New rules for some categories demanding "le titre de sejour"

[rollerbahn]

Hi everybody, and must I say that this is hands down one of the best areas for information and up to date news/changes regarding this foggy french administrative stuff we have to deal with.
So I just also recieved my long stay visa de conjoint de francais, fairly painlessly (this after one year in France trying to figure it out and change my status there).

Am I to assume that once back in France, I do NOT have to spend a much anticipated afternoon at the local prefecture applying for the carte de sejour? If yes, how does this work with employment? If anyone has gone through this 'new' system I would love to hear how it went? Thank you in advance!

[Bevdeforges]

Originally Posted by rollerbahn

Am I to assume that once back in France, I do NOT have to spend a much anticipated afternoon at the local prefecture applying for the carte de sejour? If yes, how does this work with employment? If anyone has gone through this 'new' system I would love to hear how it went? Thank you in advance!

Congratulations! You can be a "test case" for the forum here.

According to the OFII site OFII - Office Français de l’Immigration et de l’Intégration, you have to send in the form you were given, along with copies of your passport with your stamped visa. (Be sure to send them recommandée avec accusé de réception) They will then call you in (to the OFII office, I think) for an interview and to validate your visa. (Chances are, you'll spend your much anticipated afternoon here rather than at the préfecture.) There is also a medical visit, if you didn't already do this, and what they call the "visite d'accueil".

Do let us know how everything goes. This process is still pretty new, and there are likely to be a few glitches along the way. According to the OFII, your "validated visa" is then supposed to work just like a carte de séjour when it comes to work, etc. Whether or not potential employers are aware of this or not is another issue. (There has been little or no publicity of the rule changes in the business newsletters I get - mostly for small businesses.)
Cheers,
Bev

[rollerbahn]

Oh goody a test case! (I don't know if this is good or bad) I also don't know if these changes will make things easier or just lead to muddier water, if there was ever an issue of clarity in this process.

But I will indeed find out soon enough, for better or worse, and let you know how it plays out. Hopefully the glitches work in my favor.

Originally Posted by Bevdeforges

Congratulations! You can be a "test case" for the forum here.

According to the OFII site OFII - Office Français de l’Immigration et de l’Intégration, you have to send in the form you were given, along with copies of your passport with your stamped visa. (Be sure to send them recommandée avec accusé de réception) They will then call you in (to the OFII office, I think) for an interview and to validate your visa. (Chances are, you'll spend your much anticipated afternoon here rather than at the préfecture.) There is also a medical visit, if you didn't already do this, and what they call the "visite d'accueil".

Do let us know how everything goes. This process is still pretty new, and there are likely to be a few glitches along the way. According to the OFII, your "validated visa" is then supposed to work just like a carte de séjour when it comes to work, etc. Whether or not potential employers are aware of this or not is another issue. (There has been little or no publicity of the rule changes in the business newsletters I get - mostly for small businesses.)
Cheers,
Bev

[Heydrick]

Count us in as test case number 2. In this case, both my wife and I are getting our own independent "Le titre de se jour" vs. one as spouse of the other, so not sure how that impacts the fees. We are busily ensuring we have all the paper just in case - pick up (hopefully?) visas at Houston consulate early next week. Received E-mail today (with translated copy of kids birth certificates, and our marriage certificates, which Houston consulate asks for) from relo specialist our company uses, and got pretty much the same rundown Bev gave above. Will also post progress as it goes. Great board by the way.
Doug

[Bevdeforges]

Originally Posted by Heydrick

Count us in as test case number 2. In this case, both my wife and I are getting our own independent "Le titre de se jour" vs. one as spouse of the other, so not sure how that impacts the fees. We are busily ensuring we have all the paper just in case - pick up (hopefully?) visas at Houston consulate early next week. Received E-mail today (with translated copy of kids birth certificates, and our marriage certificates, which Houston consulate asks for) from relo specialist our company uses, and got pretty much the same rundown Bev gave above. Will also post progress as it goes. Great board by the way.
Doug

OK - test case number 2, you are! Definitely keep us posted how things work.

If you're going for separate visas, you get to pay twice the fees, I suspect. (Though I'm not sure if a dependent's visa costs any less than the primary visa-holder's visa these days.)

Not to be nosy (ok, I lie - I AM nosy) - are the separate "titres de sejours" due to you both being employed while you're in France? Nice if you can work things that way!
Cheers,
Bev

[Californiagirl]

Hi Heydrick, were you and your family at the Houston Consulate on Wednesday morning? I think I was there at the same time.

I'm supposed to get my visa in a week, so the timing doesn't seem so bad.

