Obtaining a Visiteur Visa for a Family with Two Children

Friends, France is the flagship destination of our immigration agency. To reduce the risk of rejection, we often answer questions about application errors, give recommendations, and pre-screen our clients. Today, using a new case study as an example, we will show how important it is to pay attention to the details of the visitor visa process.

During 4 months of work, our specialists analyzed the situation of a couple with two children and helped them to get Visiteur after two refusals.

Read the details below.

Client's story: obtaining a Visiteur visa for a family with two children

In early spring, a businessman from Krasnoyarsk contacted GARANT.in for advice. In Siberia, Roman owns a successful logistics company with headquarters in Moscow. The entrepreneur is married and has two school-age children. At the first meeting with our manager, he shared his failure.

In 2023, Roman transferred his business under the management of a relative and for personal reasons decided to leave with his family to France. The man is well acquainted with this country, as 6 years ago he studied at the campus of the famous business school INSEAD in Fontainebleau. Remembering his positive experience with the European educational system, Roman and his wife Olga decided that their sons (Marcel, 13, and Vladislav, 10) should also study in Europe.

To this end, the businessman turned to the office of an immigration company in Krasnoyarsk. With the help of intermediaries, he assembled a full package of documents to submit to the visa center. To prove his passive income, the man provided papers confirming the leasing out of 3 large properties for commercial use. Difficulties arose only with renting accommodation because when applying for a Visitor, a permanent address in the country for the entire validity period of the visa is required. At that time Roman also had a valid C visa for short trips to Europe, residency in the UAE, and a bank account there. He owned a stake in an Arab company and received annual dividends.

The businessman did not plan to buy real estate abroad. The agent convinced him that approving the permit was enough fake contract on renting an apartment, which would help to make their partners in France. As a result, Roman was provided with an agreement to rent an apartment in Paris for 10 months, and the missing 2 were confirmed by booking a hotel through a booking service.

Such a dossier was submitted to the visa center together with the application form and motivation letter:

• passports of the applicant, his spouse, and children;
• internal passports of the clients;
• bank account statements in the Russian Federation and the Emirates with a balance of more than 130,000 €;
• Certificates of ownership of real estate and lease agreements concluded 3 years ago;
• Guarantee agreement from a legal entity that acted as a guarantor for the lease in France;
• receipt of payment for the rented apartment;
• confirmation of hotel reservation;
• confirmation of children's enrollment in a Parisian school;
• medical insurance for a year.

Since Roman had already had experience in obtaining residency, he thought that, together with his assistants, he had put together a strong and convincing enough case. Alas, a month after submission, the rejection came in the mail. The entrepreneur was not going to put up with it and flew to France to appeal domestically. Appealing to the consulate did not yield any results, the businessman again received a refusal.

Going on another business trip to Moscow, Roman came to our agency for advice and assistance in reapplying for a visitor visa. Having analyzed his dossier, our manager named possible reasons why he could have been refused:

• fake apartment rental contract;
• absence of paid utility bills in the client's name;
• insufficient level of passive income for the family;
• a weak motive (he mentioned the desire to live in France and get acquainted with the culture of the country);
• the human factor during a formal check by an officer.

And if no one is immune from the last one, we were ready to correct all the previous ones and try once again to get a national visa for new clients. In March, Roman signed a contract with GARANT.in and we started working.

Working on mistakes

At the discussion stage, we asked the client why he was not planning to buy a home in France if he was going to move there for permanent residence. Roman explained that he was afraid of buying a home and getting rejected, as well as of paying taxes on foreign property in the future. The previous negative experience only reinforced this confidence.

Our lawyer familiarized the businessman with the general statistics of denials for 2023 to applicants who, at the time of application, had an actual lease with utility bills transferred to their name. We were able to convince him that owning a home gives a weighty priority for consideration over a cover letter from a guarantor and paid receipts. Roman agreed with our arguments and asked us to find some properties to buy.

