France Student Visa (National Type D — Long Stay)
National (Type D) long-stay visa for Indian students enrolled in a French institution for a course longer than 90 days — decided by the French immigration authorities.
- Processing time
- About 15 days
- after you submit
No visa is ever guaranteed — the final decision always rests with the France visa authority. We make sure your file is presented at its strongest.
Processing
Varies
Stay Duration
Matches the duration of the course
Starting Fee
Varies
Apply At
11 VFS centres
Your whole France Student Visa,
handled for one honest price.
A strong France file clearly explains your travel purpose, funds, and ties to India. We structure and submit everything properly — so your case is presented clearly and professionally.
All-in · 18% GST included · no hidden charges
File-ready in 3–5 working days after documents
5★ · 100+ reviews · reply in 5 min
Everything below — included, nothing extra
- Document checklist
- Application form guidance
- Document review
- Cover letter
- Purpose of travel structure
- Financial proof review
- Sponsor document guidance
- Submission & appointment support
- Post-submission guidance
Not sure you qualify? Start with a refundable ₹499 possibility report — an honest Yes / Maybe / No, credited to this fee.
Price is for our consultancy service only and includes 18% GST. No agency can guarantee a visa — the final decision rests with the visa authority.
Your fee, in one glance
What the ₹24,999–₹34,999 fee covers for a France file
- We work out what your case actually is, before touching a form
- We build the checklist around your profile, not a template
- We read your documents against each other, not against a list
- Financial proof review
- Purpose of travel structuring
- Cover letter / explanation support
- Return ties review
- Sponsor / invitation guidance
- Application form guidance
- Submission & appointment support
- Biometrics guidance
- Post-submission support
Government, VFS, insurance, ticket and hotel costs are separate and charged at cost. Read what each item means, in full.
Good to know before you apply
Rules that apply to every France visa type — worth a quick read so nothing trips up your file.
- 1France is online-first: complete Campus France (where applicable) and the France-Visas application before booking VFS.
- 2Passport must be valid for the study period, issued within the last 10 years, with blank pages.
- 3The Type D long-stay visa is decided by the French national immigration authorities, not under the Schengen short-stay rules.
- 4A VLS-TS long-stay student visa must be validated online within 3 months of arrival in France.
- 5Processing is longer than short-stay — apply well in advance of your course start date.
Who Can Apply
- Indian students admitted to a recognised French higher-education institution for a course longer than 90 days
- Students who have completed the Campus France 'Études en France' pre-consular procedure (where applicable)
- Exchange / degree students with confirmed enrolment and proof of funds
- Students who can demonstrate sufficient means of subsistence for the study period
Not eligible under this visa:
- Short courses or programmes under 90 days — apply for a Schengen short-stay (Type C) student visa instead
- Applicants without a confirmed admission / enrolment from a French institution
- Anyone primarily intending to work rather than study (work requires a separate authorisation)
What it costs
Government & VFS fees
Paid directly to France / VFS — these are not our service fee, and we never mark them up.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| France National (Type D) student visa fee | Varies |
| Campus France 'Études en France' procedure fee (where applicable) | Varies |
| VFS Global service charge | Varies |
Long-stay (Type D) student visa fees are set by the French consulate and differ from the short-stay (Type C) fee. There may also be a separate Campus France procedure fee and VFS service charge. All amounts change periodically — verify the live figures on france-visas.gouv.fr, Campus France India and the VFS Global France India page before applying. Fees are non-refundable regardless of the decision.
Flights · Hotels · Insurance · Itinerary
What France actually requires — and what it does not.
France applies the Schengen rules, so travel insurance is not a nice-to-have — it is a legal condition of the visa.
2 of 4 are compulsory for France
Flight reservation
The France consulate wants a return itinerary with a real PNR covering your exact dates. It does not want a paid ticket, and buying one before a decision puts your money at risk for nothing.
Where people slip: Flying into one city and out of another with nothing showing how you travel between them. Officers read the whole route, and an unexplained gap reads as a plan that does not hold together.
How to hold a flight without payingHotel booking
Accommodation for EVERY night of the stay. Not most nights — every one. A gap is a documented refusal ground under the Schengen code.
Where people slip: Free-cancellation bookings are accepted, but if the entire file is free-cancellation the officer sees a trip nobody has committed to. Some of it should be real spend.
Refundable hotel booking, explainedTravel insurance
Minimum EUR 30,000 medical cover, valid in every Schengen state, including repatriation and emergency medical evacuation, for the full period of stay. Regulation (EC) 810/2009 — this is law, not preference.
Where people slip: Buying cover for the adults and forgetting the children. Every traveller needs their own EUR 30,000, infants included — a real refusal we have seen on a family of four.
