How long-stay visas are sorted
For any stay in France beyond 90 days you must apply in advance for a long-stay visa, and your nationality does not exempt you from that. Service-Public says the same for adults: a long-stay visa is required even when your nationality exempts you from a short-stay one.1, 5
A long-stay visa runs from three months to one year. To stay beyond its validity you apply for a residence permit at a prefecture.1
France-Visas groups long stays under four reasons: tourism or a private stay, a professional activity, study or training, and joining family members.1
There are two main kinds of visa. A long-stay visa valid as a residence permit (VLS-TS) covers a stay of up to one year and exempts you from applying for a permit; you validate it on the ANEF portal within three months of arriving. A visa bearing the mention that a residence card must be applied for within two months of arrival sends you to the prefecture instead. A temporary long-stay visa (VLS-T) can be issued to people who will not extend their stay beyond its duration.1
Service-Public lists the cases that receive a VLS-TS: students, employees on a permanent contract, spouses of French citizens and holders of the Talents card.5
Visitor and talent visas
A stay for private reasons or tourism does not allow you to carry out an activity linked to a professional reason, unless you are a young traveller eligible for the working holiday programme.2
For a private stay of more than three months you apply for the long-stay visitor visa, issued as a VLS-TS. The file must prove your socio-economic situation, your resources, your accommodation and your medical cover in France, and you must formally agree not to engage in any professional activity during your stay.3
The multi-year passeport talent permit is for employees and self-employed people, and requires an employment contract and a stay of more than three months. It allows a stay of up to four years from the day you arrive, and family members can come with you on multi-year permits of their own.4
Sources read
Every page below was opened and read on October 18, 2026. A sentence above that rests on a page carries its number.
- 1 France-Visas: Long-stay visaThe 90-day line; visa duration; the visa types (VLS-TS, residence card to be applied for, VLS-T); validation on ANEF; the four reasons for a long stay.
- 2 France-Visas: Tourism and private stayA stay for private reasons or tourism does not allow a professional activity, except for the working holiday programme.
- 3 France-Visas: Tourist stay of more than 3 monthsThe long-stay visitor visa, its VLS-TS form, and what the file must prove.
- 4 France-Visas: International talents and economic attractivenessThe multi-year passeport talent: conditions, four-year maximum, family members, categories.
- 5 Service-Public: Visa de long séjour (séjour de plus de 3 mois à 1 an)An adult needs a long-stay visa even when their nationality is exempt from a short-stay visa; the types of long-stay visa and who gets which. In French.
Informational only, not legal, tax or immigration advice.
