'Thank God I Love Living In India,' French Designer Shares Indian Visa Renewal Frustrations

French designer Julia Chaigneau has opened up about the exhausting reality of renewing her visa while living and working in India, saying the process takes up a significant part of her year. In a recent post on X, Chaigneau said she was relieved to have finally completed another round of visa renewal after weeks of stress. "Thank god I love living in India, because the paperwork, patience, and life it takes out of me every visa renewal is insane, haha," she said.

She said the process had left her dealing with "constant stress" for a couple of weeks before she could finally put it behind her.

French Designer's Visa Renewal Post Went Viral

Thank god I love living in India, because the paperwork, patience, and life it takes out of me every visa renewal is insane, haha.

After a couple of weeks of this constant stress, I'm finally done with this round.

I know I'm far from the only one living as a foreigner… pic.twitter.com/VgPfjrAWpI

— Julia Chaigneau (@juliachaigneau) August 24, 2026

For Chaigneau, the frustration is not simply about filling out forms. She said it feels particularly difficult because she has already built her life in India. "I'm far from the only one living as a foreigner somewhere," she wrote, adding that it still feels "crazy" that paperwork can dictate so much after someone has built their "whole life in a country" they love.

Chaigneau also said she rarely talks about this side of her life, despite visa renewals taking up "such a big part" of her year.

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The Internet Had A Different Perspective

Her post quickly prompted comparisons with the visa experiences of Indians travelling or moving abroad. One person said the process was "still probably far less difficult" than the French or European visa process for an Indian passport holder. They recalled receiving a Europe visa that was valid only from the exact date of their pre-booked arrival to the exact date of departure.

Another called visa bureaucracy a "universal problem", pointing to the US as another example. They said the US visa website had been the worst they had encountered and that they had faced extensive red tape, including a website glitch that reportedly took weeks to resolve.

Others had a similar reaction. "You will feel relieved after seeing the paperwork required for Indians to get visas for the US or many European countries," one person wrote.

Another recalled that the US visa process had become a running joke among their friends because, in their experience, there was more paperwork involved in one year of dealing with the US than in their entire life dealing with India.

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One commenter said Indians could make a similar complaint about visa processes in Western countries.

But not everyone agreed that India's visa process was particularly difficult. One person said they had used India's visa system multiple times and found it relatively straightforward, describing it as a "cake walk" compared with some other countries.

They also made a distinction between different types of visas, saying their experience was with tourist visas and that work visas could be different.