How to Apply for a France Schengen Visa for Filipino Tourists (Manila, Philippines)

(France Schengen Visa)
UPDATE 2024: The French Embassy no longer uses VFS’ services — instead, it now utilizes TFScontact. More details about this will be discussed throughout the rest of this article.

If someone thinks of Europe, it’s quite common to have France’s Paris as their top-of-mind destination — most especially if they are first-time travelers to the continent. However, it helps to note that there is more to the country apart from this famed metropolis!

For instance, there is the Bordeaux region for wine-lovers, the French Riviera for a taste of the Mediterranean coast, the Loire Valley for its stunning array of chateaux castles, the Provence region for its vibrant lavender fields, and so much more.

So if you are looking to visit France and explore its wonders, it is a must to undergo a French visa application; and thankfully enough, the process is easy and streamlined especially now that it is coursed through TLScontact. In fact, for my first application through the French Embassy, they have granted me a 1-year multiple-entry visa!

If you’re curious to find out how, do continue reading through this article — but first, let me discuss with you the important disclaimers as well as what a ‘Schengen Visa’ is.

• NO ONE can give you the guarantee of your France Schengen Visa’s approval — not even a lawyer, a consultant, a travel agent, or an embassy employee. Anyone who says otherwise is most likely going to be a scammer. So what I’m rather offering you here is a comprehensive guide with helpful tips to increase your chances of getting that visa. Nothing more, nothing less.
• There are different types of Schengen Visas (for work, study, etc.) but my main focus for this article will be a France Visa for tourism purposes only. To see a list of requirements for other types of visas for countries covered by the French Embassy, go here.
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Schengen Area

A Schengen Visa is a document that allows the holder to travel freely within the Schengen Area or Zone for a maximum stay of up to 90 days in any 6 month period. This Schengen Area is a group of 26 European countries (22 European Union member states and 4 EFTA member states) that have abolished passport and immigration controls at their common borders and they are namely:

These 27 countries are namely:

[1] Excluding Greenland and the Faroe Islands
[2] Excluding overseas departments and territories
[3] Excluding Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, and the Caribbean Netherlands
[4] Excluding Svalbard
[5] With special provisions for Ceuta and Melilla

There are certain nationalities worldwide that are exempted from applying for a Schengen Visa, but as Philippine passport holders, in order to visit one or more of these Schengen states, we are required to apply for the visa. (Remember, Schengen Tourist Visa holders are NOT allowed to live permanently nor work in Europe, they only have the right to travel as a temporary visitor within the allotted timeframe indicated on their visa.)

» READ: How to Stay Longer in Europe

NOTE: It helps to mention that there are non-Schengen members in Europe that allow entry to their country if you have a Schengen Visa, namely: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Macedonia, Monaco, Montenegro, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, Turkey, and Vatican City.

HOWEVER, you must check these details beforehand since their rules might have changed. Plus, customarily, only multiple-entry Schengen visas are allowed. For starters, you can check this list for a list of countries you can visit with a Schengen visa.

» When should I apply for a Schengen Visa?

Apply as early as three (3) months or 90 days before your planned trip date departure.

You can apply several days before your trip, sure — but it’s always best that you give enough time for the embassy to look into your application. After all, you wouldn’t want to make plans only to have the embassy provide you with a visa that has a validity period that’s NOT within your intended travel dates.

» Where should I apply for a Schengen Visa?

For Schengen Visas that have the main purpose of visiting a friend/family/national or reuniting with a fiancé/husband/etc. in a Schengen state, naturally, you should apply in the corresponding Embassy of the country where that person comes from.

Meanwhile, if you are planning to visit several Schengen Countries for your trip, your application MUST be made at the embassy of the main destination country — meaning, the country where you will be staying the longest. If the length of stay is almost the same, it’s best to apply for the country that you will first fly or enter in.

So as an example, you must apply at the French Embassy in Manila only if according to your Europe itinerary, you will be staying the longest in France.

» Which Schengen embassy will I have a better chance of getting a Visa?

There’s no such thing as an embassy that would easily give away Schengen Visas. But, if it is a question of time — like which Embassy can you get application results the quickest — then that would be an easier query for me to answer, which then leads us to the question…

» How long does it take for Schengen Visa results to be released?

