Embassy of France in the U.S
Appointment system
Prior to making your appointment, you are strongly advised to read the requirements relating to the visas for which you wish to apply. Please click here
It is the responsibility of every applicant to make sure they book an appointment prior to coming to the visa office.
Waiting periods:
All applicants should be aware that the processing times are average, and that the processing time of a specific case may vary due to individual circumstances and other special requirements. We strongly recommend that applicants do not make nonrefundable travel arrangements until they receive the approval for their visa; visa applicants should never assume their application will be automatically approved.
| IMPORTANT! Depending on the work charge, applicants may have to wait longer during peak travel periods and holiday seasons, and are therefore advised to take an appointment as early as possible. In the summer and winter, the planning may be full with no appointments available for up to 4 weeks. Travel plans shouldn’t be made accordingly to the day you iniate the process and apply for an appointment online, but accordingly to the day you find one. When you sucessfully scheduled an appointment with the visa section, you may plan a departure accordingly to it, and not closer than 3 weeks (appointments too close from your departure may expose you to reschedule your trip, and therefore extra expenses, if you are requested to come back because your documentation is incomplete or your visa take time to be processed). Should you fail to find an appointment online early in advance for your planned trip, you are strongly advised to postpone the travel plans before showing up at the visa office. You cannot apply for a visa with a departure planned in more than 3 months (12 weeks) in advance. |
Sending documents to the consulate:
The visa section does not accept letters of invitation sent directly or faxed to the Consulate in support of visa applications, or any other document. The originals of such letters should be brought by the applicant to the scheduled interview, together with one set of photocopies per applicant.
On the day of the appointment:
Applicants arriving late will not be accomodated and must reschedule their appointments.
No appointment will be given at the counter, or by e-mail or by phone.
Only the applicant is admitted to the interview, unless he/she needs to be accompanied owing to age, ill health or difficulties in speaking French or English.
Minor applicants have to be accompanied by their mother or father or legal guardian at the personal interview.
| IMPORTANT: When
you book your appointment online, please make sure to write down your
reference number (starting with WAS.20… ) appearing in the first pop-up
window . |
The Appointment system is working from a PC with Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox or from an Apple Macintosh Computer with Firefox. Safari and Chrome browsers are NOT supported. please use and alternate internet browser to book your appointment.
If you are ready to book an appointment, please click here .
Visas
A valid passport is required for all U.S. citizens and foreign national entering France. Visitors must have ready for presentation at the border documentary evidence of the purpose of the visit, means of support for the duration of the stay and accommodation arrangements.
A visa may be required. It must be requested from a French consulate before departure. Whether you need a visa depends on your nationality and duration of stay in France and possibly on the reason for your visit to France.
Click here to find out if you need a visa and, if so, how to apply for one.
Work in France
The Ministry of Labor’s Authorization to work
An employer in France who wants to hire an American citizen must obtain an authorization from the French Ministry of Labor. The authorization is a prerequisite document for the issuance of a long stay visa by a French Consulate in the United States. If the Ministry approves the contract, it is forwarded to the Office des Migrations Internationales (OMI) for transmission to the appropriate French Consulate in the U.S.. The Consulate then notifies the applicant who can proceed with visa formalities. After entering France with the proper visa, he or she must apply at the local Préfecture of Police for a Carte de Séjour.
Ministry of Labor Service de la Main d’Oeuvre Etrangère 127 Boulevard de la Villette, 75010 Paris Tel: 1-44-84-42-86
Employment Contracts
In France there are three types of employment contracts:
Temporary employment contract
Fixed term contract (contrat à durée déterminée - CDD)
Permanent contract (contrat à durée indéterminée - CDI)
Temporary employment contract
The employee is hired and paid by a temping agency. Temporary employment contracts may be renewed once, on the condition that the total days of employment doesn’t exceed 18 months. The temping agency recruits to replace an employee on a temporary basis, to cover a temporary increase in work or for seasonal workers.
Fixed Term contract (CDD)
A fixed term contrat must state in writing the duration of the contract.
The probationary period for a contract of less than six months may not exceed 2 weeks and for contract of over 6 months the probationary period may not exceed 1 month. The CDD is fixed for a defined period of time up to a maximum of 2 years.
Permanent contract (CDI)
When you are employed you will be given a copy of the contract signed by both parties. The contrat will stipulate the date of employment, social security details, the company details and the place of work, the remuneration, notice period, lenght of probationary period (1 to 3 months) and of course the position occupied.
Labour law
After lengthy and intense debates among French legislators, a new law on working time (35-hr workweek) has been adopted by the French Parliament on December 15, 1999. The text has been signed officially into an act on 19 January 2000 and has been in effect since February 1, 2000.
Holiday entitlement
The employee will be required to have worked at least 1 month (4 weeks or 24 days) before getting his first holidays. You earn two and a half days holiday per month worked, which is 5 weeks per year.
Maternity leave
You are covered by the Social Security Office during your maternity leave which is: six weeks before giving birth and ten weeks after. On the birth of your third child, the maternity period is increased to eight weeks and eighteen weeks after the birth.
Source: Embassy of France in the U.S.
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