This article is about the visa de retour applicaton experience in India, by one of our readers “Nikitha Guruswamy“. Her experience has been updated with some minor corrections and the official references in the end. A detailed article about the Visa de retour will be added very soon.
If you would like to contribute with articles about your personal experiences, feel free to write to me at the following email contact@prasanthragupathy.com
What is a Visa de Retour?
The official answer from the France Visa website.
Visa Application Summary
Hi all, I’d like to share my experience of getting a Visa de retour in India.
- Type of visa applied: Visa de retour / Return Visa
- Duration of your stay : Long séjour (> 90 jours) / Long stay (> 90 days)
- Why are you making this trip?: Visa de retour / Return Visa
- Visa main purpose of stay: Visa de retour / Return Visa
- Applied at: VFS Hyderabad, India
- Applied on: 18th September 2023
- Visa received on: 29th September 2023
- Visa processing time: 11 days, including weekends
- My situation: Passeport Talent Famille
Thank you for your guidance in helping with my visa. Especially @Prasanth Ragupathy, thank you very much. I wanted to share my experience with the visa de retour process, hoping it might be helpful to someone in a similar situation.
I am a Passeport Talent Famille holder and due to a family emergency, I had to return to India while my first residence permit was still processing. I didn’t have any attestation when I left France. I received my ADP (Attestation prolongation d’instruction) while I was in India, but because it was my first application, I wasn’t allowed to go back.
So, I applied for a visa de retour on 18th September, 2023, and I received my visa today, on September 29th. Just so you know, I applied at VFS Hyderabad and my visa was processed at the French consulate in Bengaluru.
List of Documents submitted at VFS office
Here is a list of the documents which I had submitted:
- My passport along with entry and exit stamps
- Expired Visa
- Three photographs
- A very strong cover letter
- Carte de Sejour Confirmation receipt
- Attestation prolongation d’instruction
- France visa application form
- Marriage certificates (both original and apostilled and translated)
- Flight ticket
- Travel insurance
- Sponsorship letter from my husband
- Spouse’s passport
- Spouse’s Carte de Sejour
- Attestation d’hébergement (not applicable when a rental contract is available)
- Rental contract
- 3 Months Rental receipts
- 3 Months Phone bills
- Convention d’accueil (applicable only for PT chercheur category)
- Spouse’s work contract
- Spouse’s 3 months payslips
I know this seems like a lot of documents, but trust me, the consulate won’t ask for any additional documents once you have submitted these. Also, VFS might ask you to remove some documents, but I recommend sending everything!
My Visa de retour application process was really smooth, and I wish the same for others too.
Good luck, everyone!
Thank you for the article, was helpful to understand the process. Does the “Visa de retour” apply for people who were on a long stay visitor visa? For example, my father-in-law was staying with us and he has a residence permit that expires in June 2025 and he cannot travel back to France before that. Can he apply for a Visa de retour when he plans to come back later in the year?
Hello Karthik,
A visa de retour is applicable for some specific situations such as having a premiere demande récépisse, lost a valid residence permit while traveling outside France, etc.
So, it’s not applicable for the situation that you had asked. He must apply for a new visitor visa application after June 2025.
Cheers,
Prasanth
Hello
My wife travelled to India for emergency and she have attestation de decision favorable, but she didn’t receive titre de séjour card yet and she cannotcollect the card because she is in india , and once the decision favorable is finished/completed when she is India, will she need to apply for retour visa in vfs India when she plan to travel back?
If so, And once she got retour visa how that should be validated here? Will that visa updated with her current numéro étranger in ANEF – Étranger en france site? Directly?
Or is it the new one?
I would like to know retour visa post process here in France, once she is back here
Thanks
Hello Teja,
An attestation de decision favorable has the same validity as a Carte de Séjour. If it expires, then a visa de retour cannot be applied and she will require a completely new visa for travelling back to France.
A visa de retour is an one time visa allowing a person (lost valid resident permit or an ongoing application) to travel back to France. After returning to France, the person will continue with the existing residence permit process.
Cheers,
Prasanth
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