Long stay visas applications for France

• What is a long stay visa?
  
  Staying in France for more than 90 days: the Long Stay Visa:
  
  Any stay longer than 90 days in France or in one of its Overseas Departments and Regions, Overseas Territories, Overseas Territorial Communities or New Caledonia falls under a specific process and is not part of the Schengen Agreement.
  
  Long Stay Visas are known under the name "Type D" and are divided in two categories: temporary long stay and long stay.
  
  
  • A temporary long stay is a stay longer than 90 days but shorter than 6 months.
    
  • A regular long stay visa is a stay longer than 6 months in France or in its Overseas Departments and Regions, Overseas Territories, Overseas Territorial Communities or New Caledonia.
    
  • If your stay is longer than 6 months, you will have to apply for your resident permit (" Carte de Séjour ") at the local Préfecture of your place of residency upon 2 months of arrival.

  
  You may apply for a long stay visa for:
  
  Studies (over 3 months)

  • You are going to study in a French university or in a language school,
    
  • You are going to train in a company based in France,
    
  • You are going to work as an "au pair" in France.

  
  Work (over 3 months)

  • You wish to work in France (your employer in France must contact the ANAEM: Agence Nationale de l'Accueil des Etrangers et des Migrations),
    
  • You wish to work in Monaco or in Andorra,
    
  • You wish to work in Guadeloupe, Martinique, Reunion or Guyana,
    
  • You wish to work in New Caledonia, French Polynesia, French Southern Territories, St. Pierre and Miquelon or Mayotte,
    
  • You wish to apply to exercise an independent activity regulated or not in France.

  
  Without working (over than 3 months)

  • You wish to settle in France,
    
  • You wish to settle in Monaco,
    
  • You wish to settle in Andorra,
    
  • You wish to settle in Guadeloupe, Martinique, Reunion or Guyana,
    
  • You wish to settle in New Caledonia, French Polynesia, French Southern Territories, St. Pierre and Miquelon or Mayotte.

  
  Family reasons (over 3 months)

  • You wish to retire in France,
    
  • You wish to settle in France without working,
    
  • You are the foreign spouse of a French or European Union citizen and wish to settle together in France.

  
  According to the law of July 24th 2006, regarding immigration and integration, family members of French citizens, excluding citizens of the European Union, the European Economic Space, Switzerland, Monaco, San Marino and Algeria, must be in possession of a long stay visa in order to apply for a resident permit in France (except foreign parents of a French underage child living in France).