Preparing for the France Visa Interview

For over 6 weeks, Jared and I have been gathering documents in preparation for ours and the kids' interviews with the French Consulate, which is scheduled for this Friday.  In order to be in France for over 90 days, we must apply for long-stay visas.  We chose to set up appointments with the French Consulate in Houston, Texas because it's the closest (3 hours drive) and gives us an excuse to see some of my college friends who live there.

The Consulate's list of 12 required documents is dizzying and perplexing.  Such cart-before-the-horse items like signed lease/deed to a home in France, purchased European Union (EU) health insurance, and purchased EU liability insurance are required.  We must prove that we are not going to be earning a salary while in France, because that requires a different type of visa, by providing bank statements, tax filings, and investment statements.  In addition, we must provide criminal background checks, which you can get without an appointment at certain Texas Department of Public Safety offices for $24.95, but that required us to stand in line for about an hour and get fingerprinted.  Then 2 days later, you can swing by to pickup your background checks.  (There are other agencies for background checks, but their lead times are longer.)  Also, we have to show that the kids were accepted into a school in France.

We believe we are good standing citizens, but there is always a chance we might not be approved.  One of the reasons for denial could be that we do not have enough photocopies of the documents.  I am not kidding.  Knowing this, Jared and I killed hundreds of trees to ensure we won't be denied for lack of copies.

The other unnerving thing about this visa process is French Consulates in different cities have different websites with ... here's the kicker ... DIFFERENT REQUIREMENTS!  I forgot to mention that requirements are pretty vague and there are no FAQs to help you understand what's exactly needed.

This afternoon, Jared and I are making one final pass through our files with the hopes we have what we need to be approved.  The biggest stressor was finding a place to live, and secondly is this visa.

On Friday morning, light some sage and send us "positive, the Slosbergs are good-standing-citizens and you'd want them to live in France" vibes!