What the cover must actually sayTravel itinerary
A day-by-day plan matching your flights, your hotels and the country you applied to. France must be your main destination or your first point of entry, or you are at the wrong consulate.
Where people slip: Spending more nights in another Schengen country than in France. That gets a file rejected before it is even assessed.
The letter your itinerary attaches toWe arrange all four for your France file.
We are a B2B travel agency as well as a visa consultancy, working with partners including Riya Travel — so the flight, the hotel and the policy all come from us, issued the same day, and you deal with one team instead of four. Every booking is a real one under your own name.
What to gather
Documents required
Having a document isn't the same as presenting it right — that's the part we handle.
Core Documents
4 items- France-Visas online application form (printed + signed) for a long-stay visaRequired
Completed on france-visas.gouv.fr after the Campus France step; print and sign the form and receipt.
- Campus France 'Études en France' confirmation / NOC (where applicable)Required
Most Indian students must complete the Campus France pre-consular procedure before booking the visa appointment.
- Valid passportRequired
Valid for the study period, issued within last 10 years, with blank pages.
- Recent biometric passport photosRequired
Schengen/ICAO specification.
Admission & Academic
3 items- Letter of admission / enrolment certificate from the French institutionRequired
- Previous academic certificates, transcripts and degreesRequired
- Language proficiency proof (French / English) where required by the programme
Financial Means
3 items- Proof of sufficient means of subsistence for the study periodRequired
France references a monthly minimum for students; show funds covering tuition + living costs (bank statements, scholarship letter, sponsor proof).
- Scholarship letter (if applicable)
- Sponsor / parent financial documents + relationship proof (if sponsored)
Accommodation & Insurance
2 items- Proof of accommodation in FranceRequired
Student residence, rental agreement, or host attestation.
- Health insurance / coverage as required for the long-stay categoryRequired
Students are generally affiliated to the French health system on arrival; carry initial coverage as required by the consulate.
Required · optional / if applicable
The journey.
6 steps from intake to approval. Curved spine on the right shows the natural pace — never as linear as government sites pretend.
- 01
Secure admission
Obtain a confirmed admission / enrolment from a recognised French higher-education institution for a course over 90 days.
- 02
Complete the Campus France 'Études en France' procedure
Where applicable, create your Campus France account, submit your file and attend the interview before the visa stage.
- 03
Complete the France-Visas long-stay application
Fill the Type D application online at france-visas.gouv.fr; print and sign the form and receipt.
- 04
Book the VFS appointment
Book the biometrics appointment at your jurisdiction's VFS Global France VAC.
- 05
Submit in person
Attend VFS — give biometrics, submit the file, pay the fees. The Type D is decided by the French immigration authorities; allow several weeks.
- 06
Validate the visa after arrival
If issued a VLS-TS long-stay visa, validate it online within 3 months of arriving in France — it then acts as your first-year residence permit.
What works
4 levers that flip a borderline case.
- Start the Campus France 'Études en France' procedure early — the visa cannot be booked until that step is complete for most programmes.
- Long-stay decisions take longer than short-stay — apply as soon as your admission and Campus France steps are done.
- Keep proof of funds well above the minimum; insufficient means of subsistence is a common refusal reason.
- If issued a VLS-TS, set a reminder to validate it online within 3 months of arrival — failing to validate makes your stay irregular.
What kills cases
Top 3 refusal triggers we see.
- 1No confirmed admission / incomplete Campus France procedure
- 2Insufficient proof of means of subsistence for the study period
- 3Doubts about the genuineness of the study plan or academic progression
Download official forms
Each link opens the official France page on VFS Global (we never host third-party forms): pick your visa category there and use its "Download Form" section for the current version.
France-Visas online application form (Schengen Type C)
Create an account, complete the online application, then print and sign the generated form + the France-Visas receipt. There is no separate downloadable paper form — the form is generated online.
France-Visas Visa Wizard (eligibility + document list)
Answer the wizard questions to get the exact visa type and the personalised document checklist for your purpose of travel.
VFS Global France (India) appointment booking
After completing France-Visas online, book the biometrics appointment at your jurisdiction's VFS France VAC.
VFS application centres
Quiz not yet available for this visa type
We're actively building per-visa quizzes. For now, the best way to assess your eligibility for France Student Visa (National Type D — Long Stay) is a 1-on-1 consultation with our team.
Frequently asked
Questions, answered straight
A Type C is a Schengen short-stay visa for courses under 90 days. A Type D is a National long-stay visa for courses over 90 days, decided by the French immigration authorities — it is the visa most degree-seeking Indian students need and can double as a first-year residence permit (VLS-TS).
