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?

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, 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,

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!!!!

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,

My partner, our 8-year-old daughter, and I are going on vacation to Gex.

We’ve decided to spend one day in Switzerland and another in Italy. Will we need ID (national ID card or passport)? Do we also need ID for our daughter?

Thanks so much for your answers! 🙂

Hello,

We’re leaving in November 2025 for a stay of more than 60 days in Khao Lak and need to apply for a 30-day extension on-site to be allowed to stay nearly 90 days. Should we declare the flight ticket dates (November 13, 2025, to February 9, 2026) directly on the electronic form (if it’s applied from May 1st) before leaving, at the risk of being denied entry (over 60 days), or declare 60 days and quickly apply for a 30-day extension once there? Are flight tickets checked upon arrival (Phuket) or earlier on the electronic entry request? I remember that the arrival check is quite "serious" and after 18 hours of travel, you’re pretty impressionable! Thanks for your help, Best, Bruno.

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!

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,

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 there,

We’re heading to Southeast Asia for several months as a family with two teens (10 and 13). The first country we’re visiting is Cambodia. I’m having an issue with the e-visa—it won’t accept any of the documents I’m attaching. I’ve validated all four e-visas and received the registration numbers, but when I check the application, it shows no attachments. I’ve tried multiple times in different formats (PDF, JPEG, PNG), whether compressed or not, but there’s always a red cross next to the documents.

Has anyone else run into this problem?

Thanks for your help—I’m losing patience, and our departure is in 15 DAYS 😕

Magos

India is introducing an electronic arrival card for foreign travelers. The measure is effective for all travelers starting October 1st.

India is now adopting the electronic arrival card. Presenting this "e-Arrival Card" is now mandatory for all arrivals in India as of October 1, 2025. This formality replaces the paper card previously filled out on the plane or upon arrival. India aims to streamline traveler tracking. The requirement applies to travelers of all nationalities, both adults and minors, for all entry points into India. It’s an additional mandatory formality alongside the e-Visa or visa. The e-Arrival Card must be completed online within three days prior to arrival in the country. Available in English only, it’s free and can be done on the official Indian authorities' website. The document is valid only for the declared arrival day. "This means you’ll need to complete it for each new arrival," clarifies RapideVisa, an agency specializing in visa services. Travelers must provide standard information to obtain the document (passport number, purpose of stay, countries visited in the 6 days before arrival, etc.).

Once completed, a document with a QR code to present to authorities upon arrival is generated. With this new system, India aims to facilitate traveler tracking and reduce congestion at airport counters. Nearly 19 million international visitors traveled to India in 2023. Among them, 189,000 were French.

Source: https://www.lechotouristique.com/article/inde-une-nouvelle-formalite-obligatoire-pour-voyager

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WaPqVyUmuY

Hi everyone!

So happy the forum is back—I’ve been part of it since 2012! ☺️

After lots of twists and turns with Sri Lanka’s visa (called ETA) over the past few months, here’s a quick recap of the current situation for travelers:

- You need to get an ETA, either online or on arrival. I recommend doing it online because it’s cheaper (here’s a step-by-step guide to avoid common pitfalls: https://www.tongsetsrilanka.com/mode-demploi-pour-eta-au-sri-lanka)

- It’s valid for 30 days and costs $50 online or $60 on arrival.

- It was supposed to be free starting October 1st, but due to the elections and Parliament being dissolved, that didn’t happen. Stay tuned in December in case the topic comes up again.

- The online ETA is recorded in your passport, so you don’t need to show any documents, but I’d still recommend traveling with the confirmation.

- If you didn’t receive the confirmation email, you can check the status on the official ETA website.

- The only official site is eta.gov.lk. Watch out for agency websites pretending to be the official one.

- Avoid filling out your ETA on the French version—it’s buggy. Use my guide and do it in English instead. 😅

Happy travels! Caroline

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.

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!

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

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 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, 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 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 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

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

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

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 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