The majority of assistants will not have to pay a fee in order to get their visa validated by the OFII after arrival in France. However, assistants who are also students, and who obtained student visas in their home countries, will have to pay a fee of 55€. Don't forget to get your passport stamped at the airport when you arrive in France! You will also need a copy of this stamp when you do the validation, to prove your date of entry into France.

Summary of visa validation fees for different statuses:

340€ for visiteur and conjoint de français

70€ for salarié

55€ for étudiant

free for travailleur temporaire (this includes assistants de langue)

If you are able to renew your visa/change your visa into a Carte de Séjour for the second year, then the renewal fee is 110€.

The Facebook page for the Teaching Assistant Program in France - USA has posted the brochure for the 2011-12 program. Nothing much has changed for the application requirements, except that dual French-American citizens are no longer eligible to apply. The application will be available in October, and the deadline will be January 1st, 2011.

Hello all. I will be traveling for the next two weeks and account activations may be slowed while I am overseas. Please be extra patient with account requests and what not. We'll be visiting my old Parisian stomping grounds!

The official American program has updated their website with information for prospective, current and former English assistants in France. There is also a Facebook group for alumni if you are a former assistant and want to keep in touch with other alumni or with the program itself.

As you can probably tell, there are some changes going on around here. Please be patient as the site gets updated.

The forums should still be fine and dandy, so stop on by...

Acceptance e-mails were sent out starting Tuesday, April 6, for Americans. This year the embassy is requiring that you reply in order to accept or decline your position, before April 18. If you do not reply at all, your position will be given to someone on the waiting list, so don't forget to do it!

For Americans, acceptance e-mails are supposed to be sent out during the first week of April, so check your e-mail soon.

Enjoy your spring vacations and have a Happy Easter!

Zone A: April 10-25
Zone B: April 3-18
Zone C: April 17 - May 2

Don't forget that Easter Monday, April 5, is a jour férié.