Are you interested in living and working in France? Despite a scarily long list of necessary supporting documentation, the French working holiday visa was surprisingly the easiest of the European permits I’ve applied for to date.
Please also take a look at my Visas page for general tips and advice on applying for visas.
You must submit your application for this visa in person at the French consulate (after making an appointment). Make sure that you have all of the paperwork in order before your application if you do not wish to return again for further appointments. This is especially important if you have to travel to get to the consulate. In Australia you must apply in Sydney, so if you are flying all the way there from say, Brisbane, to lodge your application and don’t have all the necessary bits and pieces, they will send you away until such time as you can supply the missing papers and you will have to attend again in person to complete the process.
IMPORTANT NOTE; you are allowed to apply for this visa from anywhere in the world aside from France (as long as they have a French consulate that is able to process visas in the country in which you are applying). This is so long as you are a legal resident in the country in which you apply. For example, if you currently hold a valid work holiday visa for another country then you can take that as proof of your legal residency and apply from within that country. E.g. I was able to apply at the French consulate in Frankfurt as at the time of application I had a valid German work holiday visa.
Information from the French consulate website pertaining to this visa and how to apply can be found here.
The bottom line is, you must be between 18 – 30 years old and have not previously been granted this visa. Your primary purpose in France is supposed to be travel, however the visa allows you to find work to fund some of your travel, but work is not meant to be your main reason for going.
The hardest thing about this visa is putting together all the documents they require, as the form itself and application process are very simple and straightforward. Here are some tips and tricks to help you get your papers together and make sure that you don’t have to attend more than one visa interview.
DOCUMENTATION
Provide original + 1 set of copies of the required documents
Be sure to have the copies just in case, however they only ended up taking the copies of my passport, German visa and proof of German address as all my other documents were print outs that they could keep at any rate.
1. Valid passport (+3 months from expiry date of visa)
Remember to also provide photocopies of your passport with your application! Even though they will have a photocopier at the consulate and could make the copy themselves, if they decide to make your life difficult they can send you away for not having all documents requested, don’t take the chance!
2. Long stay visa application form (completed, dated and signed)
Find form here.
I also provided a photocopy of my completed form (remember, don’t take chances!)
The form is pretty straight forward, a few little things that may help you (especially if you are applying from outside of your home country)
Question 21. Current occupation, I left it blank as I am currently just travelling, but the official didn’t really bother about that.
Question 20. Regarding residency I entered the whv number and dates of my current German work visa.
Question 25. Address in France during my stay (always the most stupid question on these forms!) I simply googled and entered an address of a hostel in Paris. No questions asked about this.
Question 26. Intended date of entry into France OR the Schengen area. As I am currently living in Germany, part of the Schengen area, I just entered the date I wish my visa to commence (which for me is about 2 months after my German one expires as I intend on doing some travel in between)
I queried the official about how to actually activate the French visa as you rarely (read never) get your passport checked as you cross borders between the Schengen states and I have read conflicting information about this online. He said that it doesn’t actually really matter, once I have the visa stuck in my passport then I’m good to go as the visa will be dated so there is no real need to bother about getting controlled at the border, I just have to make sure I leave France at the expiry of the visa.
Question 29. What will be your means of support whilst in France? Savings! Never write work, never ever ever! The visa is intended simply as a chance to travel in the country and find incidental work occasionally with the main purpose being a holiday. Do not ever ever ever say that you are intending or relying on finding work when you apply for this type of visa!
3. 1 passport sized photograph pasted on to the form
Make sure you actually paste it on! Truly, government officials can be arse holes if they feel like it, take it from me; I used to be one!
I also had three extra photos with me just in case!
4. Evidence of financial resources or proof of funds; $5000 AUD minimum (credit limits not acceptable)
I took details of all my bank accounts and even my credit card even though it’s not acceptable (there’s always the off chance that someone doesn’t read the print out correctly and assumes it’s savings!)
Also I’d advise if you have any other statements such as a trust fund or investment fund, even if you can’t actually access that money, I’d take it at any rate because again, they might not read the statement correctly and they are only looking for the bottom figure so they might just see it as savings! Remember, if you really don’t have enough you can always try and borrow from a parent perhaps just for the purposes of printing off a statement, then return the money after your statement is printed.
5. Evidence of compulsory/comprehensive one-year health insurance starting from your date of arrival in France (covering all risks of sickness, maternity, disability, and repatriation) regardless of the travel plans or intended length of stay decided by the applicant.
Don’t let this be cause for stress! For starters, I rarely buy travel insurance in blocks of a full year because I’m never entirely certain of my travel plans and whether or not I’ll need it for that length of time. Also, I personally always buy the cheapest policy I can get and I wasn’t convinced that this would placate the French officials as there are limits on the amount of medical expenses allowed under the policy. I decided to buy a more expensive 12 month policy with unlimited medical expenses from World Nomads, setting me back $800, purchased of course AFTER printing off my bank statements so that it doesn’t show the amount missing from my savings as above! Now world nomads has a 14 day cooling off period in which you can cancel your insurance and receive a full refund (read the policy wording on their website). So I purchased the higher coverage the night before my visa interview, printed off the certificate and policy and then cancelled it the next day. Full refund is received about a week after cancellation.
6. Police certificate (s) for Australia and for any country in which you’ve stayed for longer than a year over the last ten years
If you are applying from Australia you can get this from your state police.
If you are currently living overseas you can apply online to the Aussie federal police for a check and have it sent to you. Choose overseas employment as your reason for application, and the check will set you back $42 Aussie dollars.
