Step 6

INTERNATIONAL WELCOME DAYS 

International Welcome Days are designed to help you settle in in your new life in France and at NEOMA BS as comfortably as possible. 

International Welcome Days take place during the first week of each semester. 

Our programmed events will introduce you to our staff and services, and to student life at NEOMA BS.

With the help of our staff and your mentors, your transition will be easy and fun, and definitely unforgettable.

A month before the start of each semester, international students will received a detailed e-mail with all the necessary information about our International Welcome Days (place, date, hours). 

Compass Day

Compass Day is different every year. It is meant to help you meet fellow international students, get familiar with your new surroundings, and relax and enjoy this new place that is your new home. 

Activities vary, and may include a treasure hunt in town, a photo contest, a laser game, etc.  

Once this year’s program is set, you will learn about it in the Travel Plan questionnaire that we will ask you to fill out just before your arrival. 

Looking forward to sharing your first days with us here! 

Forum 

During the International Welcome Days, a Forum will be held to allow you to take care of administrative formalities with our corporate partners on campus grounds!  

You will have the possibility to : 

• subscribe to an optional complementary health insurance thanks to our partners the MGEL (www.mgel.com) and / or the SMENO www.smeno.com, 
• open a French bank account, necessary for all students renting in France, and for the CAF application (housing allowance), 
• get your student card and learn about the student discounts it provides (www.isic.fr), 
• Purchase a bus pass from the local public transit provider (for Rouen only : www.reseau-astuce.fr).

Who is concerned?

• If your stay in France does not exceed 3 months (90 days), you will have no particular immigration procedures to attend to once in France.
• If your visa indicates “DISPENSE TEMPORAIRE DE TITRE DE SEJOUR”, you will have no particular immigration procedures to attend to once in France.
• If your visa indicates “ETUDIANT CESEDA R311-3 6°”, and you will stay in France for over three months, you will need to register on line with the French Office of Immigration and Integration (OFII) upon arrival in France. In order to comply with this requirement, students will need to do the following, as soon as possible after arrival.

What is the procedure?

Upon your arrival at NEOMA Business School, you must validate your visa online and register on the portal.

To do that, you will need to enter:

• Your visa number,
• The dates of the beginning and end of validity of your visa,
• The mention appearing on your visa (for example CESEDA…),
• Your address in France,
• Your arrival date in France.

Afterwards you also will have to pay the immigration fee online on the same site (Buy a virtual excise stamp).

After the payment of the fee, the visa will be validated and you will have to download a certificate confirming that your visa validation has been completed online.

Please keep this certificate carefully with you! You will need it:

• To travel and come back to France – immigration control
• To renew your visa with the Prefecture if you have to stay longer in France for your studies (without this document a regularization fine of 340 Euros has to be paid!)
• To apply for the housing allowance (CAF)
• To complete the French health insurance application

This is a compulsory procedure and if students have not validated their file within 3 months of their arrival in France, they will no longer be able to travel in the Schengen area and will be considered as being in an irregular situation on the French territory.

Travelling outside of France

If you wish to visit a foreign country within the Schengen area: your long-stay, multiple entries visa allows you to travel within the Schengen area.

If you wish to visit a country outside the Schengen area, or visit your home country:

• Within 3 months of your arrival in France: Travel is authorized without your OFII certificate, with a long-stay, multiple-entry visa.
• 3 months after your arrival: you must have the OFII certificate. If you have not undergone the OFII formalities before the deadline (3 months after arrival), you will have to apply for a new long-stay visa from the diplomatic or consular services in your home country.