Passports, Visas & Entry

The short version

If you hold a US passport, you can visit France for tourism or business for up to 90 days without a visa. You need a passport that is in good shape, valid well past your trip, and you should expect to have your face photographed and four fingers scanned the first time you cross a Schengen border under the new Entry/Exit System.

There is nothing to apply for in advance right now. ETIAS, the EU's version of the US ESTA, still has no start date. Any website taking your money for an "ETIAS" or "EES registration" today is a scam.

The rest of this page covers the details that actually cause problems: passports that are too close to expiring, people who miscount their 90 days, long border lines, kids traveling with one parent, green-card holders who assume they are covered, and medications that are legal at home and restricted in France.

Passport rules

France applies the common Schengen rules. On the day you arrive, your passport must meet two conditions:

• Validity: it must be valid for at least three months after the date you plan to leave the Schengen area (not the date you arrive).
• Issue date: it must have been issued within the previous 10 years.

For most Americans the three-month rule is the one that bites, since adult US passports last exactly 10 years. If your passport expires on December 1, 2027, the last day you can leave Schengen is around September 1, 2027. The US State Department goes further and recommends at least six months of validity, because airlines sometimes apply stricter rules at check-in and because plans change. Follow the six-month advice.

The State Department's France page also asks for at least one blank page. Stamps have largely been replaced by electronic records since EES, but keep a blank page anyway in case an officer wants to stamp you.

A few more passport basics:

• The US passport card is not valid for international air travel. You need the book.
• A damaged passport (water damage, torn pages, a chewed corner) can get you refused boarding. Replace it before you go.
• The name on your plane ticket must match your passport exactly.
• The State Department warns that a limited-validity emergency passport is not accepted for visa-free entry to the Schengen area. These are issued by embassies when travelers lose passports abroad, so they matter mostly if you lose your passport on one trip and plan to continue to another country.

The 90/180-day rule

As a US citizen you may spend up to 90 days in any rolling 180-day period in the Schengen area. It is a single clock for all 29 Schengen countries combined, so a week in Italy and two weeks in Spain count against the same allowance as your time in France.

The rolling part is what confuses people. There is no calendar reset on January 1 and no fresh 90 days each time you enter. On any given day, the border officer looks back 180 days (that day included) and counts every day you were inside Schengen. That total must never exceed 90.

How days are counted

• The day you arrive and the day you leave both count as full days, even if you land at 11 p.m.
• Days outside Schengen (London, Dublin, Istanbul, a cruise stop in Morocco) don't count.
• The EES system now does the math automatically from your recorded entries and exits, so mistakes get caught at the exit booth.

Which countries share the clock

The 29 Schengen countries in late 2026: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

Monaco, San Marino and Vatican City have open borders with their neighbors, so in practice your time there counts as Schengen time too. Ireland, the UK and Cyprus are outside Schengen (Cyprus now expects to join in 2027). Mainland France is in Schengen; French overseas territories such as Martinique or French Polynesia have their own rules, covered on the overseas France page.

Worked examples

The last example shows why you shouldn't do this in your head if you're cutting it close. Use the European Commission's official short-stay calculator, enter your past and planned dates, and screenshot the result.

If you want to stay longer than 90 days, you need a French long-stay visa applied for from the US before you leave. See long stays, retiring and remote work.

The Entry/Exit System (EES)

EES is the EU's new digital border register for non-EU visitors. It started in stages on October 12, 2025, and has been fully operational at every Schengen external border since April 10, 2026. It replaces passport stamps with an electronic record of each entry and exit tied to your face and fingerprints. It's free and needs no action before you travel.