For most higher-education programmes, yes — Indian students complete the Campus France 'Études en France' pre-consular procedure before the visa step. Always confirm via the France-Visas Visa Wizard and Campus France India whether your programme requires it.
Processing for the Type D is longer than short-stay and varies — allow several weeks after completing Campus France. Fees are set by the consulate and differ from the short-stay fee; verify the current amount on france-visas.gouv.fr before applying.
The VLS-TS is a long-stay visa that serves as a residence permit. After arriving in France you must validate it online within 3 months — this regularises your stay for the first year. Failing to validate leaves your residence irregular.
Reviewed by Sherbir Singh Grewal, SureshotVisa — a government-licensed consultancy (Licence 849/DC/PTA/PLA/LC-3/2024). Verify us.
How we get it done
Your France France Student Visa, from your first message to your passport back.
5 questions about this visa specifically. The first two are open — tap any other to read it.
Refused? Our full service fee comes back.Government and visa-centre fees are the one part nobody can refund.
+What does France want to see about my funds as a student?
That the money for tuition and living costs exists, is available to you, and came from somewhere explainable. Depending on the country that is a blocked account, a fixed deposit, a sanctioned education loan or a sponsor's income — and the sponsor's relationship to you has to be documented. The most common failure is not a small amount, it is an unexplained one: a large transfer landing shortly before the application, with no trail behind it, reads worse than a smaller balance with history.
+Do I still have to prove I will come back?
Yes, on most study routes — and it surprises people, because the whole point is a multi-year stay. The officer is asking whether the study plan is genuine and whether you intend to comply with the visa, not whether you will never emigrate lawfully later. What answers it is coherence: the course matching your academic history, the cost matching your funding, and a plan that makes sense for someone who intends to finish it.
+How long does a France France Student Visa take, start to finish?
Three things sit between today and your trip: preparing the file properly, waiting for an appointment, and the mission's own processing. France currently states Varies — typically longer than short-stay; allow several weeks. Apply well ahead of the course start, after completing the Campus France 'Études en France' step. for the decision itself. We control the first, which is usually days. The middle depends on slot releases. The third is entirely the mission's and no consultant can shorten it — anyone telling you otherwise is selling something they cannot deliver. Tell us your travel date and we will tell you honestly whether it is realistic.
+How much of what I pay for the France visa is actually your fee?
Most of it is not ours. The France government fee (currently Varies) goes to the mission and the visa-centre fee goes to VFS — both charged to you at cost, never marked up, and shown as separate lines on one GST invoice in the registered company name. Our service fee is the only part we set, and it is published rather than quoted case by case.
+How does SureshotVisa handle my France France Student Visa, from first message to passport back?
You send what you have on WhatsApp and a licensed consultant says the same working day whether the case is ready. We build the file around your profile, check every document against the others, write the cover letter to match them, and hold the file complete so the first workable appointment can be taken the moment it appears. You attend biometrics; we track the file to the decision (France currently states Varies — typically longer than short-stay; allow several weeks. Apply well ahead of the course start, after completing the Campus France 'Études en France' step.). Government and visa-centre fees (Varies for this visa) are charged at cost; our own fee is published, and if the visa is refused that fee comes back in full.
Before you file
A France France Student Visa goes one of two ways.
Filed on a guessed checklist, the government fee is gone on a refusal and the refusal follows every future application. Filed after a licensed consultant has read the papers against each other, the file answers the officer's questions before they are asked. Same France rules, different outcome. How we do that is written once, in full, on the method page rather than repeated here.
Other France Visa Types
France Tourist Visa (Schengen Type C — Short Stay)
Schengen short-stay visa for Indian citizens travelling to France for tourism, sightseeing and leisure — up to 90 days in any 180-day period. Apply online via France-Visas, biometrics at VFS.
View guideFrance Business Visa (Schengen Type C)
Schengen short-stay business visa for Indian professionals attending meetings, negotiations, conferences or contracts in France — up to 90 days. Apply online via France-Visas, biometrics at VFS.
View guideFrance Visit Visa (Family & Friends — Schengen Type C)
Schengen short-stay visa for Indian citizens visiting family or friends living in France — up to 90 days. Apply online via France-Visas, biometrics at VFS.
View guideFrance Work Visa / Permit (National Type D — Information Only)
Information only — France work visas / permits are National (Type D) long-stay categories. SureshotVisa guides you through this route and, once you hold your own job offer or employer sponsorship, prepares and files the visa application — we are not a recruiting agent, so the offer must be yours.
View guideSource & Disclaimer
Data on this page is sourced from the official VFS Global France website and Embassy of France. Last verified 2026-06-09. Always verify with the official embassy before applying — fees and requirements change without notice.
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