Before you start

A long-stay visa matched to your route, obtained before travel
A passport valid well beyond the intended stay
A French address and a justificatif de domicile in your name
An ANEF account and the visa's reference numbers

Step-by-step

1
Validate your VLS-TS within three months of arrival
Done online with the visa number, your entry date and an electronic tax stamp. This is what converts the visa into a valid residence permit. Missing the window puts you out of status and the remedy is far worse than the fifteen-minute procedure you skipped.
OnlineWho: YouWithin 3 months of arrival
2
Create and monitor your ANEF account from week one
Almost all immigration procedures run through the national platform, and requests for further documents appear inside the account rather than by post. Check it weekly during any live procedure and screenshot every submission.
OnlineWho: YouWeek 1
3
Get a utility bill in your own name early
France has no municipal registration, but its administration constantly asks for a justificatif de domicile in your name. An electricity or internet account is the usual source, and having one unlocks a surprising number of unrelated procedures.
OnlineWho: YouWeek 1–2
4
If the job is in Belgium, sort the Belgian authorisation separately
Non-EU nationals need Belgian permission to work in Belgium. If you keep your home in France and commute, that is a work permit obtained by your employer from the region where you will work — not the permis unique, which is reserved for third-country nationals residing in Belgium. Living in France does not remove the requirement, and the free movement of people at the border is not a work authorisation. Get this confirmed in writing before you sign anything.
Via employerWho: Your employer in BelgiumBefore starting the job
5
Carry your titre de séjour when you cross the border
There is no routine control between France and Belgium, but police checks happen and both countries require third-country nationals to be able to prove their status. Carrying the card rather than leaving it at home is the practical answer, particularly if you commute daily.
In personWho: You
6
Start renewals at the earliest permitted date
A renewal is filed at the earliest four months and at the latest two months before your current permit expires. The Nord is a busy préfecture and processing times exceed the published guidance, so use the front of that window: applying early gets you a récépissé that protects your status while the file is considered.
OnlineWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Passport with the long-stay visa
Proof of the date you entered the Schengen area
Justificatif de domicile in your name
Employment contract or proof of resources
Belgian work permit documentation obtained by your employer, if you work across the border
ANEF account credentials

Things most newcomers don’t know

Schengen removes the border check, not the work permit.

A non-EU national with a French titre de séjour can drive to Tournai in twenty-five minutes without showing anything to anybody, which makes it feel as though a Belgian job is administratively trivial. It is not: employment in Belgium requires Belgian authorisation obtained by the employer from the competent region. The distinction that trips people up is that the permis unique they will have read about covers residence and work together and is for people living in Belgium; a commuter who stays resident in France needs a work permit instead. People accept Belgian offers on the assumption their French card covers it and discover the problem after resigning.

Source: Frontaliers Grand Est / Belgian regional employment authorities

The three-month validation deadline is the one that quietly ends people's stay.

A long-stay visa marked VLS-TS is not a residence permit until you validate it online and pay the tax stamp. Miss the window and you are out of status with no simple remedy — you may have to leave France and restart. It looks like a formality precisely because the visa in your passport appears to be doing the job already.

Source: service-public.fr

ANEF posts document requests inside the account and tells nobody.

The platform does not reliably notify you when a caseworker asks for something, and nothing arrives by post. Files sit untouched for months because an applicant never saw a request they could have answered the same day. Check the account weekly during any live procedure, and keep screenshots — being able to show what you sent and when is the only leverage you have when a file stalls.

Source: service-public.fr

France has no Anmeldung, so the justificatif de domicile does that job — and it does it constantly.

There is no municipal registration to complete on arrival, which sounds like one less thing to do. In practice French administration asks you to prove your address with a document in your own name at nearly every step, and the accepted source is usually a utility bill. Getting electricity or internet into your name is therefore a far higher priority in week one than it appears.

Source: community-reported

Common mistakes to avoid

Missing the three-month deadline to validate a VLS-TS online.
Assuming a French residence permit authorises work in Belgium.
Not checking the ANEF account and letting a document request stall the file for months.
Commuting across the border without carrying your residence permit.
Applying for renewal too late and falling between a lapsed permit and an undecided file.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.