour. It is best to apply when just within that time frame. That will give enough time to panic and reorganize things if it all goes wrong. We made an appointment at the Beziers sous-prefecture online. The sous-prefecture has an online booking system, that allows booking to be made up to 3 weeks in advance. Places fill quickly, so it is best to get online within 3 weeks of your two month application time frame. Bookings are for individuals, so we booked two consecutive slots.

We had been to the sous-prefecture a couple of times, once to change our address for immigration records and the other to change our address on our carte grise (car registration). When we went the first time to change our address, they didn’t want to know about that and gave us a list of documents we need to bring when we came back to apply for our renewal. The list they gave us was similar to the one here. They had ticked off the documents that were relevant to us.

We had separate appointment times, but went in together.

We needed 3 passport photos. Check

Most supermarkets in France have a self-serve photo booth that has OFII approved photos.

2 self addressed and stamped envelopes – Check

Copy of marriage certificate – Check

Don’t know why, but it was probably the document the interviewer spent most time looking at.

Passport. Check

Photocopies of passport ID page, visa, and initial titre de sejour.

We highly recommend purchasing a cheap printer, copier, scanner when you arrive in France. For about 50E it will save a lot of running around and hassle.

A copy of the medical certificate that was issued by the OFII when we first arrived – Check

This wasn’t on the list they gave us, but EVERYBODY we spoke to or read about that had gone through the process said it was required. The interviewer gave it a quick glance only.

Proof of residence – Check

We are renting a house for 12 months, so we just supplied a copy of the contract as well as a letter from our car insurer which had our name linked to our current address. Our interviewer only seemed interested in the letter and gave a quick glance over the contract. Unlike our initial visa application in Sydney where we had to supply a full 12 months of accommodation and copies of ID of our landlords, we only had to show that we were living somewhere. We had our landlord’s ID ready, but that wasn’t asked for.

We also had a letter (+ copies of ID) from some English friends in the north of France indicating that we would stay with them during the last 3 months of our time in France. The interviewer wasn’t interested in that and handed it back to us. She said if we move north, go to the prefecture there and show them the letter.

It appears that all that was required was some form of documentation that linked us to an address, eg, a bill or letter from some French organization. But based on previous experiences we came prepared with a swag of documentation.

Proof of Financial Resources. – Check

There is a lot of uncertainty about how much money one requires in order to demonstrate one can support themselves financially. French documentation don’t actually give a figure. However the document list we were given said that an amount equal to the French minimum wage per person is required. Which, at the moment is about 1425E a month. This is offset  (I assume) by whether you are renting or own your own property in France.

The document list stated we needed to provide any documents that we felt demonstrated our capacity to support ourselves.

We simply printed our online statements from our Australian banks. We don’t have French bank accounts, as fees for transferring money in bulk are slightly more expensive than credit card payments and cash withdrawals. We also rent out our home in Australia and had our property manager draft a letter (in English and French) that outlined the rental income we were getting from that.

The interviewer took a quick look at our first statement, then a more detailed look at it trying to find how current it was (all documentation must be no less than 3 months old). Satisfied that it was current, she put it and the other statements and our rental statement aside and continued to the next step.

She didn’t even do a currency exchange calculation given prevailing exchange rates. I had done a separate summary page that summed up our net worth in euros. She seemed to accept that and wasn’t bothered by any more detail.

Health Insurance – Check

By health insurance, we mean travel insurance. We purchased a year’s travel insurance online from an Australian company. It has a medical component that basically will cover the costs of any emergency or medical treatment that requires hospitalization and also includes repatriation back to Australia if needed. The interviewer had a quick look at it, asked if it was insurance. Yes we said. She put the document down and seemed satisfied with that.

This requirement was also not on the list we were given. But like the medical certificate, we felt that it was necessary, as it was for our original visa.

That was the end of the documentation. The document list also said that “originals” must be provided and an approved translator must translate any document not in French. We had originals ready, but they were not asked for. We had no translations done apart from our Google translated property manager’s letter. Our interviewer did not appear to speak much English, so I’m unsure how much of our documentation she understood.

However, all that didn’t seem to matter. We were fingerprinted again (as in Sydney) and we signed in a couple of boxes and was told that we would receive a letter in a few weeks with notification that our new titre de sejour (in the form of a plastic ID card) would be ready for collecting from the prefecture. For this we need to pay 87E each (when we collect the cards), but we must purchase 87E worth of “timbres fiscaux”. These are stamps that can be purchased from most tabacs. It seems officialdom does not like to deal with cash or cards. We bought ours from the tabac in town.

We are now waiting for our cards to arrive, contemplating how we can stretch our resources in to a third year.

Update: Notification to pick up our cards arrived a few days before our existing visa/titre de sejour expired. The notification said we could pick them up from the sous-prefecture in Beziers the day after the expiration (and no sooner). We did just that, paid out tax (we were required to pay 106E each, so we had to buy more timbre de fiscal) and now are good for another year.

