France Visa Application & Requirements

France or officially the French Republic (République française) is one of the largest countries in Europe and has several overseas regions and territories. The European part of France is called Metropolitan France(France métropolitaine or la Métropole) and the territories outside Europe – Overseas France (France d’outre-mer). 

These regions have exactly the same status as mainland France’s regions and are in the European Union but apply their own visa policies, which have some additional exemptions or restrictions compared to Metropolitan France. 

In the article below we will focus on the French Schengen visa – the short-stay visa that allows its bearer to enter Metropolitan France and travel to any member country of the Schengen Area. 

French visa holders can cross the French border via air, land or sea but they cannot enter the European Union from any outside country.

However, the holder of the French visa is allowed to travel and stay inside the Schengen Area – the passport-free travel area –  up to 90 days for tourism or business purposes within a 180-day period.

Who needs a visa to travel to France?

Much easier is to say who does not need a visa to come to France. There are several groups of people. If you are a holder of:

• France residence permit
• residence permit of a Schengen country
• valid long-stay visa of a Schengen country
• EU family member’s residence or EU long-term residence permit
• passport of a “British National Overseas”, “British Overseas Territories Citizen”, “British Protected Person”, “British Subject”
• special residence card as a diplomatic or consular staff

You don’t need a visa to travel to France. Moreover, you can be on the list of third countries whose nationals are exempted from holding a visa when crossing the external borders of the Schengen Area. If you have a biometric passport of one of the following countries, you can come to Metropolitan France without a visa too:

Albania	Andorra
Antigua And Barbuda	Argentina
Australia	Bahamas
Barbados	Bosnia And Herzegovina
Brazil	Brunei Darussalam
Canada	Chile
Colombia	Costa Rica
Dominica	El Salvador
North Macedonia	Georgia
Grenada	Guatemala
Vatican City State	Honduras
Israel	Japan
Kiribati	Malaysia
Marshall Islands	Mauritius
Mexico	Micronesia
Moldova	Monaco
Montenegro	New Zealand
Nicaragua	Palau
Panama	Paraguay
Peru	Samoa
San Marino	Seychelles
Serbia	Singapore
Solomon Islands	South Korea
St Kitts And Nevis	St Lucia
St Vincent And The Grenadines	Trinidad And Tobago
Tuvalu	Ukraine
United Arab Emirates	United States Of America
Uruguay	Vanuatu
Venezuela	United Kingdom

Types of the French visas – check which one you should apply for

Apply for a French short-term visa if you are planning to visit France and other Schengen Area countries for less than 90 days within a 6-month period for one of the following purposes:

• tourism, sightseeing, holidays
• official visit
• visiting your family and/or friends
• participating in a cultural or sport event
• enrolling in an internship or in a short-term training course
• participating in a business meeting, negotiations, conference etc.
• making a research
• airport transit/seafarers transit
• medical reasons

If you want to live, get a paid job or study in France, you must apply for a long-term French visa according to the purpose of your stay. You can apply for a single entry or a multiple-entries visa.

Application for a tourist visa to France

The institutions authorized to grant a French visa are embassies and consulates of the French Republic. You can find the application forms online but you have to print them twice any way and sign each one.

Complete the forms carefully with correct information which complies with that in the other documents which are:

The required documents that you need to have with you when you apply for a France visa are as follows:

• your passport issued within the last 10 years and valid for a minimum of 3 months after the end of your planned stay in France. At least two blank pages of the passport must be blank
• 2 printed color passport-style photos meeting the requirements and taken within the last 3 months
• copies of older visas if you have any
• Proof of the travel medical insurance valid in all European Union covering a minimum of €30,000 of medical costs
• complete Itinerary
• proof of financial means which can be:
  • recent bank statement
  • employment contract stating your salary
  • income from a rented property
  • retirement benefit plan.
  • A letter of declaration from a sponsor in France 
  • Any other documents proving that you have the means to support yourself while stating in France
• Addresses of accommodation in France
• certificate of a criminal record of the home country (you must that you have no open crime case involvement)
• proof of payment of the France visa fee (€60 for adult candidates)

French visa appointment – what to expect?

Then you have to make a visa appointment. Check in the embassy in your country if it is possible to schedule the appointment online. Generally, it is but in some states you may be obliged to do it in person. Remember: you will not be accepted for the interview if you don’t book it in advance. Very important too is to be on time. Once you are late, you probably will find out that your appointment has been cancelled.The visa appointment serves to consular officers to know better the purpose of your visit in France and decide if you are eligible to enter the country. The most important thing is to answer honestly and completely all the questions. Be prepared to be asked about:

• the purpose of travel to France
• your travel plan
• how many days you plan to be in France and possibly in the Schengen Zone
• which countries you are going to visit (if more than one) 
• the country where you are going to enter and the country where you’re going to exit.

The officers may also ask you where you are going to stay in France, if you have sufficient funds for the entire stay in Europe or if you have a family or friends there.

The meeting rarely takes more than 10-15 minutes and there is nothing to be stressed about. Stay calm and kind, wear something a bit more official and – the most important! – be well prepared for this conversation.

