Campus France 2027: the complete guide, from application to your first week in France

Information checked on 11 September 2026.

Most Campus France guides stop at the moment the visa is stuck in the passport. Yet that is where the part nobody really describes begins: finding housing from abroad, the first days without bearings, validating the visa within three months, the first bank account, and those evenings when you wonder who, in this city, comes from the same country as you. This guide follows the student from the first click on the Études en France platform to their first week in France, in seven stages. Each is summarised here and links to a detailed article.

This guide is updated every campaign. This edition covers the 2027-2028 campaign: the platform opens on 1 October 2026, classes start in September 2027. Two changes from summer 2026 already weigh on budgets: the resources required for the visa have been raised, and some international students have lost the APL (the French housing allowance).

Campus France and Études en France: who is concerned?

Campus France is the French public agency responsible for promoting French higher education and welcoming international students. In many countries it runs Campus France offices, often located at the Institut français, which manage the « Études en France » procedure. That procedure goes through a fully online platform that supports the steps of enrolling in higher education right up to the visa application.

It is compulsory if you live in one of the countries and territories concerned. The ministry's 2026-2027 notice lists 72 of them, including Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Congo, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Guinea, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Senegal, Chad, Togo and Tunisia, but also Brazil, China, India and Vietnam. The list can change: check your country's Campus France website.

Not concerned:

• nationals of the European Union, the European Economic Area, Switzerland, Andorra and Monaco;
• doctoral candidates, who contact doctoral schools directly;
• students living in a country without the Études en France procedure: they apply through the DAP at the embassy, through Mon Master or directly with institutions.

Depending on your plan, you will then go through the DAP (first year of licence or architecture), non-DAP (everything else) or Parcoursup (French baccalauréat holders, among others): our article DAP, non-DAP or Parcoursup helps you decide in six questions.

Two warnings apply to the whole journey. Each Campus France office sets part of its own rules and dates: what applies in Lomé does not necessarily apply in Algiers. And Campus France is the only official channel: beware of intermediaries who promise an admission or a visa for a fee.

The 2027-2028 Campus France calendar in one table

The four key dates (opening, DAP deadline, answers, final choice) are those announced by Campus France, notably on the Campus France Ghana and Togo websites; non-DAP and interview dates vary by country. The country-by-country detail, including what is still to be confirmed, is in our 2027-2028 Campus France calendar.

Stages 1 to 3: Campus France file, interview and answers

Stage 1: building your Études en France file

The file is created online on the Campus France website of your country of residence, one per applicant. It brings together your school and university history, your diplomas and transcripts, your CV, your programme choices and, for each one, a reasoned study project. For diplomas written in another language, the official notices require a translation by an official French service or a sworn translator.

Four tasks run in parallel:

• Choosing programmes. Three universities at most for the DAP, more for non-DAP depending on the country (up to 7 in Ghana). A coherent list beats a long one: see how to choose programmes on Études en France.
• Identifying your procedure. DAP for a first year of licence or architecture, non-DAP for the rest, with different deadlines.
• Writing the study project. This is the part institutions actually read; our article on the Campus France cover letter explains what works.
• Paying the application fee. Each Campus France office sets it, and it varies widely: 75,000 CFA francs in Togo for the 2027-2028 campaign, 20,000 DZD in Algeria in the previous campaign. It covers neither the visa nor tuition fees: everything is explained in Campus France fees.

Stage 2: the interview and the French test

After submission and payment, the Campus France office usually invites you to an interview. It checks the coherence of your project, your background and your level of French; Campus France Ghana states it lasts 25 to 30 minutes. It is not systematic everywhere: Campus France Senegal specifies that some applicants with complete files are not called. Common questions and how to prepare are in our article on the Campus France interview.

For the DAP, a French test is required, the TCF tout public with a written expression test, unless you are exempt: nationals of a state where French is the only official language, secondary schooling mostly in French, DELF B2 or DALF, among others. The exemption must be proven before 15 December. For non-DAP, the requirement depends on the institution and the language of instruction. The overview of tests and exemptions is in the Campus France French test.

Stage 3: institutions' answers

For the DAP, universities make their offers by 30 April 2027 at the latest, and you have until 31 May 2027 to accept one. According to the official notice for the previous cycle, no answer by 1 June counts as a refusal: the silliest and most final mistake of the journey. For non-DAP, institutions answer gradually, sometimes later (in Cameroon, during the 2026-2027 cycle, until 15 May). Once your final choice is made and your documents checked, you receive an end-of-procedure message, which opens the way to the visa. How to read the statuses, handle a waiting list or a refusal: see Campus France answers.

