Long stay visa for France (180 days)

[Brains]

An interesting article Here
It is now possible for UK passport holders to apply for a 6 month 'VLS-T Visiteur' non-working visa to France
(Which means in reality, you could be in Spain, for example, for 90 of those days)

Quite a few hoops to jump through, including a personal visit to the French Consulate and proof that you have at least £6k in the bank, but apparently it's an easy enough process.

 

[Barti Ddu]

I don't think that this is new. The linked article is from last summer.

The actual official french gov website regarding this is here -

Tourism - France-Visas

View all the details regarding your tourist or personal visa for France.

france-visas.gouv.fr

Not aware of anyone actually doing it though.

 

[Brains]

Not aware of anyone actually doing it though.

I got the link from a Facebook entry written by couple that had applied and the visa has been granted.
They are off next month to France for the entire summer.

They said that as long as you followed all the instructions it was easy enough to do.

 

[hymermick]

An interesting article Here
It is now possible for UK passport holders to apply for a 6 month 'VLS-T Visiteur' non-working visa to France
(Which means in reality, you could be in Spain, for example, for 90 of those days)

Quite a few hoops to jump through, including a personal visit to the French Consulate and proof that you have at least £6k in the bank, but apparently it's an easy enough process.

That would mean you have to spend 90 days in France as well. Thats not for us we now sail to Spain to save having to travel through France with their silly rules.

 

[jongood]

I don't think that this is new. The linked article is from last summer.

The actual official french gov website regarding this is here -

Tourism - France-Visas

View all the details regarding your tourist or personal visa for France.

france-visas.gouv.fr

Not aware of anyone actually doing it though.

If I'm Reading it correctly the 90 days is a Schengen visa and 180 is a national visa. Now if Spain were to do this it would sort out their winter problem.

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[Barti Ddu]

I got the link from a Facebook entry written by couple that had applied and the visa has been granted.
They are off next month to France for the entire summer.

They said that as long as you followed all the instructions it was easy enough to do.

It would be interesting if they wrote up the exact process, as could be useful to others. As I understand it, the fee is currently £82 (non-refundable) plus additional services charges, and you have to apply in person at one of the consulate offices in London, Manchester, Edinburgh, etc. Do you get the "French Inquisition" during the appointment?!

I'd be keen to know if things like the GHIC were acceptable as proof of health insurance, or whether additional travel insurance was required, what restrictions were placed on them regarding leaving France during the 180 days, etc. Would make a good article for the MF magazine if they happened to be members here.

 

[Sheddy]

If I'm Reading it correctly the 90 days is a Schengen visa and 180 is a national visa. Now if Spain were to do this it would sort out their winter problem.

They are trying

Spain’s Costa Blanca Authorities Want to Extend the Permitted Period of Stay for UK Citizens

The Alicante Provincial Council President, Carlos Mazon, had a meeting with the Ambassador of Spain to the UK, José Pascual Marco, during which they talked about the situation of British residents in the province after Brexit. During this meeting, Mazon asked the Ambassador to extend the 90-day...

www.schengenvisainfo.com

 

[jumar]

Tha

They are trying

Spain’s Costa Blanca Authorities Want to Extend the Permitted Period of Stay for UK Citizens

The Alicante Provincial Council President, Carlos Mazon, had a meeting with the Ambassador of Spain to the UK, José Pascual Marco, during which they talked about the situation of British residents in the province after Brexit. During this meeting, Mazon asked the Ambassador to extend the 90-day...

www.schengenvisainfo.com

Old News from November which is aimed at Second home owners in just one region of Spain....all non coastal regions couldn't give a cent of what the 90/180 day ruling means, that's if they are aware of such ruling...

 

[Al n Val]

A very good friend of ours who owns a villa in Murcia heard this on the radio last week, please don’t shoot the messenger

“Hi ..just heard on Talk Radio Europe today “from a reliable source, a solicitor “ there’s to be an announcement made in May, confirming 180 days in 360 to be afforded to Brits.
Here’s Hoping !”

