If you haven't already discovered the pain of red tape and bureaucratic hassles, as a traveler, you most likely will soon! In my preparations to spend a year in France, I have recently been submerged into the world of passports and visas. And even though I am pretty good at following directions and being extra-timely, I still found myself with MANY frustrations.
The steps for international students hopeful to study in France have recently changed. Instead of simply being allowed to apply for a visa right away, students are now required to complete an extra step in the process - Campus France.
This Campus France step consists of an online registration on the following website: http://usa.campusfrance.org/en/1.html . There you are asked to fill out a registration form and application, which includes questions about your past education, your goals, and other subjective topics (which I found to be somewhat pointless). After sending in a $60 check and a copy of proof of your enrollment in a French University, you are supposed to get your "Attestation" within 2 weeks, which allows you to actually go and apply for a student visa.
That step is where troubles began. Nearly a month passed, and there was still no word about my attestation. After 3 unanswered e-mails and daily conversations with an answering machine..or an operator that transfered me to the answering machine, I finally got through to a person who could help me. She told me that my application couldn't be found, and that I needed to send in another one. Frustrated and afraid of not having enough time to even get my visa, I sent in a second copy of my application by express mail.
Right now I'm still in the process of waiting for my 'attestation,' and plan to go to Chicago in 3 weeks for my visa appointment. Hopefully it'll be successful!
3 comments:
Good luck on a speedy delivery of the attestation, and have fun in Chicago!
When is your next post going to be? They are so interesting ;)
When did this CampusFrance nonsense come into play and exactly what is its purpose? I'm a 43 year old professional who wants to live abroad and will be studying French at The Sorbonne as I'm waiting for my proof of pre-registration. I have to go through what I've been doing for the last 20 years in order to get a visa to study french at The Sorbonne and they've already accepted me?
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