travel to Belgium-Holland with rècèpisse to carte de sejour

Hello All,

I am an Indian citizen, I am postdoctoral researcher in France. I have a multiple entry schengen visa. On arriving here, I applied for carte de sejour (CDS) as required by the law. I have received the rècèpisse (receipt) for applying for CDS.

Right now my Schengen visa has expired. Even though my visa has expired, since I have the rècèpisse, my stay in France is legal. Now I would like to travel to Brussels and Amsterdam during the xmas and new-year break. So I would like to know if I can travel to these countries with the rècèpisse (as a substitute for my expired visa)? Can someone let me know about this?

Thanks a lot!

Regds
Sathya

The "récépissé" allows you to stay in France but does not allow you to travel within the Schengen area without a visa (it is not listed in the annex 4 of the Common consular instructions as an accepted document to travel in the Schengen area). Therefore, you need to request a visa from the nearest Belgian ot Dutch consulate.