This is no Matrimonial site. If you are looking for a spouse, please ask your parents or Shaadi.com etc. This link is useful once you have found your life partner.

 

Bringing your spouse to France is not as trivial as in the US, UK or any other part of the world. This will take time (plenty of time) and planning from your side. Gather as much information as possible before deciding on the final path to take. One of the key documents is the Marriage Certificate.

 

There are plenty of Visa categories in France. Some useful ones to apply for your spouse are:

Regroupement Familiale, Visitor Long Sejour (Dependent), Student or Work 

The Spouses of people holding a Carte de Sejour Competences et Talents or Scientifique are issued a carte vie privée et familiale .

 

It is easiest if you and your spouse are already on a Long stay visa / Titre de sejour in France. You will only need to change your status at the Prefecture. Some people have noted that this may not work, as the authorities mention that the change is possible if your spouse had entered France before the Marriage not after Marriage.

 

If you are already married before your arrival in France, then you both can apply for a visa together. You will be given the visa you have applied for and your spouse will be given a dependent visa (Long Stay Visitor).

(Some latest information suggests that in some cases the embassy no longer issues this visa. For example if you are coming to France on a CDI work permit you are asked to apply for a Regroupement familiale)

 

If you are in France and plan to get married in the next few months then find out as much as you can before deciding on the visa to apply.

 

 

Regroupement Familiale:

 

If you are married (read as: have a Marriage Certificate) and have a Titre de Sejour valid for 1 year, you can apply for this visa at the ANAEM office.

7 rue Arthur Rimbaud

31200 Toulouse

Tel: 05 34 41 72 20

(Can reach by Metro Ligne B, Station: La vache).

 

Your spouse need not apply for a visa in India, all the admin work is done here and the info sent to the embassy in India. This process takes about 6 months.

You may need to produce the following set of documents:

Your Titre de Sejour, Address proof, Work Contract, Payslips, Birth certificate

Birth Ceritificate of your spouse and Marriage Certificate.

 

If you do not have a Marriage Certificate and Titre de sejour of 1 year, you cannot follow this process.

 

 

Student:

 

This visa can be applied as any student. Your spouse can apply for a course here. Either a higher education course (MS/PhD) or enroll in a 1 year French Langugage course at Alliance Francaise. Just keep in mind that the academic year starts in September for higher education courses. Alliance Francaise is a private school which has courses all the year round. If you pay a 3 month fees they give you a 1 year inscription letter starting from the date you want.

 

Your spouse can apply for a course independently even before the marriage. If you have already declared that you are married, the Visa authorities may ask you to follow the Regroupement Familiale option. You will need to convince them that the course is important enough to join now and that you cannot wait for 6 months. or if you do not have a 1 yr Titre de Sejour you can inform them that this is prohibiting you from following that path.

 

It is important that your spouse applies for a Long stay Visa. Else it will not help her to change her status later.

 

Once here in France, the spouse can change here status and continue to stay here with you. Some people have noted that this may not work, as the authorities mention that the change is possible if your spouse had entered France before the Marriage not after Marriage. Phew!!!

 

 

Your spouse needs to find work here and apply accordingly.

 

 

This is one option that you can use. See the page of inviting family and friends for more details.

This will give your spouse a right to stay for 3 months. This cannot be extended or changed. Your spouse will have to return to India at the end of the stay. Also note that this visa cannot be applied again for 6 months.

 

You can try to apply for this visa while the process of Regroupement familiale is ongoing.