When I received my visa back from VFS, there was a note attached in my passport that stated that it was a ‘Long Stay Temporary Visa’ and that I was exempt from registering with OFII and applying for a residence card.
There is nothing with that exact language on the France-Visas website that I could find and I feel like I should probably go ahead and register with OFII anyway before the three month deadline is up. Two questions:
Is there any reason I shouldn’t register with OFII?
If I do go ahead and register, would I be eligible to apply to renew my visa within France, or would I still have to leave before the end date on my visa?
I have a year, but I’d feel better if I had a plan sooner rather than later.
What TYPE of long stay visa do you have? There are many… I have the VLS-LS visiteur. My note says nothing about OFII, just to make sure I register within 9p days of arrival to validate my visa. (44 days and counting!)
Agreed, what type of visa is it? The VLS-TS and VLS-T are very different - if you applied for a visitor visa, that is. The note in my passport when I received my VLS-TS did not mention the OFII appointment at all, just instructions on what to do once I arrived in France.
It is the visa that determines what your process is, and that is the starting point. If you deviate then there’s a strong possibility that you will muddle things up which could be frustrating to unmuddle.
Not everyone has to register with OFII, and quite oftenOFII themselves don’t call people in. They are looking for dangerous transmittable diseases so focus on other continents.
I think you may be confusing the role of OFII, with the nuts-and-bolts administrative process.
As said, the administrative process depends on which visa you have been granted. If you have a VLS-TS, where the TS stands for Titre de Séjour, the administrative process consists of validating your visa online, at which point it becomes your titre de séjour ie your official residence permit, rather than simply a visa that allows you to enter the country.
Beyone that, OFII may or may not contact you to arrange language and integration classes, a medical etc. But that, if it happens, is complementary to the basic titre de séjour administration process.
If what you have is a VLS-T, where confusingly the T stands for Temporaire, this visa cannot be converted to a titre de séjour and you will not have any interaction with OFII. Your visa simply gives you the right to spend up to one year in France as a tourist.
It is not unknown for the wrong note to be put in the envelope with the visa. You can always try validating online, but if you have a VLS-T then validation will be impossible because there will be no record of you or your visa on the system.
I don’t believe that you are able to extend that type of visa at all. You’ll need to go back to your home country (USA?) to apply for a new visa after your time in France ends.
This does happen when people don’t check the correct boxes; since the application is somewhat confusing, you would not by any means be the first one with this problem (if in fact you wanted the VLS-TS). I believe that it’s possible to try to challenge the decision, but it seems that most people in this situation just ignore the VLS-T and make a new application for the VLS-TS. You’ll need to pay again, sadly. Again, I am not an expert, so please check with the proper authorities before you make a decision.
A VLS-T can’t be extended.
If you applied for a VLS-TS it is possible they issued a tourist visa in error but more likely that they felt you didn’t qualify for the TS visa but did qualify for the one-year one. Were you applying as an inactive, did you show that you have sufficient unearned income from a secure source?
So yes, reapply when you return to the UK at the end of the 12 months and try to tighten your application up a bit. You will have to pay again but equally you would have had to pay to renew at the end of the year, annual renewals are not processed free of charge.
I just read that the check box that I referenced is no longer a part of the application, so if you applied after it was removed, Sandcastle’s opinion is most likely correct.
If you are renewing your visa for separate visits you would use the VST-T. If you come hoping to stay and gain permanent residence after five years you do not renew your visa. Soon after arriving you need to register online and validate your visa. Towards the end of your first year you have to apply for a residence permit.
VLS-TS= Visa Long Séjour valant Titre de Séjour. You validate the visa, it then becomes your titre de séjour for the first year, then you renew it and receive a carte de séjour.
As opposed to VLS-T = Visa Long Séjour Temporaire, which is valid for up to 12 months. You do not validate it, it never becomes a titre de séjour and it is non renewable.
