Tips for Planning a longer stay in France

Every year around now, my residence card/work permit expires.  Every year I block a few weeks to organize all of the previous years of paperwork to create my dossier.  This one inch think binder of perfectly organized papers consists of originals, certified copies, translations, and certificates of authentic translations of dozens of required documents.  It takes some organization and persistence to earn the privilege of living here but it's do-able.

Anyone who has lived abroad is familiar with the paperwork chase needed to get official. Everyone who has dealt with government agencies of any sort know the hoops and jumps you have to complete to get approvals, cards or benefits.  It takes persistence and planning but visiting and living abroad are possible.  There is a huge and diverse community of expatriates and budget travelers seeing the world.  If you've never been abroad, don't worry the water is fine.

Here are some essential steps for planning your stay in France (though these basics generically apply to planning any trip):

1.  Start a savings plan.  Money is obviously a factor in going anywhere but even if your budget is modest, you can still travel to France (or any foreign country).  The more you save, the longer you can stay or the more you can spend during your time abroad.  If it's really a goal to travel then sacrifice is needed.

2.  Make a realistic budget.  Basic costs are food, transportation, housing and pocket money.  Museums can add up to lots of money but can you really see 3 museums a day?  Make a 'must see' list and try to keep it reasonable.  Watching grumpy tourists race exhausted from one end of the city to the other checking off a to-do lists doesn't look fun to me. If it's fun for you, of course that's great.  But if you step back from the hustle of the big attractions, the real charm of Paris will quietly emerge.

3.  Make a creative budget.   People of all walks of life from immigrant fruit sellers at the metro to billionaires live in Paris.  I eat here and feed my 3 year old son on about 250€ per month.  We don't go to restaurants often and I do a lot of my shopping at the local outdoor markets which are sprinkled all over town.  
A walk through a crowded market street with vendors yelling "allez! allez!", or getting a warm baguette directly from the boulangerie is a huge part of the experience of being in France.

• Find out where the locals shop where you're staying and follow along.  A couple of fancy dinners are nice but eating well on a budget is not hard to do in Paris.  The everyday food is excellent, fresh and easy to prepare.
• Use only public transportation to keep costs low.  It's cheap, efficient, very reliable and only requires a little leg work in advance.
• Don't stay in hotels.  You can find private owners who rent their homes when they're on vacation which is usually in the summer when you want to come. Try airbnb.com, HouseTrip, and papvances.com (if you have a dictionary and some basic french).  
• For longer stays, I can whole heartedly recommend Quality Homes International for their excellent service and individual attention.  The owner is French but lived in the US so she can help to tailor to your needs.   A friend in the know recommended these sites to me and there is a large variety www.apariscommechezsoi.com , www.parisautrement.com but I haven't used them personally.

It's not relevant for a short vacation but if you want to stay longer, you need to consider all your assets and goals.  You could be an English speaking nanny or tutor.  You could teach a class in a special skill you have.  You can rent out your home, car, have a lot of garage sales...be creative.  

4. Remember the longer you plan to stay, the cheaper the daily cost.  The flights will be your single biggest expense.  You can spend the same amount on one week in a hotel room as a month in a small studio with a kitchen under a slanted rooftop.  If you're willing to give up the perks, you can have a longer and less hurried view of the city.  If you are willing to give up a little privacy, people are always looking for roommates in Paris and you might make a friend out of it.  If you spend time in a less touristed (but no less interesting) region, your daily cost could go down even further.

5.  Study the language.  When visiting for a week, bon jour, merci and au revoir will get you further than you'd think.  Being polite in another person's language is good manners.  Staying longer means speaking some French.  I studied from middle school to university but didn't actually use any French until nearly 15 years later.  I was rusty but some of it does come back and there are lots of options for taking French lessons.  One of the best ways to secure a longer term student visa is to apply for study at a language school.

6.  Prepare Passport and Visas.   On a visitor visa, you are eligible to stay 90 days and you just need a passport valid for at least six months.  Student Visas, Long Term Visas, Work Visa and Long Term Residence Cards are needed for stays longer than 90 days.  I would have to dedicate a few posts to that one and I'm not an expert so for now, I'll leave it generic.

7.  Be Patient and Persistent.  If it's a goal to travel to Paris and money or circumstances make it impossible right now, that doesn't mean it will always be impossible.  It took me about 10 years of planning and plotting my way to Paris and I've been here now for more than 5 years.  There was a lot of random luck but I also set a goal to live and work here and made choices which brought me closer to the goal.

My next long term goal is to buy an apartment in Paris but that will take years but I'm already taking small steps.  My yearly residence card if renewed will be the next.  Then, I need to secure a 10 year residence card, find a decent job and sell everything I own, while at the same time managing this new co-parenting situation with my ex in Ireland.  

Easy Peasy.