France entry requirements, by passport

How much money you need to show

€120 per day without a hotel booking, €65 per day with one, and €32.50 per day with an attestation d'accueil

If the hotel covers only part of the trip, it is €65 for the booked nights and €120 for the rest. The attestation d'accueil is the certificate of accommodation that your host requests from their town hall when you stay in their home.

Source: European Commission, Annex 25 to the Practical Handbook for Border Guards (reference amounts notified by each State), version of 8 June 2026, and France-Visas (page on arriving in France). Checked on 1 November 2026.

What each Schengen country asks for →

Vaccinations

• No mandatory vaccines to enter metropolitan France. The international vaccination certificate is asked of nobody, not the yellow fever one and not even of travellers arriving from a country with risk of transmission.
• The overseas territories are a different matter. French Guiana requires the yellow fever certificate from every traveller over 1 year of age, wherever they come from, because transmission risk exists there. Guadeloupe, Martinique and Réunion require it from travellers arriving from a risk country or transiting more than 12 hours through the airport of one.

Customs limits

Cash

Declare if entering or leaving the EU with €10,000 or more in cash (or the equivalent in another currency).

Alcohol

Arriving from outside the EU: 4 litres of still wine + 16 litres of beer, plus one of: 1 litre of spirits over 22% vol., or 2 litres of fortified/sparkling wine or undenatured ethyl alcohol of 80% vol. or more.

Tobacco

Arriving from outside the EU: 200 cigarettes, or 100 cigarillos, or 50 cigars, or 250g of smoking tobacco (can be mixed without exceeding the total allowance).

Overstay penalties

Anyone who stays in France beyond their visa, or for more than three months after entering visa-free, can be issued an order to leave French territory, the OQTF, by the prefecture (Code on the Entry and Residence of Foreigners, CESEDA, Art. L611-1). The order comes with a ban on returning to France when no period for voluntary departure is granted or when the person does not leave within it; in other cases the prefecture may add one. The ban lasts at most five years from when the order is carried out, and up to ten where no departure period was granted and there is a serious threat to public order (Arts. L612-6 to L612-8).

Check whether you would go over the limit →

What happens if you stay past 90 days →

Grounds for refusal

Apply to: Visa-free

• Not presenting a valid travel document: valid for at least three months after the intended departure and issued within the previous ten years (Art. 6(1)(a)).
• Not justifying the purpose and conditions of the stay, or not showing sufficient means of subsistence for the stay and the return (Art. 6(1)(c)).
• Having already used up the 90 days within the current 180-day period (Art. 6(1)).
• Being the subject of a Schengen Information System (SIS) alert for the purpose of refusing entry (Art. 6(1)(d)).
• Being considered a threat to public policy, internal security, public health or the international relations of a Schengen State (Art. 6(1)(e)).

Source: Regulation (EU) 2016/399 (Schengen Borders Code) , Art. 6(1). A refusal is given in writing with its reasons and can be appealed (Art. 14).

Apply to: Visa required

• Producing a false or falsified travel document, or reasonable doubts arising about the authenticity of the supporting documents submitted or the truthfulness of their content (Regulation (EC) 810/2009, Art. 32(1)(a)(i) and 32(1)(b)).
• Failing to justify the purpose and conditions of the intended stay (Art. 32(1)(a)(ii); the same entry condition appears in Art. 6(1)(c) of Regulation (EU) 2016/399, so it is also checked at the border).
• Failing to provide proof of sufficient means of subsistence for the whole intended stay and for the return to the country of origin or residence, and not being in a position to acquire such means lawfully (Art. 32(1)(a)(iii)).
• Having already used up the 90 days of stay within the current 180-day period on the territory of the Member States (Art. 32(1)(a)(iv)).
• Being the subject of an alert in the Schengen Information System (SIS) for the purpose of refusing entry (Art. 32(1)(a)(v)).
• Being considered a threat to public policy, internal security, public health or the international relations of any Member State (Art. 32(1)(a)(vi)).
• Failing to provide proof of adequate and valid travel medical insurance, where applicable (Art. 32(1)(a)(vii)).
• Reasonable doubts arising about the reliability of the statements made or about the applicant’s intention to leave the territory of the Member States before the visa applied for expires (Art. 32(1)(b)).

What to do if you are refused entry →