carte de séjour "Compétences et Talents" - SUCCESS!!

Aix-en-Provence sous-préfecture the day I picked up my
new carte de séjour!

I'm finally getting around to reporting back here with the good news! I GOT THE VISA!!!

So I now know from first-hand experience that these visas do exist and that it's possible to receive them.

Back in April almost exactly at the six-month mark from when I submitted the dossier back in October 2014, I received a letter in the mail. With trepidation, I opened it. Within was a standard letter saying to come to the préfecture to pick up my new carte de séjour.

There wasn't even any confetti inside! Can you believe it? This is a BIG DEAL!

But apparently to the administrators who mailed my letter, I was just just another item ticked off their to-do lists. So much so that they didn't even mark on the letter which visa I'd gotten or how much money I was supposed to bring in the form of timbres (stamps) to pay for the visa.

Within a couple days, I went to the sous-préfecture in Aix and picked up my new carte de séjour without any further fanfare, except in my heart. ;-) The carte de séjour was dated as beginning in March, a month before I was notified that it was ready, but it is indeed otherwise valid for three years from that date. i.e. Not three years from when I submitted the dossier.

Besides that the carte de séjour of course comes with no instructions. I thought that it immediately gave me the right to work for French clients. However, I learned in July that one still has to register as an auto-entrepreneur in order to be official. Visit this website for more on that: http://www.lautoentrepreneur.fr/. Once registered here you will receive a SIRET number which is something most clients will ask for. The Compétences et Talents carte de séjour is listed among the residence card options permitted to register. And the registration is quick and pretty easy online. From there you're plunged into many more administrative realities of life in France, and I still haven't completely figured it all out. But registration means you will need to pay taxes on income you earn from clients in France, and it also seems to enter you into the social security system for healthcare.

Good luck with your quest for the the carte de séjour "Compétences et Talents"!

The standard letter I received telling me to come pick
up my new carte de séjour.

The waiting room for services for foreigners,
Aix-en-Provence sous-préfecture.

carte de sejour "Compétences et Talents" - stop #3 back at the préfecture in Marseille

The little line outside the préfecture when I arrived.

I'm back with an up-to-the-minute report for my most dedicated reader(s) and more specifically for anyone who stumbles over here desperate for information on how to apply for this crazy visa. The rest of you should glance at the photos and then pick out your favorite country from the archived posts. :-)

Two weeks after my previous attempt to submit a dossier for consideration for the Skills and Talents visa, I returned to the préfecture in Marseille again today. This time my dossier included a budget for my project, plus a couple other little added documents that will hopefully support my case.

Given my experience with wait times two weeks ago, I arrived later this time, at 8:45 am. I had passed through the first windows (see previous post), collected my numbered ticket, and proceeded to the waiting room upstairs by 8:54 am. (Nothing like being precise, non?)

Around 10 am my number flashed on the big screen. Funny story, though - in the intervening hour, I

busied myself by adding a couple last minute touches to my dossier and taking photos of it, in order to have a good record of what I'd submitted. I also worked at figuring out the order of the seemingly random numbers popping up on the screen. I thought I'd sorted out which numbers were being called to which windows (it seems that each window deals with a certain type of visa issue, and you're put in the queue for the appropriate window), so I wasn't being as vigilant in watching for my number because I thought my number was still a couple numbers away. Suddenly, a woman sitting a bit behind me says to me, "That's your number, isn't it?" At first I said

Waiting upstairs for my number to appear on
the big French flag-colored screen.

no, because I thought I had the system figured out. Then I realized she was right and thanked her for her helpfulness as I got up. And then I realized that the fact she knew it was my number, and she wasn't even sitting directly behind me, meant she'd been watching me! Still, nice of her to help me out. (Glad I didn't happen to be fumbling around with any top secret documents or anything! - which I normally do all the time, mind you ;-) )

From this point forward, everything went very smoothly. I was called to the window next to the one I'd been at two weeks earlier. And the man at this window remembered me, even though I'd been his colleague's client. (She'd asked him a couple questions about whether my proof of residence was sufficient, etc.) He asked what I'd been told I needed to add and then verified that the budget was there and looked good. He flipped through the dossier, but didn't look at it too closely, and proceeded to log it in their system. He told me it normally takes 5-6 months to get an answer and that I'll be notified by email or mail (in hindsight I'm not sure whether he said "courriel" or "courrier").