To the best of my knowledge, the following Embassies usually release visas earliest in an average of:

• Switzerland Embassy: 5 days
• French Embassy: 2-5 days
• Norwegian Embassy: 5 days
  – the Norwegian Embassy also handles Visa processing for Schengen countries that have no Embassies here in Manila such as Iceland
• German Embassy: 7 days
• Belgian and Netherlands (Dutch) Embassy: 15 days
  – the Belgian Embassy also handles Visa processing for Schengen countries that have no Embassies here in Manila, like Luxembourg and Slovenia
• Danish Embassy: 15 days
• Italian Embassy: 15 days

It can surely take longer if they need more documents or details from you.

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Application Process for France Schengen Visa

Step 1: Determine the type of France Schengen visa you need to apply for

There are, of course, various types of France Schengen Visas out there that you can apply for: a visa for residence, a visa for family visits, a visa for studying, a visa for work, a visa for being a spouse, etc.

For this particular guide though, I will only be discussing the requirements for a short stay (less than 90 days) tourist visa — both single and multiple-entry — since it’s an experience that I’ve gone through myself.

So if you have a different situation or purpose of visit, it’s best that you head over to this page for more information.

Before we proceed, it helps to mention that TLScontact offers services that will help assist you with organizing your documents, etc. — however, if you ask me, it’s an UNNECESSARY expense because the services they’ll provide can already be easily accomplished by you (especially since my free France Schengen Visa guide here will technically already encompass the extra service they’ll be providing). In hindsight though, this service can be helpful if you’re in a rush; but honestly, the overall application process won’t take too much of your time.

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Step 2: Register with ‘France-Visas’ and accomplish the online form

The French Embassy has their visa applications processed by their external service provider, TLScontact — but before you can set an appointment with them in order to submit your documents, you must first register through the France-Visas website.

This platform basically determines the requirements you need to fulfill. After which, it will proceed to ask for your information in order to automatically generate the France visa application form.

To do this, simply follow the instructions in the section below which you can expand by clicking the ‘+‘ icon.

How to register and accomplish the online form on France-Visas website

1. Go to France-Visas Visa Wizard and fill out the form page’s fields with your personal and travel information.
   • TIP: When it asks for ‘Nationality’, search for ‘Filipino’ in case you don’t find the word ‘Philippines’.
   • To proceed to the next page, you just need to click the blue button at the bottom that says ‘Search‘ — you might have to do this twice until you reach the last page that has the blue button at the bottom with the text: ‘Submit online application‘. Click this to proceed to the next step.

2. On the next page, you need to register a new account on the website. Fill out the fields accordingly after clicking ‘Create an account’.
   • Once done, a verification link and code will be sent to your email — click that link and enter the code, after which you’ll need to set up a new password.
   • In case you don’t receive an email, check your spam folders.

3. On your dashboard, click the button that says: ‘Create a new application or a new group of applications‘, and then on the next page click ‘Access the visa application‘. This will lead you to the form below wherein you will need to enter your detailed personal and travel details.

• As you can see, this process has 5 sections and the summary of this information will be used to fill out your Schengen application form. Accomplish all of these until the last page.
  • Your plans
  • Your information
  • Your last visa
  • Your stay
  • Your contacts
• Once you have created your first application, you can add other applications to it to form a group application in which it must contain no more than 6 people or 6 trips. (You will be called for a group appointment if you submit a group application.)
• You can save your information on each page in case you don’t have some of the details yet that the site needs.

4. After you fill up all the sections, click ‘Continue’. This will lead you to a page that looks like the one below.

• Click the icon on the right — this will download a drafted copy of your application form so that you can review if all of the details are accurately indicated there. If it is, check the box and then click ‘Continue‘. (Take note that a pop-up will show asking one last time if you’re sure about the info you input, because afterward, you won’t be able to modify them).
• Once you click the button that says ‘Yes’, you will be led to a page that will indicate yet again the fee that you’ll be paying, as well as other info about your appointment (we’ll discuss this in Step 3 below).
  • Click the button that says ‘Submit my visa application’ and a pop-up will appear with some added information saying that your application form is being generated. Click ‘Ok’ and a new window will automatically open showing your completed and final Schengen application form — along with your ‘Registration Receipt‘ in a single .PDF file. You MUST print this since it will be needed along with your other supporting documents when you go to your appointment at TLScontact.
  • Take note of your France-Visas Registration Number which is a 17-character word with ‘FRA’ at the start.

