Long-stay visas for French Polynesia

[roaringgirl]

Does anyone here have experience of applying for a long-term (>90 day) visa for French Polynesia? What I know so far:

1. I have to apply for it in my country of residence (UK)
2. I can't apply more than 3 months in advance
3. I have to apply in person
4. It is possible to extend a long-term visa - so I can stay in the Marqueses for cyclone season '22.

I'm leaving the UK in September and not returning before my planned arrival in FP at the end of March/beginning of April '22
Apart from returning to the UK to apply for a visa (which is not really feasible); the only way to work within these restrictions seems to be for me to apply in September for a 1 year visa that starts in November 21, and then enter FP on that in March/April 22. - does anyone know if this is possible/acceptable?

 

[BobnLesley]

Does anyone here have experience of applying for a long-term (>90 day) visa for French Polynesia? What I know so far:

1. I have to apply for it in my country of residence (UK)
2. I can't apply more than 3 months in advance
3. I have to apply in person
4. It is possible to extend a long-term visa - so I can stay in the Marqueses for cyclone season '22.

I'm leaving the UK in September and not returning before my planned arrival in FP at the end of March/beginning of April '22
Apart from returning to the UK to apply for a visa (which is not really feasible); the only way to work within these restrictions seems to be for me to apply in September for a 1 year visa that starts in November 21, and then enter FP on that in March/April 22. - does anyone know if this is possible/acceptable?

First off, I don't believe that you can apply for one at all presently due to Covid restrictions.
Once that's resolved (I'm peddling second hand info as we were still in the EU when we arrived there) I do have non_EU-friends who obtained their long stay visas outside of their countries of residence, in both Panama and Ecuador. From my recollections they did have to apply in person and whilst the process is straightforward, it takes a few weeks rather than a few days to process. I suspect you can extend the visas; I've no idea how you'd do so, but again I've non-EU friends who've been in FP for far longer than 12 months.
If you use Facebook, then get onto the French Poly cruisers page and ask on there - Cain's the expert.