Before you start

A long-stay visa matched to your route, obtained before travel
A passport valid well beyond the intended stay
A French address and a justificatif de domicile in your name
An ANEF account and the visa's reference numbers

Step-by-step

1
Validate your VLS-TS within three months of arrival
Done online with the visa number, your date of entry and an electronic tax stamp. This is the step that converts the visa into a valid residence permit. Missing the window puts you out of status, and the remedy is far worse than the fifteen-minute procedure you skipped.
OnlineWho: YouWithin 3 months of arrival
2
Create and monitor your ANEF account from week one
Nearly all immigration procedures now run through the national platform. Requests for further documents appear inside the account rather than arriving by post or by email, so check it weekly whenever a procedure is live.
OnlineWho: YouWeek 1
3
Get a utility bill in your own name early
There is no municipal registration in France, but its administration constantly asks for a justificatif de domicile in your name. An electricity or internet account is the usual source, and having one unlocks a surprising number of unrelated procedures.
OnlineWho: YouWeek 1–2
4
If you are graduating here, start the change of status before the student permit expires
A student card does not become a work card automatically. Graduates of a French qualification can apply for a temporary permit to look for work or start a business, or change status directly to salarié or to a carte talent — the scheme renamed from passeport talent in January 2024 — where a contract exists. The application must be made while you still hold valid status, and for a change of status it is filed in the two months before the student card expires — letting the card lapse first turns a routine procedure into a difficult one.
OnlineWho: YouBefore the student permit expires
5
Start renewals at the earliest permitted date
A renewal is filed at the earliest four months and at the latest two months before your current permit expires. Préfecture processing times exceed the published guidance in most départements, so use the front of that window: applying early gets you a récépissé that protects your status while the file is under consideration, which is the entire point.
OnlineWho: You
6
Screenshot every submission
Files get lost, requests for documents appear and disappear, and the platform's history is not always reliable. Being able to show exactly what you sent and on what date is the only leverage you have when a procedure stalls for months.
OnlineWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Passport with the long-stay visa
Proof of the date you entered the Schengen area
Justificatif de domicile in your name
Employment contract or proof of resources, depending on the route
Diploma and enrolment certificates, for a change of status after study
ANEF account credentials

Things most newcomers don’t know

A student permit does not turn into a work permit by itself, and the gap is unforgiving.

Graduating from a French institution gives you access to a temporary permit to look for work or to change status where you have a contract, but the application has to be made while your student status is still valid. Let it lapse — over a summer, while waiting for an offer — and you are applying from outside status, which is a materially harder file. In a city with this many students moving into local employers, this is the most common way a straightforward path becomes a problem.

Source: service-public.fr

The three-month validation deadline is the one that quietly ends people's stay.

A long-stay visa marked VLS-TS is not a residence permit until you validate it online and pay the tax stamp. Miss the window and you are out of status with no simple remedy — you may have to leave France and restart. It looks like a formality precisely because the visa in your passport appears to be doing the job already.

Source: service-public.fr

ANEF posts document requests inside the account and tells nobody.

The platform does not reliably notify you when a caseworker asks for something, and there is no letter in the post. Files sit untouched for months because an applicant never saw a request they could have answered the same day. Check the account weekly during any live procedure and treat email as unreliable rather than as the channel.

Source: service-public.fr

France has no Anmeldung or empadronamiento — the justificatif de domicile does that job instead.

Unlike Germany or Spain there is no municipal registration to complete on arrival, which sounds like one less thing to do. In practice it means French administration asks you to prove your address with a document in your own name at every turn, and the easiest source is a utility account. Getting electricity or internet in your name is therefore a far higher priority in week one than it looks.

Source: community-reported

Common mistakes to avoid

Missing the three-month deadline to validate a VLS-TS online.
Letting a student permit expire before applying to change status.
Not checking the ANEF account and letting a document request stall the file for months.
Having no utility bill in your own name when a justificatif de domicile is demanded.
Applying for renewal too late and falling between a lapsed permit and an undecided file.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.