[Heydrick]

Originally Posted by Californiagirl

Hi Heydrick, were you and your family at the Houston Consulate on Wednesday morning? I think I was there at the same time.

I'm supposed to get my visa in a week, so the timing doesn't seem so bad.

No, we weren't there Wednesday. We will be there bright and early next Tuesday. I spoke to a rep. in the visa section, and she indicated that the type visa I was getting I could walk out with that day..... We'll see. Maybe we'll see you there Tuesday?

Bev (aka nosey) - Yep we both work for an international company that supports dual career moves, and we both have roles in France.

Wish us luck.

[globetrotter42]

Kinda feeling a bit chuffed for knowing about the changes mentioned above before finding this forum. Am still confused though, especially since my situation virtually never falls into any of the standard categories.

My spouse is a French expat and I am a Canadian expat. We met overseas and have lived overseas for virtually the whole time we've been together. We married in Canada in 2006 between postings. Our nomadic lifestyle however meant that we didn't carry out the necessary paperwork to have our marriage recognised in France until basically now.

The first time we stayed in France for any length of time (6 months) I tried to do the right thing and get the titre de long sejour after we'd arrived. We weren't married then and it took so long to get the process even started, we were married and gone from France before the date for the med exam rolled around.

This year we were back for 4 months, between postings again, and have finally sorted out our livret de famille. It's supposed to be sent from Toronto to the prefecture now-ish. Of course, since I began the paperwork, my spouse was sent on a short mission to Reunion Island so that's where I am now.

So my questions are (apologies for being a windbag): Must I find the OFII when I go back? Are they at the airport? Shall I do my usual thing of passing thru airport immigration as a 3-month tourist?

I don't think I've ever gotten the business-or-pleasure interrogation on arrival at immigration and I don't tell them I'm married b/c I have nothing in my passport or anywhere else to prove it and often I'm not always travelling with my spouse.

I'd really like to get a carte de sejour or long sejour visa or whatever is available to me in large part just for the peace of mind when I travel. But I wonder about the limits on a long-stay visa since technically I don't stay in France most of the time. If this visa allows non-French spouses to work in France, will it allow me to take a job with a French company to work overseas (assuming I could wangle myself into something like this)?

I will definitely be going for dual nationality when the opportunity comes up. Because we live abroad, French nationality for me will require 5 years of marriage rather than the usual 4. But thankfully that means only 2 more to go.

[Bevdeforges]

Hi Globetrotter, and welcome to the forum!

Yeah, your situation is a bit more complicated than usual. But you say the Toronto consulate is sending your livret de famille to "the prefecture" - which prefecture is that? Normally, they just give you the livret de famille and notify the mairie where your wife's birth records are, so they can note on her birth certificate that she is married, to whom, when, etc. etc.

Once you have the livret de famille, you can then apply at a French consulate overseas (wherever you're living at the moment) for a long stay visa - assuming, of course, that you're planning on actually staying in France for some period of time greater than 3 months. Until and unless you're going to be resident in France, you don't have to mess with the OFII. (But actually, if you're currently in Réunion, you're technically in France anyhow.) What you do need is a residence in France - part of the visa requirement.

I've never had the immigration guy at the airport say a single word to me, other than possibly "bonjour" - and I came and went at least a couple times while I was actually illegal in France (and after I had been asked to leave the country). They really don't seem to care. And they sure as heck don't stamp your passport - or didn't usually stamp mine during that time.

You actually don't need a cds or visa or anything to work for a French company if you're going to be working outside France. It's the company that has to secure you whatever visas you need to work in the countries they are sending you to. If you're going along as a dependent on your wife's visa, chances are you don't have the right to work in most of the countries they send her to.

Like you say, it's a complicated situation. Seriously, it might be easier to just wait out the two years, take French nationality, and then you don't have to worry about visas and the OFII, at least not for France.
Cheers,
Bev

[esear]

Originally Posted by Heydrick

Count us in as test case number 2. In this case, both my wife and I are getting our own independent "Le titre de se jour" vs. one as spouse of the other, so not sure how that impacts the fees. We are busily ensuring we have all the paper just in case - pick up (hopefully?) visas at Houston consulate early next week. Received E-mail today (with translated copy of kids birth certificates, and our marriage certificates, which Houston consulate asks for) from relo specialist our company uses, and got pretty much the same rundown Bev gave above. Will also post progress as it goes. Great board by the way.
Doug

Did they ask for translated versions from English to French or French documents to English?

I am about to apply in a few weeks and I want to make sure I have everything they may possibly ask for!

Thanks in advance!