What happens at the border

1. At a big airport such as Paris-Charles de Gaulle or Orly, you may be directed first to a self-service kiosk, or to a staff member with a tablet. Kiosks are also in place at Nice, Lyon, Marseille, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Nantes, Strasbourg, Montpellier, Beauvais and Basel-Mulhouse, and staff with tablets work the Channel ferry ports.
2. You scan the photo page of your passport and answer a few questions on screen: how long you're staying, why you're visiting, where you first entered Schengen and if you have enough money for the trip.
3. You take off hats and glasses and look at the camera for a facial image.
4. You place four fingers of your right hand on the scanner.
5. You then see a French border police officer (Police aux frontières) at the booth, who checks the record and may ask about your return ticket, your hotel or your funds.

Smaller airports have no kiosks, so the officer does everything at the booth. On later trips your record is already on file, so the check is mostly a quick face or fingerprint match. Your EES record is kept for three years after your last exit (five years if you overstay), so frequent visitors register only once.

When you leave the Schengen area, your exit is recorded too, usually with a face check at passport control. That exit record is what proves you didn't overstay.

Who is exempt

• EU and Schengen citizens, including Americans who also hold French or other EU citizenship and travel on that passport.
• Holders of a French residence permit or long-stay visa.
• Citizens of Monaco, Andorra, San Marino and Vatican City.
• Children under 12 are registered but don't give fingerprints; a photo is still taken.

Refusing to give your biometrics means you'll be refused entry.

How much extra time to allow

This is the part that matters for your trip. Through spring and summer 2026, European airport groups reported border waits of over two hours at peak times, with worst cases of four to five hours at some hubs. France has generally coped better than some neighbors, but waits of over an hour were reported at Paris airports at peak times. Until early September 2026, border posts could switch off fingerprinting for a few hours when lines got out of hand. That temporary rule expired in early September. Press reports say France is among nine countries still applying the checks with some flexibility, though no official EU text confirms it, so conditions can vary from week to week.

• Arriving from the US: transatlantic flights land in a morning wave, roughly 6 to 10 a.m., which is the worst time at CDG. Budget up to two hours for passport control on your first EES entry, and don't book a train or tour for the first few hours.
• Connecting in Paris to a flight elsewhere in Schengen (say CDG to Nice): you clear the border in Paris. Choose a connection of at least 2.5 to 3 hours if you can.
• Departing for the US: arrive at least three hours before an international flight from CDG or Orly, more during school holidays.
• Eurostar from London: French border checks happen at St Pancras before you board, so add time there rather than on arrival in Paris.

ETIAS: coming, but not yet

ETIAS (European Travel Information and Authorisation System) is a pre-travel online authorization, similar to the US ESTA that Europeans fill out before flying to America. Once it starts, US citizens will need one to visit France and the rest of Schengen.

Status as of October 2026: ETIAS is not operating and isn't accepting applications. The EU had targeted the last quarter of 2026, but in July 2026 it dropped that date, and press reports point to 2027. The Commission has said it will announce the start date several months in advance.

When it does launch, here is what has been announced:

• Cost: €20 (about $22). Free for travelers under 18 or 70 and older.
• Validity: three years, or until your passport expires if sooner, for unlimited trips. The 90/180-day rule still applies.
• Processing: most decisions should come within minutes; officially it can take up to 96 hours, longer if more information is requested. Apply well before you buy flights.
• Phase-in: there will be a transition period of about six months when ETIAS is optional, then a grace period when first-time visitors without one are still let in. In practice, nobody will need ETIAS until many months after a launch date is announced.
• Where to apply: only the EU's official Travel to Europe site (a europa.eu address) or the official EU app.

Kids, dual citizens and green-card holders

Minors traveling with one parent or with grandparents

France itself doesn't require a consent letter for children who live in the US. Its exit authorization form (the autorisation de sortie du territoire) applies only to children who live in France. The checks you'll actually face come from your airline and from US Customs and Border Protection, which strongly recommends that any child traveling with one parent, grandparents, a school group or another adult carry a signed consent letter from the absent parent or parents.