If you don’t receive your police certificate in time for your appointment be sure to print off all proof of your application to take with you. This is not advisable though as it will delay your application and you will have to return with your passport and the certificate to complete the process and actually receive the visa.
You are requested also to supply a police certificate for any country you’ve lived in for more than a year over the last ten years. I was not questioned about this as unless the official really went through and added up all the dates in my passport there is no quick way to see where I’ve been. Also I am not sure if they mean over a cumulative year or just one straight year without break, and I chose not to ask. As I have not spent a year without break in any country (only cumulative years with many breaks in between) I decided to disregard this and hope for the best. In my case it worked out and I was not asked to provide it.
UPDATE: I have just returned to the consulate with my Australian Police check to finish the process of applying for my visa and I was told I needed to supply a German police check. I argued that I have not been in Germany for longer than a year and on the visa website it states that police checks are necessary if you have resided in a country for longer than a year. The official told me that this is on the Australian version of the website and therefore it is not necessary for foreign police checks for people applying from Australia, however as I am applying from Germany and have been living there it is only logical that I would need the check from that country or how would he know that I haven’t just spent three months in a German prison! Well clearly he could figure out by looking at me that the chances of that are rather unlikely because he made an exception for me and gave me the visa at any rate, but for anyone who is considering applying from a country other than Australia, take note that you do in fact need to supply a police check from the country you have been residing in.
7. Return ticket to country of residence, if you arrived in a different country then France, please provide train ticket or any other ticket to France.
I only ever travel on one way tickets! I’m never certain of my plans and I like my freedom! Besides I’m already in Europe and don’t have any intentions on going home after my French visa expires because I plan on applying for the Italian visa next! But of course it is not advisable to try and explain this to the officials, and it is a clearly stated requirement for obtaining the permit. So after a careful search of Qantas fare restrictions and entitlements I purchase an expensive Flex fare ticket from France to Australia (also purchased after printing off my bank statements!). This ticket is fully refundable and also allows for changes. This is important as it is not possible to purchase a ticket for more than a year in advance, and as most people would be logically applying for their YEAR long French work visa several weeks before heading there as it takes 2 weeks minimum to process (ah the idiocy of government bureaucrats never ceases to amuse me) no one can in fact buy a ticket for the date in which they actually wish to return home! Luckily the officials know this (they’re not the simpletons who wrote the policy after all) and the gentleman I dealt with even said that the ticket isn’t really necessary as it is not possible to get a ticket so long in advance! But it is good to have the proof at any rate and show that you have a means to get home. I put the 1200€ ticket on my credit card, printed off the ticket and then phoned up Qantas and cancelled the ticket immediately after my visa appointment. The money will be fully refunded in up to 10 working days after cancellation. I may lose a bit on the exchange rate depending on how it swings on the day, or I may even make money off it if I’m lucky (doubtful!) however at the end of the day I just count any small losses in with the price of the visa.
8. Processing fee; 99,00€
Make sure you don’t forget to take your money! You don’t want to hold up your application over a simple mistake like that! I’d also withdraw the cash after you print off your bank statements to really make sure you show as much money as possible in those bank accounts!
9. Pre-paid, registered and completely filled out self addressed envelope if you intend to have your passport returned by post
Personally, I would never entrust my passport to the post! However if circumstances limit you from returning in person to collect it then make sure you get this bit right!
If you are applying from overseas I would never advise leaving your passport behind. I was able to take mine with me and will return with it to Frankfurt to receive the visa and I strongly suggest you fight to do the same.
If you are applying in Australia you will probably not be so lucky. If you can’t get back to collect it but a friend or family member can, you could try asking if they will allow someone to pick it up for you. I did this when I applied for my Dutch visa in Sydney and I filled out a statement with my friend’s details giving permission for her to retrieve my passport after showing proof of her ID as matching the details on my written statement. They accepted this, so you could perhaps give it a go with the French as well.
THE INTERVIEW
Once you have gathered all of the necessary documents as above, you will need to make an appointment to submit your application. You will be issued with a receipt showing the appointment time and date which you need to print off and show at the consulate when you attend the interview. Don’t be late or they will cancel your appointment and you will need to book in again! I turned up thirty minutes early to mine and was seen straight away as their was no one waiting (the benefit of applying from another country where they probably have fewer people to see).
During the ‘interview’ the official will just look over your information to make sure it’s all there, enter the data on the computer, take your fingerprints and photo and charge you the fee. It is usually not really any more complicated than that as long as you have everything you need.
Also, if you speak any French at all be sure to use it! The French are incredibly snooty about their language and all efforts to use it will be appreciated and count in your favour. I’m lucky to speak fluent French so my entire appointment was conducted in the language, which definitely won me big brownie points! The official complimented me on my French and asked if I’d already spent some time in France as I spoke so well. When I told him I had learnt in Québec he and his co worker let out a collective ‘ah’! They’d already noticed the accent and after that they were all smiles and friendliness!
Once you have your visa you have the right to 12 months in France with multiple entries (meaning you can leave for trips to Spain for example and come back in without problems). Are you allowed to search for work but there are some extra steps involved when you find work which I’ll post about separately. At the expiry of the visa you must leave France and the Schengen zone however you are allowed to return as a tourist for 90 days in a 180 day period as per the Schengen agreement. The easiest way to do this is to hop across to the UK which is not part of the Schengen zone and return. Make sure you get your passport stamped with these dates to prove that you did in fact leave France!