France Student Visa: Requirements and How to Apply

France student visa requirements (checklist)

The permit is the VLS-TS étudiant (long-stay visa valid as residence permit, student category). One document does two jobs: it gets you into France, then becomes your residence permit once you validate it online after arrival and pay the stay tax. There is no prefecture appointment in year one.

Where the file starts depends on your passport. Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Egypt, South Africa and Morocco go through Campus France’s Études en France platform first, interview included, and Campus France forwards the request to the consulate. Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe apply directly to institutions, then to the consulate.

What the checklist asks for:

• A passport valid beyond your intended stay and recent photographs; biometrics is yes from age 12.
• Proof of admission or pre-enrolment at a recognised institution — France has 3,500.
• Your Campus France file number and interview outcome, in the six CEF countries.
• Proof of resources of €877.50 per month.
• Proof of accommodation for your first months in France.
• Certificates and civil-status documents: apostilled if your country is a Hague member, otherwise legalised through your foreign ministry and the French embassy.
• The fee of €50–99, plus the application-centre charge.
• A projet d’études — a study plan you can defend in your own words.

A tuberculosis test is not-required and a medical examination is not-required. Insurance is not a supporting document at this stage either. The visa rules set no French or English condition — any language requirement comes from your university, not the consulate.

Proof of funds — the exact rule

The reference figure is €877.50 per month, effective 1 August 2026 and a large rise on the amount applied to earlier files. It is not a blocked account. No decree fixes a statutory sum: France-Visas defers to a per-applicant assessment, and the consulate or the Campus France committee decides whether what you have shown covers a full academic year.

So the instrument is up to you. Accepted evidence: bank statements in your own name, a guarantor’s signed attestation de prise en charge with their income and statements attached, an irrevocable-transfer or blocked-fund certificate, or a scholarship award letter. Holders of a French-government scholarship meet the requirement automatically.

The flexibility is also the trap: with no fixed instrument, officers judge coherence, and a sponsor whose declared income does not match the transfers is the fastest route to a refusal. Treat the reference figure as a floor, not a budget — Campus France’s own living estimate is €600–800 per month nationally, while Paris runs €1,235–1,700 per month. See our proof of funds guide and the city figures in France cost of living and tuition.

Health insurance

France does not use the minimum-cover private-insurance model you meet elsewhere, and no policy is required for the visa file. After you enrol, registration with the state scheme (PUMA) is automatic for non-EU students under 28 through the official student portal, and costs free per month, free per year. It reimburses a share of your medical costs; the rest is covered by an optional mutuelle top-up, priced individually by insurers and student mutuals, with no centrally set premium. The minimum-cover sum quoted on most agent websites belongs to short-stay Schengen visas, not to this one. Budget for private cover between landing and the day your registration is processed.

Where Africans apply: embassies and visa centres

Six origins pay the reduced end of €50–99 because their files pass through Études en France; Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe pay the full end.

Nigeria. Campus France Nigeria first, then TLScontact Abuja (CBD) or Lagos (Victoria Island). Reduced rate, plus a TLScontact service fee and a Campus France dossier fee in local currency.

Ghana. VFS Global Accra, One Airport Square, takes documents and biometrics; the French Embassy Accra decides. Reduced rate, plus VFS and Campus France platform fees.

Kenya. TLScontact Nairobi, Ring Road Parklands, Westlands. The visa appointment can only be booked after you pass the Campus France interview; the fee is collected in local currency at the rate on the payment day.

Egypt. Campus France Egypt at the Institut français, Cairo, issues the CEF number; submission is at TLScontact in Cairo, East Cairo, Alexandria or Hurghada. Egypt pays the full rate, service fee in cash.

South Africa. CAPAGO, with full centres in Johannesburg and Cape Town and mobile biometrics in Durban and Port Elizabeth at extra cost, after Études en France. Reduced rate plus a CAPAGO fee.

Uganda. Embassy of France, 16 Lumumba Avenue, Kampala — no outsourced centre, no Campus France step, full rate.

Zambia. You lodge at CAPAGO Lusaka, but the Consulate General of France in Johannesburg decides; the Lusaka embassy issues nothing. Full rate, plus CAPAGO’s service and passport-return charges.

