[julialynn]

Hey everyone,

So I am applying for a long stay visitor visa in DC in a couple weeks, because I'm getting married to my fiancé in Toulouse this July, and want to stay there with him (he originally got a job and was going to move here, but the French air force refuses to let him out despite having a job offer elsewhere, go figure). I of course would have preferred applying for it here in Atlanta, but apparently they are booked for the next three months straight.

Anyway, my question is about the financial guarantee stuff for the visitor visa. Has anyone else done this? Do you really have to give them your bank statements for the past 3 months, or is there some other alternative that is acceptable? My fiancé's already gotten for me an "attestation de bonne tenue de compte" from his bank, as well as an "attestation d'accueil," stating that he is basically having me stay with him and will be financially responsible for me. Could I also do something from my bank similar to an "attestation de bonne tenue de compte" or is my visa going to be rejected if I don't provide that for them? I just find it an incredible invasion of privacy, having to show them every single thing I have bought in the past 3 months.

Thanks in advance for any information you could provide me with, I really appreciate it.

 

[Bevdeforges]

What they want the bank statements for is to see that you have some amount of money coming in each month (salary payments are pretty much always direct deposited here in France), and to get some idea of your "usual" monthly outflow of funds. Of course, if you're saying that you're self-sufficient, they want to see that you have a tidy lump sum in your bank account (and that it wasn't just deposited there in the nick of time to appear on a single bank statement).

What your fiancé should probably do is to include his last three months of payslips with that attestation from the bank. They really do need to see what his level of income is to be able to decide on the visa, assuming he is saying he'll be financially responsible for you.

If you're dead set against giving them bank statements for some reason, you can probably get away with showing them three months' worth of back pay stubs, but it will depend upon what you're using to claim that you can support yourself in France for a year. Don't forget you have to have paid up health insurance, too. If you're claiming that you have "adequate funds" in savings for your first year in France, then you're going to have to demonstrate with bank statements.
Cheers,
Bev

 

[Rudi2004]

the montly sum required is equal to the "minimum wage"; you can google search for that exact sum, but from memory it is around Euro$1,400.00 per month