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VISAS

Worker, retiree, second-home owner: What type of French visa do you need?

If you're not a citizen of an EU country and you want to stay in France for more than 90 days you will almost certainly need a visa - but knowing which type to get can be complicated.

Published: 22 March 2022 16:00 CET
Updated: 2 April 2022 09:00 CEST
Worker, retiree, second-home owner: What type of French visa do you need?
Make sure you have the right paperwork at the French border. Photo by Valery HACHE / AFP

France is relatively generous when it comes to granting visas, but that doesn’t mean that the system is easy. We take a look at the type of visa you need, and how to get it. 

Do I need a visa at all?

If you have the passport of any EU or Schengen zone country then congratulations, you just won the migration lottery. You don’t need a visa to visit France. If you intend to stay here long term you won’t need a visa and don’t need to register for residency, but you will need to do things like register in the healthcare system and file an annual tax declaration.

If you are the citizen of a non-EU country then you may benefit from the 90-day rule. Countries including the UK, USA, Canada and Australia all benefit from this rule, which allows you to visit France for 90 days out of every 180 without needing a visa. Citizens of certain countries require a visa even for a short trip – find the full list here.

If you are Ukrainian and fleeing the war you can enter without a visa under the 90 day rule and then stay for at least a year – full details here. 

If you are British then unfortunately your days of extended visa-free trips ended with Brexit, and you now come under the same immigration regime as other non-EU citizens like Americans, Canadians and Australians.

What do I do if I need a visa?

The first thing you need to do is determine what type of visa you need. France provides multiple different visa options and they all have slightly different requirements for documents.

The basic process is the same though – you apply online, provide all the necessary supporting documents, pay the fee and then attend an in-person appointment in your home country. The key thing is that visas must be applied for in your home country before you travel to France. You can find full details on the process HERE.

Which type of visa you want depends on two things – how long you intend to stay in France and what you intend to do while here.

Below are some of the most common visa scenarios:

Second-home owners

If you own property in France you can visit for up to 90 days in every 180 without a visa. This means that in total you can spend six months of the year in the French property, but this cannot be six consecutive months – full details on how the 90-day rule works here. 

If you want to spend longer than 90 days at a time in France, then you will need a visa. Most second-home owners who want to pay long visits are retired, so opt for a visitor visa.

There are two types of visitor visa – a 6-month temporary visitor visa and a 1-year long-stay visitor visa.

Here’s what the French government says about second-home owners: “If you are spending between three and six months a year in France in total, you are not considered as a resident in France. You will have to apply for a temporary visitor visa – visa de long séjour temporaire visiteur.

“If you spend more than six months a year in France, you are then considered as a French resident and must apply for a long stay visitor visa (visa de long séjour valant titre de séjour visiteur).”

In both cases, the visitor visa requires an undertaking not to work in France, so is not suitable for those who might want to work remotely from their French property.

READ ALSO Working remotely from France – what are the rules for foreigners?

Full details on visitor visas and how to get one HERE.

Retirees

Although its name suggests that it’s just for people on short trips, the visitor visa is also the one you need if you intend to retire to France.

It’s not just for tourists and second-home owners, it’s for anyone who does not intend to work, study or look for work while they are here.

Because you are declaring that you won’t be working while in France, the visitor visa has the highest level of financial requirements – basically you need to prove that you can take care of yourself financially and will not become a burden on the French state.  

READ ALSO How much money do I need for a French visa?

Full details on retiring to France HERE.

Other visitors

The visitor visa is not just for those who have a place in France. In fact, owning property does not give you any advantage per se in the visa system.

If you’re doing any type of visit to France that does not involve paid work – a long holiday, a non-paid artistic project, travelling and learning the language – then it’s also a visitor visa.

Students 

The French government is keen to attract foreign students to its universities, with the result that the student visa is probably one of the most straightforward visas to get, although you do need to have an offer in place from a French higher education establishment before you begin the application process.

Once you have finished your studies, the French government is keen to keep you, and there is a process to convert your student visa into a job-seeking visa while you look for a job in France. If you have completed higher education in France, you also only need to be resident for two years before you can apply for French citizenship.

Full details on student visas HERE.

Working in France

If you intend to work in France, then there are various different options to cover this.

