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Validating your French VLS-TS on ANEF within 3 months: checklist

Your visa only becomes a residence permit once validated online. The deadline runs from your first entry into France.

Print or save as PDF The boxes are meant to be checked on paper.

• Deadline: 3 calendar months from your first entry into France, not from the date printed on the vignette; set it in two calendars the day you land
• Portal: administration-etrangers-en-france.interieur.gouv.fr (ANEF), not the OFII website
• You need: passport with the vignette, entry date, an address in France (temporary is fine), an email, a bank card or an electronic tax stamp
• Tax: €300 since May 1, 2026 (Finance Act 2026, law no. 2026-103 of February 19, 2026, art. 128); check the amount on screen
• Enter the data exactly as printed on the vignette; save the attestation de validation in two places
• Missed deadline: online validation closes; prefecture, a "visa de régularisation" fee (€180 to €300 depending on your case: check service-public.fr fiche F302 the week you file), and no guarantee
• The OFII "reserves the right" to call you (France-Visas); in practice visitor-permit holders are rarely called, but if you receive a convocation you cannot decline it
• Renewal: from the same ANEF account, 4 to 2 months before expiry; €250 tax

Sources, checked October 16, 2026: France-Visas (United States page and visa assistant), service-public.fr fiche F302, ANEF, Journal officiel (Assemblée nationale, written question no. 11730). Figures change at least yearly; re-check on the official source the week you file. Practical information, not legal advice.