My wife and I are retired US citizens, living in Ecuador for a couple of years, as the first part of our retirement adventure. Getting our 2 year visa here was longish and made us glad we used an attorney. But from what i read so far the long term visa from a french consulate should be fairly straight forward. Also sounds as though the residence permit for retired persons with a verifiable income of around 1500 per month or more from the local 'town hall' can be a little testy but doable without an attorney to expedite/facilitate. However, we have hopes of buying a barge and cruising the canals and rivers of France/Europe for a few years at least, when we leave Ecuador. It sounds like having an address for the residence permit could be a problem. If anyone has experience and/or knowledge about this type of adventure, we will be most appreciative for your counsel.
Nate