 

[jumar]

A very good friend of ours who owns a villa in Murcia heard this on the radio last week, please don’t shoot the messenger

“Hi ..just heard on Talk Radio Europe today “from a reliable source, a solicitor “ there’s to be an announcement made in May, confirming 180 days in 360 to be afforded to Brits.
Here’s Hoping !”

I won't shoot the messenger...but Talk Radio Europe and more to the point a Reliable source a Solicitor....

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[Speve]

That would mean you have to spend 90 days in France as well. Thats not for us we now sail to Spain to save having to travel through France with their silly rules.

I read it that you could travel down through France have 90 days in Spain and then return via France to UK within the 180 days so you could if you wanted tour other schengen areas within that period as the French would not know where you are anyway as there are no border checks within schengen

 

[gus-lopez]

today “from a reliable source, a solicitor “

Last people in the world you would trust to tell you the time unless you were already looking at a clock.

 

[Innkeeper]

A very good friend of ours who owns a villa in Murcia heard this on the radio last week, please don’t shoot the messenger

“Hi ..just heard on Talk Radio Europe today “from a reliable source, a solicitor “ there’s to be an announcement made in May, confirming 180 days in 360 to be afforded to Brits.
Here’s Hoping !”

Fingers crossed

 

[Al n Val]

Last people in the world you would trust to tell you the time unless you were already looking at a clock.

As I said

“don’t shoot the messenger”

I’ve never heard of Talk Radio Europe if I'm honest

Roll on May

 

[Brains]

It would be interesting if they wrote up the exact process, as could be useful to others. As I understand it, the fee is currently £82 (non-refundable) plus additional services charges, and you have to apply in person at one of the consulate offices in London, Manchester, Edinburgh, etc. Do you get the "French Inquisition" during the appointment?!

I'd be keen to know if things like the GHIC were acceptable as proof of health insurance, or whether additional travel insurance was required, what restrictions were placed on them regarding leaving France during the 180 days, etc. Would make a good article for the MF magazine if they happened to be members here.

Here is the pertinent part of the FB post

We've just picked up our French 6 month tourist visa (VLS-T) - it was all pretty easy really .
There are requirements that need to be met obviously but as long as you can meet the conditions required then all seems good .
If you follow the link on the Connexionfrance website then that will help you with the application process

Then you need to provide documents to prove certain things. It's important to provide the required docs in the order they ask for when you've applied as this will make the interview process a lot smoother. They are really helpful at the TLS centre though, and they check you've got everything and that it's in the correct order before sending on to the French consulate.

When you finish your application online you book an appointment to go to a TLS centre in either Manchester/Edinburgh/London, where you take all your documents. It can take a few days or, if it's busy, a few weeks to get an appointment.

It then took 14 days to get our passports back with the visas in.
From application online to getting our passports took us 17 days in total.

Docs required for our application pack:

• Cover letter explaining what we planned to do and how we would finance it - (Simply wrote that we would be travelling in our Moho staying on a mix of campsites and Aires, spending money in local businesses)

• A full itinerary of where we would stay during our visit (campsites and Aires)
  
  Copies Of:​
• Last 3 months bank statements.
• Proof of income/savings to show you will be able to support yourselves. ( the French consulate states you require approx €1,200 for a single person per month (or €1,500 per couple) , or the Schengen visa website states £120 per day for the total visit, so either or both?
• Marriage certificate if it's a joint application
• Birth certificates
• GHIC's
• 2 x photos each
• A statement stating you will not work.
• Extra docs we provided :
• Motorhome V5, insurance, MOT, driving licences
• ACSI card
• Campingcarpark Aires card

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[Brains]

Note on the money in the bank

€1,200 is €7,200 for 6 months (£6,000) for a single person
€1,500 is €9,000 for 6 months (£7,500) for a couple

£120 per day would be £21,600 !

The limit on the cash you can take with you is €/£ 10,000

 

[Vennwood]

Does anyone know how long the visa lasts? I thought it was a 12 month visa after which you needed to apply again

 

[royandsharont]

The above comment 15 is really helpful. I knew it existed, and thought Spain had one as well but lots more expensive. The only thing that this helps, if true which I don’t doubt, is that you can get the visa to tr@vel like we do.

