Jacques Chirac, Photo by Erica Simone
Your taste of life in Paris and France
ParlerParis.com
Wednesday, March 30, 2011 • Paris, France
• Printer Friendly • Parler Paris Blog
• Community Calendar • Recommend to Friends
• Don't miss a single issue of Parler Paris! "Whitelist" Parler Paris by adding "info@adrianleeds.com" to your address book.
Dear Parler Paris Reader,
A friend who has spent quite a bit of time in Paris over the years and who owns an apartment here has finally taken the plunge to make Paris her permanent residence. She wrote with such excitement:
"Paris, here I come. I found out that I can get a long stay visa and have it renewed every year without having to get a 'carte de séjour' or become a resident until I decide it's what I really want to do. I am so excited! Cannot wait to participate in Parisian life for real. XOXO, A."
Whoa! was my first reaction. The terms were confusing. "Long stay visa" = "Carte de Séjour." None of what she said made sense to me. In 'my time,' oh so many years ago, either you came for three months or less, applied for a carte de séjour ("visiteur") for one year or you stayed longer than three months, but illegally. Those were the options. The carte de séjour was annually renewable and basically bought you nothing except the right to reside in France legally. The truth was, if you stayed longer than three months, no one knew it or really cared...as long as you were not illegally working, not earning money in France and/or paying your French taxes.
When I questioned my friend further, she responded with:
"I talked to the consul himself. If I apply for a carte de séjour I become a resident in France, but I can't be a resident here , too. This, however, is a long term visitors visa which people get who want to live there six or seven months per year, but not be a resident. None of the people who advised me knew about this option, but I was pleasantly shocked to find out about it. XOXO, A."
That's when I contacted an immigration attorney, Ann Cary Dana, who has helped me tremendously in the past to get the full and accurate story. Ann explained:
This is recent (less than two years old), but not really new.
Since everyone is supposed to get a long-stay visa (I'll call this a VLS for short = a "visa long séjour") for stays in France of more than 90 days within a 180-day period, there has always been a need for visas for periods of 4 to 12 months.The most common one was the 6-month visa, which was often issued to students coming for a semester or short course of study, or assignées coming to work for 4 to 6 months. The 6-month visa exempted the holder from the obligation to get a residence permit (for obvious reasons: the bureaucratic bottlenecks often resulted in your carte de séjour arriving when you were about ready to leave!).
So, what represents one of the few immigration law changes which have been favorable to foreigners for years, they have allowed certain categories of foreigners to reside for up to 12 months in France with only the VLS from the consulate, without having to go through the whole "carte de séjour" application procedure.
This kind of VLS, instead of being just an entry visa usable once and valid only 3 months, is valid 12 months and doubles as a carte de séjour (it carries all the same rights of a residence permit). In administrative jargon it is called a VLS-TS, a visa long séjour replacing or doubling as a titre de séjour (TS).Attention! Only the following people can get one: students, visiteurs (not allowed to do any type of work, not even self-employment!), spouses of French nationals, foreigners sponsored by an employer to work in France and whose work permit application (submitted in France by the employer) has already been approved (before the file is sent to the consulate).
The nice thing is you don't have to decide when you apply for a visa whether you want to stay in France for more than a year or not. You come with the VSL-TS and if you decide you want to stay on, you go to the Préfecture during the last two months your VLS-TS is valid and apply for a carte de séjour.This is definitely a GOOD THING because the carte de séjour application procedure has gotten worse and worse and more and more of a hassle over the years. Appointments for renewal are hard to get, they are often months in the future (after you permit has expired, through no fault of your own), the bureaucrats can be horrible to people (treat them all like "fraudeurs" -- I had a client say he felt so humiliated he felt sick to his stomach). I get so angry about how foreigners are treated -- if you want me to write a virulent article about it, I would be glad to, but I guess it might discourage people from coming!
So if A. only plans to reside in France for 6, 7, 8 or 9 months, the VLS-TS would fit her well, UNLESS she won't know how long she wants or needs to stay each time.A few caveats or inconveniences:
- the VLS-TS will have fixed dates, so if all of a sudden you need to stay longer, you would have to overstay (which could show up via a stamp in your passport and jeopardize future applications) - there's no possibility to prolong your stay from within France. So, this is where a carte de séjour can be more convenient: you can come and go and stay whenever you wish;- if you apply for a "visiteur" permit, the consulate will always need to see proof you can support yourself (for the 6 to 7 months you plan to stay, in advance!) and have private medical insurance valid in France;
- clearly, if you got a one-year VLS-TS over and over, year after year, they would say you no longer qualify and should get a carte de séjour.Last point: Taxes!
I'm not a qualified tax expert, and neither is the French consulate!!! Do not take their word as the Bible truth about your tax situation. Immigration rules are distinct from international taxation rules.The fact you have a carte de séjour in France is not IN ITSELF sufficient proof that you are a French tax resident! Many other aspects of your situation are taken into account to determine that. There's a whole France-US tax treaty with criteria determining whether a person with ties to both countries is a US or French tax resident. So see a tax specialist about that. What is true however is that if you have a one-year renewable carte de séjour allowing you to work, the Préfecture is not going to like it if you say at renewal time you have not filed French tax returns.
Ann Cary DANA
Cabinet d'Avocat
34 rue Henri Chevreau
75020 Paris
Tel: +33 (0)1 43 66 46 33
Fax: +33 (0) 1 43 66 94 28
mobile: +33 (0)6 74 84 49 57
email: acdana.avocat@orange.fr
Still, my take on it is that the truth remains that if you stay longer than three months, no one knows or really cares...as long as you are not illegally working, not earning money in France and/or paying your French taxes. And the question that remains is if you can sleep at night without worrying about that or not?
No matter what, I fully believe that professional advice is well worth the price, so if you are considering a move to France for longer than three months, I suggest you contact Ann or other authority who can pave the way for you clearly and smoothly, not to mention prepare you for the unfriendly bureaucrats you might encounter along the way (we all have stories to tell!).
A la prochaine...
Adrian Leeds
Editor, Parler Paris
Share this article with a friend...
Respond to Adrian
P.S. Don't forget, we have a new and exciting format at Parler Paris Après Midi! Join us this coming Tuesday, April 12th for a fun session with PSI Communications, then mark your calendar for our upcoming afternoons with Judith Merians, David Downie and Jeffrey Greene -- between now and the Summer. Visit parlerparis/apresmidi.html for more information.
