Along with all the other stuff (a LOT of stuff) we are dealing with in preparation for our big move, we had to wait until just the right moment to apply for our French visas. You can’t apply for a visa until you have purchased plane tickets to France, and no longer than 90 days before your departure. Since we are not just visiting France on a holiday, and plan to live there indefinitely, we need to have visas, which are required when you stay more than 3 months. We spent quite a bit of time researching what hoops we were to jump through in order to be granted visas. There is a lot of information — and misinformation — online about this, but, being overachievers, we compiled a huge stack of every possible piece of paper that might be asked for in the course of our application process. As of summer 2018, instead of applying at the nearest consulate, all visa applications are handled by VFS (Visa Facilitation Service), a processing service with offices in major US cities. You start here: https://france-visas.gouv.fr/en_US/web/france-visas/ma-demande-en-ligne

So, you make the initial request online for an appointment to apply for the particular visa type, then start getting nervous while compiling your papers and waiting for the appointment day to come. In our case it was about 2 weeks later, in San Francisco.

Covering our kitchen counters as we made copies and assembled packets: a completed visa application, passport-sized photos, birth certificates, copies of airline tickets, proof of travel insurance (at least 4 months to cover us until we are covered by the French healthcare system), proof that we have a place to live (in our case, a copy of our rental house agreement), proof that we can support ourselves while living in France (copies of our bank statements suffice), letters promising not to work while living in France (so that we don’t take a job away from a French person), letters stating why we want to move to France (because we want to, that’s why), copies of our marriage license (and also divorce decrees, just in case), FBI background checks (yes, really), and anything else we could think of.

We carefully assembled the packets in the proper order and triple-checked them for completeness. We had a stack for each of us, then a stack of backup papers that might also be asked for, and duplicates of all of that, labeled, clipped, and foldered. Fortunately, from their website I had included the checklist of documents we should be expected to present at our appointment, and, as it turned out, that checklist was the first thing she asked for when we stepped up to the window at the appointed time (well, after waiting 40 minutes after our appointed time). The woman was friendly and answered our nervous questions as she checked off items from the list. Then she asked us if there was anything else we would like to submit. What? Should we give her a cookie or something?

We sailed through with flying colors. It turned out we had everything she asked for, and she complimented us on our organization. Yay! I wish I had brought her a cookie after all. After our appointment we treated ourselves to a nice lunch in San Francisco.

Then we went home and waited. Just because she was satisfied with what we presented to her didn’t necessarily mean that we would receive our passports back from Washington DC with the visas in them. But, 9 days later we did just that. What a huge relief. We high-fived ourselves for a job well done. Mark that huge task off the list. Whew.