Schengen visa to France on your own - 2020: how I got it for 3 years

Schengen visa to France - the story of how I collected 4 sets of documents and received ready passports in 2 weeks.

Let's get acquainted?

✓ My name is Ekaterina, and I am twice a mother.

✓ At the end of kindergarten as our eldest daughter, we decided to take the children to Disneyland.

✓ We bought tickets with a departure in 14 days, and I had to speed up the issuance of visas for the whole family (me + husband + daughter 7 years old + son 2 years old).

✓ I tell you what life hacks I used to get the "maximum periods" of visa validity (and which of them did not work).

Combined personal experience, recommendations from official sources and advice from experienced travelers. The result is a step-by-step instruction on how to get a visa to France in 2020.

How to get a visa to France on your own? Registration for Russians in 2020

The territory of the Schengen countries always causes concern among citizens planning to spend their vacation in old Europe. After all, you need a visa! Submission to France for Russians in 2020 is a very reasonable option. According to the latest data, the French are supportive of our brother, a Russian tourist. The bounce rate is only 2.3% (lower only in Spain and Italy).

On the question of who is given how much: my friend at the end of August 2019 received a French Schengen for 5 years. After a year of Spanish. So it goes!

My experience. My daughter dreamed of seeing Disneyland, and after graduation to kindergarten, she received a coveted gift. We bought plane tickets, booked hotels in the park itself and in Paris, and began to prepare documents for a visa to France.

France is currently accepting applications through VFS Global. And all would be fine, but employees are quite active in selling additional services (skip the line, make a copy of the document, order courier delivery, etc.). There remains an unpleasant aftertaste that they are trying to dissolve you for money. My conclusion on interaction with them: it is better to collect and check all documents in advance, and not rely on the help of employees.

Before that, we had Schengen visas: one-year Italian and one-year French, so I walked along the “beaten track”. The procedure for obtaining a visa to France is quite simple:

• Fill out the form online
  Important! Be sure to do this on the Consulate website. The questionnaires are validated (checked by the system) and each is assigned a 17-digit number.
• Collect all pieces of paper according to the list
• Sign up for a visa: at the French Visa Application Center (in the regions) - through the VFS Global website, at the Consulate General of France - by phone.
  * From May 15, 2019, submission of documents through the French visa center in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Kaliningrad is possible ONLY by appointment.
• Submit documents

We signed up online, very close, there was only one suitable date left. And if we consider that the maximum time it takes to get a visa is 30 days, then the plane could leave without us. Everything ended well, but it is better not to make such a mistake and do everything in advance.

What kind of visa is needed for France?

Every time when preparing documents, questions arise what kind of visa is needed and how to get a long-term visa so as not to bother with paperwork again.

The type of visa requested depends on the time and purpose of stay in the country: tourism, study, work.

➢ Category A visa - issued for transit through the country's airport.

➢ Category C visa - issued for major tourist and business trips with a stay of 90 days within 180 days. A visa of this category implies a single or multiple entry into the country. Our option!

➢ Visa category D - national visa, allows you to live and study in France, is not a Schengen visa.

If you need a long-term multivisa of category C (or rather, everything is exactly it, since you are reading this article) - put a “bold tick” in the 24th paragraph of the questionnaire.

Cost of a visa to France in 2020

How much does a Schengen visa to France cost?

Visa processing cost for children under 6 years old less - this category is exempt from both consular fees and service fees.

When submitting through the VC, the final amount will depend on your persistence in refusing to pay extra. services. And they will be offered very persistently.

Tourists in Paris are such tourists ...

Document requirements for a Schengen visa to France in 2020

Remember that you can apply for the French Schengen no earlier than 3 months (90 days) before the expected start date of the trip. The terms for consideration of the application are most often within 1 week.

Required documents for applying for a visa to France:

1. Consent to the processing of personal data
   If the documents are submitted through the French Visa Application Center (issued locally)
2. Application form
   It must be completed online. From April 8, 2019, it is no longer possible to download the form! The application for a visa to France is drawn up in English or French. A sample of filling out the questionnaire can be found on the Internet, but it is better to use the tips from the official website.
3. Registration receipt
   Confirmation of registration of the questionnaire is automatically printed with the questionnaire. On the sheet: barcode, full name, date of birth and a list of documents.
4. Copies of all completed pages of the Russian passport
5. international passport
   Original + copies of pages with photo and signature and the last Schengen. If the passport contains children traveling without their own country, a copy of the pages with the registration is also required. The validity of the document is at least 3 months after the end of the proposed trip.
6. Previous international passport with Schengen visas
   If there was, the original.
7. Insurance - really buy for 300-600 rubles
8. Financial guarantees
   Bank statement / sponsorship letter / certificate from the place of work / study - one thing is possible.
9. Flight booking
10. Hotel reservation

* the order of documents is similar to the list above - before submitting, lay out accordingly.

Insurance for a visa to France

Traveling to France requires the purchase of travel insurance. Making a Schengen visa without it is all the more impossible. The sum insured must be at least EUR 30,000 and be valid in ALL Schengen countries. The cheapest way is to buy the policy online.