Cooking up a (French) storm

13 Monday Feb 2012

Posted by pvaustralien in Food, Languedoc-Roussillon, Locals, Visa

≈ 2 Comments

Our French approval

The second part of our official paperwork had to be completed once we arrived here in France, so as soon as we arrived in the south of France we lodged our paperwork in the Montpellier OFII office and awaited appointments for our medical checkup & final visa stamp.  That didn’t take long at all and we were summoned in on 1st Feb (premier fevrier).

Off we headed for our 1.30 appointments thinking we’d get in there ten or fifteen minutes early to avoid any rush, but no, we discovered that everyone for the afternoon is booked in at 1.30pm and in fact because of the lunchtime closing hours, the office doesn’t even reopen until 1.30, and not a minute before! They even switch off the elevator until that time so you can’t go up to the office until they are good and ready. This is the French way.

Once in (with an assorted bunch of other people) it was a straightforward process: get weighed, measured, eye chart check and list of vaccinations with the nurse, chest xray with another nurse, in to see the doctor with the xrays in hand & answer some quick questions (I think she was a little surprised that two people our age don’t have any medications, no high blood pressure, etc etc), then in to see the official of the day who puts the “vignette” (or another colourful sticker) in the passports. Done. We were out of there by 3pm and on our way home to celebrate – we are now accepted for 12 months and our passports allow us to come in & out of the country.

Food glorious food

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it, but there are another Australian couple here in our village who have done what we are doing, but have lived here in the one place for their whole year. They are about to go back home in a few weeks. We had been in contact with them on the net before arriving here (thank goodness for other travellers & their blogs full of information – we knew what to expect for the medicals) and met them in person soon after arriving. They were very helpful in giving us some tips to start with and introducing us to some of the locals, mainly the new owners of one of the café/bars in town. After arriving back home with our passports complete, it was off to their place for a celebratory drink & nibbles.

Now it’s our turn to have them over, so we’ve been busy today planning & cooking up a French storm. Well actually let me backtrack a little, because since settling in here we have cooked a variety of dishes, fresh soups, boeuf bourguignon, to mention a few and I have even tried out the local flours & successfully made a batch of scones and some rather nice crepes.

First batch of scones

We celebrated Australia Day with a lovely cook-up by Rod, roast lamb & veges, followed by home made pavlova. And he did a better job than those Kiwis on My Kitchen Rules! In order to be good ambassadors for our country, we started the evening by walking up to one of the local bars to let the locals know that it was “our” day, before coming home to a nice warm house & feasting on these delights:

Our Australia Day roast lamb & veges

and a delicious home-made pavlova to finish off

So for our first entertaining effort, we put our heads together to plan the menu: entrée will be a warm camembert salad, which consists of slices of garlic-grilled baguette topped with tomato & camembert, grilled & served with some green leaves. This is to be followed by a main course of Coc au Champagne (chicken in champagne, of course) and a classic French apple Tarte Tatin for dessert, served with crème fraîche.  Since I’ve decided to concentrate my culinary efforts this year on learning some French pastry cooking, this was as good a place as any to start. A good menu for a crisp, cold, night.

Rod's chicken & vegetables marinating in champagne & herbs

We had to take turns in the kitchen, with Rod marinating the chicken in champagne, then me making a start on my tarte pastry, making caramel sauce, baking the apples in the caramel & then putting it all together & baking again. Then the kitchen was back over to Rod for the the entrée & main preparations.  Mmmm , there were delicious smells coming out of the kitchen in no time.

Starting the pastry for the Tarte Tatin

Rolling out the pastry ready to chill

Starting the caramel...

Apples going into caramel for baking...

Apples baked, now for the pastry base...

the base was a little bit big - shouldn't have tucked it all in!

Mmmmm, chicken smells good!

Table set and wine decanted in advance

Guests have arrived, time to get the entree grilled (good work Rod!)

The food was all delicious, our guests seemed to enjoy every course and with plenty of French champagne and vin rouge to wash it all down, the night was definitely a success. Unfotunately the free-flowing vin also meant we forgot to take final pics of all of the finished dishes (and us with our guests!) Next time, I promise, but here is one of the tarte tatin

The finished Tarte Tatin

So far we are enjoying all of the extra time we have to spend in the kitchen and with a current cold-snap happening, we are doing a bit more of that. I’m sure there’ll be another cooking entry before too long.

Au revoir pour maintenant, a bientot!

Paige xo

France – 1, Nous – 1

17 Saturday Dec 2011

Posted by pvaustralien in Visa

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On Sunday we set off again to Sydney to try our luck with the visa de long sejour. This time we were armed with the full 12 months of booked accommodation. Paige went first. She was greeted by the same guy that served me last time. I think he recognised us, as he quickly sifted through the paperwork. Everything seemed to be going ok with the accommodation, although he did tell Paige that we needed copies of all the landlord’s IDs, but we could email those in when we got back to Perth. With all the boxes ticked, he then approved Paige’s visa. I was next. He just shuffled through my papers, told me about the need for the IDs and approved my visa as well.

They kept our passports so they could stick the visas in. Hopefully they will be returned very quickly as we have just over three weeks to go before we leave. Any delay and we may have to delay our flights again.

We contacted all our landlords, and they sent us copies of their ID within 24 hours. Hopefully the consulate will process our visas quickly now.

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