Hi, we’re heading to Laos for 3 weeks from December 12 to January 1, 2025. We land in Bangkok. We’d like to know if we need a visa for a very short stay in Thailand since we’ll just be passing through. I read that since July 2024, a visa isn’t required for stays under 30 days. Is that correct?

Thanks for your help! Elise

Hi,

I’m leaving for Morocco on 18/10 with my wife and daughter. I’ll be returning to France on 25/10. My daughter’s passport expires on 30/11, which is less than 90 days before we return to France.

Can I still travel to Morocco with my daughter?

Thanks

Hi, I just had a really bad experience leaving for Thailand with Etihad Airways, along with my partner and her 11-year-old son. We were denied boarding because the child’s passport was invalid (by about 3 days), as it’s indeed required to have 6 months of validity. But come on—just 3 days over! On top of that, we were able to check in online for our round-trip flight (just the flights, no extras), entered our passport numbers and expiry dates, and even had to check in online again 30 hours before departure, where we got our boarding passes without any issues. How is it possible that no one called, warned, or even blocked us online? Instead, they waited to tell us at the airport during baggage check-in. I’ve asked the airline for a full refund of our expenses—do I have any chance? Thanks for your help

Hi there,

I read on the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs website that it’s possible to apply for a temporary driving permit in China, valid for 1 month. I’m planning to rent a car (without a driver) to explore part of the country next August, so I was wondering:

Has anyone here already gone through this process upon arrival? How long do the formalities take on the spot? Is it possible to handle these steps in advance, before arriving in China?

Thanks in advance for your replies.

Hi everyone! I’m planning to retire in Agadir in 2026, preferably in a furnished rental not too far from the souk and the sea. I’ll be bringing my two African grey parrots and two cats. I’d like to know what formalities I need to take care of, and if I transfer my pension to Agadir, which bank would you recommend? What about health insurance? Is the healthcare system good there? I’ll have around 2000 € in retirement income. Do you know of any rental agencies that work with French expats? Any advice would be greatly appreciated—I’m planning to visit for a week next year to check things out. Thanks in advance for your tips!

Best regards, Lorraine

Hi everyone!

What a joy to be back on this forum where I’ve spent so many hours traveling and gathering info—let’s get started! 👋

Almost everything’s in the title, but just to clarify: As far as I know, you currently need a full French motorcycle license (A) to legally ride a scooter in Thailand, since they don’t recognize A1 or A2 licenses. Yes, I know most rental places only ask for an international car license (B), or sometimes nothing at all… but that’s not what I’m asking. What I’d like to know is whether you think this might change in the future, allowing A1 licenses (which are easier to get) or even car licenses (B), since you can ride a scooter in France with one. I don’t want to get a motorcycle license—I’m scared of motorcycles, even though I’m comfortable on a scooter. I’m a bit confused by their regulations. Thanks for any insights you can share!

Lulu56😅

Hi there, we’re planning our trip to the North Cape this summer. We bought a new vehicle for it. Unfortunately, the registration document is still being processed, and the delay seems long—I don’t think I’ll have it in time for our departure... I have the transfer documents, insurance in my name, and all the supporting paperwork, but not the registration document. So my question is: does the ferry company require the registration document *mandatorily* when boarding in Denmark or not? Thanks for any insights...

Hi there,

I just booked my round-trip flight ticket to visit Cuba for two months, from January to March 2025. I’ve heard about the challenges Cubans are facing and the recent changes the island has gone through—economically (like the end of the dual-currency system) and administratively (the introduction of an e-visa)...

This is my first time visiting the country, so I’m still figuring out all the administrative steps I need to take before I go.

1) Can I apply for the electronic e-visa now (still 22 €?) from home on the website evisacuba.cu?

2) I read that I need to fill out a form 48 hours before departure on the site dviajeros.mitrans.gol-.cu/inicio. Is it possible to do this now to save time?

