Validating your VLS-TS online: the step to take within 3 months

Information checked on 11 September 2026.

You have just arrived in France with a visa marked « étudiant ». One step remains that many people put off because it is invisible: validating your VLS-TS, the long-stay visa that serves as a residence permit (visa de long séjour valant titre de séjour). Until it is validated, your visa does not fully play its role as a residence permit. The step is done online, is quick when you have everything at hand, and must be completed within three months of your arrival. It is best done in your first week, before classes, housing and the bank bury it at the bottom of the pile.

Validating your VLS-TS: why and by when

The VLS-TS « étudiant » lets you stay in France for four months to a year for your studies. Among other things, it gives you the right to travel in the Schengen area and to work up to 964 hours a year. But for these rights to apply for the whole length of the visa, you must validate it online within 3 months of entering France, on the website of the digital administration for foreigners in France (ANEF, administration numérique des étrangers en France): administration-etrangers-en-france.interieur.gouv.fr.

First check the wording on the visa sticker in your passport: this guide is about the VLS-TS « étudiant ». A temporary long-stay visa (VLS-T) does not give the same rights. Algerian nationals fall under a specific regime stemming from the Franco-Algerian agreement: their procedure is different, and service-public (the official French government information site) has a separate page on it.

What to have at hand

Before you log in, gather:

• a valid email address that you actually check: your login details and the confirmation will arrive there;
• your passport and the visa sticker: visa number, start and end dates of validity, date of issue, reason for stay;
• your date of arrival in France, as shown on the entry stamp;
• your address in France: student residence, rented home or accommodation with a relative;
• a phone number and a few details about your family situation;
• a bank card to pay the fee online, or failing that an electronic stamp (see below).

If you do not yet have a permanent address, do not let the deadline slip for that reason: give the address where you actually live, then update it in your account when you move.

Validating your VLS-TS step by step on the ANEF website

The procedure is fully digital: you do it from home, on a computer or a phone. Here are the steps as described by Campus France (the French agency for international students).

Check every field before paying: an error in the entry date or the visa number is much harder to correct once the procedure is complete. Validation is only done on the government's official website; beware of sites offering to do it for you in exchange for payment.

The validation fee: amount and payment

According to the service-public page on foreign students (checked on 1 August 2026) and Campus France, the fee payable when validating a VLS-TS « étudiant » is €100. This student rate has applied since 1 May 2026; it used to be €50, which explains the outdated amounts still circulating. The €150 figure (€100 tax plus €50 stamp duty) you may also read concerns the multi-year residence card, not VLS-TS validation. If in doubt, the amount shown at the time of payment on the ANEF website is the one that counts.

Without a bank card, you can buy an electronic stamp (timbre électronique) at a tobacconist's (bureau de tabac) or a dedicated terminal and pay in cash; you then enter its number in the form. This is useful in the first weeks, when your French bank account is not yet open.

After validation: the confirmation and your rights

Once you have paid, you receive two emails. The first contains your login details for your account, along with the confirmation of validation of your VLS-TS. The second sums up the information you entered. Download the confirmation, keep a copy on your phone and a printed copy with your passport: together with the visa sticker, it proves that your stay is in order.

Validation allows you to stay legally in France for the whole validity period of the visa, and to leave France after the first three months without having to apply for a new visa to come back. It also governs your right to work: the ceiling of 964 hours a year is counted from the validation of the VLS-TS. For the rules on student jobs, see our article on working as an international student. And for the other steps at the start of the year, social security, CVEC, bank, see our first-month checklist.

Missed the 3-month deadline: the consequences

During the first three months, you may leave France and come back even without having validated your visa. After that deadline, things change:

• you are in an irregular situation and lose the rights attached to the VLS-TS;
• if you leave France, you will have to apply for a new visa to come back;
• the rest of your journey becomes more complicated: renewing your residence permit requires a lawful stay.

If you realise the deadline has passed, do not leave France and do not let it drag on: quickly contact the préfecture (the State's local office) of your département, your institution's international student office, or an association that helps foreigners, to find out what to do in your situation. Compatri is not a legal service and cannot advise you on this.

Preparing to renew your residence permit

The VLS-TS has a limited duration, between four months and a year. If your studies continue, you will need to apply for a titre de séjour (residence permit) before it expires. According to service-public, the application is made online only, on the same ANEF website, no earlier than 4 months and no later than 2 months before the end of validity of your VLS-TS. A late application exposes you to a €180 regularisation charge (droit de visa de régularisation) on top of the fee (except in cases of force majeure or if you present a valid visa). Some institutions offer a « guichet unique » (one-stop desk) that makes this step easier: ask yours.

The conditions are those of the first application, with one extra check:

Repeating a year does not in itself call into question the seriousness of your studies. Depending on the time left in your programme, you may be issued a multi-year residence card. Service-public states a tax and stamp duty of €100 for the « étudiant » permit, and €150 (€100 tax and €50 stamp duty) for the multi-year permit; the exact amount is shown when you apply. To prepare proof of resources, see how to prove your resources, and for the whole journey, our complete Campus France guide.

What comes next happens in your city

You validate alone in front of a screen. Renewal, on the other hand, often depends on local realities: préfecture waiting times, documents a given office asks for again, whether or not your institution has a guichet unique. The people who know these realities are the compatriots who renewed their permit in the same city the year before. On Compatri, the community of your country in your city brings these members together: you can ask which documents were requested, spot upcoming meetups near you, and in turn help those who come after you. If you have not left yet, or have only just arrived, our article joining your community before you leave explains how to take that first step.

Official sources

• Service-public: foreign student, long-stay visa or residence permit
• Service-public: validate a VLS-TS and pay the fee
• Digital administration for foreigners in France (ANEF)
• Campus France: validating your long-stay visa on arrival
• Campus France: renewing your residence permit
• Service-public: can a non-European student work in France? (FR)