You can calculate the cost of insurance for a visa to France and immediately receive ready-made documents by e-mail on the sites:

• Cherehapa
• Compare.ru
• Strahovkaru.ru

If you already have Schengen, do not forget that insurance is needed on every new trip. Customs officers can request it at the border and, if not, refuse entry. Make it out at least a day before the departure date, because it does not work day to day.

Hotel reservation

In order for a visa to France to be opened without problems, applicants for tourist purposes of travel need to provide information about their accommodation: a hotel reservation or a housing contract (which means Airbnb is very good!).

I usually stick to the following search priorities:

• Booking is the most convenient booking service.

If there are no profitable surprises (and in Europe, as a rule, everything is stable), then I turn to my favorites:

• Roomguru is an aggregator that compares prices on all popular booking sites for hotels and hostels (booking, hotel and all-all-all).
• Airbnb - apartments, rooms, houses and other places to stay from private individuals. In most cases, this is cheaper.

In booking obligatory Full name of the person who is applying for a visa. If you are planning a trip with your family / company, add the full names of all guests in the room.

Cancellation France can check the reality of the reservation while the documents are in their possession.After the passport with the visa was returned, no one tracks the cancellation of the reservation.

If you are going to France at the invitation of friends, keep in mind that he will be immediately sent to the consular department, you do not need to receive anything in your hands (a form is requested from the city hall). Invitations from close relatives do not require special registration - documents confirming the relationship and a cover letter are enough.

Flights

There are key players here - two well-known flight search engines - which greatly simplify the task:

• Aviasales
• Skyscanner

Some airlines allow you to reserve tickets without payment for 3 days. In this regard, the question arises: is it possible to make fake reservations (not pay for tickets) to apply for a visa? Not recommended! The reservation will expire in 3 days, and the consideration of documents may not end yet. If a scam comes up, the likelihood of rejection increases dramatically.

Moreover, the French have an adequate attitude to itinerary lists, the purchase of tickets is not a matter of principle. How do you plan to be in the country? So indicate how!

Bank reference

A Schengen visa to France largely depends on the availability of convincing financial guarantees. In this sweet couple - a reference from the bank VS reference from work is the first most important. Because, in fact, it doesn't matter where you got the money you plan to spend on vacation.

➢ The certificate must be with the original blue stamp. Without it, the document will not be accepted.

➢ Allowed to provide in Russian.

➢ The certificate must contain the details of the department that issued it, its address and telephone number.

➢ Several certificates can be attached if the money is kept in different banks.

➢ Checks from ATM, currency exchange certificates do not accept.

To get an original certificate from some banks (for example, Tinkoff), you need to make an official request. It has been going on for almost 2 weeks. The position that the French Embassy is voicing regarding Tinkoff's facsimile certificates, promptly sent by e-mail, will not work. On the other hand, the reviews of those who took the risk and passed such a certificate do not reveal any problems for the applicants.

A visa to France in 2020 can be issued to an applicant, provided that there is a minimum amount in his bank account based on:

• € 65 per day per person - subject to availability of prepaid housing,
• € 120 per day per person - without reservation.

Help from work for a visa to France

A visa to France, even if it is independently issued, even through intermediaries, is more likely to be issued to applicants with a stable high level of income. In addition to financial solvency, a certificate from work confirms the connection with the homeland.

➢ Drawn up on a letterhead indicating the position, salary of the applicant, address and telephone number of the organization.

➢ You can take a certificate of the 2-NDFL form, but it is better to use it as an addition to the previous one.

➢ If the applicant himself signs the certificate, he is obliged to provide documents either about the individual entrepreneur, or copies of documents on his inauguration as the General Director of the enterprise.

For students, a certificate from work will be replaced by a similar document from the place of study (if there is a scholarship, let them indicate it), for pensioners - a pension certificate.
Any unemployed person (freelancer, housewife) can limit themselves to an account statement. Or a letter from a sponsor.

Sponsorship letter for a French visa

A sponsorship letter is drawn up if it is not possible to provide other documents on financial reliability. If there is an account statement with a balance of 100,000 rubles or more, it is not needed.

A sponsor when applying for the French Schengen can be: spouse, parents, adult children, grandparents. Only a close relative! A letter from a stranger (friend / common-law husband) for France, alas, is not suitable.

What else?

✓ Sponsorship letter is written by hand or on a computer, in Russian or French.

✓ It does NOT need to be notarized.

The letter must contain: full name and passport details of the sponsor, full name and passport details of the sponsor, degree of relationship, country of destination, dates of travel, a phrase about the willingness to pay all expenses of the sponsored in full, date of compilation and signature.
You can see a sample (and much more) here.

Application form for Schengen to France

An application for a visa to France is filled ONLY online at france-visas.gouv.fr/ru/. It is better to make all changes before registering the questionnaire in the system. After that, only minor adjustments can be made. If in doubt, as an option, you can fill out a questionnaire, and register and print the document the next day.

• P.22 - country of main destination: France.
• P.24 - we ask for multi! More, not less.
• P.27 - date of the last fingerprinting: if you don’t remember, write the date of the visa issue (when applying for which you were fingerprinted).

