Date: 1900 hrs, 22 January 2024
Tickets: Free for members / £10 for non-members
Registration: Members and non-members can book at www.theca.org.uk/france-visa-2024
Following the UK’s departure from the EU, UK citizens are restricted to staying in the Schengen area for only 90 days within any 180-day period. Penalties for overstaying can include fines, deportation or entry bans. These bans range anywhere from a few months to several years.
It is fortunate that France, the first port of call for many UK cross-channel sailors, offers a 6-month visa for visitors, the Visa de Long Séjour Temporaire (VLS-T), something that is not currently the case in most other EU states.
CA member Judy Evans has researched the VLS-T application process and successfully obtained a visa. In this Zoom webinar, Judy shares her experience and guides you through the application process.
CA member Judy Evans and her husband, Bob Barker, keep their Linssen 35 Dutch steel cruiser in France. They moved to the European inland waterways in 2018, following over 35 years as cross-Channel sailors in their Nicholson 35. Prior to Brexit (and Covid) Judy and Bob were able to spend between 5-6 months each year cruising the French coast and faring the French canals. In order to enable a continuation of that lifestyle, the VLS-T visa seemed an ideal solution.
However, Judy found the application process complicated, time-consuming and expensive – and it has to be repeated, in full, every year. For boat owners, applying for the visa is additionally complex, as the French Consulate in London and TLS, the company charged with managing the process in the UK, have had to be ‘educated’ over the past 3 years into understanding and accepting that an address on board a boat is synonymous to that of a hotel or private family residence – particularly when that address is not necessarily stationary! A visa refusal, due to a lack of understanding/acceptance of boats as valid residences, is costly and has to then be appealed, involving more time, effort, and money – although the situation has certainly improved since 2021.
Following the lifting of most Covid restrictions on travel Judy first applied for a VLS-T visa in 2022. In navigating the trials, tribulations and pitfalls of the visa application process over the past 2 years as a boat owner she has learnt how to manage it more smoothly. Now into her third year of applying, Judy will use the Zoom webinar to highlight the quirks and complications of the application process, as well as share her hints and tips on how to make the experience less stressful.
Read more about long stay visas for France: https://www.connexionfrance.com/article/French-news/Brexit/A-guide-to-the-temporary-long-stay-visa-for-France-and-how-to-apply
