Pre-Departure

So You've Been Accepted to TAPIF! Now what?

1. FBI Background Check

Now that you're accepted, you'll have to submit an FBI background check. To do so you will need to have your fingerprints taken and sent to the FBI. You can do this yourself by going to a local police station for fingerprints, fill out a form, and mail them to the FBI with an $18 payment. Alternatively, you can spend $50 at a service like Fieldprint and just show up at a number of locations to have it done pretty easily. 

Once you receive your FBI letter, you will upload it to your original TAPIF application. online

2. Email your Teacher or Contact

Hopefully your secondary head teacher or your primary school assistant contact will email you, but if not it would be a good idea to email and introduce yourself to your schools, teachers, or contact. Feel free to ask them questions. They may or may not be able to give you more information about transportation, housing, banking, contact information for past assistants, what to bring, or more. 

3. Visa Application

Recently Visa application processing was outsourced. Now, instead of visiting a French consulate, you will need to go to one of 9 VFS global application centers. You can go to any center. It doesn't matter which one. In general the American TAPIF guide should walk you through most of the process. You'll need to fill out an application on the France-visas website, make an appointment with VFS, pay the $28.45 service fee, and go back to the France-visas website to print out your application. At least in my experience for the DC center, I found plenty of appointments available even 3 days away. In total you'll need to bring all of the following documents:

1. VFS appointment receipt
2. France-Visas Registration Receipt
3. Application form dated and signed
4. Passport sized ID photo. (Should technically be EU size, but normal US size seems to be OK)
5. Passport 
6. Proof of legal status if not a US citizen
7. Arrêté de nomination

Note: Your arrêté is the only requirement for proof of qualification. You do not need a diploma.

 You will also pay an additional $35 if you want your passport mailed back to you. Otherwise you can pick up your passport in person at the same office. If you do choose to have your passport mailed, it will be sent by one day air mail. You'll be given a number to track your application online, but I found that it wasn't really useful. It basically just told me that my application was sent to the embassy and the next update wasn't until the day before I actually received my passport and visa in the mail.

While it is best to apply as soon as possible, the limiting factor will likely be receiving your arrêté. It varies by region. In the Poitiers region, many of us did not receive our arrêtés until the second to last week in August. 

4. Documents to Bring

When you go to France you may be asked for a number of different documents depending upon your situation. Here are all of the documents I would recommend bringing copies of:

1. Passport Identity pages
2. Visa de long sejour in passport
3. Arrêté de Nomination
4. Official Birth Certificate
5. EU sized passport photos (45cm x 35cm) - (These can also be done affordably in France)

5. Bank Account

Most regular bank accounts have out of network ATM fees plus foreign transaction fees of up to 3%. These fees really add up over time, but there are a number of accounts available that don't charge any fees. Below are a few good bank options.

Capital One 360 Checking: No foreign transaction or exchange fees and no ATM fees. 

Charles Schwab Investor Checking: Also has no foreign transaction fees or ATM fees and will even reimburse you for fees that the ATM charges you.

TD Bank: No foreign transaction or exchange fees, but they will charge $3 non-TD ATM fee unless you get TD Beyond checking which requires a $2,500 minimum balance to avoid monthly maintenance fees.

Transferwise: Not a standard bank account. Transferwise is a fairly cheap and easy ways to convert and transfer your US Dollars to Euros and vice versa. They have a "borderless debit card" which has allows you to spend your converted money without any extra fees and you can withdraw up to $250 equivalent fee-free from ATMs with a 2% fee if you withdraw more.
You can use Transferwise to transfer and convert money between your bank accounts at home and in France.

Overall, Withdrawing money from ATMs will almost always give you a better exchange rate than paying to convert physical US dollar bills so having a fee free debit card can help you save a lot.