How long can a long-stay visa for France last?
Understanding the criteria and their durations for non-residents
Visas issued for more than three months are described as 'long stay'
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Reader question: I own a small property in France and am no longer able to stay there more than three months at a time. I have heard there is an option for visas between three months and one year 鈥� how do you get a year? Is the amount of time given just at random?
No, it is not just given at random, but will rather depend on your intentions as stated in your application for the visa.
Any visa issued for more three months is described as being for a 鈥榣ong stay鈥�, but that amount of time it is issued for will depend notably on what you insert in the application with regard to how many months you are asking for.
People applying to move on a settled basis should choose 'more than one year': assuming they are judged to meet all other relevant criteria for this, they will typically be issued with a long-stay visa 'equivalent to a residency card' (visa de long sejour valant titre de s茅jour). These are issued for a year, and can be renewed before expiry by applying at the local prefecture for a residency card.
Otherwise, if you plan to keep your main residency abroad, you should choose 鈥榖etween three and six months鈥� so as to obtain a visa de long s茅jour 'temporaire' (VLST, temporary long-stay visa), with a set finish date.
Under certain circumstances a VLS-T may be issued for a period between six months and a year, but this is not typical.
A visa de long s茅jour temporaire does not need to either be 鈥榲alidated鈥� in France or replaced by a residency card and they cannot be renewed.
Read more: Fight continues to ease visa process for long visits to France
Typical visa length
While, technically, it is possible for a temporary visa to be issued for up to one year, this is rarely the case and they are usually issued for four to six months, depending on your needs.
As a general rule, if someone comes to France for more than six months in any given year, there is an assumption that they are 鈥榤oving to France鈥� and they are also likely to become French tax residents (exact rules on tax residency include several other tests, if this is in doubt). Where this is the intention, the person would be issued an ordinary long-stay visa instead.
Read more: Brexit cards: what are the rules around passport renewal and residency cards in France?
One possible situation where a temporary visa may be issued for 12 months would be, for example, coming to France for work linked to an artistic profession, where the project is lasting no more than 12 months.
Note that there is nothing stopping you combining time in France on the 90/180 days rule in the same year as time on a temporary visa, so generally speaking a second-home owner would have no need of a visa lasting more than six months.
