India

​​​​​​​ Appointment wait times

Wait times vary depending on the number of applicants and the season.

If you submit your application in Kathmandu, you must submit it a minimum of 15 days prior to your scheduled departure.

For long-stay visas, you must submit your application 1 month prior to your scheduled departure.

You can not submit your application more than 6 months prior to your scheduled departure.

When you are scheduling an appointment i.e. via the call centre or on the VFS India website, you will be asked to immediately provide an email address where you can receive the appointment confirmation letter. You will be asked to show this letter when you visit the VFS Global Centre. You must print the letter out before visiting the Centre along with your other visa application documents.

Visa applicants must submit their visa application in person at a VFS Centre after scheduling an appointment. Please remember to bring the following:

• Printout of the appointment conformation letter);
• The file containing all the required documents presented in the same order as on the checllist ;
• Visa processing fees.

If your visa application is incomplete (i.e. documents are missing ), you may choose not to submit your application until you have all the required documents and come back to the Centre at a later date after scheduling a fresh appointment. You will not have to pay any processing fees if you decide not to submit your application at this time. However, if you do decide to submit your incomplete application, you will be asked to sign a document acknowledging that your application is incomplete and that certain documents are missing. Submitting a complete application does not guarantee that the consular authorities will issue you a visa.

Your photograph and fingerprints will be taken in the biometric booth.Applicants with temporary injuries on their fingers are advised to wait until their injuries have healed before scheduling an appointment. Henna on fingertips may also result in an unclear scanned image and should hence be removed or allowed to fade before the applicant's appointment date. Children under 12 years of age are not required to provide biometric data, their application must be submitted by the child’s parent/legal guardian. The ISO/IEC format photograph of the child will be scanned. After visiting the biometric booth, you may leave the Visa Application Centre.

Following a request from French consular authorities:

• Only visa applicants are authorised to enter the Visa Application Centre. No companions are permitted to enter unless express prior authorisation has been obtained by emailing our HELP service.
• All persons entering the VFS Visa Application Centre will be subject to security checks.

For security reasons, the following items can not be brought into the Centre:

• Any battery-powered device or electronic device such as a camera, video camera, MP3 player, CD player, cassette player (or any other portable music player), computer or tablet;
• Any bag except  for a clear plastic file containing the required application documents or a small hand bag;
• Any sealed package or envelope;
• Any inflammable items e.g. lighter, matches. etc.
• Any sharp objects e.g. knife, scissors. etc.
• Any weapons or explosives.

The above list is not exhaustive. Other items may also be prohibited by the Centre’s security officers. The Visa Application Centre can not store/keep any prohibited items. Consequently, visa applicants must make sure they comply with the rules before visiting the Centre.

Tracking your application :

After submitting your application at the Centre on appointed date, you can track the progress of your application on the VFS website (for India and Nepal).

Collecting your passport :

​​​Only visa applicants or persons authorized by them can collect passports. Third parties are not allowed to collect them

Passports can be delivered to your home or office by courier on the payment of an additional fee of 300 INR.

People residing in Nepal

People residing in Nepal and wishing to visit France as their sole or main destination must go to the VFS Global Centre in Kathmandu, before the process of your file by the French Embassy in New Dehli.

People residing in Bhutan

People residing in Bhutan who apply for a visa to visit France as their main or sole destination must contact VFS Global in Kolkata responsible for receiving visa applications under the authority of the Consulat General of France un Kolkata.

To complete your online application, you must select India as the country where the application is filed. The file is then submitted to the Consulate General of France in Kolkata after having made an appointment by email at least 15 days before your departure date.

Schengen Representation

France represents Monaco in India, and Andorra if entry is through France.

Official passports

Indian holders of diplomatic passports are exempt from having a short-stay visa for France, DROM/COM and New Caledonia. In the Schengen area, they are also exempt from requiring a short stay visa for the following countries:
Germany, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Malta, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and Sweden..

Indian holders of official passports are also exempt from having a short stay visa for: Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Hungary.

United Nations Laissez-passer:

United Nations laissez-passer holders are exempt from having a short stay visa for France but not a long stay visa.

Information on Indian currency notes

500 rupees and 1000 rupees notes that ceased to be legal tender in India since November 8th, 2016 will not be accepted for payment of visa fees.

African State representation / Monaco

France issues short stay visas on behalf of Djibouti, Togo, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Mauritania and Senegal.

France represents Monaco for the issuing of short stay visas.

People residing in India who wish to visit France as their sole or main destination, must go to any of the VFS Global Centres in India : Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Chandigarh, Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jalandhar, Kochi, Chennai, Mumbai, Puducherry, Pune.
Visa applicants are free to contact the VFS Global Centre of their choice.

If you have any problems with your visa application, please check out the VFS Global website for assistance.

You also can address your request to these consulates:

• Bangalore
• Mumbai
• Delhi
• Pondichéry