I have been on a scientist visa in France for about 2.5 years. I am supposed to finish my PhD in October, and my visa expires on the last day of September.
I have already received the green light to get an extra 3 months of funding (through January), and I suppose I should be extending my residence permit sometime in July. At that time, I will not have my defense set up (I still have to produce my manuscript). How do I extend my visa / TDS for a few months?
I asked at my lab, and I was told that it can take up to a year to renew a visa in my préfecture, during which time I won't be able to leave France. If it takes a year to renew a French residence permit, and I only need a 3 month extension, what is the best course of action here?
I need to be able to stay in France until potentially the beginning of February. After I submit and defend my thesis, I will be applying for a visa in an asian country for a postdoc. I cannot apply for that visa until I have my diploma in hand, and I cannot stay past my defense under my current visa situation. It would be rather silly to move back to my home country (non-EU and where I haven't lived in a decade) to do that. I would also like to avoid that for personal reasons.
If it makes any difference, I am pacsé with a French national and we're considering getting married before I have to leave. We live together. I'm not sure if that makes any difference with this whole thing. I didn't really intend to go the spouse visa route until after my 3 years outside Europe was finished (especially since we will be long distance for 3 years) but I'm willing to consider it if it makes the situation any easier.
To make matters worse, I submitted a change of address (requesting a new titre de sejour) only last week (at a different prefecture), and I have no idea how long that will take, or if it will invalidate the residence permit I already have.