Stage 4: funding your plan and getting the student visa

The study visa is requested from the French consulate, via the official France-Visas website, once the Campus France procedure is complete; Campus France Algeria recommends doing so at least two months before classes start. For a year of study, it is generally a VLS-TS, a long-stay visa that serves as a residence permit and must be validated after arrival. The step-by-step procedure is in our article on the student visa application.

The most sensitive point is money. For any application filed since 1 August 2026, first application or renewal alike, you must prove resources of at least 877.50 euros per month, or 10,530 euros over twelve months, compared with 615 euros before, an amount unchanged since 2002. Decree no. 2026-526 of 22 June 2026 now indexes this threshold to the SMIC (the French minimum wage): it will follow each of its increases. The details are in minimum resources for the student visa, and how to prove them in proving your resources for the student visa.

Budget for tuition as well. At public universities, the so-called differentiated tuition fees for non-European students amount in 2026-2027 to 2,902 euros for a licence and 3,950 euros for a master's; some institutions grant exemptions, so check with yours. On top of that comes the CVEC (student life and campus contribution), 105 euros in 2026-2027. These amounts are revised every year.

A visa refusal is not always the end of the plan: appeals exist, with short deadlines, detailed in what to do after a student visa refusal. Compatri is not a visa agency and sells no blocked account: for these steps, your contacts are the consulate and France-Visas and, if things get difficult, a specialised association or a lawyer.

Stage 5: finding housing and preparing to leave

This is the stage students underestimate most. Finding housing from abroad, without a guarantor in France and without a viewing, means starting early and staying wary: scams target hurried students first, who pay a deposit for a flat they have never seen. CROUS university residences (the French student services), private residences, flat-shares, temporary housing while you search on site: each option has its own timeline, detailed in finding student housing from abroad.

The housing budget changed this summer. Since 1 July 2026, a decree published in the Journal officiel on 28 June, implementing the 2026 French budget law, removes the APL from non-European students who do not hold a need-based grant (bourse sur critères sociaux). Apprentices and students with a professional activity keep it; the Housing Ministry mentioned a threshold of one hour a week. Do your sums without counting on this aid, then check your exact situation in our article on APL for international students.

Before leaving, gather the essentials: passport and visa, original diplomas and their translations, admission certificate, proof of resources, proof of housing even if temporary, and enough to get through the first weeks. The full checklist is in the departure checklist.

Stage 6: the first three months in France

The first week

The first days are packed: collecting your keys, completing your administrative enrolment at university, opening a bank account, getting a transport pass and a phone plan. For enrolment, remember one point: the CVEC certificate must be obtained before enrolling, including by those who are exempt, such as some grant holders. The week-by-week sequence is in an international student's first month in France, and the general settling-in formalities in our article on administrative steps on arrival.

Validating your VLS-TS within three months

The VLS-TS is validated online, on the website of the digital administration for foreigners in France (ANEF), within three months of your arrival, with payment of a 100-euro fee for students, according to service-public.fr. Do not wait until the end of the period: this validation is what keeps your stay lawful beyond the first three months, and your right to work starts from it. Step by step: validating your VLS-TS.

Working alongside your studies

With a validated VLS-TS or a student residence card, you can work up to 964 hours a year, 60% of the annual legal working time, without a work permit. The employer must file a prior named declaration with the prefecture, and exceeding the cap exposes you to withdrawal of your residence permit. The rules and exceptions, such as apprenticeships, are in working as an international student.

Stage 7: once you arrive, your community is waiting

The last stage appears on no official platform, and yet it often decides whether the first year holds up. What helps most in the first weeks is having someone to ask the questions you don't ask the administration: the right neighbourhood, the supermarket that sells food from home, the lecturer who is understanding about visa delays.

Student associations from your country, present in many university cities, are a first point of contact: our article on African student associations in France explains where to find them. If you are aiming for a particular city, read for example studying in Lyon. And students from Mayotte, who do not go through Campus France since they are French, still go through the same arrival: their journey is in Mahoran students in mainland France.

On Compatri, a community brings together compatriots of the same origin in the same city: « les Camerounais de Lyon » (the Cameroonians of Lyon), « les Sénégalais de Toulouse » (the Senegalese of Toulouse). You can join the one in your future city as soon as your admission is confirmed, without waiting to live there:

If your future city has no community yet, it starts with its first members living there: the Claim your city page explains how people who have lived there for at least two years become its reference members. The full path is described in joining your community before you leave.

Official sources

• Campus France: the Études en France procedure
• Légifrance: decree no. 2026-526 of 22 June 2026 on students' resources
• Service-public.fr: international student, long-stay visa or residence card
• Service-public.fr: can a non-European student work in France?
• Service-public.fr: university fees in 2026-2027
• France-Visas: the long-stay visa