Visa Preparation!

So for the first true post I am going to just share our experiences getting ready for the visit to the French Consulate in Houston to obtain our Visas. So we are in a few unique situations because we are each going for a different kind of visa which means some of the documents we both have to get and each of us have our own documents we have to get. So to start off Jess is getting a student visa since we are going over to Amiens, France so Jess can finish her french degree. We scheduled our Visa appointments around a month ago to make sure we could have plenty of time to gather the information the consulate wanted and to make sure we had plenty of time, but of course some of the paperwork took longer than we expected so we are thinking we might have to make two trips to Houston.

              The first visa I will focus on is the student visa. This visa, which Jess needs,  has fewer document requirements than the long stay visitor visa that I have to get. It should have been easier for us to gather her documents, but the school was not as helpful as we had hoped. In addition, the process with CampusFrance is taking way longer than expected so it has pushed her off of the original time table. However we have done everything we can and are waiting on two documents that are out of our control so we are just waiting to see if we need to reschedule her visa appointment. 

            For my visa I had to obtain several other documents such as non criminal certificates, verifications of bank funds, deed to an apartment in France, letter promising not to work, and proof of health insurance while traveling overseas. These documents took a long time to get but I was fortunate enough to be able to deal with private sectors in France unlike Jess so it all came together a little quicker. The only initial stumbling block was the deed to an apartment, but we found a great short stay company to work with and got an apartment. Everything else after that was simply time and a little bit of money. 

            My Visa appointment is at the end of this week and then it should only take about 10 business days to find out if I am approved or not. We are leaving for Houston and staying in Galveston for two nights after the appointments to relax and celebrate having the visas completed, or almost. The silver lining in having to potentially go down to Houston twice is if I don't get approved the first time I have a second chance. Also, I look forward to being able to help anyone who needs to get a long stay visitors visa in France. Safe Traveling!