3) I’m a bit confused about the currency. From what I understand, there’s now only the Cuban Peso. Should I exchange my euros at the airport, or wait until I arrive at the *casas particulares* in Havana that I’ve already booked and ask the owner?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Hello, My partner, who is Malagasy, would like to visit France (ideally in mid-August) and therefore apply for a short-stay visa (90 days). I’ve heard that many applications are refused even when all the required documents are submitted, which is why I’m here—to get advice and guidance to be "almost" sure the application will be accepted. I have a lot of questions, and your help would be invaluable to us.

She is 27 years old, has a passport with her current occupation listed as self-employed (she owns a "taxi-brousse" truck) and thus has a statistical card, a business license, and annual tax certificates. She started her business at the beginning of this year.

As for me, I am an adult with a disability. I receive disability benefits until May 2026. I’m in the process of professional reintegration and will start a job in a few days, likely on a fixed-term contract (CDD).

Here are my questions about the supporting documents to provide:

-Purpose of the trip/stay

Flight ticket reservation (round-trip) (the ticket should only be purchased once the visa is approved). Letter of commitment to return, written on plain paper. Any other document demonstrating potential family, economic, or material ties in the country of residence. Confirmation of a booked organized trip or any other document outlining the planned itinerary.

I’ve been told that for the flight reservation, my partner just needs to go to Air Madagascar in Antananarivo and pay around 50,000 ariary to get this reservation. Given that the French short-stay visa takes between 15 to 45 days (I might be wrong) to be processed and approved, I wonder if the reservation will still be valid if the visa is approved late. For the letter of commitment to return, I assume two sentences are enough, and what matters most are the documents proving ties to the country of residence (her economic activity). Do you think that will be sufficient? And for the planned itinerary, since this isn’t an organized trip, what document could work? A handwritten letter explaining a few planned visits?

-Proof of residence in the country of origin

For employees: original work certificate, original leave certificate, last 3 payslips (or bank statements). For retirees: pensioner’s card and last 3 pension statements. For traders or entrepreneurs: professional registration, professional card, and recent bank statements.

For liberal professions: professional registration, professional card, and recent bank statements. For unemployed applicants and students: sponsorship letter and copies of the sponsor’s financial documents.

For this point, she can justify her self-employed status with the statistical card, business license, and annual tax certificates. As for bank statements, she deposits her earnings in cash into her bank account—will this be an issue during the application review?

-Financial resources

Bank account statements (last 3 months). Last 3 payslips or pension statements. Foreign currency allocation certificate, whose origin must be demonstrated (recent bank statement, savings account), issued by local banks or exchange offices (minimum 32.50 € per day if staying with a private individual or 65 € per day if staying in a hotel) or presentation of an international bank card with supporting account statement.

I need help with this point because I don’t fully understand what she needs to provide as a self-employed individual, especially since she doesn’t earn 32.50 € per day. I can obviously transfer money to cover this. So, overall, what documents should be provided for this section?

-Accommodation

Confirmed hotel reservation with the hotel’s phone number and reservation number / payment confirmation for stays longer than 1 month or original hosting attestation.

For this point, do I just need to write a handwritten letter stating that I will be hosting her? Then scan it and email it to her? Is that all?

-Travel medical insurance

Insurance certificate: must specify the amount and scope of coverage (30,000 € coverage / medical expenses and repatriation).

For this, I’ll opt for AXA Schengen insurance (low-cost). Any advice is still welcome...

I have one last question about the following point:

The short-stay visa allows you to stay for a maximum of 90 days for a continuous stay or multiple stays within the Schengen area over a 180-day period.

If we decide to leave the Schengen area during the stay (to visit the United Kingdom, for example), will the 90-day visa be paused and resume once we return to the Schengen area? And if so, can we plan a return ticket beyond the 3 months by justifying an exit/entry?

Thank you in advance for all your advice and suggestions. I may have forgotten some important points—feel free to let me know.

Best regards.

The consulate tells me my French residence permit needs to be valid for at least 6 months after I leave Egypt, but my permit will only be valid for 5 months and a few days by my departure date from Egypt. Is it still doable to get a visa on arrival (at the airport)? Thanks in advance to anyone who can answer me.

