Finding accommodation facilities in France

Once you have got the offer letter from your dream institute, the next big hurdle is to find a place for you to stay. It is quite troublesome to find cheap and suitable accommodation in France. So I thought of writing all that I know about it.

Before you start reading the article below, be sure to start searching for accommodation as soon as possible. Also, do ensure that you demand accommodation assistance from your institute. Most of the institutes have tie-ups with good residential facilities and they really help you in getting one.

These are the websites where students can look forward to applying for their stay in France. I recommend you to open the links in the Chrome browser as it can directly translate the language to English. Not all of them provide the facility for an English website. So here is the list.

City Internationale Universitaire (CIUP) - http://www.ciup.fr/en/(No guarantor needed).
CROUS - http://www.crous-normandie.fr/en/
Nexity - https://www.nexity.fr/
Kley- https://www.kley.fr/?lang=en
Immojeune - https://www.immojeunepro.com/en/
Sergic Residences - https://www.sergic-residences.com/en
Adele - https://www.adele.org/
Studapart - https://www.studapart.com/en (Studapart has their own guarantor provision)
Leboncoin - https://leboncoin.fr/
Lokaviz - https://www.lokaviz.fr/
Science Accueil - https://www.science-accueil.org/

Note:
Most of them will be asking for a guarantor. For this, I recommend you to keep the visale certificate as well as the Garantme certificate ready. Obtaining these certificates are free of cost. However, Visale is completely free but Garantme charges a small sum annually. Most of the above mentioned residences accept both or either of them. So having both the certificates in hand, makes your process smoother. Here are the links for the same.

Garantme - https://garantme.fr/en
Visale - https://www.visale.fr

Also, I request you all to be aware of the scams prevailing in France as it can be seen from the various experiences shared on the IIF website and our Facebook group.

Following are some of the websites which can be explored as well but do your homework before you pay for anything.

Those in urgent need of accommodation, should apply in all of them and drop them an email stating about your emergency and also quote that you are ready to pay at the earliest. The word “ready to pay” makes it possible for a quicker response. Also call them, during rush hours, they may not reply to your mail as they receive thousands of such mail. It’s better to call them and state your demands.

Something, somewhere will definitely click.

Good luck and cheers !

Author : PRANJAL NANDI

A social animal, willing to learn by helping.