He then gave me a récépissée that extends my existing visa for three months from today's date but noted that I would probably need to have it extended again (at the sous-préfecture in Aix) as it's unlikely I'll have an answer on the new visa by January 9. However, I'm going home for the holidays, and I told him I won't be in France when the récépissée expires. He told me that this is no problem, that since I'm an American, I can just enter France as a normal tourist or whatever and then go to the sous-préfecture and explain that I was away and need a renewal now. This sounds good in theory, but I have trouble believing it would all be so easy, so I plan to check at the sous-préfecture to verify before I leave France. In hindsight, if I had known my dossier would definitely be accepted, I might have been better off to wait until closer to the October 31 expiration date of my original visa to submit my dossier. That way the extension would have been valid until later in January. But that would have been a gamble too.

Anyway, that's how things played out. This man, like his colleague two weeks earlier, was very nice and made a semi-intimidating situation (anything to do with visas is nerve-wracking!) much more comfortable. I was finished with everything by about 10:10 am, so it took less than 1.5 hours from arrival to departure.

A couple other notes:
* If my bid for the visa is successful, I'll try to post a list of what I included in my dossier. For now, I won't go to the trouble of doing that.
* The first time I went to the préfecture, the woman asked me about office space or whether I will be working from home. Office space seemed important, something that's been verified by others here as I've told them about my process. So in the most recent iteration of my dossier, I included information about a new office sharing endeavor that's opened here in Aix recently and that I plan to make use of. I also included receipts from the office space I rented a few days a month this summer to try out having occasional work space outside my home.
* I did not include bank statements or any record of my personal financial status; I simply included a description of how my project will be financed and a budget for it. They never asked for the personal records for this visa, though I had to provide them for my student visa. Since I'm not rich, I wasn't sure my personal records would bolster my case, so I didn't add them. Hopefully, this was not a faux pas!

And hopefully, there will be good news to post here in a few months!

carte de séjour "Compétences et Talents" - stop #2: the préfecture in Marseille

Because every post looks better with pictures, I'll start with this one - after your visit to the préfecture, whether to nurse your success or your not-done-yet-ness you should check out this nearby coffeehouse/café/salon de thé: Coogee. I have no idea what the name means, but it's a really great place to wile away some hours.

Okay, on to business. Again, this little series of posts (see the label "Compétences et Talents" for the rest of the related posts) is to provide a helpful account to future seekers of a carte de séjour "compétences et talents" - if that's not you, you should go to the coffeehouse link and ignore the rest of this episode in the new tragicomic series "You Can't Buy Dossiers Like this in America."

After being counseled by one American friend that one should arrive very early at the préfecture to get a place in line before it opened and by another that she never arrives before 8 or 9 am--the préfecture opens at 8:15 am--I split the difference and arrived with a friend around 7:45 last Friday morning. A line had already formed outside the building, but it was nothing atrocious and extended only in front of the building - no wrapping around the block or anything. Now, I've also been told that this part of town seems somewhat sketchy, but again, I had no problems there. The friend who accompanied me said she's seen a fight in line (fighting over spots in line) nearly every time she's gone, but everyone behaved themselves on Friday. By the time I left the building around 10:15 am-ish, there was no line, and it looked like you could just walk right in at that point.

Once the doors opened, we eventually entered the ground floor, told a woman at the door what I was there for, and waited in a short line for the first set of windows (see photo). Once it was my turn, I told the man what kind of visa I was seeking. At first he said there were no more appointments for that until Monday, but he worked it out somehow and gave me a numbered ticket anyway.

Then we climbed to the first floor (in French terms, second floor for the Americans) where we took seats in a large waiting area. I waited a pretty long time for my turn at one of the windows. I had to watch the big screens (photo below) that flashed your number when it was your turn and told you which window to go to. What's tricky is that the numbers do not appear in chronological order at all, so you have to watch the whole time because you have no idea when your number will show up. No reading books while you wait. But don't worry, there's plenty of people-watching to do.

When my number finally flashed on the lucky game show screen (my friend and I concocted an entire game show scenario while we waited, by the way - I let you know when it reaches syndication :-) ), I was greeted by a nice woman at my window. I handed her my initial paperwork (application, etc.) and explained which visa I was there for. She asked me to describe my project - which surprised me, as I'd just expected to hand over the dossier in which the project was fully described. So, be prepared with a brief verbal explanation (in French :-) ).

