Registration procedures for international students

As a foreign minor, you are not required to hold a residence permit unless you wish to work (from age 16). To travel, you can apply for a Document de Circulation pour Mineur Etranger (DCEM), which entitles you to the equivalent of a multiple-entry visa until you reach the age of majority (but must be renewed every 5 years). When you reach the age of majority, you must apply for one from your Préfecture of residence if your situation falls within one of the cases presented below. Otherwise, you must apply for the appropriate settlement visa from the French consulate or embassy in your country of origin or any other country where you are legally admissible.

If you have been attending school in France since you reached the age of 16, or if you entered France legally before that age  (on a visa, even a tourist visa, or with your nationality) and are enrolled in a higher education course, you can apply for a student residence permit without a visa.

The application must be submitted within 2 months of reaching the age of majority.

If you entered France on a "minors attending school" visa (even if it expired when you came of age) and you have been attending school in France ever since, you can apply for a student residence permit. The application must be submitted within 2 months of reaching the age of majority (18 years old).

With a "simple" long-stay visa (VLS) (marked "carte de séjour à solliciter"):

Your application for a residence permit must be submitted online within 2 months of your arrival in France (regardless of the expiry date of the visa, which serves only to authorize border crossings and gives no indication of the date on which the application for a residence permit must be submitted). Otherwise, you will have to apply for a new visa to settle in France.

With a long-stay visa - valid as a residence permit (VLS-TS) (marked "to be validated"):

Your VLSTS is only valid as a residence permit once it has been validated. Before that, it is only a visa, not a residence permit. This validation must be carried out online within 3 months of your arrival in France. If you fail to do so, your visa will expire, and you will have to apply for a new one to settle in France. If your VLS-TS is validated in time, it becomes a residence permit which is valid until the expiry date indicated above. No residence permit will be issued; the visa and validation certificate (obtained after online validation) will suffice. When it expires, you need to renew it or change status (see below, depending on your situation).

With a "competition" visa:

This short-stay visa will enable you to apply for a permanent residence permit, only if you are successful in the competition for which the visa was issued, within the validity date indicated on the visa. As this procedure is not yet paperless, you will need to make an appointment to submit your application to the prefecture in your place of residence (at the Préfecture de Police, via the contact form in the "foreign nationals" section of the website). Foreign nationals who do not require a short-stay visa will still need to obtain a competition visa to apply for a student permit.

If you are unsuccessful in the competitive examination for which the visa was issued, you must return to your own country, as the visa does not entitle you to register for another course or examination.

If you do not have a visa allowing you to settle permanently, or if you have a long-stay visa bearing the words "exemption temporaire de carte de séjour" ("temporary exemption from residence permit requirement"), it is not possible to settle permanently in France with this visa, and you will have to leave the country when it expires. You must apply for an installation visa at the French consulate or embassy in your country of origin, or in any other country where you are legally entitled to reside.

My application must be submitted online 120 to 60 days before my permit expires. If a supporting document is not available within this timeframe (such as a transcript or a new registration), I must still respect the initial deadline by attaching an explanatory letter or a certificate from my school in place of the missing document. The prefecture will give me an additional renewable period of one month.

If my permit expires before the end of my final year of study (e.g., my permit expires in April, but I'm doing my final internship from February to July), I must still apply for renewal, within the statutory deadline, by enclosing, in place of my new registration, an explanatory letter or attestation from my school, as well as my internship agreement or my last registration indicating the end date of my course.

My application must be submitted within the regulatory deadline for renewal of the status requested, i.e.:

• 120 to 60 days before the expiry of the permit if you are applying for a permit mentioned in article R. 431-2 of the Code de l'entrée et du séjour des étrangers et du droit d'asile,
• Within 2 months of the expiry of your student residence permit in all other cases.

All online procedures must be carried out on the "Foreign nationals in France" website.
If I do not respect the above-mentioned deadlines, I risk having:

• my application rejected for the first time, and I will have to apply for a new visa once I return to my country,
• a late fee of 180 euros for a renewal applied for between 59 days and 6 months before the expiry of my visa,
• a rejection of my application for a renewal applied for more than 6 months after the expiry of my residence permit: a new visa will have to be applied for after my return to my country.

In all cases, you will never be criticized for anticipating an application. On the other hand, any delay will be penalized.