step by step guide on how to apply for france study visa
France is a popular study destination for both the undergraduate and postgraduate program. France is one of the best destinations in the world for students to pursue an MBA program. It is the fact that the quality of education in France is excellent in domains such as business, management and classical studies. If you want to study in France, you will be required to get a French visa or permit depending on your nationality and situation. Different application procedures may apply depending on what you will be studying in France, and how long you will need to live in the country. So with this blog I'm Ms. Shivani, Admission Process Executive at Edugo Abroad going to share with you the complete details regarding the French Student visa category.
Let’s begin with the types of student visa category in France.
Now talking about visa process, there are different types of student visas in France depending on the duration you wish to live in France
A short stay student visa is applicable for the candidates seeking an opportunity to study in France for training or course which does not exceed more than 3 months in duration like a language course or a short term course offered by the French institute. With this type of visa, you can travel to France and study for up to three months without the need for a separate residence visa. Short-stay visas are issued free of charge and cannot be renewed.
On this type of visa, you can go to France to take an entrance exam at an institute of higher education. If you pass the entrance exam you can directly apply to French local authority or administrative office in France. This visa is valid for 90 days and upon clearing the exam and getting enrolled in the French institute, the residence permit card can be renewed with the validity of one year.
This visa allows you to study in France for between three to six months without the need for a residence permit. It is a non-renewable visa as it is for a temporary stay in France for the duration of 3 to 6 months, so you are not required to apply for the residence permit separately.
If you have applied for a programme and the course duration is more than six months, then you will need to apply for the long term student visa in France. The long-stay visa is for all international students who wish to enroll in a course at a French institute of higher education. All you need is to provide information about your academic background, language proficiency and adequate financial resources (approximately €615 per month).
Long-stay visas are equivalent to residence permits and are called VLT-TS. From the year 2013, a long stay study visa (which is also your residence permit) lasts for the duration of your course in France i.e. three years for the bachelor’s program, two years for a Master’s and four years for PhD.
The candidate/Student must meet the below-listed requirements in order to be eligible for a student visa for France
Get more details at VFS Checklist For France Visa
To make this whole process easy to understand, we will go step by step.
What after receiving the final admission letter? Once we receive the final admission letter followed by the visa documents we move to step 2 as mentioned below.
Before we begin with the visa file submission there is one important step which you need to complete which is Campus France Process. All you need to do in the campus France process is that once you get your Final Acceptance Letter, you will have to register and create an account at Campus France Portal.
If you want to know about how to do campus France process, you can always check out our YouTube channel. We have a detailed video on how to do campus France process.
Once you get the No objection certificate from Campus France, the immediate next step would be to prepare your file according to the above-mentioned documents and book an appointment for your Visa File Submission (from the VFS website) at the nearest VFS office. The VFS will collect your documents and submit it at the French Consulate for further processing.
After getting an appointment date, be there on the given time and submit the photocopy of your documents.
The whole Visa process must be completed at least before a month of your starting date of the course. So you must start your process at least 3 months before your desired intake. After you finish submitting your file you need to wait for the result as it takes about 14 working days in order to receive the visa result.
Once you arrive with your long-stay visa in France, the very first thing you need to do is submit the original form which was sent to you with the visa acceptance to French Office of Immigration and Integration (OFII). The other documents which are needed to be sent along with the form are the printout of your passport which clearly shows your permanent resident and the stamp received during immigration at the time of entering France. You can either mail the documents on the given address or personally submit them. Once the documents are received by the office they will send back the receipt of confirmation and instruction about the next step. One of the things may be a medical examination and submit the report. The submission of your documents at OFII must be done within 3 months of your arrival in the French territory.
The student with a valid residence permit is allowed to do a part-time job and as per the condition, generally, the students can work 20 hours a week. As an international student, you are allowed to earn while working part-time. The working hours could be 964 hours annually. This is equivalent to 60% of full-time employment. The number of hours’ changes and can be different according to conditions. Between the period of September to June, the eligible working hours are up to 70 hours while in July to August it can be up to 300 hours. Explore More Work Opportunities In France
We hope you like the blog. We at Edugo Abroad believe in giving a quality service to our students. Our personal support team guides the students from their application form to the final interview. To get more information about France study visa you may visit Edugo Abroad. Edugo Abroad is one of the leading education consultant services in India with strong contact with top French universities.
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M.O.C.K, test stands for Measurement of Capabilities and Knowledge Test and it represents the first & foremost step of the selection process. Through this peculiar test, we try to cross-examine a candidate’s motivation behind selecting a particular university & course, and verify his/her cognitive capacities for the same. The main purpose here is to ensure that our partner universities receive genuinely qualified applications.
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Right Student Profile + Right Course + Right University + Right Country = Best Result/Output
It is a virtual library to educate students about every aspect of the admission application process and its associated practices. It offers an assortment of content that covers every piece of information in the form of Blogs, FAQs, News, PR updates and more. The agenda here is to make the candidate fully aware about the particulars of the course and policies of the countries before the commencement of the program.
Edugo Abroad never shies away from going an extra mile to bring the best outcome for our partners. In that spirit, our dedicated team takes the responsibility of the entire visa application process, and establishes a link of communication between the candidates and the respective countries. We pay close attention to each step of the process and make sure that there is no state of confusion among the parties included.
Once the visa acquisition process concludes successfully, the candidate is officially prepared and qualified to set out towards the goal of quality education. At this stage, our role is concerned with lending post-departure support to the candidates. As it happens, a lot of students are faced with the challenges of flight tickets as well as convenient accommodation arrangements. To help students tackle these challenges, our team offers staunch guidance aimed at familiarizing them with the foreign culture.