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How to Move to France as an American (2026)

  • Jul 14
  • 5 min read

Forget Emily, you are going to be hearing about CLAR IN PARIS for the next year! For context, I will be living in Paris from late August 2026 - June 2027 for a fellowship research grant. However, I hope to stay behind afterwards if I can get a job.


Many people dream of living in France, but it is logistically intimidating for those of us who are not EU citizens. My fellowship does not provide any visa or housing support—only the money—so I was left to figure this out by myself for the entire summer. Although dealing with French bureaucracy was quite annoying, it is not impossible to move there, even without a job sponsoring you.


Prepare to allot 3 months for this process.


#1: Housing in France

In order to apply for a French long-stay visa, you will first need to provide a French housing address. Unless you know someone in France who will let you use their address, I recommend starting with finding housing.


To apply for apartment lease postings, you will need to submit your Dossier ("folder") to landlords. This is essentially a long PDF that compiles all your personal details, income information, tax receipts, good reviews from past landlords, purpose of travel, etc. The French government specifically provides a website for you to create this (DossierFacile).


Required Materials:

  • Passport / ID

  • Proof of income

  • Purpose of stay

  • Good reviews from past landlords (if you've never officially rented, a letter from your parents or university dorm is fine too)

  • Tax documents (W-4 or W-2 for Americans)

  • Documents from your Guarantor

    • Passport

    • Proof of address in their name (telephone bill, electricity bill, home insurance certificate, etc…)

    • Proof of employer contract

    • Most recent tax notice


You might be wondering: what is a Guarantor? This is another difficult part of the process. A Guarantor is someone who signs that they agree to pay your lease in case you don't. Even though you may be thinking "I'm very trustworthy, of course I will pay my lease", but the French government does not believe you so you need a backup. It's best to have a Guarantor who is living in France (ask around), but if not, you can use your parents in your home country or pay Visale, a French company that guarantees renters.


Once your Dossier (with Guarantor) is approved—this takes 1-2 days—you can begin sending in apartment applications! Here are some websites to look for postings:


**Note: The Paris apartment scene moves very quickly. Landlords are looking for someone who can move in within the next 1-4 weeks. If you're looking farther in advance, maybe going with an agency is better.


**Or, if you're not ready to commit to an apartment because you don't have your visa approved yet, try to borrow someone's address in France and start with Step #2 instead, then come back to Step #1. This is what I did: my host mom in Paris (from study abroad) let me use her address for my visa application, which gave me more time to find housing while I waited for my visa approval.


#2: Long-Stay Visa

Americans need a long-stay visa to move to France for longer than 3 months. Here are some of the options on the France-Visas website where you apply:

  • Student (you'll need an acceptance letter from your university in France)

  • Family (accompanying spouse, your child is in France, visiting family members, etc)

  • Visitor (typically used by expat retirees or young travelers)

  • Professional work (you will need to provide contract proof from your employer in France)

  • Internship / Trainee (again, you'll need an official letter from the French government)

  • "Taking up of official duties" (this refers to diplomat, government, or military)


To be honest, this dropdown part on the website is very confusing. From my experience, it only shows me 2 options when I try to apply on Chrome, so you need to clear your cache/history using Safari, and then log in from there.


**I first tried to put "student", but then I remembered I graduated already so I'm not going for my studies. I then tried to put "internship" since I thought it would be similar to a fellowship, but that didn't work either because I didn't have an official letter from the French government—only from Yale. The visa lady advised me to put "visitor", which seems to be the path of least resistance. It doesn't matter that I'm technically going for research/education purposes, because as long as I'm not earning a degree or being employed by a business in France, I am still a "visitor". This means that as long as you have enough money in your bank account or from a remote job, you, too, can be a long-term "visitor" moving to France!


Required Materials:

  • Passport (you need AT LEAST 2 BLANK PAGES in your passport)

  • 2 Recent passport-sized photos (2 in x 2 in for USA)

  • Proof of accommodation (this is where you'll need to put the address ^)

  • Proof of financial self sufficiency (bank statement or payment slips, in my case, I showed them the Zelle transaction in which Yale paid my fellowship amount)

  • Health insurance covering the Schengen Zone for 1 year for up to €30,000+ (I used VisitorsCoverage, it's the cheapest that still meets reqiurements. Costs ~$250 for a year)

  • Cover letter (detailed explanation of trip’s purpose)


#3: In-Person Interview

After submitting your France-Visas application, you will need to schedule an interview in-person on TLSContact. This is the 3rd-party agency that the French government uses to send in our application documents for their approval, and let me tell you, it is the WORST website ever. It may take you about 50 attempts to log in, and it may send you to their page for Thailand or India by accident, but keep trying and eventually it will let you in. Maybe search "TLS France Visa Login" to be specific.


Also, the TLS system has an issue where your "departure date" from France can not be later than 1 year from the day you're applying. If it doesn't let you put your actual date, just put the closest one, and they will fix it for you at the appointment. For me, I plan to stay in France until June 30, 2027, but the system forced me to put May 2027 because I applied in May 2026.


France-Visa fee: $116

TLS fee: $258


Once you create an application on TLSContact by linking your France-Visas application ID, they will ask you to schedule your visa appointment. They only have offices in major embassy cities—for me, I had to drive 10 hours each way from Lincoln to Chicago, which kind of sucked, but whatever.


**Make sure you bring all your documents to your visa appointment, otherwise they WILL charge you or just not tell you you're missing something and pray on your downfall. BE PREPARED or face the RUDEST and WORST of French administration at TLS.


To recap, this is everything you will need if you are starting from scratch:

  1. Gather all your legal documents

  2. Find someone living in France who's willing to be your Guarantor, ask your parents, or sign up for Visale

  3. Create your housing Dossier

  4. Apply to landlords' apartment postings until you lock in a lease/address

  5. Use that address to fill out your France-Visas application

  6. Schedule your interview on TLSContact

  7. Pay all the fees

  8. (If you don't live in an embassy city) Plan your trip to nearest TLS office


Once you arrive in France, do not forget to VALIDATE your long-stay visa within 3 months!! Go to the Administration of Foreigners in France portal, put in your visa information and address, and pay (yet another) fee. Make sure you download the confirmation page when you're done, because that will serve as your official residence permit in France for the year.


To be honest, this was a long, complicated, expensive, and miserable process that really made me wish I was European. But in the end, very worth it!

 
 
 

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