Holders of long stay visas D valid between 4 and 12 monhts marked « étudiant » (student) and « E1 VLSTS VALIDER EN LIGNE » (visa previously labelled « CESEDA R311-3 6 » or « 431-16 13° ») are exempted from applying for a temporary residence card during the first year of their stay in France.
Within 3 months upon arrival in France, holders of this type of visa must validate their visa and pay a tax that is added to the visa fees. This procedure is mandatory for all holders of this visa. This online process gives the visa a residence permit value and justifies the regular stay in France.
Beware :
Algerian students, whose status is governed by the Franco-Algerian agreement of 27 December 1968, have a student visa « étudiant » indicating « titre de séjour à solliciter dans les deux mois suivant l’arrivée » (residence card to be requested within two months of arrival) and thus this procedure does not apply to them.
On line procedure
From February 2019, the validation of that type of visa has to be processed on line on the following web site :
https://administration-etrangers-en-france.interieur.gouv.fr/particuliers/#/
After having entered their visa number, provided different information (passport number, surname, first name, nationality, date of birth, address in France) and paid a tax of 50 euros in the form of an electronic tax stamp, students confirm the registration of their visa and receive a validation certificate in PDF format.
This certificate must be saved, printed and kept for the duration of their stay in France.
The validation certificate includes your “foreign number” (« numéro étranger » ) which will be your personal identifier, useful and necessary throughout your stay in France, in particular :
- to request the renewal of your VLS TS visa if you wish to extend your stay in France,
- to benefit from your rights (health insurance, work, housing allowance, etc)
- to cross the borders of the Schengen area after the first three months of the stay.
Please check the FAQ on the ANEF website (currently in French only) for more details :
https://administration-etrangers-en-france.interieur.gouv.fr/particuliers/#/faq
In case of technical issue on the ANEF web site, it is advisable to refresh the webpage or change the browser. If the problem persists, send a message from the ANEF contact form to explain your problem, attaching screenshots if necessary.
Tip: you can benefit from the support of the Centre de Contact Citoyen (Citizen Contact Center) reachable by phone at 0 806 001 620 or via the contact form integrated into the ANEF website. Written contact is preferred in order to keep track of the exchanges with the administration. Keep any dated messages and screenshots for proof of any difficulties.
The purchase of the tax stamp can be done online on the web site of the service des impôts.
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What next?
Students who wish to stay in France after the expiry date of their visa must apply for a renewal at the earliest 4 months and at the latest 2 months before the expiry date of their validated VLS TS visa, still on the ANEF website .
Beware: in case of delay when submitting your application for the renewal of your VLS TS visa, a penalty of 180 euros will be applied and will be added to the regular tax of the requested residence permit. If the deposit is late because of a technical issue, please notify it when filing your application: the préfecutre officer dealing with your request may avoid this extra fee, after checking with you what happened (you may then provide the screenshots and exchanges with the ANEF you had before being able to submit your application)
The residence permit number that will then be requested in order to do the online process is the visa registration number (foreign number or numéro étranger ) indicated on the validation certificate.