Application processing time

After the meeting, your application form and all details will be entered into the online system of the consulate or embassy. Wait for another 10-15 minutes for a printed copy of your application, then verify if all the details are correct and sign it.

Now your application starts to be processed. Consulate or embassy employees have 20 working days to issue a decision if you have applied for a short-term visa. This processing time may vary and in some specific cases, especially in case of a long-term stay visa, it may take up to 2 months.

In some cases, it may happen that you will be refused of a Schengen visa for France. In such a situation, if you believe that the visa refusal was unjust or a mistake, you can submit a request for a re-evaluation of the application. For the answer for your appeal against the rejection decision, you will wait up to 2 months. If you do not receive any answers for the embassy or the consulate within 60 days – that means that a rejection decision remains in force.

French long-stay visa

If you want to stay in France more than 90 days or you are not sure if you will be able to leave the country at a designated time (for example because of a long medical treatment, yours or a member of your family), apply for a French Long Stay Visa. Besides the mentioned example, you can stay more than 3 months in the French Republic in purpose to:

• get a paid job
• study
• reunite with your family
• work as a highly-skilled professional

In such a case you are obliged to gather and present more documents such as for example a letter from the employing company or an official letter from the educational or medical institution. In other words, you will need to prove that you really do have the reason to stay in France for more than 90 days.

Remember to apply for a French long-stay visa before leaving your home country. Without this permit, do not engage yourself in:

• working (work permit is mandatory)
• actions considered of danger to the public order
• attempting to settle in France

If you do, your visa may be revoked and you be deported from the country.

Temporary Work Permit in France

If you are planning to come to France to get a paid job, you must have a French Temporary Work Permit.

However, there are some paid activities you are allowed to be involved in without the work permit.

You can earn money if you take part in sporting, cultural, artistic and scientific events as well as colloquia, seminars, and trade shows. You can be paid as a visiting professor or a member of staff (artist or technical) of undertaking of following charakter:

• cinematographic
• audiovisual
• entertainment and phonographic production and dissemination
• modelling and artistic pose
• auditing and expertise missions in IT
• management and finances insurance
• architecture and engineering as a contracted employee

You can also earn as a domestic worker during the stay in France of a particular employer.

The processing time of the work permit is usually 10 to 15 days. After this period the employer receives via email the forms which have to be sent back to the applicant. Keep in mind that when you cross the French border, you may be asked to present this document at the port of entry so carry it with you.

How to extend the French visa being already in France?

Each year many tourists try to find out how to extend their short-term French visa’s validity and stay more time in Europe.

You must remember that regardless of the reason you wish to stay longer in France or any other European country for, you are not permitted to stay in the Schengen Area after the expiration of your Schengen visa unless you extend it. This is difficult but not impossible, so if you have a good reason to stay in the Old Continent you, you can try to extend your French Schengen visa but only in exceptional circumstances. The main condition of the extension is providing the confirmed and proven information about new facts and special reasons arise after entry in France.

The Schengen visa policy is very clear in this case, there is a closed list of acceptable reasons to extend a Schengen short-stay visa. It must be one of the following:

• Late entry

Applicable only for a single-entry short-stay visa. If you have entered Schengen after your visa became valid, you can apply for a visa extension for exactly the same period that you have “lost” because of your late entry.

• Humanitarian reasons

You can apply for the visa extension if you need to stay in Schengen Area to continue receiving medical treatment, to take part in the funeral after the sudden death of a family member, to give support to a person close to you who is going through some kind of hardship, etc.

• Force majeure

That means that some unexpected situation has occurred all of the sudden in your home country. It applies to war, or even violent protests across the country, extreme weather conditions, no flight connections because of a natural disaster.

• Important personal reasons

It may be an unplanned wedding (yours or of your family member), unfinished business or other situation you consider as very important and claim as unplanned.

Of course, the application may be rejected and – honestly – it happens in most of the cases. The immigration authorities decide whether you should be granted with a visa extension or not. Their decision is final.

French visa for children

Every person from a non-visa-exempt country wishing to enter France must hold the French visa, regardless of their age. It applies also to newborns, babies and children. Of course, when applying at the French embassy or consulate in their home country, the guardian or parent should accompany the child. The French visa may be issued if:

• a child holds their own valid passport
• a parent or a legal guardian prove their regular income
• notarized parental travel consent has been submitted

The rest of the French visa application process remains the same as for adult candidates.

France in a nutshell

France is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. Travellers are eager to see not only Paris with Louvre and the Eiffel Tower. France also can boast of having historical and natural spots, amazing beaches, astonishing national parks, more than 8 000 museums and countless cultural, musical and art events such as theatrical and dance shows, concerts and exhibitions. And we cannot forget about the famous French cuisine! Limitless restaurants, bistros and boulangeries attract gourmets from all over the world.

So if you are dreaming about visiting this wonderful country whose motto is Liberty, Equality, Fraternity – check your flights and find out if you need a visa. If so, we hope we have helped you with this article.