Is there shortcut for six-month French visa application?
Appointments require physical visit to processing centre
Readers are still reporting problems with obtaining visa appointments
one photo / Shutterstock
Reader Question: My wife and I (both Australian) own a second home in France and visit each year, but having to make an appointment for a visa each time is annoying as we live far from the nearest visa centre in Sydney. Can we have the appointment online? My wife is a dual citizen of the UK, is it easier to apply from the UK?
As Australians or Britons, you are able to visit France visa-free for up to 90 days in any 180-day period, but presumably you typically wish to stay longer, so apply for temporary long-stay visas (typically issued for six months).
If you are Australian residents, you have to apply for this via the French consular services in Australia, and we do not see any particular relevance in this case to your wife having British nationality. You apply to the services in the country where you live, and must hand over your passports to have the visa placed in it.
There is unfortunately no ‘shortcut’ for six-month VLS-T visas for visiting France, and standard procedures must be followed for each application.
There are hopes that some simplifications such as online-only applications will be available in future years, but it is not the case for now.
We note also that some US visa centres (we are only aware so far of Washington DC) now offer a ‘postal-only’ visa service at an extra cost, but this is only for nationals who need a short-stay Schengen visa to visit the EU (not Britons or Australians).
Applications for long-stay visas are made through a third party contracted by France to handle requests – VFS Global in Australia and TLScontact in the UK.
The application process for a six-month VLS-T visa always requires a physical visit to a centre, which cannot be skipped, although you may be able to pay for additional benefits such as early ‘prime-time’ appointment slots.
Information including financial details, insurance, passport scans, etc must be resubmitted at each appointment for a new visa. Formerly resubmitted data cannot be used again.
Similarly, you are required to give biometric information including photos and having fingerprints taken, each time.
