Expat Community > France

markdfink
Joined 2016
Posts: 70

Long stay visa for US Citizens

4 years ago

As my wife and I are in the same situation as several others on another thread, I thought I'd start a new thread specifically to share information, experience, and advice on US citizens planning to move to France permanently.

My wife and I were four days away from our VFS appointment when the centers shut down due to Covid-19. We had already arranged to sell our house, had purchased one-way tickets, and had signed a one year lease for a great house in Sauvian, just ten minutes from the beach.

The house sold, but fortunately, the new owners, (friends literally around the block from us), are letting us rent month to month until we can move. The owners of the house in Sauvian graciously allowed us to not pay rent until we were able to move, but after three months and no end in sight, we all agreed that cancelling that rental contract was best for everyone. We also got our flights cancelled and reimbursed, so we're doing quite fine considering.

My wife is retired, as am I, (after 20 years in civil service in New York), but I started working as an IT consultant for a software company based in San Francisco. They were looking for someone with my skills to be in an EU time zone to mind the machines during off hours.

I won't be working with any French companies, they just need me to be in that time zone. I asked the Consulate in Washington D.C. what visa I should get, and they replied that a long-stay visitor visa would be appropriate.

Last week, I saw on this page, (https://visa.vfsglobal.com/usa/en/fra/news/new-visa-categories), there there is a new addition to the visa list: Long Stay Passport Talent. I'm still trying to figure out if this would work for our situation, but I thought I'd share that with the group in case it is helpful.

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