You must tell the visa official the precise reasons for your journey to France.
This is because the type of visa required to enter France depends on both the length of your stay and your reasons; except for special case s:
This information must be accurate, because :
In the French overseas territories, the rules applicable may vary from those applied in Metropolitan France. When applying for a visa, you must carefully specify the destination and details of your flight.
Short-stay visas are Schengen visas that allow the holder to move freely throughout the 25 countries in the Schengen Area for stays totaling a maximum of 90 days in each period of six months. These visas may be issued for one entry or for multiple entries according to the reasons for your stay.
This is the type of visa issued for tourism, business travel or family visits; it is also issued so that you can come to France for a short training course, internship, conference, business meeting or be gainfully employed (in whatever way) for less than 3 months.
This type of visa is also required for simply transiting through France. Transit for a foreign national through a French airport without leaving the “international zone” is a special case, because the foreign national does not enter French territory and is not subject to entry visa requirements, except in certain cases. Certain foreign nationals are subject to visa requirements for airport transit.
The long-stay visa is not a Schengen visa; it is a national visa that entitles you, whatever the reason for your stay, to live in France for more than three months.
The visa also entitles you to transit through another country in the Schengen Area on your way to France and to move freely throughout the Schengen Area for its entire period of validity.
The main reasons for issuing this type of visa are study, work and family reunion. Specific documents, according to your reason, are required to support your visa application.
If you are issued with this type of visa, you are required, on arrival in France, to register with the Office Français d’Immigration et d’Intégration (OFII) or, in some cases, to apply to the relevant prefecture for a residence permit.
Some categories of long-stay visa are valid as residence permits for the first year of your stay in France: study visas, some work visas, visas for spouses of French nationals and visitors’ visas. If you are in one of these cases, when you arrive in France, you must send the OFII form to the relevant regional delegation of the Office Français d’Immigration et d’Intégration, which will give you an appointment for a medical examination and payment of residence fees. After the first year (in the two months before your long-stay visa expires), you must apply to renew your residence permit at the relevant prefecture for your place of residence.
In all other cases, if you are a foreign national holding a long-stay visa marked “carte de séjour à solliciter” (residence permit to be applied for), you must apply to the prefecture for a residence permit.
Work visas, for whatever activity, are subject to specific preliminary procedures: as a foreign national arriving in France on a short-stay visa you are not allowed to seek work or obtain an employment contract.
If you intend to exercise a salaried activity in France, your future employer must have the contract approved in advance by the DIRECCTE (Regional directorate for enterprises, competition, consumption, work and employment) before you submit your visa application.
Artists on tour and sportspeople in championships must also get a work permit in advance via their contact in France.
Several factors determine whether a visa is required :
As far as visas are concerned, legislation divides the territory of the French Republic into the following three sections, where different regulations apply :
1. The European territory of France
The European territory of France is part of the Schengen area. The Schengen area includes the territory of the following European Union countries and associated countries: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
1.1. Short stays (under 90 days in the Schengen area)
A short stay is a stay in the Schengen area under 90 days or multiple stays totaling less than 90 days in a period of six months.
For short stays, European regulations determine the list of countries from which citizens are not required to have a visa to enter the Schengen area.
A visa is waived for :
1.2. Long stays (over 90 days in France)
Citizens of the following countries are not required to have a long-stay visa: Member States of the European Union and the European Economic Area (EEA), Switzerland, Monaco and Andorra.
2. Overseas Departments (DOM)
2.1. Short stays
A short stay is a stay under 90 days in an Overseas Department.
A visa is waived for :
2.1. Long stays
Citizens of the following countries are not required to have a long-stay visa: Member States of the European Union and the European Economic Area (EEA), Switzerland, Monaco and Andorra.
3. Other territories of the French Republic located overseas
They include :
3.1. Short stays
A short stay is a stay under 90 days.
A visa is waived for the citizens of the following countries :
Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Bermuda, Bolivia, Brunei, Bermuda, Bolivia, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Croatia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Holy See, Honduras, Hong Kong, Japan, Macao, Malaysia, Mexico, Monaco, Nicaragua, New Zealand, Panama, Paraguay, San Marino, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela & Member States of the European Union and the European Economic Area (EEA).
3.2. Long stays
Citizens of the following countries are not required to have a long-stay visa: Member States of the European Union and the European Economic Area (EEA), Switzerland, Monaco and Andorra.
To apply for a Schengen short-stay visa, you are required to present one visa application per person, including the following items :
If any of the items you provide do not fulfil our criteria, consular personnel will not accept your application and will ask you to present items which do. If you insist on submitting your application anyway, your application will be recorded but a visa will not be issued and the other items in the application will not be studied.
Certain diplomatic and consular authorities that issue visas on ordinary passports may include more detailed information taking local specificities into account. These items providing proof that are are required are to be presented to the consular authority.
The consular authority will accept your application as provided by you and will make his decision on the basis of the guarantees and proof attached to your application. If you have failed to attach the proof included in the list, the consular authority will assume that you are unable to do so unless you effectively explain why such proof was omitted in a separate letter attached to the application.
The consular authority may ask you to provide additional documents within a set period in order to study your application more effectively. You do not need to submit a new application nor pay additional application fees if that is the case.
When you submit your visa application, the consular authority will give you a receipt for the exact amount of application fees you paid. This receipt is acknowledgement of receipt of your application.
After a visa application is submitted, the consular authority processes it and decides on whether to issue a visa.
The consular authority makes his decision as swiftly as possible; the time period will vary depending on possible consultations he must conduct. There is no point in contacting the consular authority while the application is being processed.
If the consular authority has not responded to you within two months, you may consider that your visa application has been refused.
The table below sets forth the application fees in euros for the main visa categories.
Visa categories Application fees (in euros)
Reduced fee
Application fees for citizens of Albania, Bosnia, Macedonia, Moldavia, Montenegro, Russia, Serbia and Ukraine are set at 35 euros for short-stay visas.
American citizens intending to study in France have to apply for a visa before leaving the United States, whatever the duration of their studies in France. The visa cannot be issued once the applicant is in France.
NOTE : Students, who will be 18 years old within 3 months of the dates of registration in a French school, must apply for a Long Stay Student visa.
The visa issued will depend on the duration of the studies in France :
With such a visa, you will not have to go to the prefecture to ask for a residency card (carte de séjour) in France.
With such a visa, you will have to apply, as soon as you arrive in France, for a residency card with the French prefecture which has jurisdiction for the place where you are studying.
