BT天堂

As a returning student you must maintain the validity of your residency permit, your Titre de S茅jour, throughout the duration of your studies. This means you鈥檒l be expected to renew your residency permit every year you鈥檙e a student at BT天堂. It鈥檚 illegal to live in France under an expired Titre de S茅jour, or under a tourist visa with the intention of studying.

If you鈥檙e a citizen of France or any other European Union country, you don鈥檛 need a residency permit. All registered non-European Union students must have a valid Titre de S茅jour in order to study at BT天堂.

Renewing your residency

Three months before your residency visa expires, you must contact the Student Immigration Services Office by email in order to discuss your renewal options. You鈥檒l be given a list of required documents and schedule an appointment for your renewal. Your visa renewal application must be complete and ready for processing two months prior to the expiration date - no later.

Remember: your Titre de S茅jour may expire during the summer, so you must seriously check your status and find out about your options before you leave for summer vacation. Don鈥檛 schedule any trips or buy tickets before you鈥檝e discussed your renewal options with SIS. Also, your passport must have a validity of more than six months in order to launch your renewal procedure.

Any renewal application submitted to French authorities after the expiry date will require payment of late fee penalties: 180鈧� if the application is submitted one day to three months after the expiry date and 417鈧� if it鈥檚 submitted three months after it expired. Note that upon the French Authorities' decision, the amount of the late fee penalty is subject to change anytime, without notice.

The Procedure

Make sure to be proactive about this process! Some students only have a short time between the day that their residency card expires and the day they start the renewal, so it鈥檚 crucial to take care of this requirement as soon as possible.

Once the application is complete, SIS will update your records and immediately send the renewal application to the French Authorities to be processed. Within one week starting from the day the residency renewal appointment took place at SIS, it is under the student鈥檚 responsibility to gather the required justifications in order to complete the application.聽

SIS will inform the student by email when the 鈥淩茅c茅piss茅鈥� can be collected. The 鈥淩茅c茅piss茅鈥� is a temporary residency card which is issued to the student first, until they are contacted by the Pr茅fecture de Police itself (SMS or email) to withdraw their 鈥淭itre de S茅jour鈥�.

Once your residency is renewed

Once you have received your new residency permit 1) the 鈥淩茅c茅piss茅鈥� and 2) the 鈥淭itre de S茅jour鈥�, you must stop by the Student Immigration Services Office to present your new residency card and update your residency records. As long as your records聽are not updated, you have not officially completed your residency application.

SIS is a 鈥渓iaison鈥� office which helps the student to process their residency application paperwork. However, we have no visibility on the amount of time the French Authorities will need to process the applications, AND we have NO control at all to know when the residency card (鈥淩茅c茅piss茅鈥� or 鈥淭itre de S茅jour鈥�) should be issued to the student(s).

The policy is very strict, and the French Authorities made clear NO emergency request will be accepted any longer. Therefore, showing them booked airplane tickets will not help at all, since that kind of request is automatically denied.

Fall semester

Three months before your residency expires, you are required to meet with the Student Immigration Services Office to discuss your renewal options, receive the list of required documents, and to schedule an appointment for your renewal. Your residency permit renewal application must be complete and ready to be processed two months prior to the expiration date. Remember that if your residency permit expires in October/ November/ early January you must discuss your situation (residency renewal or student visa application) with SIS聽before you leave for the Christmas Break.

Important:聽Students who plan to leave France immediately after Fall semester is over are required to apply for another long stay student visa back home (over the Christmas Break) in order to legally return to France/BT天堂 next Spring semester. Indeed, knowing it takes the French Authorities from 2 to 3 months to process a renewal request, the students whose residency expires in October/ November/ early January may not be issued their renewed residency card before they leave.

Spring semester

Three months before your residency expires, you are required to meet with the Student Immigration Services Office to discuss your renewal options, receive the list of required documents, and to schedule an appointment for your renewal. Your residency permit renewal application must be complete and ready to be processed two months prior to the expiration date. Remember that if your residency permit expires in March/ April/May/June/July/August/ early September you must discuss your situation (residency renewal or student visa application) with SIS聽before you leave for summer vacation.

Important:聽Students who plan to leave France immediately after Spring semester is over are required to apply for another long stay student visa back home (over the summer) in order to legally return to France/BT天堂 next Fall semester. Indeed, knowing it takes the French Authorities from 2 to 3 months to process a renewal request, the students whose residency expires in April/May/June/July/August may not be issued their renewed residency card before they leave