Zimbabwe. French Embassy Harare, 3 Princess Drive, Newlands, with no VFS or TLScontact layer. Full rate, paid in cash.

Morocco. TLScontact in Rabat, Casablanca, Fès, Marrakech, Tanger, Oujda and Agadir, after Études en France. Reduced rate, plus a Campus France dossier fee that is non-refundable even on refusal.

The fee

The visa itself is €50–99: the lower end for files examined through Études en France, the higher end for everyone else. The application centre adds its own charge, €28–31 where it is published. After you arrive you pay the OFII stay tax of €100 when you validate the visa, raised under the 2026 Finance Law with effect from 1 May 2026. At enrolment the CVEC contribution is €105 per year. None of it is refunded if you are refused, and the Campus France dossier fee is gone either way.

Step-by-step: how to apply for a France student visa

The intake is Autumn (September/October), so a September 2027 start begins in autumn 2026.

1. September 2026: shortlist programmes and check the language of instruction — start with French universities for African students and France scholarships.
2. September to November 2026: begin legalisation. South Africa and Morocco apostille; the other seven origins need the full consular chain, weeks per document.
3. From 1 October 2026: open your file on Études en France at https://pastel.diplomatie.gouv.fr/etudesenfrance/. Bachelor’s applicants follow the DAP procedure (Licence 1 / PASS-L.AS / Architecture) for 2027/28 entry: platform opens 1 October 2026, closes 15 December 2026, 18:00 (metropolitan France time).
4. October 2026 to January 2027: master’s and Licence 2/3 applicants follow the HDAP procedure (Licence 2/3, Master) for 2027/28 entry: platform opens 1 October 2026, closes 8 January 2027, 23:59; institutional decisions by 30 April 2027; candidate acceptance by 31 May 2027.
5. Winter and spring 2027: attend the Campus France interview, defend your projet d’études, then accept one offer inside the platform.
6. From May 2027: build the funds file — statements, sponsor declaration or scholarship letter — and secure written accommodation.
7. June to July 2027: complete the France-Visas wizard, book the appointment at your TLScontact, VFS, CAPAGO or embassy counter, give biometrics and pay the fee.
8. Allow 2–7 weeks for the decision, then collect your passport and travel.
9. Within three months of arrival: validate the visa online, pay the stay tax and the CVEC, enrol, and register with the state health scheme.

Processing time

Official guidance is stated in days rather than weeks — around a fortnight for a straightforward file, up to six weeks in special cases, which is the 2–7 week band above. The visa stage is the short part; the Campus France stage in front of it takes months, and that is where a September start is won or lost. Some posts, Lagos and Casablanca among them, tell applicants to allow considerably longer than the central figure.

Common refusal reasons — and how we help

France publishes no student-visa refusal rate by nationality or category; only aggregate national totals across all visa types exist, so nobody can quote you honest odds for your country. What is documented is why files fail: resources below the reference threshold or unclearly evidenced; a weak or incoherent projet d’études that leaves doubt you intend to study; incomplete or unreliable supporting documents; civil-status irregularities or certificates that cannot be verified; no genuine admission at an eligible institution; and any prior refusal, overstay or removal order.

Five of those six are document and consistency problems, which is what a review before submission fixes. We check that the sponsor’s income supports the transfers, that your name is spelled identically on passport, diploma and admission letter, that the legalisation route is the right one for your country, and that your projet d’études matches the programme you were admitted to. If anyone has offered you a guaranteed visa, read how to spot a fake agent first.

Talk to a World Study advisor on WhatsApp or take the free 2-minute eligibility check →

Working during and after your studies

Work rights come with the validated visa: a separate permit is no. The cap is 964 hours/year (60% of the 1,607-hour annual legal working time) — an annual cap, not split into term-time/holiday allowances, and the same annual limit applies in the holidays. Pay starts at the SMIC minimum of €12.31 per hour. Your employer must file a declaration with the prefecture before you start, and going over the annual cap puts your permit renewal at risk.

After graduation the route is the Autorisation provisoire de séjour (APS) — recherche d'emploi ou création d'entreprise (job-seeker / business-creation residence permit): 12 months, not renewable, at €150. It requires a diploma at least equivalent to a master’s — a standard bachelor’s does not qualify. More on the country in studying in France.