When you have all the documents required for your application, you can make an appointment on the TLScontact website  .

This allows you to either :

• Schedule an appointment at the Visa Application Centre, from Monday to Friday 8am-3pm ;
• Schedule an appointment at the French Embassy, only on Tuesday (upon remaining availabilities and except if the considering Tuesday is a holiday). The deadline to schedule an appointment for the coming Tuesday is Monday, 12:00.

The usual times for making appointments varies according to the number of visitors and seasons.

Users are therefore required to anticipate in order to obtain their appointment :

• at least 15 days before the departure date and,
• a maximum of 6 months before the scheduled departure date for a short stay visa.

Travel agencies / group applicants (minimum 6 pax) are requested to send a special request to TLScontact by email or call. TLScontact will co-ordinate and facilitate for group submission of visa applications at the VAC.

At your appointment do not forget

• A valid passport with at least two blank pages. Your passport’s expiry date must be at least three months after the expiry date of the requested visa ;
• The appointment conformation letter (printed out) ;
• 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 processing fees.

It is advised to arrive no more than 10 minutes prior to the appointment.

NB : If your visa application is incomplete (i.e. missing documents), you may choose not to submit your application until you have all the required documents and come back to the Centre at a later date after making a new appointment. You will not have to pay any processing fees if you decide not to submit your application at this time. However, if you do decide to submit your incomplete application, you will be asked to sign a document indicating that your application is incomplete and that certain documents are missing.

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

Biometric data

All visas issued by France are biometric visas.

Applicants who are over 12 years of age are required to appear in person at the time of their first application. The following biometric identifiers are collected: a photograph, scanned or taken at the time of the application, and 10 fingerprints, taken flat and digitized.

However, it is possible to retrieve your biometric data if a previous biometric Schengen visa has been issued to you less than 59 months ago. In that case, application can be submitted by a third-party with a signed authorization letter.
Children under 12 years of age: children under 12 years of age are not required to provide the biometric data, short stay Schengen visa application may be submitted by the child’s parent/legal guardian. The ISO/IEC format photograph (pdf)  of the child will be scanned.

Following a request from the French consular authorities:

• Only visa applicants are authorized to enter the Visa Application Centre. No companion is permitted to enter unless express prior authorization has been obtained by emailing our helpline.
• Every person entering the TLS Visa Application Centre will be subject to security checks.

For security reasons, the following items cannot be brought into the Centre:

• Any battery-powered device or electronic device such as a camera, video camera, MP3 player, CD player, cassette player (or any other portable music player), computer or tablet;
• Any bag except a plastic bag containing the required application documents or a small hand bag;
• Any sealed package or envelope;
• Any inflammable items e.g. lighter, matches. etc.
• Any sharp objects e.g. knife, scissors. etc.
• Any weapons or explosives.

The above list is not exhaustive. Other items may also be prohibited by the Centre’s security officers.

The Visa Application Centre cannot store/keep any prohibited items. Consequently, visa applicants must make sure they comply with the rules before visiting the Centre.

Closed on Saturdays and Sundays.

Public holidays 2020:

• Wednesday January 1: New Year's Day
• From Thursday 23 to Wednesday 29 January: Fête du Têt
• Thursday April 2: Feast of the Hung Kings
• Thursday April 30: Victory Day
• Friday May 1: Labor Day
• Tuesday July 14: French National Day
• Wednesday September 2: Vietnamese National Day
• Friday December 25: Christmas

After your appointment and submitting your application in the Centre, you can track the progress of your application on the TLScontact website .

Collecting your passport

Only visa applicants can collect their visas. A representative may also retrieve the passport on their behalf provided that he/she brings :

• The TLS receipt ;
• A copy of the applicant ID card ;
• The original and a copy of his/her own ID card ;
• An authorization letter signed by the applicant mentioning name and ID card number of the person who will collect the passport on his/her behalf.

If you want the envelope containing your passport (and any other documents) to be returned to you by the consular authorities by post, please indicate that you want to use the courier service when you submit your application.