What it costs to move a family to France

Official fee table published by France-Visas and linked from its La demarche page at https://france-visas.gouv.fr/la-demarche. The full rate for any long-stay visa is 99 euros. The only reduced long-stay rate on the table is 50 euros for students whose file was examined by a Centre pour les etudes en France, and the only waiver listed is for spouses of French nationals, with other cases referred to the country-specific pages. Children get no reduction on a long-stay visa: the under-6 waiver and the 45 euro rate for ages 6 to 11 on the same table apply to short-stay Schengen visas only, so budget 99 euros for each child as well as each adult. Where an external service provider takes the application, it may add a service charge of up to 45 euros per file, which it keeps. The fee is not refunded if the visa is refused. The PDF was produced on 11 June 2024 and is the version published at that URL today.

Page verified 1 June 2026. The threshold is the net annual SMIC, so it moves when the minimum wage moves. Service-Public gives the same figure two ways: 17,735.19 euros a year and 1,477.93 euros net a month for a single applicant. The SMIC page confirms net monthly SMIC 1,477.93 euros and net annual SMIC 17,735.19 euros at https://www.service-public.gouv.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F2300, verified 1 June 2026. Resources may come from a family member, housing conditions are weighed too, and child benefit is excluded. The same route requires health insurance covering the whole stay and a handwritten undertaking not to work in France.

Published 22 April 2026, updated 12 May 2026. A VLS-TS must be validated online within three months of arrival and this tax is paid then. It rose from 200 to 300 euros on 1 May 2026 under article 128 of loi n. 2026-103 of 19 February 2026. A reduced 100 euro rate applies to categories such as students, seasonal workers and family reunification, which does not include visitors. Year two is a separate card: the carte de sejour temporaire visiteur costs 350 euros on first issue (300 euro tax plus 50 euro stamp duty) and 250 euros on renewal, per https://www.service-public.gouv.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F302, verified 1 June 2026.

Page verified 1 June 2026. Applications go through the ANEF portal, which issues a dated filing receipt immediately.

Page verified 19 June 2026 and states that these rules apply whatever your nationality. Enrolment must be done by the June before the September start, and communes generally open it in March. Compulsory instruction from 3 to 16 is at https://www.service-public.gouv.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F1898, verified 6 November 2025. For college and lycee the assessment and placement run through the academic authorities and the CASNAV, at https://www.service-public.gouv.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F21304, verified 5 August 2026.

Counted from the dataset via its API on 2026-08-26: 1,044 sections nationwide for the 2025 rentree, of which 301 British and 228 American, across schools in France and French schools abroad. Some entries are private schools, for example Ecole Jeannine Manuel. The dataset gives establishment, level, language and town; it does not publish places or admission rules. Outside these sections, a newly arrived child without French is placed in a UPE2A support unit, per https://www.service-public.gouv.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F21304, verified 5 August 2026.

Both schools' own published 2026-27 rates. American School of Paris: 25,000 euros K3 to K5, 34,600 euros Grades 1 to 5, 39,965 euros Grades 6 to 8, 41,400 euros Grades 9 to 12. International School of Paris: 25,500 euros Nursery to Pre-Kindergarten, 31,100 euros Kindergarten, 31,400 euros Grades 1 to 5, 36,500 euros Grades 6 to 9, 39,000 euros Grades 10 to 12, at https://www.isparis.edu/admissions/fees. Tuition only; entry and application charges are separate.

2026-27 rates. International School of Paris charges a 10,000 euro entry fee in the first year of enrolment for new students in Grades 1 to 12, plus a non-refundable 1,200 euro application fee. American School of Paris charges a 12,200 euro capital assessment in the first year from Grade 1, plus a 1,450 euro application fee and a 2,000 euro annual security fee, at https://www.asparis.org/admissions/tuition-and-fees.

Page verified 13 May 2026. A minor stays an ayant droit attached to a parent until the year they turn 18. The social security financing law of 30 December 2025 creates a financial contribution for PUMa beneficiaries who reside stably and lawfully, have no professional activity and are not liable for CSG or CRDS under an international agreement; the decree setting the amount had not been published when we checked, so no figure is published here. The private insurance condition for the visitor route is at https://www.service-public.gouv.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F302, verified 1 June 2026.

Median monthly rent excluding charges for an unfurnished three-room Paris flat let to a tenant who moved in within the year, at 1 January 2025. Mean 1,750.23 euros, mean floor area 64 square metres, 69 observations. A French three-room flat (3 pieces, T3) is what an American family calls a two-bedroom, because French room counts include the living room. Read from the observatory's statistical annex Agglo 2025-annexe statistique-diffusion.xls, linked from that page. OLAP is the rent observatory for the Paris agglomeration and its method carries a favourable Cnis opinion.

Median monthly rent excluding charges for an unfurnished Paris flat of four rooms or more, let to a tenant who moved in within the year, at 1 January 2025. OLAP publishes 2,547.93 euros, rounded here to the euro. Mean 2,622.11 euros, mean floor area 99 square metres, 52 observations. Four rooms or more (4 pieces et plus) is a three-bedroom or larger in American terms. Same statistical annex as the two-bedroom figure.

Page verified 9 June 2026. The cap is one month of rent excluding charges where rent is paid monthly or two-monthly in advance, and no deposit at all may be taken where rent is paid quarterly in advance. A furnished lease may ask up to two months. The amount must be written into the lease and cannot be raised during it or at renewal.

Page verified 12 January 2026. Which zone a commune sits in is set by decree n. 2013-392 of 10 May 2013 and decree n. 2014-890 of 1 August 2014, and we did not verify the zone list for individual communes, so check the zone before applying a ceiling. Agencies must display their maximum price per service, and who pays it, in the window and on listing sites.

Page verified 23 July 2026. The exemption list, the ISO 11784 and 11785 microchip standard and the ten-day validity of the health certificate come from the DGAL note Importation sur le territoire de l'Union europeenne des animaux de compagnie en provenance de pays tiers, published at https://agriculture.gouv.fr/media/143793 and last updated October 2023, which names Etats-Unis d'Amerique among the exempt countries. The rabies vaccine is only valid 21 days after a first injection. First-category attack dogs are banned from entering France. Travellers must present the animal to customs on arrival.

Page verified 23 July 2026. Payable by cheque to I-Cad when a French vet files the provisional identification certificate, which must be done within seven days of arrival. The vet's own consultation charge is separate and is not published.

Page verified 1 January 2026. A family that moves in mid-year can meet the household test long before it meets the 183-day test.

The consolidated French text of the income and wealth tax convention is published by impots.gouv.fr. A treaty decides which country taxes what; it does not remove the United States filing obligation for US citizens.