If you want to live in France, the first thing you need to do is figure out whether or not you need a visa. In this video I talk about who needs a visa and which one to get if you plan to live in France.  Not visit but actually “LIVE” in France.  it will demystify a lot of things for you.

Even if you don’t ever plan to move abroad and are just a curious armchair traveler, you can and should watch this video series. I’ve tried to make this equal parts entertaining and educational so that anyone can watch it.    I share all my personal experience with you and will leave no stone un-turned.

If you haven’t already, please go see Part 1 of this series titled “How to Move To France video Series #1: Introduction.  If you’re curious about life in France,  I have another video series where my family and I share what it’s like. You can find all the videos at the “our Life Abroad” Section of the site.

Mentioned in this video

Short Stay 90 days or less –

Citizens of the following countries DO NOT need a visa to visit France for 90 days or less.

USA, Canada, Member states of the European Union
Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Bermuda, Brazil, Brunei, Chile, Costa Rica, Croatia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Holy See, Honduras, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Monaco, Nicaragua, New Zealand, Panama, Paraguay, San Marino, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland, Uruguay, Venezuela.

Citizens of all other countries will need to apply for a visa just to step foot in France for one day. Sorry China, Thailand, Vietnam and more. I know, it’s not fair.

Long Stay: 90 days or more-

If you plan to stay in France for 90 days or more, you will need to apply for a “LONG STAY VISA”. This applies to EVERYONE unless………… you are a citizen of a country which is a member State of the European Union and the European Economic Area (EEA), Switzerland, Monaco and Andorra.

What Does The Long Stay Visa Allow You To Do?

My family has a long stay visa to live in France for one year. We have the option to renew if we like for another year which we plan to do.  A long stay visa does not allow you to work or study legally in France. You will have to apply for a different visa to do that. In the video I discus the reasons.

How To Apply For A Long Stay Visa To Stay in France. ( Called  “Carte de Séjour”  in French).

Step one: Find the website of the French consulate nearest your place of residency.

I’ve listed out how to find the one nearest you below after this set of directions.

Step two: Navigate to the Visa section of the consulates website.

Step three: If you don’t speak French, you can translate the entire website to your home countries language. In some cases the home country language is not available. Instead, English is available.

Step three: Look for a download link that says Long stay visa for non professional purpose “visitor visa” or something similar. ( this is the one located on the Washington D.C. French embassies site.

*Note:

* The application will be in French. There is usually a translated application in English or your home country for you to download. You CANNOT use the non French version to apply. It is only there for you so you can understand the requirements.

* You must apply apply for a long stay visa by applying at the nearest French Embassy / Consulate in your home country. You cannot apply while in France or abroad. This information is stated directly on the French Embassies website.

Next Week I will go over each section of the visa application and show you how to fill it out even if you don’t speak french. I’ll also start diving into the requirements. Eventually we’ll get to the all important “MONEY” part. So stay tuned. 

Below: List of French Embassies and Consulates In the World

Follow the directions in video to learn where to get the application.

All French Embassies In The World

Here are the French Embassies in Canada

Below are the US Embassies and Consulates

Click on the one that is nearest you.

Atlanta

Service area: Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee.
Location: Prominence in Buckhead, Suite 1840, 3475 Piedmont Rd., NE
Atlanta, GA 30305, USA
Phone: (404) 495-1660 ; Fax: (404) 495-1661

Boston

Service area: Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont.
Location: Park Square Building, Suite 750
31 Saint James Avenue
Boston, MA 02116, USA
Phone: (617) 542-7374 ; Fax: (617) 542-8054

Chicago

Service area: North Dakota, South Dakota, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Wisconsin.
Location: Olympia Center, 737 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 2020
Chicago, Illinois 60611, USA
Phone: (312) 787-5359 /60 /61 and 787-5385
Fax: (312) 664-4196

Honolulu- No website listed you will need to call

Service area: Hawaii and the Pacific Islands under U.S. jurisdiction.
Location: 2 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 300
500 Ala Moana Boulevard
Honolulu, Hawaii 96813, USA
Phone: (808) 599-4458 /59 /60 ; Fax: (808) 599-4751 ;

Houston

Service area: Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas.
Location: 777 Post Oak Boulevard, Suite 600
Houston, TX 77056, USA
Phone: (713) 572-2799 and 572-0654
Fax: (713) 572-2904

Los Angeles

Service area: Arizona, California (Mono, Inyo, Kings, San Luis Obispo, Kern, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Orange, Riverside, Imperial and San Diego Counties), Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada (Clark, Lincoln, Nye, Esmeralda and Mineral Counties).
Location: 10990 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 300
Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA
Phone: (310) 235-3250 ; Fax: (310) 479-4813

Miami

Service area: Florida, Bahamas, U.S. Virgin Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands, Cayman Islands.
Location: Biscayne Tower, 2 South Biscayne Boulevard, Suite 1710
Miami, FL 33131, USA
Phone: (305) 372-9798 /99 ; Fax: (305) 372-9549

New Orleans

Service area: Louisiana.
Location: Amoco Building 1340 Poydras Street, Suite 1710
New Orleans, ÊLA 70112, USA
Phone: (504) 523-5772 ; Fax: (504) 523-5725

New York

Service area: Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Bermuda.
Location: 934 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA
Visa section: 10 East 74th Street, New York , NY 10021, USA
Phone: (212) 606-3644 ; Recorded information: (212) 606-3688
Fax: (212) 606-3670

San Francisco

Service area: Alaska, California (except for Mono, Inyo, Kings, San Luis Obispo, Kern, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Orange, Riverside, Imperial and San Diego Counties), Idaho, Montana, Nevada (except for Clark, Lincoln, Nye, Esmeralda and Mineral Counties), Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming.
Location: 540 Bush Street
San Francisco, CA 94108, USA
Phone: (415) 397-4330 ; Fax: (415) 433-8357
Visas only: (415) 616-4910 ; Fax: 397-7843

San Juan, P.R.- No website found you will have to call

Service area: Puerto Rico & Vieques, U.S. Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands, Turks & Cayman Islands, Anguilla, Caicos Islands, Montserrat.
Location: Mercantile Plaza, Suite 720, Ponce de Leon Avenue
Stop 27-1/2, Hato Rey, Puerto Rico
Phone: (809) 753-1700 /01

Washington, D.C.

