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A France tourist visa from the UK is not something you can book on a whim any more. Since August 2026, even the appointment is out of your hands: TLScontact now places you in a queue and emails you a slot, and you may have as little as 12 hours to pay for it and confirm.
If you hold a British passport, you can skip most of this page. You can visit France without a visa for up to 90 days in any 180. If you live in the UK on a Skilled Worker, Student, Graduate, spouse or settled status and hold an Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Nigerian or other visa-required passport, you need a France Schengen visa, and your UK residence does not change that.
Most guides still tell you to refresh the TLScontact calendar at midnight. That advice is out of date for London, Manchester and Edinburgh. This guide explains how the new queue works, what to prepare before your slot arrives, how much money France wants to see, what it all costs in pounds, and where UK applicants lose time or get refused.
The short version
Your passport decides, not your UK immigration status. A UK residence permit lets you live here, but it gives you no right to enter France. That is the short answer to the question "do I need a visa for France from the UK in 2026".
| Your passport | Visa for a short trip to France? |
|---|---|
| British | No. Up to 90 days in any 180 days |
| EU, EEA or Swiss | No |
| USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and other visa-exempt countries | No for short stays |
| India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Philippines, China and about 100 other countries | Yes. A Schengen visa from the French consulate, applied for through TLScontact |
If you hold a visa-exempt passport, check the rules for your nationality before you pay for a visa you do not need. If your passport is on the visa-required list, the application is the same whichever nationality you hold. The wider process is covered in our guide on how to get a Schengen visa in the UK.
You apply through France-Visas and TLScontact like everyone else. What changes is how closely the file is read. French consulates look hardest at three things: whether your money matches the trip and the daily amount, whether you have clear ties to the UK (job, course, family, tenancy), and whether your UK permission runs comfortably past your return date. Build your file around those three points.
All short trips of up to 90 days fall under the same Type C Schengen visa. The reason for your trip decides which papers you attach.
Moving to France, studying there or working there for longer than 90 days needs a national long-stay visa with different rules, which this guide does not cover.
The French consulate needs proof that you live in the UK legally and will come back. Physical BRP cards have mostly been replaced by digital eVisas, so your proof looks different now:
If your permission is close to expiring, deal with the extension first. A short remaining validity is one of the easiest reasons for a consulate to doubt that you will return.
This is the part most UK applicants get wrong, because the rules changed recently and many guides have not caught up. TLScontact is the only external provider France uses in the UK, with centres in London (Wandsworth), Manchester and Edinburgh. France-Visas states there is no consular area inside the UK, so you can apply at any of the three.
From 1 August 2026, TLScontact stopped letting short-stay applicants choose a date at the London (Wandsworth) and Manchester centres. Edinburgh moved to the same system on 11 September 2026. Instead of refreshing a calendar, you register your application and TLScontact allocates an appointment automatically, based on availability. TLScontact says the change is meant to protect applicants from fraudulent and costly third-party agencies and to make access fairer.
One more rule matters: if you are not allocated an appointment within 60 days, TLScontact deletes your data and you must register a new account to start again.
Booking bots, midnight refreshing and "slot finder" services depended on a public calendar. That calendar is gone for short-stay France visas in the UK, so nobody outside TLScontact can pick or buy your appointment date. Be careful with anyone who says they can, and only pay the service fee to TLScontact on its official website, which France-Visas lists as the only authorised provider in the UK.
What you can control is how ready you are when the email arrives. That means a correct France-Visas form, matching details on your TLScontact account, documents prepared in advance, and someone watching your inbox, including spam. If you want help with that, our fast-track appointment service and our France visa for UK residents page explain how we support applicants through the new process.
If you want a second pair of eyes on the file before you submit, see our Schengen tourist visa service.
France ties the amount to where you will sleep. These are per-person, per-day figures, and consulates use them as the benchmark for your funds.
| Your accommodation | Daily amount per person | Example: 10 days |
|---|---|---|
| Hotel or rental booked for the whole stay | €65 | €650 |
| No accommodation booked | €120 | €1,200 |
| Private host with an attestation d'accueil | €32.50 | €325 |
Convert to pounds using the exchange rate on the day you print your statements, and keep a margin above the minimum. Because the rules can change, confirm the amounts on France-Visas before you submit.
| Item | Amount or timing |
|---|---|
| Visa fee, age 12 and over | €90 (roughly £76 to £80, charged in pounds) |
| Visa fee, children 6 to 11 | €45 |
| Children under 6 | Free |
| TLScontact service fee | About €40 to €55 per appointment (roughly £34 to £47), paid by debit or credit card in pounds. American Express is not accepted |
| Optional TLScontact extras | Extra cost, listed on the TLScontact website |
| Travel insurance | Depends on trip length and age, minimum €30,000 cover |
| Standard processing | Up to 15 calendar days from your biometrics appointment |
| Longer processing | Up to 30 days, and up to 45 in complex cases |
People search for how much TLS costs, and the answer has two parts: the consular visa fee, which goes to France, and the TLScontact service fee, which pays for the centre. Both are non-refundable. The service fee is paid when you confirm your appointment, and the visa fee when you attend. Exchange rates move, so treat the pound figures as estimates.
Processing is counted from your biometrics appointment, not from the day you register. That means the real timeline is your wait in the queue, plus up to 15 days. Apply six to eight weeks before you travel, and earlier for Easter, summer and Christmas. You can apply up to 6 months before travel.
Worried about the new TLScontact queue?
Send us your travel dates and UK status. We will tell you what to prepare so you are ready to confirm the moment your slot arrives.
