[Bonjour France] The Great French Visa Challenge of a PNU Student

Living in a new place and learning a foreign language is a thrilling experience. I am currently in the process of preparing various documents for my upcoming exchange program at Aix-Marseille University (amU) in France for the upcoming semester.

My major is sociology, but I applied to the SUL (Service Universitaire des Langues which translates to “University Language Service”) at Aix-Marseille University to improve my French language skills. However, my decision to choose France was not based solely on my curiosity about the language or the appeal of the culture. PNU sends exchange students to over 34 countries. After conducting extensive research, I discovered that Aix-en-Provence in southern France is a charming city with a relaxed and warm atmosphere. A city bathed in sunlight all day long was an irresistibly appealing option for experiencing a new daily routine.

While preparing for my long-awaited exchange program in France, I felt both excitement and anxiety. The first hurdle was obtaining a visa, which was unfamiliar and complicated. A visa is mandatory for international students staying in France for more than 90 days, and the process is renowned for being more stringent than in other European countries.

Unlike visas for other European countries, obtaining a French visa required going through two different agencies. While most countries allow you to obtain a visa directly through their embassy or visa center, France requires you to go through both "Campus France" (the French Education Promotion Agency) and the French Embassy in Korea to complete the visa application process. Since the two procedures are operated completely separately, it was necessary to pay close attention to the different reservation systems and required documents for each. Additionally, both agencies are located in Seoul, so for me, who lives in Busan, it was a significant burden in terms of transportation costs and time.

Nevertheless, by understanding the visa issuance process required by France in advance, you can minimize unnecessary mistakes. For students preparing to study in France, I have detailed the process of obtaining a French exchange student visa in chronological order based on my own experience from May 12th to August 2nd.

To visit France, you must first register your documents online on the official "Campus France" website. There are about five required documents. On May 12th, I uploaded the following documents to my student visa personal page (Etudes en France): a scanned copy of my passport, a scanned copy of the administrative fee (330,000 won) payment receipt, a final academic transcript (in English), a resume, and an admission letter. After clicking the submit button, the documents were reviewed.

The more thoroughly you prepare your documents, the faster the review process will be, so it is important to be thoroughly prepared. According to the “EU France Study Abroad Association,” it takes at least three to five days (excluding weekends) from the submission of documents to approval, but if any deficiencies are found in the submitted documents, it may take longer. I received a request to revise some of my documents due to incorrect entries, which took a total of seven days.

Once the documents are finally approved, "Campus France" conducts a face-to-face interview, but since the interview date is limited to Wednesdays, it is difficult to coordinate with other schedules. According to "Campus France", interviews for exchange students are usually conducted only on Wednesdays. On other days, interviews are conducted for general students, excluding exchange, dispatch, and visiting students. When I tried to make an appointment for an interview on a day other than Wednesday, the appointment was automatically canceled.

Although it was a difficult interview to book, the atmosphere on site was more relaxed than I had expected. During the waiting time, I was able to practice my prepared answers for the interview. Since electronic devices are not allowed in the embassy, it was helpful to write down my answers on paper. In the interview room, one interviewer evaluated four applicants. The students explained their academic and career plans in English or French, while I opted for my interview to be conducted in English for the motivation of my studies and Korean for the detailed plan. I spoke in English about my personal information and reasons for applying for the exchange program, and in Korean about my detailed plans.

I was fortunate to be able to have my interview in Korean. After researching interview reviews myself, I found that the atmosphere of "Campus France" interviews often varied depending on the circumstances and interviewers at the time. Therefore, I recommend preparing answers for basic questions such as self-introduction, motivation for applying, study plans, and career plans in English.

Visiting the embassy is the final step in the visa application process. Securing an appointment quickly is crucial due to fierce competition. When I accessed the official French visa website (France-Visas) on May 20th, the earliest date available for application was July 17th, approximately two months later. This phenomenon was also evident in online reviews, with applicants typically waiting about a month and often longer during school vacations.

After finally securing a visit date, I had to prepare numerous documents. While the pre-approval process through “Campus France” required only five documents, the French Embassy demanded significantly more items. In addition to the visa application form and visa appointment confirmation issued by the official French visa website, I also needed to prepare the following documents: Passport or Passport copy, Admission letter with the “Campus France” seal, Bank statement (in English), Proof of residence in France, Visa issuance fee (approximately 50 euros in Korean won), and Courier application form. Since insufficient documents would result in visa denial, I created a checklist to prevent mistakes.

Unlike the complicated preparation process, submitting the documents was completed in a short amount of time. On July 17th at 10:30 am, I visited the French Embassy and went through the process of submitting documents, registering my fingerprints, and paying the fees. I left the embassy in 20 minutes and felt a sense of relief.

The process of obtaining a visa on my own as a college student was not easy at all. The costs for obtaining a visa alone amounted to 330,000 won for "Campus France" administrative fees, approximately 200,000 won for transportation and 80,000 won for visa application fees. The schedule was also tight. Since I couldn’t go to Seoul during the semester due to classes, I had to rush through all the preparations after the semester ended. Even then, there was an experience where the interview date I had barely managed to secure was almost canceled due to train delays caused by a downpour.

It took approximately two and a half months until the final visa was issued. This was about three weeks after the embassy visit. The visa was delivered via cash-on-delivery courier, with a shipping fee of 9,000 won. Paying the shipping fee brought back memories of the entire process involved in obtaining the visa. Though the procedures were cumbersome and kept me on edge at every step, it was a moment that made all the previous hardships worthwhile.

Reporter Seo Yoo-Jung

Translated by Channel PNU