In order to go to France for the semester, I had to apply for a long-stay student visa. Since my program is just over three months long, I was required to make an appointment to meet with the French Consulate in New York City and get approved.
I'm not going to lie; this was a very nerve-wracking experience--even before I actually went to the Consulate! There is a lot of paperwork that needs to be done before you get there, and it must be done correctly, or you will be turned away and be told to come back the following week. If I have any recommendations so far, it's that you should book your appointment as early as possible, in preparation for that possibility. Just because you are planning on studying abroad and you have made an appointment with the Consulate doesn't guarantee you a completed visa. You must be organized, polite, and, probably most importantly, quick. The men and women there don't want to chat you up or take more time than necessary--they expect you to have all of your paperwork, and they expect you to present it as soon as they ask for it.
I made copies of every single paper that was required of me. I photocopied my long-stay student visa application, my OFII form, the photo page of my passport... You name it, I made a copy of it. For the most part, they will ask for a copy of your documents--except for the application, the OFII form (basically, the obvious stuff). Have a copy of everything, just in case. And, I know that this seems stupid to say, but do not forget to bring your passport. You will be turned away before you even go upstairs.
On the day of my appointment, however, the following is important to know: I arrived a few minutes early, but the guard will not let you into the building before your scheduled time. There is no waiting room for parents or friends, so if you bring anyone with you, let them know that they can't come in and that they'll have to wait somewhere nearby until you're done. The guard will let everyone in at once, so it is important to get there somewhat early, but not ridiculously so, as you will be waiting outside that entire time. I went there the week before Christmas, so it was pretty cold out there. My mom and grandma went with me and had to occupy themselves for a long time. It was extremely busy at the Consulate that day. I'm confident that, the closer you get to the holidays (or Christmas, at the very least), the busier it will be there. I was given a number after my bag and passport were checked (to see that I had indeed booked an appointment), and it was somewhere in the thirties. I know that I said that the men and women working at the booths wanted you to be quick, but it is still a long process.
I sat inside the building in the waiting area (that was nearly full) until my number was called the first time. I was called up to the first window where I handed over my application (with a passport-quality photo), my passport, and I believe one other form (I'm sorry that I can't recall which one it was), and then made a payment of about $70 for the other half of my visa fee (the first half went to CampusFrance, the online portion... which was just awful and time-consuming). You can speak either English or French with them. I found it easier to speak English, since there would be minimal confusion for me, and it didn't seem to make much of a difference (some of the people in the waiting area didn't know any French, anyway). I was then given a receipt and was told to sit down again until my name was called.
The sound system there must be old or something, because it was sometimes unclear as to who was being called--not to mention that the people at the booths had French accents. Listen carefully... I sat there for a long time, waiting for my name to be called. All of the windows have microphones, kind of like when you're at a bank or a train station buying your tickets, so it's not entirely difficult to hear what's being said to other people while you're waiting to go up. There was a particularly unpleasant woman at one of the windows (sorry to say), and she turned a lot of people away for their bank statements, for example. On the Consulate website (and in the guideline I got from my program director), you are told to bring a copy of your bank statement (NOT one printed from the Internet), showing that you have the money for your stay in France. All of it. Make sure that you have enough money in the account... I somehow didn't recall that bit of information and only realized it the night before my appointment. I got lucky and actually did have the money in my account to show them. In any case, bring as many proofs of income as you can. I didn't need them, but I even had my mom's divorce papers showing how much money she got in child support per month, just so that I could prove to them that we had money coming in. It was ridiculous how over-prepared I was for this appointment. I don't regret it at all.
... Anyway, the woman with the problem with the bank statements: She wanted you to have an official letter from your bank stating that you had X amount of money in your account. She didn't care about your transactions, etc. I was sweating over that. A letter?!
After waiting for a good hour or so (I'm serious), I was called up to a window and was greeted by a man that seemed perfectly nice (I was shaking at the thought of ending up with one of the women--whichever one it was that had a problem with the bank statements, because she seemed difficult to please). He asked for a few documents--all copies, except for the OFII form, which he wanted the original of. Among those papers was my housing (where I was supposed to be staying--thankfully I had received my assignment by that time, but I had the address of a youth hostel just in case my appointment was scheduled before I got my official housing), my acceptance letter (my certificat de pré-inscription) from the French university, a letter from my home institution, a notarized form signed by my mom (as she is my financial sponsor), and my bank statements (I brought one from two different banks, just to be thorough). He didn't ask for my insurance papers, although I had those with me. Have everything. It made me feel a lot better to have a lot of those unnecessary papers. It depends on who you talk to at the Consulate.
As far as organization goes... I labeled all of my forms and documents with Post-Its so that I could get to them quickly. Like rapid-fire, the man I spoke to asked for document after document.
"Do you have your __________?"
"Yes, I do."
I would thumb through my labeled papers and hand over the right one.
"Do you have your __________?"
"Yes, I do."
... and so on. I think that he really appreciated this. It saved time and made me look very responsible.
After he asked for a certain amount of papers, he told me that he needed to take finger prints--that was a great relief. That meant that I was approved. As soon as you hear that, you're golden! It's an electronic finger printing... thing... and it's not terribly difficult to use. Don't lift your fingers up too quickly, and don't press too lightly. After that, he'll take another photo of you, and then you're pretty much done.
It takes about a week to complete your visa, so try and keep that in mind. You will not get it the first time you go there, even if you are approved. You (or someone else) will have to come back and pick up the completed visa. You will take your passport home with you and either you or, say, your parent will have to come back with the passport and the receipt given to you when you made your payment. You must have this or you will not receive your visa. It's a sticker that they will put in your passport for you. If you don't have your passport, they can't give you the sticker.
Since there were so many people at the Consulate the day of my appointment, some people were told to come back a little over a week later. Most were told to come back on Christmas Eve. Terribly inconvenient, I know--and then the week after that, it was New Year's Eve. Bad timing on my part! I would've come back on the 24th, but the man I spoke to told me to come back to pick it up on the following Monday. I suppose that they only allow a certain amount of people to come back per day, since everyone is told to come between 9-10AM. Due to the large snow storm, though, I was not able to go back to the city until the next week. See why I said that it was best to make your appointment as early as possible? ;) Apparently you can schedule yours up to 90 days before your trip. Make sure that you have a payment receipt from CampusFrance, your passport, and copies of all of your necessary documents.
One of the women from the Consulate was asking people for photocopies of their driver's licenses... It doesn't say to bring a copy of it on their website, so I didn't have one (and luckily I wasn't asked for a copy, but had the real thing with me anyway), but it's probably a good idea to bring one anyway. Be overprepared and you shouldn't have to make extra appointments to bring back corrected paperwork. The photocopy machine at the Consulate was broken the day I went there, so no one was able to make copies (and even if it was working, you had to pay for the copies yourself).
Whew! I know that this was a very long entry, but I think that it was important to be thorough about it. I will write a separate entry about going back to pick up my completed visa. That one should be considerably shorter, but I make no promises. I tend to write a lot and describe in detail.
I hope that this was helpful for any of you that are considering studying abroad (I'm sure the process is pretty similar for going to other countries, but this one in particular was for France), or insightful for anyone that is curious about what I went through to get my visa. I was thrilled to only have to make one appointment... Quite a few people (some I knew and some that I just read testimonies of) had to come back multiple times with corrected forms.
Thanks for reading! :)
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