Long stay visitor visa for France

[The Lb’s]

Has anyone looked into or applied for this visa recently? How did it go? Thanks

 

[Pablotti]

Looked into it, but not applied. Seems fairly straightforward though.

It’s helpful if you want to spend an extended period in France, but it’s not a free pass to all of the Schengen area. The 90/180 rule still applies if you leave France.

 

[Brains]

Discussed in a bit more depth here
https://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/threads/long-stay-visa-for-france-180-days.258078/

Basically seems to a bit of a long winded process which includes a personal visit to the French Consulate, and a day by day itinerary of where in France you will be staying but it's a simple enough process to follow.

Officially it would get you 180 days in France.

However in practice what you could do is drive through France to Spain or Italy (3-4 days).
Spend maximum 80 days in Spain/Italy (Allowing enough days to drive home).
Then spend the remaining 95/100 days in France.
You could not travel outside France for the second half of the 180 days

 

[MisterB]

Discussed in a bit more depth here
https://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/threads/long-stay-visa-for-france-180-days.258078/

Basically seems to a bit of a long winded process which includes a personal visit to the French Consulate, and a day by day itinerary of where in France you will be staying but it's a simple enough process to follow.

Officially it would get you 180 days in France.

However in practice what you could do is drive through France to Spain or Italy (3-4 days).
Spend maximum 80 days in Spain/Italy (Allowing enough days to drive home).
Then spend the remaining 95/100 days in France.
You could not travel outside France for the second half of the 180 days

Just to clarify, the 90 day Schengen zone and the 180 day french visa cannot be rolled over into one long trip without leaving and re-entering France through passport control.
A simple way to achieve it and avoid driving back to the UK, might be to do close to your 90/180 time in the Schengen zone and park the Moho up in France. Then take a one day flight out of France, exiting using your passport which should be stamped (showing you have left the Schengen zone), then returning to France and enter using your tourist visa, which then gives you 180/180 BUT only in France.
You could if course do it the opposite way round, tourist visa first followed by Schengen allowance.

 

[The Lb’s]

Discussed in a bit more depth here
https://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/threads/long-stay-visa-for-france-180-days.258078/

Basically seems to a bit of a long winded process which includes a personal visit to the French Consulate, and a day by day itinerary of where in France you will be staying but it's a simple enough process to follow.

Officially it would get you 180 days in France.

However in practice what you could do is drive through France to Spain or Italy (3-4 days).
Spend maximum 80 days in Spain/Italy (Allowing enough days to drive home).
Then spend the remaining 95/100 days in France.
You could not travel outside France for the second half of the 180 da

​

Long-stay visa​

For any stay in France exceeding 90 days, you are required to apply in advance for a long-stay vis. In this instance your nationality does not exempt you from requirements.
Whatever the duration of your planned stay, the duration of your long-stay visa must be between three months and one year. In order to extend your stay beyond the period of validity of your visa, you must apply for a residence permit at a prefecture.
During its period of validity, the long-stay visa is equivalent to a Schengen visa, enabling you to move around and stay in the Schengen Area outside France for periods not exceeding 90 days over any period of 180 consecutive days, under the same conditions as if you held a Schengen visa.


This is taken from the French government website which says this visa allows us to stay between 3 months and 1 year...plus allowing visits to the other Schengen countries or our 90 days...or am I reading it wrong?