Hi all, looking for some advice!

We are a British family of four living in the Geneva region. The principal earner is an international civil servant working for a UN agency in Geneva, holding a Swiss Carte de Légitimation. We applied for French long-stay visitor visas (VLS-TS visiteur) at the Consulat général de France à Genève, intending to take up principal residence in the Pays de Gex while continuing to commute to Geneva.

All four applications were refused. The stated reason was that as holders of a Swiss residence permit, we had not demonstrated the necessity of residing in France rather than Switzerland. We met all of the statutory conditions under articles L.312-2 and L.426-20 of the CESEDA - sufficient resources, health insurance, no professional activity in France - but the consulate applied what appears to be an additional requirement not found in the legislation.

We are aware that many international civil servants live in the Pays de Gex and commute daily to Geneva, and that this visa has been granted to others in comparable situations. We are now preparing a reapplication with a formal legal motivation document addressing the CDL point directly.

Has anyone else encountered this specific refusal ground? Were you able to overcome it on reapplication, and if so, what made the difference? Any experience with this consulate on this issue would be very helpful.