Tourist Visa

When you travel to travel, you are; in a broad sense, visiting the country. By implication, there are whole lots of reasons why you would want to visit a country:

• For tourism, holiday, vacation
• Family reunion
• For business
• For study
• For work etc.

Everyone knows that different purposes will determine the type of visa that you will apply for and there are generally two types of visa in France:

• Short-term stay
• Long-term stay

Short-term stay: Visas allows you to stay in the country for 90 days or less, this visa is generally issued for activities that will not take more than 3 months, like tourism, business visits, airport transits, study; for courses less than 3 months, work; for engaging in paid work for not more than 3 months etc.

Long-term stay visas: Allows the holder to stay in the country for at most 1 year. It can cover the same activities as the short-term visa like tourism, business visits, study, work and any other activities that will require the holder to stay in France for more than 3 months.

Follow these procedures to get your France visit visa:

Check if you need to apply for a visa

While citizens of certain countries are permitted to stay short-term without needing a visa, some can stay long-term without a visa and some can’t even stay long or short-term without a visa. It all depends on your nationality.

Obtain French tourist visa application form

This is probably the most important step in the visa application process. Applicants who want to visit France will need to get their visa application, this is what you take along to the consulate during your interview. Without it, you cannot even be considered to be an applicant. For applicants under the age of 18, their guardian would need to sign for them.

Schedule your Interview

Set a date for your physical interview. The physical interview takes precedence and you need to be careful as a wrong move can cause your visa to be rejected.

The documents to be taken includes:

The filled visa application form.: You need to take this along with you as stated in one of the previous points. The application form must not contain any false information as you would be required to provide proof of every claim you make in the form.

2 Passport Photographs: A recent photograph of the applicant; must be in colored and in passport format.

Passport: Go along with a valid passport with at least two blank pages. It must be valid for at least 3 more months after your estimated date of leaving France.

Proof of purchased Schengen travel insurance: You must present a document proving that you have been insured for health emergencies. This insurance covers the whole country in the Schengen area. Visitors, family, group visitors, and even businessmen are not exempted, no matter how short your stay is.

Proof of the Applicant’s Address: The applicant must prove that they have a landed property or at least an accommodation in their home country and that they don’t plan on leaving there anytime soon. This can be used as proof of return. Anything from utility bills, to Certificates of land ownership, can be used.

A Proof of a Booked Round-Trip Flight Ticket with Travel Itinerary: You can also be asked to present a copy of a booked round-trip flight ticket, or simply your return ticket. This is another way of proving that you will return to your hometown after your stay in France.

Covering Letter: The converting letter is a letter detailing the purpose of the applicant’s visit and virtually everything they would be doing in France. More like a travel itinerary, the covering letter will describe all the activities that the applicant have in mind for the visit.

For businessmen, they may be required to write their covering letter on their company letterhead.

Proof of a Booked Accommodation: This can work in two ways, you can either get one of your relatives living in France to accommodate you or book a hotel in France. You cannot tell the interviewer that you will seek your accommodation when you get to the country, you need to present proof that you already have a valid and legit place to stay.

Proof of the Civil Status: Anything to prove your social status in the country, your marriage certificate, your child’s birth certificate, divorce papers etc. can be used here.

Proof of Means of Subsistence: In France and other Schengen countries, you need to give a definite proof that you can cater for all your expenses throughout your stay. If you were invited by a resident, then they must also be ready to sign that they have the resources to take care of you.

Attend your Interview: Any applicant, irrespective of age must show up for an interview to get their visa approved. Under 18s who had all their process done by their parents must show themselves on the day of the interview.

Visa Application Fee: Pay the application fee at the consulate.