Traveling while waiting for French residence permit

Upvote:1

I have a valid récépisse and I know this is not a valid document to travel (back) to France

A recipissé is a valid travel document, given:

If you have a valid recipisse, it should not be a problem, since they do not issue resident cards until the second year of residence (At least for students AFAIK). There are a lot of students who go back home for summer holidays with their recipissé after the first year, so this should not be a problem (given you already have the OFFII or another visa stamped on your passport)

Upvote:1

I have a valid récépissé and I know this is not a valid document to travel (back) to France.

As explained before, a récépissé can replace a visa but only if it's a récépissé for a renewal. As you wrote, a récépissé for a first application would not open any right to come back to France after a trip abroad.

But anyway, I'm from a country which gets 90 days visa exemption for tourism. My question is: would it be ok (and by this I mean legal) to travel outside Schengen for a few days and then come back so I can get my passport stamped as if I were here simply for tourism?

Two problems with this plan:

  • You would be misrepresenting the purpose of your trip. Short-stay rules for the Schengen area cover many purposes and are not always enforced very strictly but, in principle, entry is generally contingent on proving your intent to leave the area in time. Schengen rules haven't superseded national requirements for long stays.
  • A careful border guard could notice you have a recent exit stamp and check whether you have exceeded the 90-day limit on short stays. You need a titre de séjour to account for that and establish your right to stay in the country long-term.

There are still two other possibilities. If you are stuck abroad, you can apply for a visa consulaire de retour. Before leaving, you can also apply for a visa de retour préfectoral. Both of these are discretionary and typically issued for very serious reasons (going to the funeral of a close family member, these kind of things) and can only really be used as a last resort. But the préfecture does have a legal means to facilitate your trip if you can convince them.

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