French long stay-one year- Visa

I am sure you will get lots of advice here, but from what I know visas are not that easy to get. And as far as details, that is exactly what they will be looking for. This is June and you are just now applying for it?
You have a round trip ticket? Or one way?

What is the reason you are requesting this visa? It usually needs to be more than I just want to travel around your country.

You have to be entirely honest with the people at the French Consulate. Their decision is what you have to accept. Its too late, but maybe you should have done the visas before buying the tickets. This may be a case of "life's not always fair, and then it gets difficult".

You still have two weeks. I would be as precise as possible with where you are going to stay and when.

Maybe this forum user will have some notes for you, since she recently completed the visa through the Italian Consulate: https://community.ricksteves.com/users/115354. She certainly doesn't have all her lodging planned for the whole year.

Susan,
One thing they will ask. If you are applying for a visa which does not give you the right to work (I assume you are, as a work permit is A LOT harder to get), they will ask for proof that you have enough funds to sustain you for the duration of your stay (1 year). That is a heap of money. If you have a calculated budget to show them, even better.
Plus medical insurance for 1 year.

If you get this visa, it will allow unlimited visits to other Schengen countries, during its validity, as a tourist

Yes, and I agree that buying the ticket before getting the visa was a big financial risk.

To Chris' point, the sentence which states that you "…cannot afford to be denied" is a big red flag if it's not a work visa you are applying for. It implies that your savings are small enough that you can't afford even to eat the price of the airline tickets let alone support yourselves without working for a year. If this is the case, tickets shouldn't have been ordered until the visas were in your hands.

Yes, they will want proof that you do not intend to work, do not need to, and will not end up being any sort of burden to their social system so gather copies of your financial statements, insurance policies, documentation of regular income you may be receiving - such as trust distributions or severance payments from a job - etc.

Sorry you're freaking out; hope all goes well!

• I bought the ticket to leave 7/28 and a return 11/17 to attend a family event and have not bought the ticket to return one week later. We started the process in early May and the 1st appt I could get was June 26. We have no intention of trying to work in France. We are renting out our home and have social security ( we are late 60s) which will give us $3,800.a month plus savings. The kink seems to be the accommodations . All other aspects of the requirements I can deal with.*

Ah, that's better! Always helps to have the Big Picture! For all I knew, you may have been an 18 year-old backpacker who didn't do her homework. There are a few of those out there.

Very best of luck, Susan, and let us know how it turns out!

I thought the same thing... good luck with it and hope it all works out. It sounds like quite a year you have planned!

Susan, you might want to be prepared to explain how many days you will be spending outside the Schengen zone with your first tickets in case the visa isn't approved in time. Looks like you would only have until about October 26.

I suggest being honest and admitting that you should not have bought your tickets without the visa in hand. Apologize. Say that since you screwed up you are perfectly willing to pay the change fee to come back home earlier and keep within the 90 day Schengen visa. Give them no reason at all to think that you would overstay. Tell them you'll just adjust your trip to a shorter one, and enjoy it. That attitude will go much further than freaking out and saying you can't afford to change your tickets. And giving a Gallic shrug at your own misfortune couldn't hurt.

You might try and find out if there is a legitimate visa consulting service where you live that can walk you through each step and required document and answer your questions and then make sure you have everything before you appointment. It would be money very well spent. Just be sure to check references as there are probably many online scam sources.

Per your specific question about accommodations, my understanding of a long-term resident visa is that they want to know where you will be living. The answer of "many hotels as I travel around France and Europe" is probably not a good answer. Of course you can travel around once you have the visa, but they want to know what your home base is. I hope you are able to work that issue out.

A very serious word of caution: If it so happens that you do not get your visa in time, I strongly advise you to change your tickets and travel plans. I know that's not what you want to hear right now, but plan for the worst and hope for the best. Your current ticket exceeds the 90 day limit (unless you are spending a good bit of that time outside of the Schengen zone). There is a chance you will be caught when leaving in November. There is an even better chance you will be caught trying to return after that.

I do wish you the best of luck.

I don't know how much info you already have, but this link goes over some of the process and timeframes,http://www.consulfrance-losangeles.org/spip.php?article799 (Consulate General of France - Los Angeles)

The good news is you need to apply no earlier than 3 months of your departure, so you are in the window and it indicates that for the U.S. applicants 14 days is good. It also indicates that June - August is their busy months and a 3 week window before your departure is recommended, again you are in the window. I guess the most important thing is to have all your documents in order. The link shows 14 steps in the process.
Good Luck.

For a long-stay visa the French authorities want an address for where you will be staying while there because you must register with the local police within a certain amount of time once you arrive. These visas aren't really designed for tourists who will be traveling around and they assume you are staying put for a specific purpose such as caring for a sick or elderly relative, helping out your family, or some other reason that keeps you in one place.
Whatever you plan to do, don't overstay the 90 day limit in the Schengen Zone if you aren't granted the visa. Combine your trip in the Zone with stays in parts of Europe that are not part of it. England has a 6 month limit for tourists that can be very useful for accomplishing this and there are other countries that can also be part of your itinerary.
If you overstay the 90 day limit there are hefty fines upon your departure and you can be banned from traveling there for a long period of time.
Please let us know how this turns out once you have had your appointment at the consulate! Your experience would be a great help to this forum.
I wish you luck!

VISAs arrived yesterday in time for our July 29th departure. The embassy in Los Angeles was great, as long as the package we presented was totally complete-to the letter with multiple copies. Visas arrived 12 days after our appointment..............off to Europe for a year, couldn't be happier !!!

Congratulations, Susan! Will you be doing a blog of your year? I'm sure some of us would love to follow your adventures!

Felicitations!

Susan, What did you end up doing about the housing for your visa application?

Fabulous, Susan!

So...what time should we drop by?

As Anita stated above -- French immigration will contact you (at the address you indicated in your visa application) a few weeks after your arrival in France, and you will have to visit the office and bring some documentation, including address of where you are residing. They need a way to contact you. I had a visa in 2012, rented an apartment for most of the year, and the owner was very cooperative and gave me a letter stating that his apt. was my address.

Perhaps the consulate gave you information about how to deal with this if you plan to travel throughout the country?

But you got your visas -- great! I hope you have as good a year in France as I had!

Congratulations Susan! We'll hope to hear of your adventures!

I think a blog is a good idea. I need to get organized, we have been running around like chickens sans heads. We had to rent a place for a 3 month stay to deal with the visa stuff. Not exactly what I wanted, and somewhat inconvenient...but cheap-$650 a month ! One hour above Nice in the pre-Alps. But this way we can take off and go elsewhere and not feel bound to an expensive spot. Very excited, leaving July 29th.
Thank you everyone for all the great advise.
Susan
if it's wonderful, we might stay another year, of course dealing with the visa issues. I'd love to get an Italian visa next time, altho we can go there with the French vias................

anyone planning to be around there when we are, message me and we can meet for coffee/wine ?

^^^ FYI - Read the last few posts. Susan got her visa and explained what it took to get her approval.

Congrats Susan and enjoy your trip!

Thank you, don't think I need an attorney. There is nothing out of the ordinary.

Susan, how did the appt. go? Was the process easy? Most importantly are you in France and enjoying your time?