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Step 3: Schedule your appointment online with TLScontact

To book your France Schengen Visa appointment with TLScontact, simply follow the steps below:

1. Go to this page and create your own TLScontact account. If you already have an account with them, just sign in.
   • As a new user, an activation link will be sent to your email. In case you don’t receive it, check your spam folder.
   • Once you’re done activating your TLScontact account, proceed to login.
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2. Once logged in, click the blue button that says ‘Create an appointment‘. The next pages will basically ask for your information, almost similar to what you’ve done previously for Step 2.
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3. For the 3rd section under ‘Appointment‘, you’ll just need to choose a date and time that’s convenient for you in order to submit your visa application and documents to the TLScontact center.
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4. Once you arrived at ‘Payment‘, this is basically the part where you need to pay for the service fee of TLScontact.
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5. For the final ‘Confirmation‘ section, make sure to print the appointment confirmation letter since it will be needed at TLScontact’s reception area.
   • If you are a member of a group of people applying for a visa together (i.e. as a family, etc.), please fill in the data of those accompanying you too. For groups of over 5 people, please contact TLScontact via their call center at +63 282313256.

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Step 4: Prepare the required documents for your application

Once again, I am only going to tackle the requirements for a tourist visa. If you have other reasons for tourism such as visiting other people etc., check the corresponding requirements here.

NOTE: From what I’ve noticed, Schengen Visa requirements are almost similar, but with only a few tweaks or changes; so, you must ensure that you follow and provide everything that the France Embassy requires as detailed below.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

• Don’t forget to bring your Appointment Confirmation letter from France TLScontact.
• Print documents in A4 paper.
• Bring all your original documents for checking.
• Photocopies must be clear and readable. Remove staple wires and paper clips from your documents.
• Feel free to add supporting documents to help strengthen the purpose of your application.

Requirements

• Application Form and Registration Receipt. As I’ve already mentioned previously, these are the documents you’ll get after you accomplish the instructions in ‘Step 2’ section above.
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• Philippine passport, original and photocopy. Make sure that your passport is valid for at least three (3) months after the end of the planned stay in a Schengen Member State, and that it has at least 2 blank pages to affix the visa sticker.
  • You must photocopy the first page containing your personal information, as well as ALL the additional pages which contains visas and stamps that are both valid and expired — in COLOR.
  • NOT a citizen in the Philippines? Bring proof that you are a legal resident in the country (e.g. residence permit, etc.)
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• 1 Passport-sized Photo. This must have a white background, must not also be older than 6 months and must be sized at 35 x 45 mm. Take note that edited photos are NOT accepted.
  • You must paste (do NOT staple) this photo on your Application Form.
  • Bring extras just in case.
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ARE YOU A MINOR TRAVELING TO FRANCE? If so, the following additional documents must be provided:

– Photocopy of PSA birth certificate
– Notarized affidavit of support and consent of parents or legal guardian
– Photocopy of DSWD travel clearance
– Photocopy of parents’ or legal guardian’s passport or government issued ID

• Day-to-day Travel Itinerary & Cover Letter. If you did not book an organized tour, you must provide a document describing your itinerary in detail.
  • For this, it’s also good practice to include a personal cover letter so that you can properly explain the purpose of your trip — this becomes essentially helpful especially when you want to apply for a multiple-entry Schengen Visa. To see a sample cover letter and travel itinerary, you can view and download my file here.
  • BOOKED a tour trip instead? If you have arranged an organized trip, simply provide a document showing booking/reservation confirmation.
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• Roundtrip Flight Ticket Reservation. Do NOT buy flight tickets before the visa is issued because the French Embassy would NOT take any responsibility for the flight costs you’ll incur if your France Schengen Visa gets denied or if your departure times get changed. So — just simply supply a confirmed flight reservation only. You can easily get a flight reservation online with OneWayFly for a small fee of only Php 1,000~. I highly recommend them because they are fast, easy, and legitimate; plus, I have been using them for years for all of my visa applications! (Read here for more info).
  • Later on, in case you want to book your flight, my go-to platform is Skyscanner since they offer the best flight deals:

