Long-term visa questions

Nothing has changed since we answered this question last week. Here is my answer again : In France, you can apply for a one-year resident visa that allows you 90 days outside France. You are expected to be a French resident. See the French consulate website for requirements and information on how to apply..

Here's the very recent post:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/extended-stay-in-europe

Thank you, that thread did not come up when I performed my recent search.

There is no extended Schengen visa for tourism.

Medicare does not cover Overseas, or it didn't when I lived there (my wife had a work/residence permit) so we needed local insurance.

Every country will be different, I presume. I would hire a French immigration attorney to assist you in increasing your chances. My attorney in Hungary knew what the government was looking for, so we addressed the application accordingly. One requirement was insurance. Then, a few added things like signing up for language lessons. In my case, the process was open enough where I could sell myself.

Moving around may not be a plus; don't know. Here it would have been a disqualifier as everyone is required to have a permanent address. After 180 days you will be a tax resident. I don't know the French tax treaty with the US but a good chance you will have to hire a French tax accountant to file a return, even if it says you owe nothing. Some chance you will have to pay in France, but not the US and will have to pay extra in the US to make that case. If you have an investment broker in the US might be best not to mention you have residency outside the US.

It's a can of worms that good professional guidance can help you navigate. I am in year 3 here. Nice experience.

When we got an extended stay visa for Italy many years ago we had to drive from Nashville to Indianapolis to meet with the consulate -- we were nearly killed in a weird freak accident -- the huge item that fell off a truck in the rain on the interstate managed to bounce over our car only taking out the headlights and windshield wipers and side mirrors and not crushing us. Scariest thing that has happened to us. We had to go to the consulate and then we had to meet several times with the officials in Italy before getting the soggiorno to stay.

There are people who assist in the process.

Some that Mr E just wrote about France is incorrect. You are asking for a one-year tourist visa but plan to be overseas only four months, so taxes aren’t an issue.
And the US/France tax treaty is different from others. The US has over a hundred different tax treaties with different countries. It’s not the same as Hungary.

Here’s the deal: you have to have a French address, and can leave for only 90 days.
Your plans are around 120. You need to make an appointment at the consulate that serves your state for the exact detail. .

For visa and carte de séjour questions, join the private Facebook group Applying for a French CdS ( Carte de Séjour) and/or Visa. See if you can find a solution; they will give you every detail you need. I don’t belong to this group because I’m a citizen, so I don’t need a visa, but this group is the expert for France, the steps to take before, what to do after arrival etc, They will tell you that you don’t need a lawyer and a tourist visa is pretty easy.

You are traveling, not moving, so don’t worry about your investments. Living overseas we aren’t allowed to invest but that’s a different can of worms and doesn’t concern a traveler.

Finally, I know of some expats who have TRICARE that they have kept for a long time. As stated above, Medicare doesn’t cover anyone overseas.

Elizabeth, I think you read a lot that I didn't say. It was pretty much these are things to find out about, cause, as I began, every country is different. And maybe info just to know if they were going to be there more than 180 days (or maybe France is 6 months) then taxes are another thing to check on (Hungary has no tax treaty) as are US investments.

See, the last thing I would do or expect anyone to pay attention to is legal advice on a forum like this. If this is something the OP really wants to do, then it's worth knowing as many questions to as as possible (the only time the forum may have some value on this sort of thing) and its worth the investment of paid expert advice.

Elizabeth in your first post you called it a residency visa, the second you called it a tourist visa. The OP really needs to know the implications of what ever kind of visa it really is. One last question I would ask an expert is if someone might claim you got a residency visa under false pretenses and that comes back to haunt you. I seriously doubt it, but worth discussing with someone who does these for a living.

Here is my answer again : In France, you can apply for a one-year
resident visa that allows you 90 days outside France.

And OP, I would get expert advice on that. Didn't sound right, and a quick search tends to make me believe that it's not correct. But I am probably wrong.

I would say yes, you will have to appear before the consulate that serves your geographic region. And that will have to happen before you move to France.

Don't overemphasize the complexity of your plans. Your goal is to obtain permission to stay in France for X days, well over the Schengen limit. So, you'll have to go through the process any person who holds a Carte de Séjour does before you move to France. It doesn't matter if, once you're in France, you chooose to travel to Spain or Italy. You need to pick a residence, apply for it, and get your documents in order before entering Schengen zone. Once here, the limits more or less disappear. .

Both exist based on comments I’ve seen in the private online groups. I haven’t had a visa for decades, so there’s no way I can give details anymore. The FB group experts can give the current answers he’s looking for.

You're wanting to stay in the Schengen zone for approximately 4 months, obviously longer than the allowed 90 days.

There is no such thing as a "Schengen visa". Applying for a French visa means you will live in France and maintain a French address, not simply enter France and roam the Schengen zone for the next 4 months. It is an interesting plan but not one that, to my knowledge, has a realistic solution.

Once you have exhausted all applications, you'll likely conclude to just keep your itinerary under 90 days.

Tocard, I am more interested in the highly qualified experts that stay on top of the laws I suspect almost daily and work for free on facebook.

I'm more familiar with Italian visas - which are more restrictive - but it does appear that France offers a visa that allows more than 90 days but less than full residency: VLS-T Visiteur: a temporary long-stay visa of 4-6 months issued to tourists, digital nomads, retirees, or other long-term visitors who won’t carry out professional activities.

You won't be able to work, you will have to prove income/wealth and proof of health insurance but this does appear to exist whatever the barriers. Assuming you also have access to the 90 day Schengen tourist visa you should be able to spend that time outside of France, but whether it will come off your French visa or add to it are obviously all important details.

Given the fact the bureaucracy is French word I have a feeling there is a lot more work here than it seems but it appears the thing you want does exist in France if not in Italy. You mentioned Spain you might check there as well.

Good luck,
=Tod

I have no personal expertise.

Here is a link to an expat forum where one person describes their success with obtaining a long stay visa. (There are many posts on the subject.)

https://www.expatforum.com/threads/visa-sucess.1549169/

Good luck! Happy travels and please let us know how things turn out for you.

Thanks Tod for looking it up. Yes for bureaucracy but Bob who has done this would know the details. There’s something about going to the Prefecture upon arrival with the visa but people complain about not being able to get appointments right away. Paris is the hardest.
You have to have an address to give when you go for the appointment. Some people use Airbnb addresses but they are staying longer than 2 or 3 weeks.
Again, the people in that monitored group have the info.

If you are going to use an AirBnb address in Paris, or anywhere for that matter, I would look into the local Airbnb laws relative to the amount of time you intend to use it as your address.

Just an idea …
Why not go to the UK at the end of your 90 days and then go back?

Because that’s not how the 90-day visa free period works.