Get my France visa file checkedWhatsApp usCall +44 7476 951006
Take originals and one set of copies to your appointment. The consulate's current list always comes first.
A missing letter or a mismatched date is enough to slow a file down. Our Schengen Visa Document Checking Service reviews your whole file against the checklist before you submit.
It is not impossible, but France is a high-volume consulate and it reads files closely. European Commission figures show that France refused about 14 per cent of its applications worldwide in 2025, and applications lodged in the UK, across all Schengen countries, were refused about 10 per cent of the time. That is a snapshot, not a forecast for your file. Most refusals trace back to causes you can fix:
If you are refused, the notice states the reasons and the appeal deadline. Do not simply resubmit the same file. Read our guide to Schengen visa refusal and reapplication first, because the right next step depends on why the first application failed.
Yes, and the difference matters. TLScontact and VFS Global are two private companies that run application centres for different countries. For France in the UK, you use TLScontact, and TLScontact says it is the only official external provider. A site that tells you to book France through VFS, or asks you to pay for a slot, is not the official route.
Apply to the country where you will spend the most nights, or to the country you enter first if your time is split equally. Picking a country because its refusal rate looks lower, when your itinerary does not support it, is itself a reason for refusal. If your trip is mainly in another country, compare our guides for Spain, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal and Greece, or browse all popular Schengen countries.
The France process is not hard once you know it, but one small mistake can cost you a slot you had hours to claim. We work with UK residents every day, so we see what trips people up, and we know the UK status evidence consulates expect.
We cannot choose your TLScontact appointment, skip the queue or guarantee a visa. TLScontact allocates the appointment and the French consulate makes the decision, and our fees are separate from the government fees, so you always know what you are paying for.
If you hold a British passport, no. You can stay in France for up to 90 days in any 180-day period without a visa. If you live in the UK on a foreign passport, such as an Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi or Nigerian one, yes. A BRP or UK eVisa only proves your UK status. It does not replace a France Schengen visa.
France uses a daily amount per person. You need to show 65 euros a day if you have a hotel booking covering the whole stay, 120 euros a day if you do not have accommodation booked, and 32.50 euros a day if a private host in France provides an attestation d'accueil. For a 10-day hotel stay that is 650 euros per person. Consulates usually expect 3 to 6 months of UK bank statements with a normal pattern of income and spending.
The France-Visas website lists the basic TLScontact service fee at about 40 to 55 euros per appointment, paid in pounds by debit or credit card, and it is not refundable once you have submitted your file. On top of that you pay the consular visa fee of 90 euros for adults and 45 euros for children aged 6 to 11. Optional extras cost more.
Standard processing is up to 15 calendar days from the day you give your biometrics at the TLScontact centre. Busy periods or extra checks can stretch that to 30 days, and in complex cases up to 45. The wait for the appointment itself is separate, and it now depends on the TLScontact queue.
Yes. They are two separate companies that run visa application centres for different countries. In the UK, France uses TLScontact, with centres in London (Wandsworth), Manchester and Edinburgh. TLScontact describes itself as the only official external provider for France in the UK, so a France application does not go through VFS Global.
You no longer pick a slot from a calendar. Complete your France-Visas form, register on the TLScontact website, and your validated application joins a queue. TLScontact emails you when an appointment is allocated, and you have a short window to pay the service fee and confirm it. London and Manchester moved to this system on 1 August 2026, and Edinburgh followed on 11 September 2026.
Not if the file is clean. European Commission figures show France refused about 14 per cent of its applications worldwide in 2025, and applications lodged in the UK for all Schengen countries were refused about 10 per cent of the time. Most refusals come from funds that do not match the trip, weak proof of ties to the UK, missing insurance, or documents that contradict each other.
Yes. France-Visas states that there is no consular area inside the UK, so residents can apply at any of the three centres. You choose London, Manchester or Edinburgh when you register on the TLScontact website.
According to TLScontact's notice, your data is deleted if no appointment has been allocated within 60 days. You then need to create a new account and register again. Keep your documents current so you are ready when a new request starts.
Only if you are staying with a private host in France instead of a hotel or rental. The host asks their local town hall for the certificate, and it lowers your daily funds requirement to 32.50 euros. If you book a hotel or a rental for the whole stay, you use the hotel booking and the 65 euros a day figure instead.
A France tourist visa from the UK now comes down to four things done in the right order. Confirm that your passport needs a visa. Complete the France-Visas form and register with TLScontact so you join the queue. Have your file ready, with at least the daily amount in clean, consistent bank statements, before your slot arrives. Then pay and confirm within the window, because you may only have 12 hours.
Get those right and most of the usual refusal reasons disappear before you submit. If you want a specialist to check your file or support you through the queue, visit our france schengen visa uk page, or Contact Us with your travel dates and UK status and we will tell you what to prepare.
Need expert help with your France visa?
Avoid queue mistakes, appointment confusion and document errors. Let our UK visa specialists prepare your application properly. Phone and WhatsApp: +44 7476 951006 · Email: info@goschengen.co.uk · Mon to Fri 09:00 to 18:00, Sat 10:00 to 15:00
GoSchengen is an independent visa facilitation and documentation service. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting on behalf of the French government, the French consulate, France-Visas, TLScontact or VFS Global, and we cannot guarantee that a visa will be granted. Fees, rules and appointment processes are set by the relevant authorities and can change, so always confirm current requirements with France-Visas and TLScontact before you apply. Read our disclaimer and transparency policy.
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