A good consent letter includes:

• The child's full name, date of birth and passport number
• The name and passport number of each adult traveling with the child
• Travel dates, destinations and flight numbers
• A statement that the absent parent(s) consent to the trip
• The absent parents' phone numbers and email, plus a copy of their passport or driver's license
• A notary's stamp, which isn't legally required and removes any doubt

Grandparents should also carry a signed medical consent form so a French hospital can treat the child, and a copy of the birth certificate if surnames differ. A single parent with sole custody should bring the custody order or, if relevant, the other parent's death certificate.

Dual US-French citizens

US law requires US citizens to enter and leave the United States on a US passport. On the French side, use your French passport or French national ID card to enter and leave Schengen. You're then exempt from EES, the 90-day limit and ETIAS, and you can use the EU lanes and PARAFE e-gates at Paris airports.

Show both documents when you check in for your flight to the US, since the airline needs to see your US passport. Be consistent: if you enter France on your US passport and leave on your French one, EES will show an entry with no exit, which can look like an overstay the next time you visit. Dual citizens of other EU countries can follow the same logic with their EU passport.

US green-card holders who aren't US citizens

Your green card doesn't affect Schengen visa rules. What counts is the passport you hold. A permanent resident with a Mexican, Brazilian or UK passport can visit France visa-free, while one with an Indian, Chinese, Nigerian, Philippine or Russian passport needs a Schengen short-stay visa before the trip.

French visas are applied for through the official France-Visas site, which routes you to an appointment center in your consular district. The standard fee is €90 (about $101) for adults, plus a service fee. You can apply up to six months ahead and at least 15 days before travel; in spring and summer, appointments can be booked weeks out, so start early. Carry your green card on the trip, since you'll need it to get back into the US.

Going on to the UK, Ireland, Switzerland, Monaco or Andorra

Work, study and longer stays

Visa-free entry covers tourism, visiting friends and family, and business activities such as meetings, conferences, negotiating contracts and trade fairs. It doesn't cover paid work for a French employer or client in France, including seasonal jobs at ski resorts, working at a vineyard for pay, au pair jobs and most paid performances. Those require a work authorization and the matching visa.

Working remotely for your US employer during a vacation is a gray area that France doesn't actively police for short trips, but a stay that is mainly about working from France (a "workation" of several months) needs a long-stay visa. Study programs of more than 90 days also require a student visa. The long stays page covers visitor, talent and student visas.

What you can bring in

Cash

You must declare €10,000 (about $11,200) or more, or the equivalent in dollars, in cash, traveler's checks, bearer checks or gold when entering or leaving the EU. The simplest way is France's online DALIA declaration, which you can file up to 30 days before you travel; you can also declare on paper at customs on arrival. Carrying the money isn't illegal; failing to declare it can cost you a fine of up to half the amount. Few travelers need anywhere near this much cash in France, where cards work almost everywhere (see money).

Medications

• Ordinary prescription drugs: bring personal-use quantities covering your trip, ideally in original pharmacy packaging with your name on the label. For more than three months' supply, French customs wants to see the prescription.
• Narcotics and psychotropics (strong painkillers, many sleep aids, anti-anxiety drugs and stimulants): carry them yourself, in amounts that match your prescribed treatment, with the original prescription. Without a prescription, the limit is about a month's supply. A letter from your doctor listing the generic drug names and doses helps, since French brand names differ.
• ADHD stimulants: France controls them as narcotics. Adderall isn't sold in France; lisdexamfetamine (Vyvanse in the US) has been available since 2025 as Xurta, but only on a French specialist's prescription. Bring only what you need for the trip with full paperwork, and talk to your doctor about options if you're staying a long time.
• Cannabis and THC products, including gummies and vape pens that are legal in your state, are illegal in France. Leave them at home. Low-THC CBD products are sold legally in French shops.
• Injectables and devices (insulin, GLP-1 pens, EpiPens, CPAP machines) are fine in carry-on luggage. Bring a doctor's note for needles and liquids.