• Proof of Accommodation, copy(ies). These are confirmed hotel reservation(s) for the entire duration of your stay in the Schengen countries and they must contain the name and contact details of the hotel(s) you’ve chosen.
  • If you will be staying in other countries during your stay, you must also provide hotel booking confirmation for those.
  • I usually reserve my hotel stays via Booking.com and/or Agoda.com. With them, you can reserve a hotel with NO pre-payment and you can even cancel the booking a day before your arrival with NO cancellation charges at all. So yes, you can make reservations without any payment, you can change the reservation anytime, AND you can cancel them at no cost as well if in case your visa is not approved.
  • STAYING with a local instead? You must get a ‘Proof of Accommodation’ (Cerfa form/Attestation d’accueil) which is a French document that your host must get from their local town hall in France. You must arrange this in advance because the embassy wants the ORIGINAL document for this, given that it must be stamped by the consulate and later on presented upon your entry in France.
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• Proof of sufficient funds. If you are under the age of 18, the following documents can be from your parents or legal guardian.
  • Original bank certificate/transcripts for the last 6 months and issued within the past 30 days
  • Credit card statements for the last 3 months (if applicable)
  • Last 3 pay slips (if applicable)
  • Travelers cheques (if applicable)
  • Pension statements (if applicable)

NOTE: Is your trip sponsored by someone else? If so, apart from any of the documents already listed above, you must also provide a notarized ‘Affidavit of Support’, proof of relationship (e.g. birth certificate, etc.), and a photocopy of an ID with signature (e.g. passport).

• Proof of socio-professional situation.
  • Student? School attendance certificate or certificate of enrollment, photocopy of School ID, and certificate of leave of absence.
  • Employed? Certificate of Employment and letter indicating approved leave of absence.
  • Self-Employed? Business registration documents and ITR.
  • Retired? Proof of pension.
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• Other proof of rootedness. If you own any land, cars, properties, land titles, etc. bring the original documents as well as their photocopies. Copies of your marriage certificate may also help.
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• International Travel Insurance, copy or original. This can be purchased locally, internationally, or in France. You just have to ensure that it has a coverage of at least 30,000 EUR / 50,000 USD / PHP 2.5M to cover expenses for personal accidents, urgent medical treatment, urgent admission to a hospital, or urgent repatriation on medical grounds; with coverage including ALL Schengen member states. The validity period of the insurance coverage must be for the ENTIRE duration of the intended stay including entry and exit day of the Schengen area.
  • For international providers, HeyMondo is accepted by the embassy and if you click this link, you get a 5% discount. The benefit of booking an international provider is that it’s easier to purchase as it is all done online in just a few clicks.
  • If purchasing locally, the Embassy of France only accepts insurance policies from any of the following Philippine Insurance companies.
    • 1CISP Life and General Insurance
    • ACE Insurance Philippines
    • Assist-Card
    • BPI – MS Insurance Corporation
    • Charter Ping An Ins. Corp.
    • Etiqa Life and General Assurance Philippines Inc.
    • Fortune General Ins. Corp.
    • FPG Insurance Co., Inc.
    • Liberty Insurance Corporation
    • MAA Insurance
    • Malayan Insurance Company, Inc.
    • MAPFRE Insular Insurance Corporation
    • Oriental Assurance Corporation
    • Pacific Cross Insurance
    • Paramount Life and General Insurance Co.
    • PNB General Insurers Co., Inc.
    • Philippine British Assurance Co., Inc.
    • Philippines First Insurance Company
    • Pioneer Insurance and Surety Company
    • Prudential Guarantee and Assurance Inc.
    • PGA Sompo Insurance Corporation
    • QBE Seaboard Insurance Philippines, Inc.
    • Reliance Surety & Insurance Co. Inc.
    • Standard Insurance Co.
    • Starr International Insurance Philippines
    • The Mercantile Insurance Co., Inc.
    • UCPB General Insurance Co. Inc.

UPDATE: The Embassy now requires travel insurance to have COVID coverage. From the list above, Malayan Insurance provides COVID coverage.
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TIP: I purchased travel insurance with COVID coverage from HeyMondo (click this link to get 5% discount off) and the France Embassy accepted it.