Hey Fellow Travelers,

I was caught off guard when the Malagasy consulate in Scandinavia informed me they don’t issue entry visas for Madagascar—what’s the point of a consulate, I wonder! They advised me to apply at the Malagasy embassy in London. So, I started filling out the online form, but the price for the visa made me do a double-take: nearly 200 €!

But apparently, you can also get it on arrival! Has anyone tried this before? I’d love to know if the process takes a long time (I’ll be landing in Nosy Be, exhausted after nearly 15 hours of travel), what the cost is, and—since corruption isn’t just a word—whether you absolutely have to grease the palm of the official(s). This is because I almost took the next flight back when I arrived in a country I won’t name. Even though all my documents were in order—passport, visa, vaccinations, hotel reservation—the immigration officer initially refused to stamp my passport. I later found out I was supposed to slip at least $10 into the document when presenting it... Thanks! /d

Hi there, I’m heading to Senegal in January for a month and was wondering if I just need my French driver’s license or if I should get an international permit? Thanks! JL

Hi there, I just got back to France and realized I don’t have a stamp in my French passport. Is it normal that at Suvarnabhumi Airport customs didn’t stamp my passport? I’m really worried because I have to go back in a month and I don’t know what to expect when I arrive at Thai customs. I’m afraid of the consequences, like a fine or worse—being blacklisted from entering Thailand. Has anyone else had this happen? And if it’s not normal, what can I do to avoid any problems?

Hi there. I had a simple question, please? My 10-year-old son’s French passport expired a month ago, and I just realized it. We’re supposed to leave for Morocco by car on June 30th, taking the ferry from Algeciras. I applied for his passport renewal today, but it won’t be ready for at least 2 months.

Can he enter Morocco with his expired passport? For the return trip, I’ll already have his valid passport.

Thanks for your help—I’m really in a bind here.

Hi there, Since April 2025, Namibia has been requiring a visa for many nationalities. I have a French passport and I’d like to know if the paid visa granted is for 60 or 90 days? I can’t seem to get a clear answer. Thanks! Bourlingueurs.com from Eswatini (Swaziland)

Hi Where can I get a visa for Egypt? There are several sites and different prices.

Hi there, I’m planning a three-month trip: my itinerary would be a flight from Paris to Hong Kong, then Hong Kong to Ho Chi Minh City, and later leaving from Lao Cai to enter China before flying back from Hong Kong.

If I exit the Hong Kong airport upon arrival to find a hotel (since my flight to Vietnam leaves the next morning), will I lose the benefit of the 90-day visa exemption? Especially since I plan to spend 3 days in Hong Kong before my return flight at the end of the trip?

Also, I’d like to know if the inbound flight to Vietnam will be enough to board and get a visa on arrival, or do I need to prove that I’ll exit the country after 45 days? Since I want to visit Sapa and cross into China by land via Lao Cai, do I also need to prove my departure from China, even though I already have a round-trip ticket from Paris to Hong Kong and back for three months?

Hi,

I’m planning to travel to China very soon, and I read in this article that getting a visa is really complicated. Can anyone confirm? Thanks so much. Nicolas

Hi there, I need to apply for an ESTA: we’ll be on a cruise from Barcelona and will have a stopover in San Diego before disembarking two days later in Los Angeles. From there, we’ll continue our trip on our own, all the way to Las Vegas, where we’ll catch our flight back to Paris. So our point of entry into the U.S. will be San Diego. The form then asks if we’re in transit, and if not, to provide contact details for a U.S. contact (hotel or otherwise). But we don’t yet know what we’ll be doing there—we’ll actually be traveling around since we’re heading to San Francisco and Las Vegas without any prior reservations. What should we do since I don’t see any option that matches our trip? Thanks in advance for your help. Have a great Sunday, everyone.

