Hi Reddit. I’m an American with a full time remote job that allows me to work from anywhere. My boyfriend is French and we would like to live together in France, however I have some visa concerns. It appears that the French government does not allow you to work remotely from another country. We plan on getting married within the next couple of years but would like to settle down before then, so residency through marriage is not ideal right now. Has anyone been in a similar situation? I would love you input/advice, I am feeling very confused with all of the contradicting information I find online.
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Have you considered becoming a digital nomad in France as a tourist for now? Many stay under the radar while sorting out the bureaucracy. Bonne chance!
I dont think france has s DN visa
The issue is even if you work remotely there and just stay mum on what you’re doing i think the limit you stay on tourism visa is 180 days every year
You could also go the student visa route or just get a courtroom marriage to sort out your visa
Yep. To be precise it’s a maximum of 90 days in any rolling period of 180 days in the whole Schengen area, so if OP spends 90 days in a row in France she needs to leave Schengen for 90 days before coming again
Many EU countries will issue visas for cohabitating non-married spouses. France is NOT one of those countries, so you will need to be married to get a spouse visa in Spain.
But your boyfriend is not just a French citizen, he is an EU citizen. That gives him residency and family rights in all European countries, meaning you can choose the country that gives you the best opportunity.
For example, Spain will issue a visa for a stable partnership as long as you can present some evidence you are a real, committed couple. If you have a visa for an EU country, you will receive less scrutiny from all other EU counties as you are supposed to be there and there are no internal border controls. Your boyfriend will be able to easily register his residence in the EU country of your choosing as long as he can meet the basic requirements of supporting himself financially.
As that point you can legally be in France for 180 days a year. I’d recommend getting less stuck on whether you are living within the borders of France and just try to use the great EU system to legalize your stay and get yourself closer to where you want to be. Ions step at a time!
Thank you for the info :)
My wife and I are in France on a 1-year renewable VLS-TS visa. You can get this by showing proof of income OR savings (we used savings). It was pretty easy, just one 15-minute appointment in Atlanta.
You still would technically not be able to do your remote job. I’ve known people that did and it wasn’t an issue for them.
Thank you for the info :) I’ve read plenty of stories about people coming on VLS-TS visa and continuing to work their US based remote job so long as they don’t have any involvement with France, but it scares me a bit haha
Marry him
France doesn’t have a digital nomad visa but a lot of neighboring countries within the EU have one if you could go back and forth a bit. Especially as you’re not really monitored.
I’m unsure of the legality of continuing your remote work but you might also look at going through TAPIF or doing a grad degree there part time if it costs little to nothing to get the residency component handled?
TAPIF only pays like 700 Euros/month and you don’t really get to decide where they place you. It’s also very competitive and not a guarantee that you’ll get a placement.
If money or location doesn’t matter at all, then it could potentially be a good choice, but I ended up having to go back home four months into my contract because I couldn’t find a place to live under for 700 euros/month.
I just think people should be wary of promoting TAPIF because it’s not necessarily the fantastic experience that the program managers claim it to be because the program basically offers no formal support whatsoever and a lot of people aren’t prepared for that.
You may be able to get talent passport if you create a company in france: https://www.service-public.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F16922?lang=en (any pay the taxes!!! )
you could move your current working contract to a freelance/service one to this “new company”
Thank you for the info :) unfortunately I don’t qualify as I am a recent grad but I will continue exploring my options
There are two things here. One is the visum. As mentioned, you can get one in another EU country.
The second one is being in a salaried position under a non-french labour law contract. which is not allowed. your employing entity needs to contract you under french law. This gives you the same labor protection and social securities as the french. it’s not optional.
Thank you for the info :) the company I work for has some European connections so I am going to speak with them
I looked into the Long Stay Visa in France exhaustively when I had a remote job with an American employer. I read blog posts online from other people who had done it, I spoke to a lawyer who said it was possible, etc. I asked Reddit about it and people attacked me, yelling at me for trying to be an evil digital nomad who breaks the rules of the country I’m interested in; the reaction was ferocious. They said the stipulation that you can’t have a FRENCH job also means you can’t have any job whatsoever. It made me think I was not getting correct information elsewhere so I panicked and gave up. A few weeks ago, a friend of mine with a remote job successfully got the Long Stay Visa. So apparently it actually IS doable.
Some people on here have a stick up their butt…not sure why. Thank you for the information. :) I realize I qualify for one of the talent visas if I switch from full time to contract at my company so I will try my luck at that.
Why don’t you take French classes? You might have a couple hours of classes per day, so you can still work, and you would get a student visa.