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Step 5: Submit your application at TLScontact on your appointment date and pay the visa fee

It helps to arrive early for your France Schengen Visa appointment. TLScontact’s address for Manila is:

TLScontact Manila Visa Application
Centre 1 Proscenium Tower, 9th Floor
Estrella, Makati, Metro Manila, Philippines

STANDARD APPOINTMENT HOURS: Monday to Friday (8AM to 12PM, 1:30PM to 4:30PM)
PASSPORT COLLECTION: Monday to Friday (8AM to 6PM), and Saturday (8AM to 12PM)

For Cebu, the address would be:

TLScontact, Latitude Corporate Center
12th Floor, Mindanao Avenue
Cebu Business Park, Cebu City, Philippines

After the security check, you will be queued and when it’s your turn, they will check appointment confirmation letter as well as your documents. Once they see that your documents suffice, TLScontact will get your biometrics and this will be followed by visa payment (sometimes, biometrics will be done first in which they basically take your photo and fingerprints).

NOTE: TLScontact will not express their opinion on the quality of your files, BUT they will check if everything is complete. They will NOT have any influence either on how fast the Embassy will process your application because they are basically just acting as the middleman.
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VISA FEE: €80 euro or its equivalent in peso that day (about Php 4,780). This fee is non-refundable and preferred to be at an exact amount.

Afterward, you will be issued a receipt and a tracking or reference number (take note of this especially if you want to follow up on your application). You’ll be given an option to pick up your results and passport in person or by courier.

The French Embassy still reserves the right to ask you to appear for a personal interview after checking your France Schengen Visa application.

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Step 6: Wait for the results of your France Schengen Visa application

Once the France Embassy is done assessing your application, they will send back your passport and your other original documents to TLScontact.

Consecutively, TLScontact will send you an email or text message once your application is done — if you have chosen the courier option, TLScontact’s partner coureir will deliver your passport and visa results to you. Once they’re at your address, make sure to present the receipt that you received from TLScontact.

Please do NOT inquire with TLScontact directly if your application has been approved OR denied because they also do NOT know the result themselves. They are simply functioning as a middleman between you and the French Embassy. However, what you can do is track the status of your application checking your account online with TLScontact.

When claiming in person at TLScontact, make sure to bring the following:

• Your Original Application Checklist
• Your Original ID
• A copy of ID

Applications accepted at TLScontact are usually submitted the next working day to the France Embassy and the time required to process France visa applications is up to 2 to 7 working days; however as per Schengen Codex, it can take up to 15 working days and some might even be called for an interview at the French Embassy.

As an example, my first experience with the French Embassy took only 5 working days and I was granted a multiple-entry tourist visa application. As for my most recent experience, I was granted a 2-year multiple-entry visa in just 48 hours!

• February 26, 2020: appointment
• March 3, 2020: Visa results and pick-up

• October 19, 2022: appointment, and then my passport was dispatched to the Embassy on the same day
• October 21, 2022: Visa results and pick-up

It is said that applicants with complete documents and good financial standing will typically get their results within 48 hours (or 2 days).

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WAS YOUR APPLICATION DENIED? I’m very sorry to hear this! Every application is up to the embassy’s scrutiny no matter if you have accomplished all the requirements mentioned above.

So when your application is refused, it is said that they may or may not indicate the reason, and you may lodge an appeal against this decision to the Minister of the Interior within 2 months of being informed. Your request must be signed, written in French, and sent by regular mail to the following address (you can also get the help of a lawyer for this).

Secrétariat général de la CRRV
Commission de Recours contre les Décisions de Refus de Visa d’entrée en France
BP 83609 – 44036 Nantes CEDEX 01, France

Make sure to include
– Your personal information (last name, first name, date of birth)
– The name and location of the Embassy that refused your application

This procedure is mandatory before it is sent for an appeal to an administrative judge. If they reject your appeal, they will do so in writing or by implicitly not replying to you within 2 months.

It’s clearly a long process… but if you don’t want to go to the trouble of appealing, you can re-apply at any time — but… that won’t essentially solve the issue at all. Some people have tried reapplying with another Embassy but your record of refusal will still be on their system. Nevertheless, most of those who were successful in getting a visa even after a refusal were able to do so when they applied for a different visa type.

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Booking Essentials

Booking.com

TIP: It’s a good idea to crosscheck the prices with other popular travel insurance providers like World Nomads and HeyMondo (as my reader, you get 5% off)!

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However, take note that a travel insurance’s affordability typically means lesser coverage; so please always ensure that you read the fine print in order to decipher which travel insurance company is the right fit for you and your trip!

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FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

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Overall, I hope this guide for France Schengen Visa applications will prove to be helpful for you.

Feel free to share some tips below to help other people out. Good luck!