Cameroon

Closed on saturdays et sundays

Public holidays in 2026 :

• Thursday, January 1st: New Year's Day
• Wednesday, February 11th: Youth Day
• Friday, March 20th: Eid al-Fitr
• Friday, April 3rd: Good Friday
• Friday, May 1st: Labor Day
• Thursday, May 14th: Ascension Day
• Wednesday, May 20th: Cameroon National Day
• Monday, May 25th: Whit Monday (Solidarity Day)
• Tuesday, May 26th: Eid al-Adha
• Wednesday, November 11th: Armistice Day 1918
• Friday, December 25th: Christmas Day

When you visit a French Consulate, you must not bring any weapons or dangerous items with you. Security checks will be performed before you are admitted to the premises.

Personal appearance :

Visa applicants must submit their visa application in person to the French consulates.

Remember to bring the following :

• The appointment confirmation letter (printed out);
• Your passport with at least 2 blank pages;
• The visa application form, seized online and printed, dated and signed by yourself;
• The file containing all the required documents presented in the same order as on the list of required documents;
• Payment to cover the cost of the visa and the visa processing fees.

At reception, a visa officer will check whether your application is complete i.e. you have all the documents on the list provided by the French consular authorities.

Submitting a complete application does not guarantee that the consular authorities will issue you with a visa.

Biometrics

In the biometrics booth, your photograph and fingerprints will be taken.

Children under 12 years of age are not required to provide the biometric data; the application must be submitted by the child’s parent/legal guardian. The photograph in the OACI Format(pdf) of the child will be scanned.

After visiting the biometric booth, you can leave the visa application centre.

You can collect your passport yourself.

Travelling to Greece, in Latvia, in Malta, in Slovenia, in Denmark and in Czech Republic

France represents the following Schengen States in Cameroon:

• For a trip to Greece, Latvia, Lithuania or Malta, whatever the location of your home, you can make your request at the consular section of the Embassy of France in Yaounde.
• For a trip to Denmark or the Czech Republic please file your application in the French consulate that serves your home.
• For a trip to Slovenia, you must apply at our Consulate in Douala, regardless of where you live.
• The other Schengen partners present in Yaounde are Germany, Belgium, Spain, Italy and Switzerland. If your main destination is one of these (or another Member State represented by them), your visa is within their jurisdiction.

Travelling in the event of expiry, loss or theft of the residence permit

Returning to France with your residence permit is not always guaranteed from Douala and Yaoundé Nsimalen airports. Beware, many people have been unable to board their return flight, whatever the airline. They have been required to obtain a return visa.

WARNING : Only the "attestation de prolongation de l’instruction d’une demande de titre de séjour" allows you to enter France, accompanied by the expired residence permit. The documents entitled "Confirmation de dépôt", "Attestation de décision favorable" and "Attestation de prolongation d’instruction" for an application for the first renewal of a residence permit, an asylum application or a request for a duplicate, or the provisional residence permit issued in the context of an asylum application, do not allow border crossings. A return visa must then be applied for.

We would like to draw your attention to the fact that for such a visa, the consulate must carry out an investigation in liaison with the prefectoral authorities who issued your residence permit.The response time can sometimes be long (several weeks) and is beyond the control of the consulate, forcing you to postpone your return.

We therefore strongly invite you, as far as possible, to wait until you receive your new residence permit before coming to Cameroon.

Be careful on the scams

Many visa applicants have recently been victims of scams from scammers posing as embassy officials.

Visa applicants for France are invited to comply with the formalities of entries recalled on our websites by presenting only documents requested by the visas services of the Embassy of France in Yaounde and the General Consulate of France in Douala.

No other supporting documents can be claimed outside of the visa service counters.

Many visa applicants have recently been victims of scams by scam artists posing as officials of the Embassy of France and claiming for fees for a medical certificate.

Only the French Office for Immigration and Integration is enabled to pass the medical examination for the beneficiaries of family reunification, spouses of French and employees to reach France.

Official passeports

Holders of diplomatic or service passports are received by appointment only by the visa service of the French Embassy in Yaounde from Monday to Friday. Visa applications for holders of diplomatic or service passports should be anticipated as much as possible. The appointment must be made at least 72 hours before the desired departure.

The counter agent will inform you of the date of passport collection, which is no earlier than 4pm the day after the visa application. For an application submitted on Friday morning, collection is on Monday at 16:00.

Reminder : For all private travel (studies, medical care, private visits, etc.), the application must be submitted under cover of an ordinary passport.

Visas issued to holders of official passports in the course of their duties are free of charge.

If you have any problems with your visa application, please contact the French authorities for assistance by mail to :

• Embassy of France in Yaounde
• Consulate of France in Douala