Schengen short-stay visa (foreigner in France for 3 months maximum)

Verified 12 October 2025 - Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

You are a foreigner and you want to stay in France for less than 3 months? You must have a visa called short-stay (Type C). This visa is common to the countries of the Schengen area. It allows you to stay in France and in other countries of space Schengen, except in exceptional cases. You must also have other documents that vary according to the purpose of the stay. Here is the information you need to know.

You are concerned if you meet the following 3 conditions:

  • You are foreigner
  • Your stay is one maximum duration of 3 months in France (or another space country) Schengen)
  • You do not have a residence permit or long-stay visa in a space country Schengen.

Warning  

This procedure does not concern a foreigner who is a national of european countriesor the members of his family living in France with him.

Depending on your nationality and the type of your passport, you may be exempt from a visa. You can check if you need a visa using the Visa Assistant service. The process is done on the internet:

Check if you need a visa - Visa Assistant

A visa is a sticker affixed by the administration of a country to a person's passport to allow him to enter and stay for a specified period.

The short-stay visa allows you to enter and travel in France and other countries of the space Schengen.

Exceptionally, it may be valid in France or in one or more countries of space Schengen only (e.g. France and Belgium).

Unlike a national long-stay visa (type D), the visa Schengen does not permit you to settle in France.

For what reason can the Schengen visa be granted?

This visa may be granted for example for one of the following reasons:

  • Tourist trip
  • Business travel
  • Family visit
  • Short training, internship
  • Engaging in a paid activity that may require work authorization.

How long is the stay allowed with the Schengen visa?

The short-stay visa allows you to stay up to 90 days for a continuous stay or for several stays in the countries of the space Schengen over a period of 180 days.

At the end of this maximum period of 90 days, you must leave the space Schengen.

A simulator allows you to calculate the maximum length of stay of the non-European foreigner in the Schengen area:

Calculate the maximum permitted duration of short stays in Schengen countries

Depending on the reason for your stay, you must present the following documents, in addition to the visa:

  • Proof of your livelihood (cash, traveler's checks, international bank cards, etc.)
  • Proof of your repatriation guarantees (return transport ticket, etc.)
  • Insurance covering medical and hospital expenses, including social assistance, for the care you may receive in France (the minimum coverage requested is €30,000)
  • Certificate of acceptance or proof of accommodation in a hotel or a host establishment, if your stay is part of a private or family visit
  • Documents on the purpose and conditions of your stay in France, if your trip is tourist or professional or for hospitalization or research.

Warning  

To work during your short stay, you must hold a work authorization obtained for a paid activity which does not fall within the following grounds:

  • Sports, cultural, artistic and scientific events
  • Symposia, seminars and trade shows
  • Film, audiovisual, performance and phonographic publishing production and distribution, as an artist or technical staff
  • Modeling and artistic pose
  • Personal services as a domestic worker
  • Audit and expertise assignments in IT, management, finance, insurance, architecture and engineering as a contracted employee
  • Teaching as a visiting professor.

You must complete your visa application on the internet:

Applying for a visa

The request is to be made at the earliest 3 months before departure planned.

After completing your application on the internet, you must make an appointment at the French consulate of the country in which you reside.

The process is done on the internet.

Please note

If the main destination cannot be determined, it is the country of entry into theSchengen area who is competent to issue you the visa.

For example, if you plan to spend 15 days in Belgium and 15 days in France for tourism arriving through Belgium, you must make your request to the Belgian consulate.

Validity of the passport

Your passport must be valid at least 3 months after the end date of your visa. It must also have been issued since under 10 years of age and contain 2 at least two blank pages for entry stamps into a territory.

Registration of applicant data

Your data biometric are saved in a file, called Visabio.

This data is the scanned images of your photo and fingerprints (the child under 12 years old is not concerned).

You cannot object to this registration. However, you have a right to access and correct the file.

FYI  

Since October 12, 2025, the European Entry/Exit System (EES) is deployed gradually over 6 months at border crossing points (airports, stations and ports). This system records the personal data as well as data on entry, exit and refusal of entry third-country nationals who come to France for a stay of less than 3 months.

To know the cost of the visa, you can consult the section Rates from the pages of the France-Visas Assistant:

France-Visas - Cost of visa by country

The amount of the visa fee must be paid to the visa department at the time of application.

In countries where the State has entrusted the receipt of applications to a private service provider, the application fee must be paid to that service provider. The latter can also claim additional service charges abroad.

After payment, a receipt with the amount paid is given to the applicant.

Warning  

In case of refusal of the visa or cancelation of the stay, the amount paid is not refunded.

A Schengen visa may be refused for the following reasons:

  • You cannot present the proof of your stay in France (proof of accommodation, resources, medical insurance, etc.)
  • You present false travel documents or documents of questionable authenticity
  • You have already stayed 90 days during the current 180-day period on French territory
  • Your presence in France would represent a threat to public order
  • You are registered for non-admission in the Schengen Information System or pose a threat to the security, public health or international relations of a the Schengen area
  • You are subject to a prohibition measure (judicial prohibition of french territory, deportation order, prohibition of return, administrative prohibition of territory)
  • Your intention to leave French territory before the end of the visa is not established
  • You cannot provide precise information about the purpose and your conditions of stay in France.

FYI  

The short-stay visa requested by the holder of a diplomatic passport or service passport may be refused to nationals of a State which does not cooperate sufficiently in the readmission of its nationals in an irregular situation or which does not comply with a bilateral or multilateral agreement on the management of migration flows.

Your Schengen visa may be refused:

  • Explicitly by a written decision which must specify the reason for the refusal
  • Implicitly if no response is made to your request after a period of 2 months.

You can appeal against a decision to refuse a visa. But you must first make a mandatory prior administrative appeal (Rapo).

How to make a Rapo?

You must write to Deputy Director for Visas, Directorate-General for foreigners in France (Ministry of the Interior), which is responsible for examining administrative appeals against decisions taken by diplomatic or consular authorities to refuse short-stay visas.

The Rapo must be formed in 30 days from the date on which the decision to refuse a visa was notified to you.

The Deputy Director of Visas may:

  • Either dismiss your appeal,
  • Or instruct the consulate to issue you the requested short-stay visa.
Who shall I contact

What if the Rapo is rejected?

The Rapo: titleContent shall be rejected:

  • Either if a written refusal decision is sent to you (explicit rejection),
  • Either if you do not receive a response within 2 months after sending your RAPO (implicit rejection).

You can then appeal for annulment within 2 months after the decision to reject your Rapo implicitly or explicitly.

It is the administrative court of Nantes that is competent to examine appeals for annulment against visa refusals.

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