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Arrival deadline calculator

Pick your long-stay visa and enter the day you enter France. The calculator gives the last day to validate the VLS-TS or to ask for the card, the tax that goes with it and, once you give the end of the visa, the window for the renewal.

What is your first deadline after you land?

A long-stay visa starts a clock the day you enter France. Pick your visa and enter the day you land.

Not yours? Press the closest row, then change the date to your own.

Sources: service-public.gouv.fr sheets of the long-stay visa, of the cards and of the stamps of 1 May 2026; CESEDA articles R431-4, R431-5 and R431-8 on Légifrance. The pages give 3 months from your arrival without a day-count rule, so do not wait for the last day. Informational only, not immigration advice. Last checked 20 October 2026.
  • 3 monthsfrom your arrival in France to validate a VLS-TS and pay the tax.1
  • 2 monthsfrom your entry to ask for the card, on a visa that carries that mention.1, 5
  • 300 eurosthe tax stated for the validation of an employee VLS-TS. Student and job-search visas state 100 euros.2, 3, 4

The first clock

A VLS-TS must be validated within the 3 months that follow your arrival in France, and a tax is paid on top of the visa fees.1

A visa that carries the mention that the card is to be requested within 2 months of arrival lets you enter France and get a card at the prefecture. The regulation gives the same two months from entry to a foreigner who is not in one of the cases it lists.1, 5

The pages give the deadline in months and no rule for counting the day. The calculator counts to the same day number, or the last day of a shorter month, and tells you not to wait for that day.1

The tax of the validation

The employee VLS-TS states 300 euros, the student VLS-TS 100 euros and the job-search or business-creation VLS-TS 100 euros in tax stamps. The pages read give no amount for the other VLS-TS, so the calculator gives none.2, 3, 4

A first card costs 350 euros since 1 May 2026, or 150 euros at the reduced rate.6

The renewal that follows

Give the last day printed on the visa and the calculator adds a renewal window. For a title requested online, article R431-5 sets it from the 120th to the 60th day before that day; the sheets of the student, visitor and resident cards say 4 to 2 months, and the calculator shows the narrower of the two. The sheet of the employee card only says to file at the latest 2 months before, so the closing day holds for every card and the opening day for an online request. The job search or business creation visa cannot be renewed: at its end you can ask for a card in a professional capacity if you found a job or created a business.3, 5

Sources read

Every page below was opened and read on October 20, 2026. A sentence above that rests on a page carries its number.

  1. 1 Service-Public: Visa de long séjourPage dated 9 October 2026A VLS-TS must be validated within 3 months of arrival, with a tax added to the visa fees; a visa marked card to be requested within 2 months of arrival lets you enter and get a card at the prefecture; a VLS-TS is valid 4 to 12 months. In French.
  2. 2 Service-Public: Travail d'un étranger en France, carte salariéThe validation within 3 months of arrival; the tax of the validation is 300 euros; a late renewal carries the 180 euro regularization fee. In French.
  3. 3 Service-Public: Étudiant étranger en FranceThe validation of a student VLS-TS within 3 months, tax of 100 euros; the student card is requested 4 to 2 months before the end of the document. In French.
  4. 4 Service-Public: Carte de séjour ou VLS-TS, recherche d'emploi ou création d'entrepriseThe validation within 3 months of arrival, with 100 euros in tax stamps. In French.
  5. 5 Légifrance: CESEDA, section 3, articles R431-4 to R431-8R431-4: a foreigner not in the cases listed files his request within two months of entering France; R431-5 and R431-8: the renewal window and the six months. In French.
  6. 6 Service-Public: Taxes of the residence permits since 1 May 2026Page dated 12 May 2026A first card is 350 euros since 1 May 2026 (150 euros at the reduced rate), a renewal 250 euros (100 reduced). In French.

Informational only, not legal, tax or immigration advice.

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