This COVID thing is really getting in the way, isn’t it?
My plans are all thrown out the window and I’m sure yours are too. I can’t make an appointment with the consulate to send in my Visa application, because France is not accepting applications at this time. I can’t book a one-way ticket anyway, because they’re only allowing those with visas inside the country. Now what do I do?
The government of France is planning to announce during the first week of June a plan for reopening. Fingers crossed this reopening begins by August. As of right now, if you hold a French visa or citizenship, you can get to France. If you are an American citizen in France, you can still come back to America. If you are a person planning on moving to either and have yet to get a Visa, then good luck.
I am hopeful that this announcement will bring good news and that I can proceed with my visa application and make an appointment at the consulate. If you have ever applied for a visa or if you’ve read my earlier post that you can find here, it is pretty tricky. You have to submit all of your information, then make an appointment, take everything to that appointment, then they send it off and you have to wait a few weeks to hear back. Online, you cannot even get to the point of the application to make an appointment.
No one really has any answers, especially not me. I’ve gotten this far so there is no way I’m changing any plans. Luckily, the family employing me have told me to come on even if I have to first come as a tourist then later apply for the official visa. I expect that by the end of August, I’ll be able to leave on my one way flight and happily nestle into French life, baguette in hand.
Even though this is all crazy and annoying and scary, I’ve found a lovely community full of expats in similar situations. It’s a very unique feeling, seeing how small the world becomes when you find fellow US citizens in the little niches you will soon be calling home. Families are repatriating and moving back, students are trying their hardest to get back to their French university, and little people like me are just trying to get there.
Through it all, we all share the same love of France. I can’t tell you why I love the country so much. Maybe it’s because I’ve read so much of its history and inhabitants, I’ve read stories of those who also have fallen in love, or through learning the language I’ve learned to also learn the culture. I’m just in a committed relationship to the country and I will never be able to break up with it!! My visa journey has been nothing but easy, but I follow a lot of expat youtubers so obviously I’ve been learning from the professionals not to expect the easy. Here’s to being in France, COVID free, September 2020! *clinks glasses*
URBAN FLEUR 