Never mail controlled medications to yourself in France; they can only be imported in person. Pharmacies in France are excellent, and the safety and health page explains how to get a prescription refilled.

Food and duty-free allowances

EU rules ban travelers from bringing in meat and dairy products from outside the EU, including jerky, salami, cheese and milk-based snacks (powdered infant formula and special medical foods are exceptions). Duty-free allowances for adults arriving from the US by air are goods worth up to €430 (about $480; €150 for under-15s), 200 cigarettes, 1 liter of spirits, 4 liters of wine and 16 liters of beer. Rules for bringing French food and wine back to the US are on the shopping and VAT refunds page.

Renewing your US passport in time

In fall 2026 the State Department lists routine processing at 4 to 6 weeks and expedited processing at 2 to 3 weeks. Those times don't include mailing, which can add up to two weeks each way, so routine service realistically means 8 to 10 weeks door to door. Times change with demand, so check the official processing times page before booking.

Online renewal through a MyTravelGov account works for many adults. Your most recent passport must have been a 10-year adult passport that expires within a year or expired less than five years ago, your name must be unchanged, and you upload a digital photo. It's designed for routine service, so the State Department says not to use it if you travel internationally within about eight weeks; if your plans change after applying, you can pay to upgrade to expedited from your account. In August 2026 the State Department proposed widening online eligibility, but that change isn't in effect.

If you have international travel within 14 days, you can book an urgent appointment at a passport agency by phone or online and bring proof of travel. Appointments are limited and sometimes several hours' drive away.

If your passport is lost or stolen

Pickpocketing in Paris crowds is the usual culprit. Keep your passport in a hotel safe or a zipped inside pocket, and carry a photo of the data page on your phone and a paper copy in your luggage.

1. Report the theft to the French police (a commissariat) and get a written report. Some airlines and insurers ask for it.
2. Contact the US Embassy in Paris (2 Avenue Gabriel, 8th arrondissement; +33 1 43 12 22 22) or the US Consulate General in Marseille, the two posts that issue passports. Book an appointment online; for real emergencies, call.
3. Bring a passport photo, any ID you have, a copy of your lost passport if possible, and your travel itinerary. You'll fill out a lost/stolen report (DS-64) and a new application.
4. If you're flying soon, the embassy can often issue a limited-validity emergency passport quickly, sometimes the same or next day. You replace it with a full passport once home.

Enroll in the free Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) before you leave so the embassy can reach you in an emergency. More on theft, scams and emergencies on the safety page.

Vaccines and health paperwork

France requires no vaccinations and no health forms for visitors from the US. The State Department and CDC simply advise being up to date on routine vaccines. Measles cases have risen in Europe in recent years, so check that adults and children have had their MMR shots.

Travel health insurance isn't required for visa-free visitors, but Medicare and most US plans pay little or nothing abroad. French care is good and affordable by US standards, though a hospital stay or medical evacuation can still be expensive. See safety and health for insurance, pharmacies and the 112/15 emergency numbers.

Pre-trip document checklist

• Passport for every traveler, valid at least 6 months beyond your return date and with a blank page
• Photo of each passport data page saved on your phone and in email; paper copy packed separately
• Return or onward flight confirmation on your phone
• Hotel or host addresses for the first nights
• Schengen day count checked with the EU calculator if you've spent time in Europe in the last six months
• UK ETA if London, Edinburgh or Northern Ireland is on the itinerary
• Schengen visa if you're a green-card holder whose passport requires one
• Consent letter (notarized) for any child not traveling with both parents
• Prescriptions and a doctor's letter for controlled medications; meds in original packaging
• Travel insurance policy number and the insurer's 24-hour phone line
• Credit and debit cards, with your bank told about the trip and your PIN memorized (see money)
• International Driving Permit if you plan to rent a car (see driving)
• STEP enrollment done
• No ETIAS needed yet; check again if you're traveling in 2027

For the full planning timeline, from booking flights to packing, see plan your trip and the packing list.