Only 5 days after applying for my visa in Sydney, I received my passport and visa! I don't think I've ever gotten so excited over a little sticker before in my life. To explain, the visa is a temporary working visa (travailleur temporaire) and is just a little sticker in your passport that allows you to legally enter and work in France. However, this visa needs to be validated within 3 months of your entry into France. To do this you have to send paperwork to the OFII (immigration office) and then wait to be called upon to attend a medical examination. Once these steps are done, you get another little sticker in your passport that allows you to live and work in France for the duration of your contract without anymore hassles!
Now that I have the visa in my hot little hands, it means that I've jumped through all the French bureaucratic hoops that I needed to before I left. Relief!
Departure is getting seriously close! Only 11 days left until I leave Melbourne for Lille!
The last thing left to do is pack! Is there anything that I have to take with me, especially for a Northern Hemisphere winter novice like myself? Let me know in the comments below!
Hi! I found your blog on a google search for TAPIF, as I plan on applying for next fall! It is refreshing to see how excited you are to get to France.
ReplyDeleteAs for winter weather wear...once you get to France, so you don't have to try to pack this in your suitcase, a really warm, derriere-covering parka makes a world of difference. I spent last winter in Chicago and would have been a lot less happy if I hadn't had a really good winter coat. It's worth whatever it costs! I'll look forward to seeing what you think of the weather, as that is my biggest worry about possibly being placed in the north! Cheers!
Thanks sourire! Definitely the first thing I'll do is get a warm winter jacket. It gets a little cold in Melbourne, but I assume nothing like what it's like in the North of France. I'll keep you updated on how I'm coping haha! Good luck with your application! :)
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