Two visas that look alike
A long-stay visa for more than 90 days arrives either as a VLS-TS — a visa that is also a residence permit, usually for one year — or as a visa marked “carte de séjour à solliciter”, which grants entry only and leaves the residence right to be issued by a prefecture after you arrive.
They are not interchangeable, and you do not pick between them. On France-Visas you select only your purpose of stay; the consulate decides the type from the legal category, the risk profile and administrative policy.
What a VLS-TS means for you
If the sticker in your passport is a VLS-TS, the four points below are your first year. The one with a deadline is the first: online validation within three months of the entry stamp, which is what turns the visa into a residence permit.
- Mandatory online validation within 3 months of arrival through the ANEF portal — track the calendar date, not a day count
- A validation tax, set by the annual finance law and raised again on May 1, 2026 — confirm the current amount on ANEF before paying
- No prefecture appointment in the first year
- Renewal at the prefecture 2–4 months before expiry
What “carte de séjour à solliciter” means for you
If instead the sticker says carte de séjour à solliciter, there is no online step and no validation tax, but there is a prefecture appointment with a shorter deadline, and your status is not settled until the card is in your hand. Book the appointment in your first days.
- No online validation and no validation tax
- A mandatory prefecture appointment — the visa is stamped “à solliciter dans les 2 mois”, the standard national deadline
- Your residence status is not secure until the card is issued
- Higher risk if the deadline is missed
Who tends to get which
Most visitor visas — retirees, the financially independent, second-home owners — are issued as VLS-TS: a low-risk category with no employment and no access to benefits.
Family-based visas — spouse of a French national, parent of a French child, family reunification — are often “à solliciter”, because marriage validity, family ties or cohabitation are verified locally. So are some salaried, self-employed and regulated-profession visas, and some Talent Passport sub-categories, where work authorization is checked locally.
Free toolWork out your own deadlines with the visa deadline calculator
Read next
- Validating Your Visa After ArrivalHolding a VLS-TS: how to validate it on ANEF
- The French Long-Stay Visa: Types, Requirements and How to ApplyWhich long-stay visa fits you
How we verify this guide
Every statement above is taken from the official French or US government pages listed below, through our knowledge base, which is re-checked against those sources every week. This guide was written from it and is dated: its facts were last verified in September 2026 and its text last changed on September 22, 2026.
Because a visa or tax decision is hard to undo, this guide is also reviewed by the Relo2France research team before it changes. What people who made the move report is kept apart, in the In Practice note, and is never stated as the rule.
Spotted something out of date? Write to support@relo2france.com. More on how we work.