Hi there, In November, we're heading off on a 4-month trip. We'll be landing in China and plan to leave the country via a land border into Vietnam. I’ve read that China may ask for proof of exit within 30 days (flight ticket or other reservation). Since we’d be leaving by land, I’m wondering how this works in practice. Has anyone here been in this situation recently?

Did the airline ask for an exit ticket before boarding? Did Chinese authorities require proof upon arrival? Is a train/bus ticket to Vietnam sufficient? Is a cancelable or flexible reservation accepted?

Thanks for sharing your experiences! 😊

Hi, I went to submit my visa application to visit my partner’s family. We’re religiously married in France. I provided an accommodation certificate, pay slips, travel insurance, and a document stating we’re religiously married—signed, etc. I want to travel with my partner’s son, who has both Algerian and French passports and is a minor. So, I told them he lives with us. Since his father has custody, they didn’t charge me anything and said they’d call me back because my file is going to a committee. I also told them I needed to leave by July 15th. This is the Lille consulate—has this ever happened to any of you?,

Hi, I’m traveling to Mauritius with my kids from Réunion. My kids only have national ID cards that still show our old address in mainland France. What do we need to show at the airport as proof of residence in Réunion to travel with just an ID card?

Thanks—this is pretty urgent since we leave next week!

I got approval for my visa on May 16th. There’s a new provider handling passport delivery now, but when I submitted my application online, it was a different one—I’d already paid for delivery with them. Specifically, it was CSRA FRANCE SARL, 3-5 rue St Georges in Paris. I’d like to get a refund for that delivery, but there’s no way to reach the embassy, and I don’t have a phone number or email address to contact them. Has anyone else found themselves in the same situation? Thanks in advance! Martinette 34

Hi there,

We’re supposed to fly in four days—my partner, our two kids, and me—for a one-month trip to Cambodia. While applying for an e-visa, we just realized that both our passports won’t be valid for 6 months after our stay ends, which is a key requirement for getting a Cambodian visa. I don’t know how, but we totally missed this info!! Our tickets aren’t refundable, and we’ve booked several non-refundable hotels there too...

Has anyone been in this situation or have any ideas or solutions?

Thanks so much in advance!!!!

Hello, I’m from Quebec, and my driver’s license is in French. I’m planning to rent a car in France in July 2025 with Sixt. When I check their website, it says I need to present my driver’s license and passport, so I wouldn’t need an International Driving Permit. However, if I keep reading, they specify this: «It is recommended for customers whose driver’s license was issued by a state not listed here (https://www.sixt.com/help-center/articles/permis-de-conduire/) to bring an International Driving Permit or a French translation by an organization listed in section b), as authorities may request to see the license during official checks.» When I click the link, I get an error page, so I can’t get all the information. Has any Quebecer rented a car through Sixt in France and could tell me if I can avoid the translation fees for a license that’s already in French (mine and my partner’s)? Thanks so much!

Hi,

Currently, it's possible to travel for 180 days in Mexico without a visa (just with a valid passport for French nationals). Could you please tell me, when a traveler leaves Mexico after staying for 180 days, how long they need to wait before re-entering by air? Thanks so much for your feedback. liza

Hi Has anyone been to Rwanda recently and gotten a 3-month visa on arrival easily? Thanks

Hi everyone, For an Egypt e-visa application, they ask online: Country you’re traveling from Now, if you’re French but leaving from Italy, for example, what do you put? Has anyone been in this situation before? Thanks

Hi everyone,

Four questions: - What is the official website of the Egyptian Embassy in France? - What is the official procedure for obtaining a multiple-entry visa (non-E-visa for French citizens) for someone residing in France who is not an EU citizen (on the list of countries required to obtain a visa before departure)? Is the Marseille Consulate authorized to handle this? - Finally, what’s the cost and processing time? 79 € or more?

Thanks in advance

Hi everyone, I’d like to travel to Senegal with my two dogs—an Amstaff and a French Bulldog (who can’t fly). I’m wondering if you think it’ll be complicated or if the formalities are easy to sort out. I’m giving myself a year to prepare for this trip.

Thanks in advance for your replies