Visa requirements for French citizens

France belongs to the European free movement area, so French citizens need no visa anywhere in the Schengen area and can use a national ID card.

Of the 198 countries whose entry rules are known in both directions, France and 93 of them let each other’s citizens in without a visa obtained in advance (visa-free, on arrival or with an ETA; an e-visa counts as a visa).

No country asks holders of the French passport for a visa beforehand while its own citizens enter France without one.

The reverse holds for 67 countries: holders of the French passport get in without a visa obtained in advance, but their citizens need one for France (Angola, Armenia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus and 62 others).

14 countries ask holders of the French passport for a visa obtained before travel from an embassy, a consulate or a visa centre. 12 of them have an embassy or consulate on record in France.

2 countries have no embassy or career consulate on record in France, so the application usually goes to one of their posts in another country.

The United States refused 9.7% of visitor-visa (B1/B2) applications from citizens of France in fiscal year 2025, by the State Department’s adjusted refusal rate. 30 of the 197 nationalities with a published rate had a lower one and 166 a higher one; the middle value was 32%.

Visa-free travel with the French passport

By continent, the French passport is visa-free in 43 countries in Europe, 30 countries in the Americas, 22 countries in Asia, 17 countries in Africa and 11 countries in Oceania. The longest visa-free stays for French citizens are allowed in Georgia (360 days), Antigua and Barbuda (180 days), Armenia (180 days), Costa Rica (180 days), Dominica (180 days) and Mexico (180 days).

Visa on arrival

French citizens can get a visa at the airport or land border of Bahrain, Bangladesh, Burundi, Cambodia, the Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt and 20 others.

E-Visa and electronic travel authorisation

An e-Visa, applied for online before the trip, is how French citizens enter Azerbaijan, Benin, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Cuba and 17 others. Australia, Canada, Israel, Ivory Coast, Kenya, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and 4 others ask instead for an electronic travel authorisation (ETA), a lighter online check than a visa.

France’s neighbours

Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, Italy, Andorra, Monaco and Spain admit French citizens without a visa.

How the passport compares

Among neighbouring passports, the Spanish passport ranks 5th (162 destinations), the Swiss passport ranks 6th (161 destinations), the German passport ranks 6th (161 destinations), the Belgian passport ranks 6th (161 destinations) and the passport of Luxembourg ranks 6th (161 destinations). Of the 198 passports in the data, 93 can enter visa-free and 105 need a visa from an embassy or consulate for France.