Bangladesh

Preparing the required documents and making an appointment at VFS Global

When you are scheduling an appointment i.e. the VFS Bangladesh website, you will not receive an appointment immediatly. You will be contacted to your email address to pay for it within a couple of days. It is the only way to confirm your appointment.

Application in person

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 confirmation letter
• The file containing all the required documents presented in the same order as on the checklist (provided by France-Visas)
• Visa processing fees in BDT

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.

Biometrics

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 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, theire application must be submitted by the child’s parents/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.

Security information

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 authorization has been obtained by emailing to VFS.
• 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 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 item e .g. lighter, matches…
• Any sharp objects e.g. knife, scissors…
• Any weapon or explosives

The above list is not exhaustive. Other items may also be prohibited by the Centre’s security officers. The Visa Applicatoin Centre can not store/keep 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.

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.

Security information

When you visit the embassy visa section, you must not bring any weapons or dangerous items with you. Security checks will be performed before you are admitted on the premises.

Practical information on the progress of the appointment

Personal appearance: Visa applicants must submit their visa application in person to the French Embassy.

Remember to bring the following

• A valid passport with at least two blank pages. Your passport’s expiry date must be at least three months after the expiry date of the requested visa;
• A print out of your appointment confirmation letter bearing the same number as your passport;
• A printed, dated and signed copy of the application form and two recent passport photographs in the ISO/IEC format (pdf);
• List of supporting documents;
• The file containing all the supporting documents indicated on the list (one set of originals and one set of clear photocopies) and presented in the same order as the list and ticked off the list;
• The amount of the visa fee, in takas (BDT), in cash (at the embassy, until 14 September 2025), in cash or by bank card (VFS centre only from 17 September 2025).

Submitting a complete application does not guarantee that the consular authorities will issue you with a visa.

Biometric data

Your biometrics (fingerprints) will be collected at the counter after submission of your application and visa fees payment.

Children under 12 years of age are not required to provide their fingerprints; the application must be submitted by the child's parent/legal guardian. The photograph in the ISO/IEC format (pdf) of the child will be scanned.

Collecting your passport

If you applied at the Embassy:

• You can collect your passport from the Visa Department from Sunday to Wednesday at 3.30 pm.

If your application was submitted at the VFS centre:

• You can collect your passport from the VFS centre from Sunday to Thursday from 8.30 am to 4 pm.

If you choose not to come in person, please write an authorization letter.

Official passports

Applications for visas on official and diplomatic passports are submitted only to the Embassy's visa section. Their family (spouse + children) are welcome without appointment, accompanied by the official applicant. Other families (parents, siblings, others…) are requested to go to VFS Global.

Visas issued to holders of official or diplomatic passports are free of charge. Families have to pay the visa fee.

Holders of official and diplomatic passports do not need an appointment to submit their application. They will be received at the Embassy from Sunday to Thursday from 11:00 am to 12:00 pm.

In the exceptional event that a holder of official or diplomatic passport wishes to submit his or her file to VFS Global for the sole purpose of acompanying family members, his or her appointment is payable in the same way as his family members. Only the visa will be free of charge.

Visa applications sent by email will not be accepted.

Representation of other Schengen States

In Bangladesh, the Embassy of France represents three countries for the issuance of short-stay visas (Schengen visas) :

• Austria
• Portugal
• Czech Republic

The procedure for making an appointment and submitting visa applications for the countries represented is identical to the procedure for France.

Supporting documents in German, Portuguese or Czech must be accompanied by translations into French or English.

Student visa

The long-stay student visa application procedure requires 2 interviews: The first with the cultural attaché of the embassy who checks your academic background. The second with the visa section.

To apply for a long-stay student visa, at first please contact the Campus France desk at the following address.

The cultural section of the Embassy then the visa section will contact you by email to give you an appointment.

To prepare your visa application with the required documents, connect to the France-Visas website.

To learn more about higher studies in France please visit this website.

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