The most straightforward scenario is if you already have a contract or a job offer with a company in France, or with an overseas company that is transferring you to France. In this case you need a working visa with your employer as the sponsor.

If you are moving to France to work with a company, check that they are happy to sponsor your visa – not all companies are willing to do this because of the extra administrative burden, although companies that don’t sponsor visas would most likely check your residency status before making you a formal job offer.

If you intend to work as a freelancer or set up your own business in France, you probably want the self-employed/entrepreneur visa. This one has financial requirements, similar to the visitor visa, in which you must be able to demonstrate that you can take care of yourself financially while you search for work and therefore will not become a burden on the French state. 

‘Not too complicated but quite expensive’ – Getting a French visa as a freelancer

Depending on the type of work you do and your previous experience you may qualify for the Talent Visa programme – this is the most generous type of French visa, offering three years of residency with the opportunity to bring along family members. Originally aimed at rich business owners and tech specialists, it has been expanded in recent years and now covers quite a wide range of different professions – full details HERE.

If you want to do short-term work in France without moving here, you can get a working visa, but this would normally be tied to a specific project that you will be working on while you are here. You will also need to check whether you need a work permit.

Spouse visa

If you are married to a French or EU citizen, then you may be able to benefit from a spouse visa. Contrary to common belief, being married to a French person does not exempt you from the requirement to have a visa, it just offers you an extra visa option.

There’s no rule that says you have to take up a spouse visa if you are married to a French person – if you already have a work or study programme lined up you can get a work or student visa in your own right, it’s basically up to you.

EXPLAINED How to get a French spouse visa

Others

The above is intended only as a guide and is based on the most common scenarios of people coming to France, if you have a complex or unusual case it would be best to consult a specialist immigration lawyer.

The French visa website also hosts the ‘visa wizard’ which allows you to enter all the your details and then guides you to the type of visa that you need – find it here.

What next

Imagining that getting a visa is the end of your French paperwork requirements? Ha, dream on! The bureaucracy continues – full details HERE.

Member comments

  1. I have read and understood your terms of use.

    My name is Rosemary Border Rabson. I am a UK citizen and paid up member of The Local. My husband John has both UK and French citizenship. We have lived in France since 2005. I shall be 79 in June 2022 and John will be 80 in September 2022. We are retired and have ample means thanks to our pensions and my royalies from published works. We own our home and a small property in England.

    We have one son, Hugo, aged 47. He was born in the UK and was awarded US citizenship after he was invalided out of the US Army after suffering PTSD, etc as a result of active service in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has a 100% disability person from the Veterans’ Association and would not be a burden on the French government. Additionally he owns outright a house near ours.

    He arrived in France in June 2021 largely thanks to a letter from our family doctor asserting that John and I needed Hugo near us. Hugo “burnt his boats” in the US and arrived with two suitcases and the desire to live permanently in France. Because of his psychiatric issues he is unable to cope with the stress of obtaining a visa for himself. I am series editor and co-author of the Pocket Lawyer series (Cavendish), but I find French admin so baffling that I have entrusted John with the task. However, it has just occurred to me that as a Local I may be entitled to some knowledgeable advice!

    Nobody has yet asked about Hugo’s permission to remain in France. Do we let sleeping dogs lie?

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For members

LIVING IN FRANCE

5 things Brits in France need to know about swapping driving licences

Now that the dust has settled from the somewhat chaotic post-Brexit period, the system for swapping a UK driving licence for a French one seems to be running fairly smoothly. There are, however, some things that UK licence holders need to know.

Published: 3 May 2024 17:20 CEST
5 things Brits in France need to know about swapping driving licences

This article is aimed at holders of a UK or Northern Ireland driving licence who are living in France – tourists, visitors and second-home owners can continue to drive in France on a UK licence and do not need an international driving permit.

British students who are studying in France on a student visa can continue to drive on their UK licence during their studies – if however they settle in France afterwards, they need to follow the below process for swapping their licence. 

1 You’re special

Well, maybe special is over-stating it, but the system for holders of UK and NI licence holders is different to that of other non-EU nationals, and also different to the system for EU licence holders.

The reason for this is that a pragmatic post-Brexit agreement was (finally) reached between France and the UK, in order to avoid the chaos that was triggered when thousands of Brits in France all tried to swap their driving licences at once.