On the website of the visa application center there is a "tutorial" for filling out. All questions have been correctly translated into Russian. When registering a document, 2 files are generated: one - the questionnaire itself, the second - Registration Receipt with a barcode. Remember that when submitting through the visa center, you must provide 2 copies of the questionnaire, through the consulate - 1.

When printing out the questionnaire, please note that the inscription "BROUILLON / DRAFT" should not be! If such a mark is present, then the document has not been verified and will not be accepted.

Registration of a Schengen visa to France

At the beginning of last year, a visa to France was made in 2 days (it was this period that was officially announced by the French Consulate). But, alas, since April 15, 2019, the system for considering an application in 48 hours has been suspended.

How long does a visa to France take?
The terms of consideration are on average from 5 to 10 days, if the documents were submitted in Moscow. Most often, the passport is ready within 1 week.

Visa processing in the regions will be 5-7 days longer, taking into account the delivery time.
The term of consideration can be increased to 30 calendar days if additional verification of documents is required.

Urgent visa.
There is no official service "urgent visa" (which is understandable, recently France made all visas in two days!). For additional money, some agencies offer to "speed up the process" and receive a document in 3 days. But whether they provide guarantees is not clear. The official price and terms of production of the French Schengen are fixed, without surcharges for speed.

How much do they give?
A visa to France in most cases is given for a year under the first Schengen. Then you can safely count on 3 years or 5 years.

Our experience.
My husband and I received visas for 3 years, but children (2 years and 7 years old), despite all our efforts, were issued visas for 5 months. I think that this is due to the fact that a child under 12 changes in appearance very much when he grows up. So you don't have to worry too much while collecting a children's package of documents.

Where can I get a visa?
Passports are issued at the same visa center / consulate where they were submitted. Through the visa center there is an option to arrange a courier delivery of docks to your home (it cost me about 2,000 rubles). The degree of readiness can be tracked by the identification number on the website. There is no point in paying for SMS - they come later or do not come at all.

Visa to France for a child (for minors)

A Schengen visa for a child is not much different from an adult. A complete set of documents is being collected. Peculiarities:

• Instead of a civil passport for children under 14 years old - a copy of the birth certificate (and take the original, it will be required when submitting).
• Copies of parents' valid Schengen visas, if any.
• Sponsorship letter (no options here if the child does not have his own bank account).
• Insurance is the most profitable on Cherekhapa or Compare.
• Notarized consent to leave from parents if the child travels without them (for example, with an aunt). One consent is enough - from mom or dad. If both parents are traveling with the child, the dates of entry and exit into the country are the same, consent is not required.
• Children under 12 years old do not take biometrics.
• Visa is free for children under 6 years old.
• Documents can be submitted in the absence of children (under 18), if you do not need to take biometrics.

We often travel with the whole family, and it was important for us to obtain a long-term visa for the whole family. At the notary, we issued a consent to leave from each parent (although we were traveling together), since the visa center told us that this would affect the term of the visa for the child. Not affected ☹ This is all nonsense.

Address of the French Embassy in Moscow

The French Embassy in Moscow is located in the Gorky Park area (the French know how to enjoy life in Russia).
The exact address: 119049, Moscow, Bolshaya Yakimanka, 45, metro Oktyabrskaya (radial).
The address of the visa department of the Consulate General is 119049, Moscow, Kazansky pereulok, 10 m. "Oktyabrskaya" (radial).

France Visa Application Center Addresses

Where to get a visa yourself? Addresses of visa centers of France in Russia:

Essential questions about a visa to France

Summing up what you need to remember when applying for the French Schengen?

1. Everyone who travels to France on vacation needs category C - a tourist visa. You can do it yourself without any problems.

2. How much does a visa to France take?
On average, 1 week. The 48-hour alert system is currently on hold.

3. Refusal of a visa to France is always motivated - along with a blank passport, a cover letter is issued. And here there are 3 possible scenarios for the development of events:

➢ the refusal was due to technical reasons: lack of document, incorrect registration, etc. In this case, the errors are eliminated and the application is resubmitted.

➢ refusal due to an incorrectly selected destination country. It follows from the itinerary that the applicant plans to stay in another Schengen country longer. Then the documents are submitted to the consulate of another country.

➢ refusal due to detection of falsified documents - everything is sad here. In the near future, you should not hope for a visa to this country.

4. Do I need an English / French translation of the work certificate?
All certificates and extracts are accepted in Russian. Contrary to what the site says.

5. What if you need to get a visa very urgently (departure in a week)?
Quickly take all the documents to the visa center and cross your fingers.

6. Do I need a visa for a long transfer in France?
Yes, if you plan to leave the airport.

7. Do you get lost in the variety of sights of Paris? Explore the Tripster service - here you can book non-standard excursions around the world in Russian.
Or read our article on the 10 best excursions in town.

In fact, self-registration of documents will take a little more time than reading this article - and a visa can be obtained in 7 days. Not that I am a role model in this matter, but remember that I collected 4 kits in less than a week! And you can 🙂