The second important point is the transfer of the utility bills to the owner's name. The receipts attached to the file serve as proof of the intention of permanent residence. For this purpose, it would be good to have an account in a local bank. By the way, you can pay taxes in France only from accounts in French banks.

Thirdly, the most important thing is to have proof of financial security. Even though by law a visa applicant must prove a passive income of at least 2000€ (based on SMIC - the minimum wage in France), we recommend showing 3000-4000€ for each person. It is worth bearing in mind that, becoming a tax resident of the country, you will have to pay taxes on the specified amount. Also, the account balance should be sufficient for a whole family to live in France, namely from 30,000 € and above for each member.

And finally, motivation. Just wanting to live in the country for a year migration officers consider not a serious reason for issuing a national visa. When writing a motivation letter in this case it is more convincing to write that the applicant is not going to work in France, has a passive income, and comes to the country with his family for children's education.

Having sorted out the main mistakes, our specialists began to implement the plan step by step. They decided to apply through our branch in Dubai to increase their chances of success.

Remote purchase of an apartment

For this family, we selected a 4-bedroom apartment with 2 bedrooms of 115m2 in a beautiful historic building in Paris. The price of the apartment amounted to 835 000€. The client liked the location, the layout, and the quiet courtyard with a garden. We decided on this apartment and proceeded with the purchase procedure.

Our lawyer contacted the realtor and asked him to do a video tour of the apartment. Then we proceeded to reserve the property and asked for documents about the technical condition. After making sure that everything was fine, we signed a preliminary contract on Roman's behalf. With this document, our client went to a local bank to open an account and transferred funds from his UAE account to it. After that, the man transferred a 10% deposit to the seller, the French notary started the legal check of the deal's cleanliness, and we made the necessary calculations on this task. At this stage, we needed the following documents:

• passports of the buyers;
• copies of open visas (Roman and Olga had valid Schengen at that time);
• children's birth and marriage certificates;
• financial documentation confirming the legality of the origin of the funds.

When all formalities were settled, we were given a date to sign the main sales contract. By this time Roman had transferred the entire amount for the purchase price, notary fees, and commissions to the notary's account. The transaction was conducted remotely. After successful completion, the notary in France transferred the documents to the state registration office to change the owner.

New dossier and procedure for obtaining a Visitor's visa

In parallel with the execution of the sale and purchase transaction, our client collected evidence of security. During this time he provided the specialist with bank statements for the last 3 years with explanations of the movement of funds in the account. According to calculations, the income from renting out commercial real estate totaled almost 20 000€/month. The balance on deposit also met the conditions of the program - 250 000€. Our lawyers translated the collected papers into French and apostilled them.

We then set about finding a suitable school for Roman's sons, taking into account the address. We found a good language school not far from the apartment in the same XVI district. To enroll the children we needed the following documents:

• motivation letters from children and parents;
• last year's transcript with grades;
• a transcript with grades for the first trimester of this school year;
• color photos of the boys;
• applications for admission in a special form on the school website.

Tentatively we enrolled Marcel in the 6th grade and Vladislav in the 3rd. We also warned the parents that before the beginning of the next school year, the boys will have to take a CIO test to assess their level of knowledge of French and other subjects. If it turns out to be insufficient, the boys will be transferred for the first time to the so-called allophone class, where children of migrants study. Roman and Olga decided that before September they would enroll their children in private language courses to make it easier for them to adapt to the new environment.

When all the documents were collected, we sent a new dossier of candidates to the visa center. After 1.5 months, we received a positive decision in the mail and Roman and his family flew to France. After crossing the border our clients went to get settled in their new apartment and made an appointment at OFII for validation of their visas. After a short interview with the migration officer Roman and Olga submitted their biometric data and paid the state fees. After 3 weeks, the family was invited for a medical examination.

Roman highly appreciated the level of competence of our specialists and thanked them for their hard work.

National visa D Visiteur is the most expensive and difficult to obtain today. It is easy to make a mistake and get a rejection when applying on your own. Want to avoid trouble? Contact the experts at GARANT.in. We will help you develop a clear personalized strategy and find the best solution for your success.