Latest update May 2024

      Tourist Short Stay Visa

      tourist short stay

      Do I need a visa for my visit to France?

      Are you visiting as a tourist, seeing family, on a business trip or staying for medical care given by a hospital? If so, you’ll likely need a visa. For these reasons, you’ll probably need to get a tourist or private short-stay visa.

      Here are the details:

      • If you aren’t staying for more than 90 days in a 180-day period, you’ll get either a short-stay uniform Schengen visa or a national visa depending on where you’re headed.
      • If your stay in France needs an airport stopover, it’s a good idea to double-check that you don’t need an airport transit visa.

      Hot tip: You can find out what visa you need with our online visa wizard.

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      What if I want to visit a non-European French territory?

      If you want to visit one of these areas, you’ll need to request a special visa because the usual Schengen visa won’t work. If you’re planning on visiting one of these areas as well as the European territory of France, you’ll need to apply for 2 different visas: 1 special visa and 1 Schengen visa.

      What if I travel to France a lot?

      If you make a lot of short trips to France in a year, you might be able to get a visa that works for multiple entries. These can be good for anywhere from 6 months to 5 years. You might have heard this visa called a “circulation visa.”

      For this kind of visa, you’d need to prove that you will be travelling to France frequently. You’ll also need proof of “integrity and reliability” which you can show by proving you have kept to the rules for any visas that you’ve had before.

      Last updated 2 May 2024