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France · Visa de long séjour visiteur (VLS-TS) · Tourist tolerance · apply embassy, in country
France has no digital nomad visa. This is the long-stay visitor visa (VLS-TS visiteur) and the one-year visitor card: a stay of more than three months without working in France. On 23 June 2026 the Interior Ministry answered written question 11730. It said there is still no statute on remote work done in France for another country's economy. A professional permit, employed or self-employed, is for activity integrated into the French economy. A person who is not employed in France, does not work for a company located in France, and works remotely for an employer governed by foreign law must be treated as non-active and should hold visitor status, if they remain paid and pay that tax in their country of origin. The card still forbids any professional activity in France that requires authorisation. Service-Public names salaried work, trade, auto-entrepreneur, craft and a liberal profession as excluded. French clients and a French micro-enterprise are not this route. For one person, resources must reach €1,477.93 net a month, €17,735.19 over the year. Those are the figures Service-Public published on 1 June 2026. They match the indicative net SMIC; the gross SMIC is €1,867.02 a month and €22,404.20 a year. The money can be the applicant's own, including pensions and rental income, or a solvent person's support. Family benefits do not count. Housing conditions are weighed as well. Health insurance must cover the stay, and the applicant signs an undertaking not to work in France. There is no separate savings floor and no degree requirement. The card lasts one year and is renewable. The visitor page states no maximum number of renewals and no multi-year visitor card. The online card application on ANEF opens four months before the current document expires and closes two months before. If the prefecture has not answered after four months, the application is deemed refused. That is a legal deadline, not a published processing time. From 1 May 2026 the first card is €350 (€300 tax plus a €50 stamp), about $392 at the ECB rate of 1.1186 on 8 October 2026. Renewal is €250. A long-stay visa that counts as a residence permit carries a separate €300 tax. A late filing adds €180. The consular visa fee was not confirmed. The $392 figure is the first card. Each adult who qualifies can apply for their own visitor visa. Family reunification of a spouse and minor children is a different procedure, available after 18 months with a card of at least one year. The household must then average €1,867.02 gross a month for 2 or 3 people, €2,053.72 for 4 or 5, and €2,240.42 for 6 or more. EU, EEA and Swiss citizens do not use this card. Algerian nationals receive a one-year visitor residence certificate instead. The same visitor status is also used by financially independent people who do not work. Five years on a visitor card, or on a long-stay visa that counts as a residence permit, can lead to the EU long-term resident card if the stay was uninterrupted within the absence limits, with B1 French, the civic exam, health insurance and stable resources of at least the gross SMIC. Naturalisation generally requires five years of residence, B2 French, the civic exam and stable professional resources. It is discretionary, and a visitor who does not work in France may fail the professional-insertion test. Tax residence is any one of a household in France, a principal stay of at least 183 days, a principal activity in France, or the centre of economic interests in France. A tax resident is taxed on French and foreign income, subject to treaties. The 2026 scale tops out at 45% above €181,917 per family-quotient part. The ministry's immigration answer asks that the remote worker still be taxed in the country of origin. That can conflict with French tax residence once the person actually lives in France. USD amounts use the 8 October 2026 ECB rate. The 9 October fixing was not yet in the daily file.
France also offers these long-term residency programs
Last verified Oct 9, 2026 Last changed Oct 10, 2026 Source
Added
added the long-stay visitor visa as the remote-work route named by the Interior Ministry on 23 June 2026; resources are the net SMIC, €1,477.93 a month and €17,735.19 a year, and the first card is €350, about $392 at the ECB rate of 1.1186 on 2026-10-08 Source
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