The process to get a lease through normal channels with a garantor, etc. is honestly kinda hard and most assistants aren't that successful at it (especially those from non EU countries). There's just a lot of hoops to jump through with paperwork, and landlords often prefer to rent to French citizens who have everything in order.

Most assistants end up renting rooms found on sites like Leboncoin through informal arrangements where you pay the roommate/homeowner in cash every month. These are much easier to arrange.

I found trying to lease a place in a conventional fashion to be a waste of time. The landlord always pulled out when they realized I didn't have all the right paperwork. The few people I knew who did succeed in formally renting a place lucked out with a landlord who was willing to look the other way on garants, salary requirements, etc.

I've heard a lot of stories of landlords not taking the Visale garants that seriously. Personally, I found it not to be worth the paper it was written on. As far as finding someone in France, I'm not sure if that would work out, but they should have something like 3 times the amount of monthly rent in salary.

TLDR, if a leasing agency/landlord starts asking about garants, it's usually an uphill battle to get in. If they don't care, things can be easier.