Moving to France from Mexico

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Your first steps, in order

1. 01Choose your long-stay visa type

   To live in France more than 3 months you need a long-stay visa; a VLS-TS lasts 4 to 12 months (F16162).

   The main types: "visiteur" if you live on your own means and do not work in France: at least 1,477.93 € net a month, health insurance for the whole stay and a handwritten statement that you will not work (F302). "Talent" (9 kinds, for example a qualified employee from 39,582 € gross a year), a card of up to 4 years, and your family gets a "talent-famille" card (F16922), which lets your spouse work as an employee or self-employed (F35792). "Salarié": your employer applies online for the work permit (F15898). "Étudiant": at least 877.5 € a month (F2231).

   If your spouse is French, the VLS-TS is issued without conditions (F16162); if your spouse is a foreigner living in France for 18 months, it is family reunification (F2209).

   Retired and living on a pension: this is the "visiteur" visa, and a pension counts as your own means (F302); the "retraité" card is only for people who already lived in France with a resident card and receive a French pension (F2710).

   Under 3 months: a short-stay Schengen visa (type C) or, depending on your nationality, no visa at all (check with Assistant visa); at most 90 days in any 180 days, and it does not let you settle (F16146).

2. 02Gather the documents and apply at the consulate

   You apply at the French consulate in the country where you live, no earlier than 3 months before you leave. The document list for your visa type and the fee (it depends on the country) are on France-Visas (F16162).

   Bring the originals of your civil status documents (for example a full birth certificate): in France the CPAM asks for one with a French translation (F16467).

   For a licence exchange the translation must be official, and if it is made abroad it must be legalised or apostilled (F1460): this is easier to do before you leave.

3. 03Health insurance for the first months, before Ameli

   French public health cover (Puma) does not start at once. Without a job, your rights open after 3 months of living in France (F34308).

   With a job, you are covered once the CPAM accepts your request (F16467).

   For a "visiteur" visa, insurance for the whole stay is required (F302).

   So take a private insurance that starts on the day you arrive and covers the first months. Your social security number comes through the CPAM: if you were born abroad, you first get a temporary number (numéro d'identification d'attente), and the permanent one after your documents are checked. You need an identity document or residence permit and a full birth certificate with a French translation (F16467).

4. 04Validate your VLS-TS within 3 months of arrival

   Within 3 months of your arrival, validate your VLS-TS online and pay the tax. For students the tax is 100 € (F2231); the site shows the amount for other visas. Without validation your stay is irregular and you cannot re-enter the Schengen area (F16162).

   To stay after the visa ends, apply for a card 4 to 2 months before it ends (F302, F2231).

5. 05Open a bank account in France

   You need an account, for example to receive Assurance maladie refunds on your own account. A foreigner who lives legally in France can open one. The bank asks for ID and a proof of address: a rent receipt, a water or electricity bill or a tax notice. No French address of your own yet (you just arrived, or you stay with someone): an attestation d'hébergement from the person you stay with works, and without a stable home an attestation d'élection de domicile. If a bank refuses, or does not answer within 15 days of your request, that counts as a refusal: the bank must give you a letter with the reason, and you can ask the Banque de France for the droit au compte procedure. It names a bank that must open a basic account for you.

   Official sources: (F2413, F2417)

6. 06Rent your first home without French payslips

   A landlord may only ask for documents from a fixed list, and French payslips are not the only way to show income. For example: the tax notice from the country where you paid tax, proof of a pension or other payments over the last 3 months, a property title. Copies must be in French or translated, with amounts converted to euros (F1169).

   Garantie Visale is a free guarantee from Action Logement. Under 30, almost everyone can get it (students, employees, job seekers); from 30, for example a private-sector employee within 6 months of being hired, or with a job promise starting within 3 months. You apply on Visale.fr before signing the lease, and the answer comes within a few working days (F33453).

   The deposit (dépôt de garantie) is at most 1 month of rent without charges for an unfurnished home and 2 months for a furnished one (F31269).

7. 07Bring your car and register it in France

   If you settle in France, you must register your car here within 1 month, whatever your nationality. You apply online on the ANTS site or through an approved car professional, not at the préfecture. For a car from outside the EU you need: the original registration certificate (or an official proof of ownership), a proof of address less than 6 months old, form cerfa 13750, the customs certificate 846 A, a roadworthiness test done in France or the EU less than 6 months ago if the car is over 4 years old, and a conformity document (a COC from the maker, or a réception à titre isolé from the Dreal). A temporary certificate (CPI) lets you drive for 1 month, in France only, until the final one arrives (F10519).

8. 08Taxes in two countries: what to know before you move

   In France you declare your income in the spring of the next year. If you declare in France for the first time, it is a paper return (F36401); the step on your first return shows the date. We do not give tax advice: a tax adviser who works with both countries can tell you how they fit together.

9. 09Your driving licence

   A non-EU licence is valid in France only for 1 year after you settle here; then you must exchange it, if your country is on the exchange list (F1460). Mexico: not on the list (1 May 2026), so the licence cannot be exchanged and you will have to pass the test in France. With a student residence card ("étudiant") you can drive on your own licence while the card is valid.

Each fact links to the official Service-Public page (in French). This is general information, not legal advice.