France: Long Stay Student Visa

[lapie]

Can one leave France if he is on Long Stay Student Visa from Day 1 of his arrival ? Do exchange students come under this category ?

Also if I plan to go to Germany First and then go to France can I take this Visa or do I have to take schengen for Germany.?


From What I could gather from net but that doesn't answer all my questions:

Long stay student visas, for stays from 3 to 6 months in France. Within the validity period, when stating "multiple entry," this visa allows you to travel back and forth to your country and to other Schengen countries.

Quite often, this type of student visa states "dispense de carte de séjour." This means that you
cannot apply for a residence permit once you are in France. This visa authorizes residency within the
validity period.

[John]

As a matter of fact both France and Germany are members of the Schengen area and accordingly there are no border controls between them. Whilst you will need to carry your passport with its visa, you have full ability to visit any Schengen area country without needing a visa .... once you have your French-issued visa of course.

In the past we have flown from one Schengen area country to another, for example from Spain to Denmark. On checking in at the airport, passports needed to be shown as ID, but there were no immigration-style checks, either before leaving Spain or in arrival in Denmark. We walked straight off the plane to the carousel.

Strangest of all was when flying from Denmark to Norway. Both countries in the Schengen area so no immigration-style checks, but because Norway outside the EU we had access to the duty-free shops, something that is denied to those travelling from one EU country to another.

Or by road, totally open borders ... no border checks at all.