Joey and I completed our interviews at the French Consulate for our visas today. With my previous experience with the US immigration system and Joey bringing experience from all the tedious visas he acquired during his time in Thailand, we made sure to cross all our "t's" and dot all our "i's". But like any bureaucratic experience, even the best laid plans can go terribly wrong.

The first step for a student visa is to complete your Etudes en France application process. You can read more about my experience with that here. You must then book your appointment with the French Consulate whose jurisdiction you fall under. Check their website to see which office you must go to.

WHAT TO SUBMIT

For my student visa interview I submitted the following:

• Long-Stay Visa application  Very straight forward form. Be sure to have all relevant French addressees on hand to fill in (Your school, your french apartment, etc) 
• Receipt from Etudes en France Proof of payment which you should have received via email after paying the processing fee. Also submitted proof of my application review being complete, as per their instructions. They will be checking your Etudes en France identification number on the spot in your interview.
• Letter of enrollment from my school I submitted the pdf of my "Attestation D'Inscription" I received from my school
• Passport size photos Classic white backdrop, square official photos. I'm told you should submit photos without you smiling. I submitted smiling ones... (to be fair: I don't look like me when I am not smiling)
• Original Passport A couple notes on this: Before you set a date for your appointment at the consulate, check your passport. Is it under 10 years old? Will it be valid at least 3 months after your expected return? Do you have more than 2 blank visa pages left? If not, RENEW YOUR PASSPORT! We had to do this for Joey. We selected the expedited visa process to make sure the timing worked out, and it all came together.  
• Photocopy of Passport 
• Bank statements It is not enough just to have a letter from your friendly neighborhood banker (which we did have), but you need to provide statements. This is one area I always believe more documentation never hurt. I submitted three months worth of statements for two accounts.
• Lease for Paris apartment I submitted my lease from Paris Attitude and the email chain with my landlord. 
• Proof of residency in consulate's jurisdiction This documentation can be a lease/rental agreement, along with utility bills. As a homeowner, I submitted my home's deed and an electrical bill. I am lucky enough to live in a city with a consulate. You will have to plan accordingly if you have to travel for your appointment. 
• Airplane ticket for Paris
• Residence form Required if you will be staying for longer than 6 months. You will have to complete this process once you arrive - I will write more about this once I complete this step in full.
• Self-addressed and stamped envelope US MAIL ONLY! No Fedex, UPS, etc. I am lucky to live near a French Consulate (in fact, I share an office building with them), so my local post office was very familiar with this. I prepaid for an Express Priority Envelope, which they helped me stamp and do the paperwork for.
• Proof of health insurance This has been the most complicated component, and I posted a whole separate blog about this issue. Be sure you bring your insurance certificate and make sure it clearly states you have coverage in France (mine said "Worldwide Coverage") and that you have proof that it covers at least 30,000 euro in expenses. I informed them that the policy renewed automatically after a year.
• Fee GIVE THEM MORE MONEY!

Joey's long stay visa requirements were similar, but required even more extensive proof of funds and additional letters stating he would not be working in France. This letter we had a hard time finding a template for. While it seems so straight-forward, when you are anxious about making sure you get everything right it is very helpful to have a template. As a result, we submitted the following letter:

To Whom It May Concern-

I, [NAME], hereby declare that I will not seek nor take up employment within France during my stay beginning [DATE OF TRIP].

GATHERING MATERIALS & DOCUMENTS

With so many documents I am a big fan of organizing things both digitally and in hard-copy form. I printed out my checklist or required documents and had it sitting next to me as I downloaded/etc. digital documents and completed them as necessary to provide all the necessary supporting evidence. I then put them all into ONE digital folder (with a non-clever title as you can see from my photo). Once they were all gathered, I was able to easily print them from one place. As there can be so many documents, I am a big fan of putting them in a designated box like this one from the Container Store (Anyone else here obsessed with the Container Store? I sometimes just like to wander around the store daydreaming about how organized my life could be) I do this because folders can have papers flying about, and you have to be careful with the presentation of these documents.

It should also be noted, if not blatantly obvious, that it takes about two to four weeks to secure all requirements (healthcare, apartment, plane tickets, etc). You should also give yourself a minimum of 72 hours to compile and organize all your documentation - giving yourself time in case you discover you have missing or weak parts to your case. THIS STUFF TAKES TIME! DO NOT PROCRASTINATE! It took me a couple hours to print and copy everything, and I was thankful to have done this with at least 48 hours to get the necessary missing components - like notarized documents for Joey's long stay visa. If you do your due diligence prior to your appointment, the fewer problems will pop up once they have your paperwork.

THE APPOINTMENT

I made my appointment for 9:00am on October 18th. Something I have learned from prior immigration appointments is that I prefer getting one of the first time-slots. Things are not backed up or delayed and everyone is in a good mood. I arrived early, but the French Consulate doors do not open till right at 9:00am. Ironically my day-job is in the same building so I went to my office and answered some emails for 20 minutes. I then hopped in the elevator and took it 4 stories up to the French Consulate.

You will have to go through security, so do not bring more than you need to. You essentially only need the following: Your packet of materials and your wallet (with credit card for the fee). I accidentally had a coffee in my hand and quickly found out NO food or beverage allowed. Its always tragic having to throw away a coffee you just bought. LEARN FROM MY MISTAKE!

As I was the first appointment, I was able to meet with a clerk right away and not wait. The process took 15 minutes in total. She checked my Etudes en France application, went through my paperwork, took my passport, got my fingerprints scanned and I paid my processing fee. She told me it should take about one to two weeks to process. So quick and easy! I will say that my appointment went smoothly in part because I had taken great care with the prep work. All the information needed was clear and easy to find. I really cannot emphasize enough how this has been the key to any immigration experience I have had.

Joey's process was fairly straightforward. They had remembered me from my morning appointment (his was at 2:30pm), and were able to quickly go through his packet since they had already reviewed my documents. (It's also a great reminder that being happy, pleasant and organized makes a BIG impact and can help your case - By leaving a good impression with them, we agree that I most certainly helped Joey). The clerks also assisted Joey in making sure he received the right long-stay visa. He went with one that would not require the residence form, but would require him to return after a year. Upon his return he could then apply for another long-stay visa. 

I will be sure to update this post when we receive our visas or if we receive any feedback from the French Consulate. 

UPDATE - 10/25/2017

Our visas arrived last night! It took only a week, and we received our passports with their shiny new visas inside. I may have cried I was so happy. We worked REALLY hard on our application, and the result was a really smooth process. I am really thankful to have the legal standing to both go and start this chapter in our lives!

PS - Please note that I got away with my smiling photograph. Joey is convinced he looks like a serial killer in his. Thoughts?