Obtaining a visa: what you need to know

Obtaining a visa is not a right but as long as you prepare and submit the right supporting paperwork, Americans are not usually refused.

Factors taken into account by French visa officials include the risk of the applicant becoming a financial burden to the French state or overstaying.

Issuing visas to people in the US is the responsibility of the French consulate in Washington DC, but it uses a contractor, TLScontact, to collect application information at one of 10 sites.

After the application is forwarded to officials to process the application, TLScontact also returns the passport with the visa in it. An administration fee is payable for its services.

There is no in-depth interview, you just bring the completed paperwork. In the case of questions from the consulate, these usually come by email.

Note that accompanying spouses, partners and dependent children also need their own visas if they are not EU/EEA/Swiss citizens.

If they are not coming under a specific category in their own right, and assuming the consular service is satisfied the family has sufficient financial means, it is normally possible to bring minor children and spouses with you when moving to France.

However, in this case they usually only obtain a ‘visitor’ visa and will not be able to work unless they later obtain another status (such as the 10-year carte de résident, which it is possible to apply for after five years in France).

One exception is the family of talent cardholders, who can obtain a special family visa. When applying for a visa they should click ‘family or private settlement’ to find this option.

So, you need a visa... the first steps

The first step to applying is to obtain information using the Visa Wizard.

Enter your nationality, age, and other requested details, remembering to click to say if you are married to a French person or are joining or traveling with someone of EU/EEA or Swiss nationality or a British Brexit Withdrawal Agreement beneficiary.

Put your country of current residency (ie. USA) as the ‘place of submission’ and France as your desired destination. Click to indicate that you want a ‘long stay’.

The tool will confirm that you need a visa; it then requests information on your plans. Remember to click ‘visitor’ if you are a retiree/early-retiree and are not coming under any other visa heading such as due to certain family links or one of the ‘talent’ headings.

If, however, you are coming due to French family links, choose ‘family or private settlement’ then the relevant relationship in the next box.

For salaried work click ‘business’ then ‘recruitment or posting workers’, or for starting a trade or other small business, ‘business’ and ‘entrepreneur’.

The tool will indicate the amount of the visa fee (usually €99/$114) and supporting documents required. Assuming you do need a visa, you can then apply online at the same website.

Official sources state you should not apply for a long-stay visa more than three months before your planned date of travel to France, which would be the start date of the visa. We advise starting to fill out the application at least three months before.

You can save it as you go, and finish and sign it off digitally at your convenience. Information on visas can also be obtained on the same website, as well as from TLScontact. For US-specific information see here.

TLScontact has a helpline on +1 305 602 5861 (from 8:30 Atlantic time until 15:30 Pacific time) and an online contact form. The visa office of the consulate general in Washington DC also answers requests by email : visas.washington-fslt@diplomatie.gouv.fr.

Filling out the online form

You should start your form here. The route through this varies depending on your reason for coming, though the main steps are similar for all visas.

Click ‘Start your visa application’ and you will be invited to create an account using your email address. Click the link in your email to continue then click ‘Create a new application’, which will open a form.

Move through the pages entering information from your passport and details about yourself and your plans.

When applying to move on a settled basis, you should state a planned duration of ‘more than one year’.

Once a first application has been filled in you may add further applications for up to six members of your group so you are called in together to hand in your passports and supporting documents.

When you have completed it (a green tick shows this), print the application form off as well as the application receipt.

The site indicates the supporting documents you need and how to book a slot to submit them in person. This is done by creating an account on the website of TLScontact to visit one of its offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco, Seattle or Washington.

Aim to book a slot allowing at least a month of processing time between the date you hand in documents and your planned departure date. On booking, you are also asked to say if you are part of a group (if you are applying for a group of more than five you must telephone to book).

A TLScontact service fee is payable online to confirm the slot, of €220 (about $258) for a long-stay visa application. TLScontact also offers an ‘apply anywhere’ option where someone will come to your home to complete the formalities. You need to contact them for a quote, but prices start from $380.Appointment slots outside standard hours are also available, for $80 extra.

The website refers to a ‘postal application’ option, costing $110, for which you must choose the Washington branch, where supporting documents are posted to the branch. However, at present this is only on offer only to nationals needing short-stay Schengen visas, which does not include US citizens.