French Visa

Well, it's a little over one month before I return to the States and I have finally finished my visa process! The student visa process for visa's in France are ridiculous! I think they are making their revenge for the difficult process the U.S. has for them to come there!

Step One: Get your passport of course!

Step Two: Fill out the online paperwork with the consulate general of France online. Send them a money order of $60 for the use of their website- it's pretty basic information that they ask for, but they set it up in a very complicated manor. Wait for them to send you a confirmation.

Step Three: Set up an appointment with the consulate general of France in Chicago (That's the closest for us Michiganders) For the appointment you need:
-money
-two different sets of paperwork
-passport
-bank statements proving you have the money to live there
-birth certificate
-driver's license
-letter showing acceptance into the program
-proof of insurance while abroad
-prepaid, pre-addressed envelope to your address for them to return your passport to you with it's Visa. You can only use the U.S. post office for this, they won't accept others!

Step Four: Make a voyage to Chicago for the appointment! Bring copies of everything and don't forget anything! The appointment takes about ten minutes if that. You get your picture taken, your fingerprints fingerprinted and you give them all of your paperwork. Then you take the day to enjoy Chicago :]

Step Five: You wait, in anticipation. Will you be rejected?

Step Six: Receive passport with visa inside in the mail along with another piece of paper that you must not lose!! You are overjoyed because you think the process is over.

Step Seven: You come to France and receive the first stamp in your passport and your last for a while because you learn that once in Europe they don't stamp in between countries, but they see your the first part of your visa and they let you in.

Step Eight: You find out that you must do more things now that you are in France. You have to fill out more paperwork with your current address and send them back the piece of paper that you received in step six along with copies of your passport.

Step Nine: Wait again. You will receive two separate envelopes. The first really has no importance, the second has another list of things to do along with the date of your scheduled medical examination that you must go to!

Step Ten: Buy 55 Euro stamp to bring to the doctor's appointment. Get some more passport photos taken, also for the doctor's appointment. Have your host parents fill out your attestation saying that you are in fact living with them and photocopy their identity card.

Step Eleven: Go to the doctors with the stamp, photo, passport, letters from the mail, attestation and the identity card photocopies. This appointment includes a chest x-ray to check for tuberculosis which for us females involves getting naked on top. The lady takes your x-ray and leaves you sitting there half naked for a few minutes. Then you are sent to the doctor (with your shirt on once more) where you take an eye exam, get weighed (in Kilos), find out your height (in Meters), get your blood pressure taken and all the usual things like what operations have you had, what diseases run in your family, etc. I will say that the doctors were really nice and the language barrier wasn't too bad since medical terms are pretty similar in between languages. Then FINALLY after all that, the secretary inserts the second part of the visa and you are legally living in France!

And there was much rejoicing. :D