Unlike almost all other post-Brexit agreements, this one applies both to people who moved to France before the end of Brexit transition period in 2021 and those who have moved here since. 

The below terms apply to everyone who has a UK or NI licence, regardless of their nationality or when they moved to France. 

2 But you still have to swap

It was technically always the case that Brits who were living in France should have swapped their licence for a French one, just as other EU licence holders do now, but in reality many people lived here for years or decades without ever exchanging their licence and there was little or no enforcement of the rule.

That has now changed and you must swap according to the following timetable;

If your UK licence was issued after January 1st, 2021 – you must swap within one year of moving to France.

If your UK licence was issued before January 1st 2021 – you only swap when you meet one of the following conditions;

  • The licence itself or the photocard is within six months of its expiry date. For more people the photocard expiry will come around first, but UK licences also require renewal when the holder reaches the age of 70
  • Your licence has been lost or stolen
  • You have been ordered to exchange your licence by a gendarme after committing a driving offence

For people who are exchanging because the licence is about to expire, it is important that you don’t start the process until your licence is within six months of the expiry date – early applications will simply be rejected.

3 It might not be as much of a nightmare as you think 

Unlike the old days when licence swaps were done by préfectures, the whole process has now moved online and is run through a single, central system.

The online portal for requesting a swap is known as ANTS and you can find it HERE.

If you haven’t used it before you will need to create an online account, or if you already have online accounts for French government services such as Ameli or tax declarations you can login by clicking on the France Connect button.

Once logged in, select Je demande l’échange ou l’enregistrement de mon permis de conduire étranger (I request the exchange or registration of a foreign driving licence) and fill in the details requested on the form such as name, address etc.

You might be pleasantly surprised by the fact the form itself is relatively straightforward (as French admin forms go), asking basic questions such as your personal details and the details of your driving licence.

You will have to upload supporting documents, but these are likely to be things that you already have to hand including

  • Proof of ID (passport or carte de séjour)
  • Proof of address (a recent utility bill or attestation from your utility provider)
  • If your driver’s licence is in a different name to your passport, you will need to supply your full birth certificate

You will also need to supply a photo – you can either use the internet-enabled Photomaton booths – find your nearest here – to create a digital photo with the required security code, or you can use the normal photo booths to print out a physical photo and send it by post after you have made your application. 

Once completed, you can use the ANTS site to track the progress of your application and upload any other documents that are requested.

4 But don’t leave it too late 

If you’re applying because your licence is about to expire then you cannot apply until you are within six months of the expiry date.

But it’s a good idea not to leave it until the last minute as the whole process does take time – things have improved massively since the dark days of 2020 and 2021 when people were waiting for years and their licences expired while they waited.

But it still takes time – the current average for a straightforward application with no extra documents required seems to be between four and five months, although processing times can vary, especially over holiday periods.

It’s therefore a good idea to make the application fairly soon after you enter that magic six-month window.

Once you make the application you should get an automated response acknowledging receipt – this is usually sent by SMS and/or email, it’s a good idea to check your spam folder if you don’t get the email.

Don’t panic if you don’t then hear anything for the next few weeks or even months, this appears to be normal. If your application is complete and there are no outstanding queries or other documents required, the next step will be a request to send in your old UK licence.

You send this by post (recorded delivery with a signature is strongly recommended) and at the same time you can download an Attestation de Depot de Permis de Conduire (certificate of deposit of driving licence) – you can use this to prove your continued entitled to drive in the period between sending in your old licence and receiving your new one.

Your French licence is then sent by registered post, and the window between posting the old licence and receiving the new one is usually not more than a month, you 

5 Help is out there 

If your application runs into problems or you have an untypical situation or find the ANTS website hard to use, don’t panic – help is available.

The Facebook group Driving in France – French Licence Applications is a good place to start with comprehensive guides and knowledgeable admins who are quick to respond to questions.

You can also chat to others in your situation and get updates on how long processing times seem to be.

If you have problems using the online system, your local France Services office may be able to help.

You can also head to The Local’s reader questions section, or email us at [email protected] if you have questions.

Digital licences

You might have heard about France’s new digital driving licence – unfortunately this is only available to people who have French citizenship (including dual nationals).

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