July 13th, 2008 by Rachel | Country: United States (home) | 3 Comments »
Last September, I asked a travel coordinator how I can get a visa for France since I knew that I was going to be in France for more than 90 days. American citizens can stay in the Schengen network for a total of 90 days without a Visa, but if we’re staying in the Schengen network for more than 90 days, we definitely need a Visa. The travel coordinator told me to go to this site, but I couldn’t apply until 30 days before I leave. So, I marked my calendar for beginning of June to apply for Visa since I was leaving on July 21st. So, about a month ago, I go on to the French Consulate site and read the guidelines.
What the heck? My blood was boiling HOT and my body was shaking like crazy! “I’m leaving ONLY in five weeks and what if I don’t get it before I leave?” I thought to myself. I read through the guidelines quickly and then saw I that I had to make an appointment in order to submit my application. I quickly made an appointment for a week and a half later. Applying for Visa was NOT simple. I had to gather gazillions of documents. Here is what I needed:
- Application form
- Letter from the university IN France
- Letter from the study abroad coordinator at SCAD
- Letter from CCI Exchange Program
- Letter from my health insurance
- Letter from SCAD stating that I’m enrolled at SCAD
- ALL the addresses of where I would be staying in France
- Bank Statements
- Notarized letter from my parents stating that they will help me financially
- Copy of my driver’s license
- Copy of my health insurance card
- Detailed letter of what I was planning to do in Europe
- French Translation of ALL the documents
- My airfare tickets
- Valid US passport
I had to make to make rounds and rounds of phone calls to collect all those letters and demand them to expedite them, of course I asked them in a nice way. On top of that, I had to make three copies of each documents AND translate EVERY SINGLE documents into French. Thank goodness I know the language! Eventually my pile of documents became to be about six inches thick. By the time I had to go in for an appointment, I anxiously turned in my documents with high hopes that I had every single pieces. “You’re good to go,” said the Visa coordinater. I walked out with mixed feelings. I was relieved to know that I had all of my documents, but I was nervous about ensuring that I’d get in time although the Visa coordinater did say that I would get it before I leave.
For the past three weeks, I’ve been anxiously waiting to get my passport back since they took it and my visa. Lo and behold! Look at what I got today in the mail!
3 Comments
Rachel
July 15, 2008 at 12:49 pm
Test Test…I’m just testing this.
Rachel
July 15, 2008 at 1:05 pm
Test test…this is just another test to make sure this is working…
Rachel
July 16, 2008 at 2:22 am
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