Service area: Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia.
Offices are open to the public from 8:45am to 12:45pm on weekdays.
Location: 4101 Reservoir Road N.W.
Washington, DC 20007, USA
Phone: Embassy: (202) 944-6000 ; Consulate: (202) 944-6200 ;
Fax: Embassy: (202) 944-6072 ; Consulate: (202) 944-6212

If you have any questions about this process feel free to ask by leaving a comment below. 

This is the first installment of a video series to help people learn how they can move to France.

The series is free for the moment.  Please pass it on to anyone you think may be interested and please share this video series as much as possible anywhere anyhow. It helps drive traffic to my site and helps people find the information they are looking for.

This first video is a first look as to why I created this series.

Stay tuned: Next week I’ll go over the application that will let you stay in France for a year or more.

If you run a home business and sell handmade products than chances are you’ve been pondering over hang tags. You know, those little tags that tell you about the product you are about to buy?

You could buy them but what if you’re not not ready to commit to buying a large quantity of professionally printed hang tags?

What if you just need a few hang tags that you can adjust and tweak until you’re ready to outsource the production of your product hang tags?

The solutions

Here is a really cute, elegant, affordable and simple solution. It adds a nice final touch to your work. It’s scalable too, so if you wanted to add more info about your product

or business, you could just add a few more pages to the booklet.

Buyers of handmade products love to know more about the maker. I feel more connected with the maker and object when i know more about them. Like when I go to craft shows or the farmers market and I meet the actual person who produced the goods I buy. Adding a hang tag with a little bio about you, the designer and the product is the next best thing you can do to meeting the potential buyer. It gives the buyer or browser a sense of whom and what went into the design and work for each product. It’s where you can make you and your work shine. Call out all the best features like “hand stitched”, “organic”, “made with love” etc. Best of all, it increases the perceived value of the product which possibly translates into more sales.

Below are the instructions. Please forward any photos of your work if you use this tutorial. I would love to link to them and see them in action.

Supplies Needed

Time: Make a hundred of these in less than an hour.

1. Heavy Card stock or
2. Printer
3. Sewing Machine or Glue
4. Scissors or Paper cutters
5. Thread (optional)
6. Paper Hole Punch (optional)
7. Mini Safety Pin (Optional)
8. Custom Rubber Stamp (Optional)

Instructions

1. Write a Bio about yourself, your product, company or wish someone a happy birthday if your making this into a gift tag. I put my hang tag info in a word document and made a table within the document to hold my information. Download the word template which has a table that is 4 columns by 3 rows. You can download the template Template: for gift tag / hang tag tutorial
   
2. 
   Print out the template after you have finished writing your bio and product info.
   
3. Get your sissors or Xacto paper ready.
   
4. 
   Cut out each mini booklet. These will become the pages inside of the booklet.
   
5. Measure each mini booklet. If you used my template and didn’t adjust it, Each one should measure about 2.5 x 5 inches. This is Important, because this will determine the size of the cover or outer booklet page that you will be cutting from the heavy card stock. I made it so the outer booklet is slightly bigger than the inner pages. See next step for size.
   
6. Get your heavy card stock, measure 3 x 6 inches and cut out. This is slightly larger than the 2.5 x 6 inches that we just cut for in the step above. This is because we want the outer cover to completely cover the inner pages like a book would.
   
7. Now you are almost ready to start assembling the pieces.
   
8. Fold each of the inner and outer booklets in half. Make sure to make the creases strong.
   

10. Assemble: Place the inner pages ( the template that you wrote your bio and product info on) inside the folded heavy card stock.

11. Attach: You can glue the pages to the cardstock or you can use a sewing machine. I chose a sewing machine because I wanted my hang tag to have that stitched appearance.

12. If you are sewing, just stitch from end to the other.

13. Your handmade hang tag is almost done.

14. Now you have to snip off the little threads at each end.

15. Punch a hole in the back of the hang tag with a paper hole punch. This is where you will thread some thread through.

16. Get some string, I used embroidery thread, and tie it through the hold you just made.

17. The next steps are optional. Depending on what your product is, you could just loop your new handmade hang tag to your product of gift. I can’t always do that, so I bought some mini safety pins and attached one to each hang tag.

18. Admire your work. Here’s what your hang tag booklet should look like.

19. Lastly, you could add a little extra touch. I stamped my logo on the outside of the hang tag booklet. I had some custom rubber stamps made up for my business. I use them to stamp stationary, customer bags which I use to put customer purchases in at craft fairs, thank you notes with shipped items. It really comes in handy.

20. One last thing, I hand write thank you and sign each one.

That concludes my tutorial on how to make your own product hang tag for your handmade products and gifts.

Good luck and happy crafting

You are free to link to this article or re post this article. Please give credit and a link back.