She took my dossier, flipped through it, and seemed to like what she saw. At this point, I thought maybe SHE was the one making a decision about whether I would get the visa or not - I hadn't expected that (I'd expected a lot more waiting for approval or denial), but her initial actions made that seem possible. I had just been expecting to hand over the dossier, not to have someone look at it and ask me questions at this stage in the process.

Well, it turns out that the woman at the window seems to be the person who checks to make sure all the basic components of the dossier are present. In my case, while I had included a written description of the project's financing, I did not include an actual budget. So I have to add that and return. She was very nice and very apologetic that she couldn't accept the dossier yet.

However, I did learn that apparently once she accepts the dossier for consideration and registers it in the system, she/someone will print out a récépissée that day that will extend my current carte de séjour by 3-6 months during which time they will make a decision about the new carte de séjour.

So there you go, an exciting up-to-the-minute report on what I know so far about this process works!

Blurry photo of the first set of windows (on the ground floor) where you're awarded your winning lottery ticket number, aka number to determine when you get to go to the next window upstairs.

Waiting room on the next floor up, with their fancy game show boards that proclaim when you're the next contestant on "See Who Will Win a Visa Today!"

seeking the carte de séjour "compétences et talents" - stop #1: the sous-préfecture

I'm in the process of applying for a new visa, hoping to transition from my student visa to the "skills and talents" visa. Finding much info about the process has been difficult, and I've been pretty dependent on the Jennyphoria blog for the most complete info. However, she applied for this visa in Paris, which didn't tell me how things would work way down here in the south of France. Other info I found related the process of getting the visa through a consular office outside of France, which still left me in the dark.

So, in the interest of helping other future visa seekers living in France but not in Paris, I'm adding this little record of my experience to the internet's grand collection of helpful facts.

Here's the link to the official French info about the carte de séjour "compétences et talents." With a quick Google search, you can find the same info in English on the web sites of the French consular offices in the States.

My situation: I've been living in Aix-en-Provence for two years now studying French. So I've been here on a student visa that I first received through the French consulate in Atlanta and then renewed twice, once via the sous-préfecture in Aix and once via the student renewal office set up at CROUS on the Aix-Marseille University campus at the beginning of each school year.

So my attempt at this new visa is a visa renewal but also a change of type of visa. I've been busily preparing my dossier for the past couple weeks, mostly using the two links above to guide me in what to include in presenting my project. I'm not going to get into what my project is in this post, as for now I'm just documenting the process.

You're supposed to apply for renewal for all visas, including this one, two months before your current visa expires. I'm down to about 5.5 weeks due to traveling lots this summer and not being able to work on the dossier sooner. Here's hoping it all works out!

What I did: According to all the info I could find, I was supposed to go to the sous-prefecture in Aix for this renewal. So I showed up there this morning 30 minutes before they closed, with my dossier but without any idea how this process would work.

I entered the waiting room, took my number, and waited my turn. The room was nearly empty, so I didn't wait long. The woman at the window told me that for this visa I have to go to the préfecture in Marseille. They don't process this visa at the sous-préfecture (despite the info I'd found online). However, she looked at my current carte de séjour and gave me the application form for the new visa with a couple administrative notes filled in. She also took my fingerprints and had me sign one of the forms that is part of the carte de séjour process. So in my mind, it does seem to be that the process begins at the sous-prefecture, though I couldn't actually submit my dossier and application there. If you don't go there, I don't know how else you're supposed to get the application you need. I never found it available online anywhere.

The application includes the full list of what's need to apply, which is really nice to have finally. It's mostly all the same things listed on the website EXCEPT you have to give proof of residence, either through bills or a lease if you're living on your own or through statements from the person housing you if you're living with people.

Also, the website says you need 3 I.D. photos, but the application says you need 4. The photos normally come in fours anyway, so just plan to submit all four photos with your application in order to be on the safe side.

So, here's the list of needed documents as noted on the application form for people like me who are changing their visa category (versus this being a new visa or a renewal of this same type of visa):

1 - copy of both sides of your carte de séjour (or a passport with the visa in it and the OFII stamp plus an original birth certificate that's less than 6 months old and a notarized translation - you don't need the birth certificate if you already have a carte de séjour)

2 - photocopy of the info pages of your passport

3 - description of the project you're proposing and an explanation of how it supports the interests of France and of your home country

4 - all the documents needed to prove that you have the capacity to carry out the project

5  - photocopy of your livret de famille if you have one

6 - proof of residence

7 - four I.D. photos

So there you go. I think that's all I can tell you for now. I'll try to keep posting as I go through the process.