I was under the impression when we left the EU was that such visa requirements were you had to have some connection to the country rather than just being a tourist e.g. a holiday property owner or family resident there thereby ruling the likes of us well out.

Let’s hope this is correct for those who wish to do it as it would allow a full 360/360 in the EU with the middle bit’s separating the 90/180 Schengen aspect in France or Spain depending where your visa is for.

Pre Brexit if you stayed more that 90 days you had to become registered with the local police with conditions Re finance health care etc, like a holiday resident rather than full resident. Pre about 2012 it was 180 days but they changed it, as many other EU countries did. Many Brits thought you could legally just go and stay without registering but that always was illegal, if flouted by many.

 

[jumar]

The above comment 15 is really helpful. I knew it existed, and thought Spain had one as well but lots more expensive. The only thing that this helps, if true which I don’t doubt, is that you can get the visa to tr@vel like we do.

I was under the impression when we left the EU was that such visa requirements were you had to have some connection to the country rather than just being a tourist e.g. a holiday property owner or family resident there thereby ruling the likes of us well out.

Let’s hope this is correct for those who wish to do it as it would allow a full 360/360 in the EU with the middle bit’s separating the 90/180 Schengen aspect in France or Spain depending where your visa is for.

Pre Brexit if you stayed more that 90 days you had to become registered with the local police with conditions Re finance health care etc, like a holiday resident rather than full resident. Pre about 2012 it was 180 days but they changed it, as many other EU countries did. Many Brits thought you could legally just go and stay without registering but that always was illegal, if flouted by many.

Just had to check if it was April 1st....no it's February 9th....still funny though..

 

[royandsharont]

Just had to check if it was April 1st....no it's February 9th....still funny though..

Am I missing something?

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[jumar]

Am I missing something?

No not really other than so many times we read about Spain has a Visa system...well to our knowledge they don't other than an opportunity to get a NLV which is part of the process to obtain residency....it's costly, restrictive and not intended to be for Tourism purposes....we also find most amusing quotes from the TV, Newspapers and other unreliable sources...this refers to this thread in general, not to yours...I wrongly clicked Quote before typing...sorry for that..

 

[Barti Ddu]

Thanks Brains for posting the full information up regarding the application process. Really useful, and quite encouraging.

The bit I still haven't really got my head around is whether the French VLS-T requires you to remain in France for its period of validity, or whether you can travel throughout Schengen. I'd be surprised if travel outside France was permitted, but obviously with free borders who would know - unless you picked up traffic violations, presented for emergency treatment at a hospital, or had some other contact with the authorities outside of France?? Do the couple in the FB posts intend to stay within France do you know?

Additionally, can you roll-over from the French visa-entitled stay into the normal 90/180 requirements, thus allowing even longer stays??

 

[Brains]

Thanks Brains for posting the full information up regarding the application process. Really useful, and quite encouraging.

The bit I still haven't really got my head around is whether the French VLS-T requires you to remain in France for its period of validity, or whether you can travel throughout Schengen. I'd be surprised if travel outside France was permitted, but obviously with free borders who would know - unless you picked up traffic violations, presented for emergency treatment at a hospital, or had some other contact with the authorities outside of France?? Do the couple in the FB posts intend to stay within France do you know?

Additionally, can you roll-over from the French visa-entitled stay into the normal 90/180 requirements, thus allowing even longer stays??

From what I can see, it's a French visa for France.
Therefore, not unreasonably, they would expect you to stay within France for the entire 180 days.
Therefore your itinery would have to be all French campsites.

But as you say, if you nipped over to Spain for a few weeks right at the start, who would be any the wiser.
Just ensure that the entry date into the EU was not more than 90 days earlier, otherwise the Spanish will say you have been in the EU over 90 days, irrespective of the French Visa
Therefore you could do 90 days in the rest of the EU, followed by 90 days in France.

Obviously you can not do other 90 days in another EU country as an add on.

