Can I ask for a one-year visa to stay at second home?

I own a small property in France and am no longer able to stay there more than three months at a time. I have heard there is an option for visas between three months and one year – how do you get a year? 

The visa will be allocated for a certain duration depending on your intentions as stated in your application. Any visa issued for more than three months is described as being for a ‘long stay’, however if it is clear that you do not intend to move to France and make it your main home the visa issued to you will be a visa de long-séjour temporaire – a temporary long-stay visa. 

These do not need to either be ‘validated’ in France or replaced by a residency card and they cannot be renewed. While, technically, it is possible for a temporary visa to be issued for up to one year, this is rarely the case and they are usually issued for four to six months. 

As a general rule, if someone comes to France for more than six months in any given year, there is an assumption that they are ‘moving to France’ and they are also likely to become French tax residents (exact rules on tax residency include several other tests, if this is in doubt). Where this is the intention, the person would be issued an ordinary longstay visa instead. 

One possible situation where a temporary visa may be issued for 12 months would be, for example, coming to France for work linked to an artistic profession, where the project is lasting no more than 12 months. Note that there is no reason not to combine visits to France on the 90/180 days rule in the same year as time on a temporary visa, so generally speaking a second home owner would have no need of a visa lasting more than six months.