Applying for a French Student Visa
Since you will be in France for longer than 90 days, you will apply for a long stay student visa (note this is not an internship visa.) This process can take anywhere from 8-12 weeks. Do not delay starting your application. While your visa is being processed by the French consulate, you will not have access to your passport, so plan your travel accordingly.
If you have an EU passport, or a passport from Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland, you will not need to apply for a visa. Please inform IFE if this is the case.
There are two main elements to obtaining a French student visa:
Campus France USA
France-Visas
You will use multiple platforms during the process, and must complete the four steps below. [1]
For the campus france usa application, complete steps 1 and 2:
- 1. Complete an online application on the Etudes en France online application platform following the Etudes en France Application Guide.
- 2. Pay the Etudes en France application fee
For the student visa, complete steps 3 and 4:
- 3. Complete a student visa application via France-Visas
- 4. Schedule and attend an in-person visa appointment at a VFS visa center
| Your most complete resources for understanding the process, are this guide on how to create your Etudes en France account and this guide on what documents to bring to the visa appointment. You are a study abroad student, so instructions for you begin on page 26. For independent students not transferring credits back to a home university, your instructions begin on page 34 |
Note that IFE does not have access to information concerning the visa process that is not available online through the linked documents.
Please read the linked sites/pdf’s carefully before contacting IFE with any questions.
If you are experiencing issues with Campus France, please contact them
If you are experiencing issues with VFS, please contact them
If you run into an issue that none of the above resources can resolve, contact IFE - info@ife-edu.eu