 

[Barti Ddu]

Brains - Thanks for that. Makes sense, and what I envisaged. Attempting anything more might seem like taking the pee!

 

[Vennwood]

Just to add to this - on post 18 Roy makes a comment about needing a family or home owner connection. Our family live in France - have done for past 14 years however if we wanted to go for a long stay visa having a family connection doesn't qualify. However if we had/were a family dependant then we could get a 12 month visa. It looks complicated to me but here are the details

Moving to France from January 2021

If you're British and you want to move to France from January 2021, your move will look rather different. We take you through what you'd have to do and how things would work.

www.francerights.org

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[EuroTrotters]

If I'm Reading it correctly the 90 days is a Schengen visa and 180 is a national visa. Now if Spain were to do this it would sort out their winter problem.

I rent our Villa Independenlty and through a big Holiday Company. Speaking with one of their managers recently, along with a Spanish lawyer. This is what I am led to believe.....


Something will most likely happen for UK residents with property in spain first, maybe for long stay tourists later. But is is going to take some time.

As you may have seen in the news. The Current situation for half term holiday makers is that they are avoiding or cancelling spain in favour of other countries (Turkey as an example). According to the Spanish tourist industry, this is costing them millions inlost revenue.


Here is the Link to Ximo Puig

Valencia wants Brits to be allowed more than 90 days a year in Spain

Ximo Puig, president of Valencia where Benidorm and Alicante are located, issued the call after a noticing huge drop-off in the number of British tourists visiting his region after Brexit.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[Brains]

As you may have seen in the news. The Current situation for half term holiday makers is that they are avoiding or cancelling spain in favour of other countries (Turkey as an example). According to the Spanish tourist industry, this is costing them millions in lost revenue.

Apparently Spain has lost over €1,000,000,000,000 (One Trillion) in the last two years from British tourists alone. Plus one presumes similar amounts from the Germans, the Dutch etc etc.

Mind you it means that the UK balance of payments must be looking at lot better than it normally would with much of that money being spent in the UK instead.

 

[EuroTrotters]

Apparently Spain has lost over €1,000,000,000,000 (One Trillion) in the last two years from British tourists alone. Plus one presumes similar amounts from the Germans, the Dutch etc etc.

Mind you it means that the UK balance of payments must be looking at lot better than it normally would with much of that money being spent in the UK instead.

France being one of thee most visited Countries in the world, I wonder what their losses are/?

 

[Brains]

France being one of thee most visited Countries in the world, I wonder what their losses are/?

€103,000,000,000,000 (103 Billion Euros) apparently for 2020 !
Which is over £2,000 for every man, woman and child in France

I guess 2021 will be even more and I doubt 2022 will be much better

 

[jumar]

I rent our Villa Independenlty and through a big Holiday Company. Speaking with one of their managers recently, along with a Spanish lawyer. This is what I am led to believe.....


Something will most likely happen for UK residents with property in spain first, maybe for long stay tourists later. But is is going to take some time.

As you may have seen in the news. The Current situation for half term holiday makers is that they are avoiding or cancelling spain in favour of other countries (Turkey as an example). According to the Spanish tourist industry, this is costing them millions inlost revenue.


Here is the Link to Ximo Puig

Valencia wants Brits to be allowed more than 90 days a year in Spain

Ximo Puig, president of Valencia where Benidorm and Alicante are located, issued the call after a noticing huge drop-off in the number of British tourists visiting his region after Brexit.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Quote..
While the pandemic will be behind most of the decrease, Puig warned that it is unlikely figures will return to pre-pandemic levels due to Brexit travel restrictions.

The true impact from B****t has yet to be experienced because at no time has this period been free of Covid.
It would be interested to see if Spain could go it alone in issuing a long stay visa.....entry and exit would only allowed into Spain directly...I wouldn't imagine arriving and departing Calais and waving your Spanish Long Stay Visa to a French Border Guard and saying Don't stamp my passport Sir...
I can imagine Flying into Spain for second homeowners being manageable...that's what needs to be addressed first..
Getting the whole of the EU to agree would also be something that could take time..

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