France Reopens Some Visa Application Centers Abroad

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Some French visa centers abroad have begun to resume operations on a normal or limited capacity, according to an announcement from VFS Global.

The following list includes the French visa centers that have begun resuming operations, however, bear in mind that these visa application centers might not be the only French visa centers that are open abroad.

The following visa application centers are included in the VFS announcement:

  • Los Angeles, USA: accepting limited category and long-stay visa applications.
  • South Mumbai, India: accepting student D visa applications, and is operating from 09:00 until 15:00.
  • Bengaluru and Hyderabad, India: accepting student D visa applications, and are operating from 08:00 until 14:00.
  • Kolkata, India: accepting student C and D visa applications, and is operating three days per week from 09:00 until 15:00.
  • Chennai and Kochi, India: accepting student D and long-stay visa applications for spouses of French citizens and is operating from 08:00 until 14:00.
  • Delhi, India: accepting student visa applications from 10:00 until 14:00.
  • Seattle, Chicago, and New York, USA: accepting limited short stay visa applications.
  • Washington, D.C. USA: passport collection and four sub visa categories.
  • Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, and Ottawa, Canada: regular operations.
  • Izmir, Turkey: accepting limited category and short stay visa applications.
  • Luanda, Angola: regular operations.
  • Kingston, Jamaica: accepting limited short and long stay visa applications.
  • Al Khobar, Riyadh, and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia: accepting limited short and long stay visa applications.
  • Istanbul, Turkey: accepting limited short and long stay visa applications.
  • Boston, Houston, and Miami, USA: accepting limited short and long stay visa applications.
  • Abidjan, Ivory Coast: accepting limited short and long stay visa applications.
  • Dakar, Senegal: accepting long stay visa applications.
  • Singapore: accepting long stay visa applications.
  • Tehran, Iran: accepting long stay visa applications.
  • Ramallah, Palestine territories: accepting long stay visa applications.
  • Suva, Fiji: accepting long and short stay visa applications.
  • Algiers, Algeria: accepting long and short stay visa applications.
  • Colombo, Sri Lanka: accepting long and short stay visa applications.
  • Dubai and Abu Dhabi, UAE: accepting short stay business, medical, long stay student, work, and residence permit visa applications.

Although the visa centers listed above have resumed some operations, please bear in mind that few have completely resumed full visa operations. This is because France is still dealing with the country’s own COVID-19 outbreak and simultaneously trying to control it while still letting tourists and businesspeople come in.

VFS Global is a visa facilitation service that many EU/ Schengen Member States outsource their visa application facilitation to. It is still unknown when visa services will resume normally amid the COVID-19 crisis.