According to a friend of mine, the French Competence and Talent visa is not gratuit anymore. It will cost you 7,000 php to apply for one. I have searched for this information online, but I cannot find anything on this topic yet. The professional immigration section in the French Embassy in Manila site is down.
I will have to gather more info on this.
Maybe the first 100 of last year was a trial thing and since it was a success (I guess most of the applicants who got approved were successful on finding something here in France) – then they are charging each applicant now. After all, it was only in the Philippines before that the competence and talent visa was free.
This can be really painful on one’s budget. The carte de sejour is not free either. I had to pay mine 300 euros – but the good thing is that it is good for 3 years and if I renew it, it will only cost me 70 euros. But that’s still one time big time.
