Another Visa Question

Your long term visa will be valid for France only.
For the rest of the Schengen area, you are still subject to the 90 day/180 day period rule.
You can visit Germany, but not legally reside there over 90 days.

"Your long term visa will be valid for France only." That's on paper. In reality it will not be enforceable because in Schengen you cross borders without being checked (in most cases).

Mylily, from the standpoint of the rules (setting aside the fact that no one is likely to look at your visa after you enter the Schengen Zone), spending 90 days in Germany and returning briefly to France does not re-set the count. The rule is 90 days within a 180-day period, so you'd have to stay out of Germany for 90 full days (91 on the calendar, I think), before returning. This may be what you meant in your original post, but I'm not sure.

Edited to add:

As Ilja points out immediately below, what I should have said is that if you spend 90 days in Germany and go anywhere else, even to a non-Schengen country, it doesn't re-set the clock. After being within the Schengen zone for 90 days (and remember that both the arrival and the departure day count), you must leave Schengen until Day 181.

Not only out of Germany but out of Schengen.

You really need to check with a European immigration expert or the embassies. With due respect to experienced travelers here, none of us are immigration/visa experts and the results have serious legal consequences for you. Do not assume you will never be checked or asked to show your passport at a border (border checks are rare but DO happen).

There have been conflicting opinions here about traveling throughout the Schengen zone with a long-stay visa. Others are of the opinion that residency of one Schengen nation allows free travel throughout the zone. But like I said, that is another opinion and the only way to know for sure is to get an official answer.

Just an update...and a thank you for your replies back in March.

At our French Visa appointment they told us that a visa from any Schengen country allows you to travel freely within the Schengen for the period your visa is valid.

I also found this statement and website after the fact....
A Schengen visa obtained by any of the Schengen Area member countries allows free movement to its holder within the whole Schengen Zone regarding the European Union Schengen members as well as the EFTA Schengen members, up to its validity and timeframe.
Read more at https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/frequently-asked-questions-schengen-visa/#6Pk02SLXBcZiAFSJ.99

Hope this helps someone in the future who is navigating the confusing world of long stay visas.

Are you sure you can apply for the visa for Germany while you are in France?

It seems odd that you would need a Visa for Germany if you already have been allowed entry into France. If my experience in Italy serves as an example, you have a Visa to enter the country, then you have to obtain some sort of long stay permit for residency. (It is called a Permesso di soggiorno in Italy.) It is that residency permit that allows one to reside in the country and to travel.

We were required to show our permessi whenever we left the Schengen and came back in. For example, going to London the immigration officer would always ask us where we were going after London. We'd say "Back to Rome" and the officer would then enquire about our status and ask to see our permessi.

Oh sorry ... I did not explain that we just ended up needing to get the one year French visa. Since we found out that it allows us to travel freely we did not need to get a German visa too. Just one visa for the country you plan to spend the majority of your time in. At the time of the original post I was not sure what the rules were since we knew we would be spending a lot of time in Germany too.
Just thought I would follow up in the case anyone else ever searched that specific topic again like I did because it seems to be a misunderstood nuance.
Happy Travels 🌈