Urgent Visa Help

A week has gone by and no one has answered your questions, so I'll bite as to why I think why not . . ..

You wrote:
>My daughter is living and working in France on a 1 year Working Visa. two quick questions I've been unable to get the answer to from either France in Australia or the Consulate.

My opinion would be that if your daughter was mature enough to land a job in France and organize the legal working papers and visa, she probably is mature enough to handle this herself.

Also, you wrote:
>1. When her visa runs out, does she have to leave France , go to an non- EU country and apply for a 3 month working visa in order to extend her stay in France?
>OR 2. Does she have to return to Australia when her 1 year visa expires in order to apply for a 3 month Tourist visa?

Wouldn't make a lot more sense for her to contact immigration or the Ministry of Labor in France directly and in person rather than to rely on opinions from people on this forum?

I know when the time comes for me to renew my visa I go directly to the immigration authorities IN PERSON to ask them what I need to do. I don't ask the OPINION of people who may or may not know and who have no stake in my successful renewal.

My guess is that most people who live abroad legally and successfully would have a similar viewpoint - thus it is difficult to answer your questions or we just don't want to as it would take a convoluted explanation such as the one I just wrote.

Yes, when her visa expires she has to leave. She might be able to extend it for a month or two. She should get with immigrations. She could also leave the ENTIRE Schengen area for 90 days and then go back, but she could only stay for 90 days within the Schengen area.

There are no 3 month tourist visas for Australians visiting France. Australians are permitted 90 days in a 180 day period within the Schengen zone. The 25 Schengen countries are: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland plus the micro states of San Marino, Monaco and the Vatican. All these countries except Norway, Iceland and Switzerland are European Union members. Romania should become part of Schengen sometime in 2011.

If you daughter is working and intends to continue working then her company might be able to assist her in extending her work visa. OTOH if you daughter is working on a working holiday visa then it is less likely that she can get an extension since this would mean obtaining a different type of visa.

It would be nice if you followed up to tell us what happened.

Ruth