Costs in France

[Sailcat]

Hi All
I'm beginning some preliminary research on sailing over to and living aboard on France's West coast. I presently live in Florida.

Could someone be kind enough to share some info on living costs for a 42' cutter w/ 6' draft in 3 star type marina. I'm trying to gauge expenses and am looking for port of entry/visa fees, rough idea of monthly slip fee and mooring fees, haul out and short term storage on the hard costs, etc. I've travelled through Europe and know what the inland expenses are like, but live aboard for up to 18 mo on the coast will be new for me.
Thanks,
Sailcat

[Teknav]

Hi Sailcat! Contact: Consulat General de France a Miami, Espirito Santo Plaza, suite 1050, 1395 Brickell Avenue, Miami Fl 33131. Tel: 305.403.4150.

The Miami Consulate will give you all the info you need about visiting France. I am not so sure that you will be granted a visa to stay there for over a year. Check their Miami's website for more details. Let us know how it is going. Good luck!

Mauritz

[Sailcat]

Thank you.

[skipmac]

Like any country, costs can vary a lot depending on the location. As a very, very rough ballpark figure Euro 3000-6000 for a one year marina contract rate.

But, as Teknav implies, the hard part may be getting the visa. France is a member of the Schengen agreement which makes it really easy to get a 90 day visa but really, really difficult to get anything beyond that. The Schengen visa is good for all member countries (almost all of Europe) but for all practical purposes there are NO extensions to the 90 day visa. In theory, you can get a long stay visa for an individual country like France that is separate from the Schengen visa but from all research it is not an easy process and very few are actually given.

Do a little research on this forum for many previous discussions on travel in the Schengen area. Make sure you allow a couple of hours reading time.

[Sailcat]

Thanks, Skipmac.

[Sailcat]

So the question at hand is if I could get separate 90 day visas in other EU counties and hop from port to port. Noonsite reports that France won't reissue for 6 mo. I'll do as you suggest and research other posts but maybe someone could address my suggestion.

What do others do? I know there must be some way like getting a sponsor like we do here in the US. I would like to retire in Europe, preferably France. I'm 62 and will try and make this happen by next year.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Sailcat

So the question at hand is if I could get separate 90 day visas in other EU counties and hop from port to port. Noonsite reports that France won't reissue for 6 mo. I'll do as you suggest and research other posts but maybe someone could address my suggestion.

What do others do? I know there must be some way like getting a sponsor like we do here in the US. I would like to retire in Europe, preferably France. I'm 62 and will try and make this happen by next year.

Apply for residency..

[Pete7]

Le Crouesty is a rather nice marina and right at the entrance of the fabulous Gulf of Morbihan. Anyway they publish the costs on their website.

Sagemor | Tarifs

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by Sailcat

So the question at hand is if I could get separate 90 day visas in other EU counties and hop from port to port. Noonsite reports that France won't reissue for 6 mo. I'll do as you suggest and research other posts but maybe someone could address my suggestion.

What do others do? I know there must be some way like getting a sponsor like we do here in the US. I would like to retire in Europe, preferably France. I'm 62 and will try and make this happen by next year.

The current countries that are part of the Schengen agreement.

1. Austria
2. Belgium
3. Czech Republic
4. Denmark
5. Estonia
6. Finland
7. France
8. Germany
9. Greece
10. Hungary
11. Iceland
12. Italy
13. Latvia
14. Lithuania
15. Luxembourg
16. Malta
17. Netherlands
18. Norway
19. Poland
20. Portugal
21. Slovakia
22. Slovenia
23. Spain
24. Sweden
25. Switzerland

When a US citizen arrives in any of the Schengen countries he/she will get ONE visa that is good for travel to all of the countries. You don't get different visas for each one, period. It is just like they are one country for visa purposes. In fact if you fly, drive or train between two Schengen countries you will not even go through a passport check.

You cannot get an extension on the visa or get another visa from a different country. You get 90 days cumulative to stay over 180 days. After 180 days you can get 90 more days. That's it. No loop holes, no nothing.

The ONLY option is to go to a specific country and apply for a long term visa like a student visa or residents visa and these are very difficult to get and involve a lot of paperwork IF you can get one at all.

Like I said, this has been discussed on this forum numerous times in great detail and every question or idea you can come up with has been asked and hashed over.

The most recent is here. http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ad-108260.html There are many more if you use the CF search feature and just type in Schengen.

The whole Schengen thing was set up to make travel to Europe easier and it does that for the average tourist. However it causes a headache for a cruiser that wants to stay longer. I have the same idea as you and have been looking for an easy answer for a couple of years and it just isn't there.

[Sailcat]

Thanks again. I have some reading to do.