France Visa and Entry Requirements

The short version

France follows Schengen area rules. That single sentence is the whole of the entry question, and it is also the thing most likely to go wrong, because the limit belongs to the area and not to France.

You can travel without a visa to the Schengen area, which includes France, for up to 90 days in any 180-day period. It covers tourism, visiting family or friends, business meetings, cultural and sporting events, and short courses or training. Working is a different question with different requirements.

Why the ninety days is not ninety days in France

Read this part slowly if your trip touches more than one country. If you are traveling to other Schengen countries as well, your whole visit must sit inside the ninety-day visa-free limit, and visits to Schengen countries in the 180 days before you travel count towards it. A week in Italy in spring and a fortnight in Spain in summer are both already spent before you land in Paris.

Overstaying is not a paperwork matter. The advisory states you may be banned from entering Schengen countries for up to three years. If you find you cannot leave before your limit expires, the route is to contact the nearest French prefecture rather than to hope.

The two passport tests, which are separate

Your passport must satisfy both of these, and people fail the first one without knowing it exists:

• a date of issue less than ten years before the day you arrive. If you renewed before October 2018 your passport may carry extra months added on from the old one, which can make the date of issue more than ten years old and the passport invalid for Schengen entry even though it has not expired;
• an expiry date at least three months after the day you plan to leave the Schengen area. Note that this is measured from your departure from the area, not from France.

The expiry date does not have to fall within ten years of the date of issue. The two tests are independent, and a passport can pass one and fail the other.

What a French border officer may ask to see

Have these reachable rather than buried. At French border control you may be asked to show proof of travel insurance covering emergency costs, prove you have enough money for your stay, show proof of your accommodation, and show a return or onward ticket.

The attestation d’accueil, which is the French specific

This is the part no general Schengen guide mentions. If you are staying with family, friends or any third party in France rather than in a hotel, you may be asked to provide a welcome invitation, an attestation d’accueil, from your host.

The sequence matters and it is not fast. Your host, who must be a French resident, obtains the attestation from their local mayor's office, and sends the original to you before you enter France. A document your host has to go and collect in person is not something to discover the week before a trip.

If you own or rent a property in France you may instead be asked for evidence of ownership or tenancy, such as a tax or utility bill.

The Entry/Exit System, described without a date

The European Union's Entry/Exit System is now being implemented across the Schengen area. We publish no start date for it and no date for the separate ETIAS scheme, because our sources carry none and a remembered date is the easiest thing to get wrong on a page like this. What the cached advisory does state is checkable and useful:

• traveling into the area for a short stay, you may need to register biometric details such as fingerprints and a photograph, and there is no cost for EES registration;
• on a first visit you may be asked to register at a special booth before the immigration desk;
• children aged eleven or younger will not have their fingerprints scanned but can be required to have a photograph taken;
• you may also need to give a fingerprint or photograph when you leave the area;
• a digital EES record is valid for three years;
• EES is replacing the manual passport stamp for short stays, and you may be asked for biometrics every time you enter or exit;
• entering through the Port of Dover, Eurotunnel at Folkestone or Eurostar at St Pancras International, your details are taken at the border before you leave the United Kingdom.

The operational advice is simply to allow more time. EES may take each passenger extra time, so expect to wait longer than usual at the border and to need more time for controls when you leave. Flying out of the area, allow extra time to reach the gate, because checks may happen before boarding.

Money and goods at the border

Declare cash or traveler's checks if the value is 10,000 euros or more. You will be given a certified declaration showing you brought it in, which is what you need on the way out.

There are strict rules on what you may carry into or out of France, and anything prohibited or subject to tax or duty must be declared. Food and drink are the trap for a driving trip: there are restrictions on bringing food and drink in, with narrow exceptions for powdered infant milk, infant food, special foods and pet feed required for medical reasons.

Staying longer, and dual nationals

To stay beyond ninety days in any 180 you must meet the French government's own entry requirements, which is a different process from this one. Time in France on a residence permit or a long-stay visa does not count towards the ninety-day Schengen allowance.

These rules are written for people traveling on a full British citizen passport, and the authorities that set and enforce them are French. If you are not sure how they apply to you, the French Embassy is the body to ask, not us. Read this with our safety guide, which covers the identification requirement once you are inside the country, and the packing list for what to carry and where.

Sources

• UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office: France entry requirements: Schengen area rules, visa-free stays of up to 90 days in any 180-day period counted across the whole area, the two passport validity tests, the attestation d’accueil, what a border officer may ask to see, the Entry/Exit System, and the cash declaration threshold. Accessed 16 September 2026.
• UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office: France travel advice: no advisory against travel to any part of the country, and a wildfire warning at the head of the advisory covering the summer season from April to October. Accessed 16 September 2026.