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Conditions to obtain the visa
To fill a file of request for visa, it is necessary to meet several
conditions and to present certain number of documents. They are
more or less the same in all the consulates and embassies : a valid
passport as well as documentary evidence the object of the stay
(registration or pre-registration) and conditions of staying in
France (resources, place of residence in France…).
Documents justifying the object of the stay (studies) : The
student must produce a certificate of registration or pre-registration
delivered by a French university or a school in conformity with
the legislative and statutory provisions in France.
If the program followed does not belong to a traditional cycle,
the certificate will have to clarify the number of accreditation
of the establishment, the nature of the program followed, the duration
of the registration, the schedule and the number of weekly classes
and prove the payment of at least a quarter of school fees.
Documents justifying the resources :
Grant holders
They must produce a grant certificate (on headed notepaper of the
organization granting it) indicating the amount and the duration
of the grant. If you are a grant holder of the French government
or your government, this certificate will be enough to justify that
you have sufficient resources whatever the amount of your grant.
Students who do not have grants
The amount required is of 425 euros a month, for the 10 months of
the academic year, from September till June, that is 4250 euros
a year.
It has been defined by a circular of the Ministry of Social Affairs
(N 85-196 of August 1st, 1985) concerning the conditions of the
stay of the foreign students : it corresponds to 70 % of the monthly
basic allowance paid to the grant holders of the French government
for an academic year.
The student will have generally several possibilities to prove that
his resources are sufficient (pledges supplied by persons living
in France, guarantees from the country of origin, the bank guarantees).
The student is welcome by someone living in France
The documents required are :
a certificate of responsibility for a period of the academic year
signed by the guarantor. You can ask for a model for this type of
certificate to the consular authorities. Your guarantor can also
get it directly with the service of reception of the foreign students
of a prefecture. You can also download it on the Web site of certain
prefectures (for example on the site of the prefecture of the Seine
Saint-Denis : )
;
the photocopy of the valid ID card of the guarantor (ID card or
passport if he/she is French, residence permit if he/she is foreign)
;
documentary evidence proving the solvency of the guarantor : the
pay slips (or the annual balance sheet of its professional activity
if he is a freelance worker) and his last tax notice. The guarantor
must have sufficient resources to be able to take care of you. The
salary must be between three and four times the amount which he
is ready to put at your disposal (+ about 400 euros a person for
the other persons living with you : children…).
The resources of the student come from abroad, usually,
a relative
In any case, the documents required are :
the certificate of the person in your country who will give you
the amount of money required for a period of the academic year.
This certificate must be drafted in French (or translated) with
the signature of the person. You can ask for a model of this form
(commitment of payment of fund) to the consular authorities ;
a justification of opened account in a credit institution by which
will receive the sums sent to you (international mandates, credit
transfers…).
Certain consulates accept as documentary evidence of resources a
sum (generally between 4 000 and 5 000 euros) deposited on a current
account in France to the name of the student to cover the expenses
of the first year of studies.
Documents to justify a residence in France : Then again, various
possibility :
if you are going to live in a hall of residence, you must produce
a certificate from the Director on head note paper ;
if you have your own flat, you will have to produce a leasing agreement
or an act of property ;
you are accommodated at a private individual's, the details to be
supplied are the following ones :
- a certificate of residence established by the lodging-house keeper.
You can ask for a model of this form to the consular authorities.
You can also download it on the Web site of certain prefectures
(for example, the site of the prefecture of the Seine Saint-Denis
: www.seine-saint-denis.pref.gouv.fr/P1F-dem.htm).
Your lodging-house keeper can also get it directly in the prefecture
with the service of reception of the foreign students ;
- the photocopy of the valid ID card of the lodging-house keeper
(ID card or passport if he/she is French, residence permit if he/she
is a foreigner) ;
- the documentary evidence of place of residence to the name of
the lodging-house keeper (deed of property or leasing agreement
and last receipt of gas, electricity…).
We have just listed the details which are most collectively asked
to obtain a visa of long stay with " student " mention. Any incomplete
file will be systematically turned down. But, even in the case of
files with no irregularity, the consular authorities are never obliged
to deliver the visa automatically. Since 1998, they have been obliged
nevertheless to motivate their refusal. This discretionary power
of consulates, linked with the French relations with other countries,
also plays for the list of the required documentary evidence. In
particular, the interpretation of the notion of sufficient resources,
and so the required amount, are variable from a consulate to another.
According to the country, the students sometimes must produce supplementary
details : medical certificate established by a doctor approved by
the consulate, the vaccination certificate, the documentary evidence
of a social security cover, a repatriation guarantee (sum of money
deposited on an account, plane ticket go/ return one year of validity)…
Let's add that entrance visas generally are not free except for
countries having signed specific agreements with France.
The good visa
Martin Graterol, 27, from Venezuela, Medical
student at Diderot University (Paris VII).
" I always dreamed to study in Europe. The United States,
"natural" destination of the majority of the Latin
American students, was never part of my projects. My father,
a sociologist and humanist, did all he could to make sensitive
me to the French culture. And so in January, 2001 I asked for
a visa to the Consulate of France in Caracas to come from classes
of French in Paris. I was delivered a six month visa which exempted
my from any residence permit.
At the end of these few months of language learning, I got in
touch with a university to join Medicine to complete my initial
training. I began then the procedure to obtain my residence
permit. The refusal was categorical : the French administration
obliged me to return to Venezuela to obtain a new student visa,
but this time of long stay. Without this visa, it was impossible
for me to stay in France.
What a disappointment! I had to return to Venezuela and consequently
to buy a plane ticket going there and back. I was really angry
because the Consulate of France in Caracas when delivering)
me the first visa of six months had not informed me that it
would be impossible for me then to obtain a residence permit
with this type of visa. In spite of this adversity my desire
to follow my studies in France kept lively. So I returned to
Venezuela. In the plane, I thought with bitterness of the quantity
of books of medicine which I could have bought with the money
of this second ticket…
The morality of the history : if you leave to study in France,
do not leave your country without obtaining a visa of long stay
with "student" mention ! And explain your project
of studies to the Consulate. "
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