How to Validate a French Long-Stay Visa (VLS-TS)

The visa is in the passport, the apartment is rented, and the first weeks in France feel settled. Then a trip home ends at the border, or the prefecture turns you away, because a long-stay visa valid as a residence permit (VLS-TS) is only half a residence status until it is validated online. The clock runs from the day you entered France.

Check that your visa is a VLS-TS

Look at the visa sticker. The "Remarques" line carries the visa type and its legal reference, and the visa number sits at the top right, as shown in the Vendée prefecture's VLS-TS portal FAQ. That FAQ lists the categories that go through the portal: student, employee, temporary worker, visitor, talent passport, private and family life, entrepreneur, trainee, au pair, and job search. A visa marked "carte de séjour à solliciter" is different: the foreign ministry's visa page says its holder applies to the prefecture within two months of entry.

Count three months from your entry date

The Loire-Atlantique prefecture and the Bouches-du-Rhône prefecture both state the rule the same way, as of September 2026: validate online within three months of arriving in France, or lose your regular status. Find the entry stamp in your passport now, because that date is what you will enter.

Gather your visa details, entry date, and French address

The portal asks for the visa number, its start and end dates, the date you entered France, an address in France, and an email address, then takes the tax payment. The prefecture pages add a bank card.

Buy the electronic tax stamp

The tax is paid with an electronic stamp (timbre fiscal électronique) from timbres.impots.gouv.fr. The tax office's stamp leaflet explains that VLS-TS stamps sit under the "Titre pour étrangers" heading, where you type the amount, and that the stamp arrives as a PDF with a code or an SMS with a 16-digit number. The Vendée FAQ's table shows 50 euros for students, trainees, au pairs, and job seekers and 200 euros for employees, visitors, and talent passport holders, as of September 2026. Cash at a tobacconist works only if you receive a 16-digit electronic stamp; the portal refuses paper stamps.

Validate on the ANEF portal and download the confirmation

Go to the ANEF portal (administration numérique pour les étrangers en France), choose the VLS-TS validation, enter the details, and pay. A receipt is sent at once, and the confirmation of validation, which carries your foreigner number (numéro étranger), can be downloaded from your personal account. Save it with the passport. The Tarn-et-Garonne prefecture says a validated visa has the same value as a residence card, and the portal states that it lets you travel and re-enter the Schengen area.

Apply for renewal well before the visa expires

Renewal runs through the same portal, at the earliest four months and at the latest two months before the end date in the portal's own wording, so open the file the day the window opens.

If the three months have passed. The Vendée FAQ says the file then has to be handled by the prefecture; check your prefecture's website for appointments before traveling.

Sources. Loire-Atlantique prefecture, Bouches-du-Rhône prefecture, Tarn-et-Garonne prefecture, Vendée prefecture FAQ, ANEF portal, timbres.impots.gouv.fr, electronic stamp leaflet, diplomatie.gouv.fr visa page.