Long Stay Visa valid as Residence Permit for students (VLS-TS "Étudiant", Visa Long Séjour valant Titre de Séjour)

The long-stay visa valid as a residence permit for students (visa long séjour valant titre de séjour "étudiant", abbreviated to VLS-TS "étudiant") allows you to stay in France from four months to one year to pursue higher education studies.

It entitles the holder to:

• travel freely in all the countries of the Schengen Area;
• work 964 hours per year, i.e. 20 hours per week, to supplement their financial resources;
• use the VISALE, the free security deposit service for students,
• receive a rental subsidy from the CAF, the family allowance fund (caisse d'allocations familiales),
• extend their stay  beyond the period of validity of the issued residence permit.

Good to know

These rights are different to those guaranteed by a temporary long-stay visa, or VLS-T (visa long séjour temporaire). Carefully check which type of visa has been issued to you. 

Holders of a multiple-entry VLS-TS student visa (VLS-TS "étudiant" à entrées multiples) are entitled to travel outside of France and in the entire world whenever they wish. Please be aware, however, that you must have validated your visa to travel outside of France  beyond the three months following your arrival in France.
 

• During the first three months after your arrival in France, you are authorised to travel freely outside of France and in the entire world with your visa, even if you have not validated it.
• After these three months, however, if you have not validated your visa and you travel outside of France, you will be required to apply for a new visa to return to France.

If you would like to stay in France to continue your studies but your VLS-TS visa will expire soon, you may apply to renew it by applying at the prefecture: you will need to apply for a multi-annual residence permit (carte de séjour pluriannuelle). Everything is done in France two months before your VLS-TS visa expires.

The multi-annual residence permit that is issued to you under certain conditions will have a period of validity that corresponds to the number of years remaining in the study programme in which you are enrolled.

For example, if you have finished the first year of your undergraduate degree (license) in France, you could receive a multi-annual residence permit valid for two years, i.e. until the end of the third year of the undergraduate degree. If you are studying at a Grande École, your renewed residence permit will be valid until you obtain your diploma.

To find out more, please read our page on "How to renew your residence permit (titre de séjour)?" »