What should I write in the “Residency Permit Number or Equivalent” field of the Schengen visa application form as a student on F1 visa in the US?

Question

I am an international graduate student on F1 visa in the US. I need to have a Schengen visa to attend a conference in France.

I have a question about the application form. In the section “Details of your identity” it asks:

“Residence in a country other than the country of current nationality: No Yes. Residence permit no. or equivalent ................. Expiry Date ................... Date of Issue .................”

Since I don’t have a green card, I think that I don’t have a residence number but the word “equivalent” is confusing.

I mean should I just leave everything blank, or should I enter my US visa number (given in red) along with the expiry and issue date of my visa?

There is no other section in the form which asks about my US visa information.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Answer 1

Here, by "equivalent" they mean to include any document that shows that you are authorized to reside in the US. So you could put your student visa number. If you look at the online information tool, you'll see that it tells you what documents you need:

• If you are not a US citizen, please provide proof of your legal status (green card, visa and I-94 or endorsed I-20 for students or endorsed DS2019 for interns..).