France ETIAS

Almost 90 million international visitors come to France every year and is such a perspective the inception of the ETIAS System will represent a major turning point to make France, and Europe as a whole, more secure both for its inhabitants and for the always welcomed visitors.

ETIAS will be required from 2025 to enter France and 33 more European Countries to visitors staying, for a permanence of maximum 90 days in 6 months, for either:

• Leisure
• Business
• Medical treatment
• Transit

Even if ETIAS is technically not suitable for long term study curricula, the Visa Waiver can be used to enter France for short training programs (i.e., language classes, corporate training courses, cooking courses) if the permanence in the ETIAS countries area as a group will not surpass the threshold of ninety days within 6 months.

Only citizens of the 60 Visa Waiver Countries will benefit for this measure and only as long as purpose and duration of stay comply with the aforementioned limitations. All other visitors will not be considered eligible for ETIAS and, so as to visit France or its neighboring countries, will be required to obtain a Schengen Visa.
It goes without saying that neither an ETIAS or a Schengen Visa is required to foreigners that already live in the Schengen Area and therefore a valid Permit of Stay issued by one of the Member Countries.
Click here to view more details about ETIAS eligibility main criteria.

Visa Waiver eligible candidates are required to apply for necessary ETIAS with at least 72 hours advance from their planned departure time.
In order to do so each applicant, including minors through the support of a parent or legal guardian, are asked to fill out a simple electronic form where they will be posed questions to assess their identity and intentions such as:
The required data for ETIAS application include:
Full name and surname (as they appear on the passport)

• Date and place of birth
• Passport number
• Passport’s authority and place of issue
• Passport’s issue and expiry date
• Contact details including a valid e-mail address
• Scheduled departure date towards the EU
• First country of intended stay in ETIAS Area
• Background questions
• General eligibility questions

Once submitted and paid for the EU security systems and database will carry out a cross-check on each applicant and provide with an outcome, via email exclusively, in usually no more than 3 days.

Upon arrival at the French/European land, air or sea borders Visa Waiver visitors can be asked to provide supplementary documents to assess purpose and planned duration of the trip such as:

• return ticket to origin country
• onward ticket to another country not belonging to ETIAS Area
• proof of sufficient funds to support the whole travel in Europe

An health insurance is not mandatory to enter France on an ETIAS while it is strictly required for holders of Schengen Visa. Albeit being always recommended its necessity is therefore linked to duration and purpose of the journey to France together with the passport nationality of the visitor.

The Republic of France also controls several overseas territories as listed below:

• French Guyana
• French Polynesia
• French Southern and Antarctic Territories
• Guadeloupe
• Martinique
• Mayotte
• New Caledonia
• Reunion
• Saint Bathlemy
• Saint-Martin
• Saint Pierre and Miquelon
• Wallis and Futuna

All these territories have a number of different arrangements with mainland France as far as their autonomy is concerned.
One common trait, although, is that neither of them is part of the Schengen Area.
The requirement to hold a valid ETIAS to Visa-free travelers will hence not be enforced when visiting Guadalupe, Martinique, French Polynesia and so on.
Nevertheless, since the immigration rules in each of these lands might differ from those in place in mainland France, non-EU visitors such territories are recommended to verify if they are eligible for visa-free travel to their destination.