Stopped at the airport or embassy and asked for proof of accommodation? Get an embassy-ready hotel confirmation with a scannable QR — delivered in under 60 seconds.
France Schengen visa

🇫🇷 Hotel booking for a France Schengen visa

Yes — France requires proof of accommodation for the whole of a short stay, and its published guidance accepts either a hotel booking or an "accommodation certificate" (attestation d'accueil) validated at the host's town hall. A booking that covers only part of the trip is accepted, but France then applies a higher daily funds figure to the nights it does not cover. A QR-verifiable hotel booking confirmation for your exact dates satisfies this — emailed as a PDF in under 60 seconds.

Every French short-stay application starts on France-Visas, the government's official portal: you complete the Schengen application form — Cerfa no. 14076*05 — online, then print the France-Visas receipt and submit the file at a French consulate or an approved visa application centre. You normally attend in person so your fingerprints can be taken, but France exempts you from appearing if your Schengen biometrics were collected less than 59 months ago, and some centres then accept a postal application. France does not use a single global outsourcing partner: the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs names three, and which one you deal with depends entirely on the country you apply from. What is constant is the accommodation rule, because France is unusual in tying the amount of money you must prove directly to the kind of accommodation proof you bring.

Last updated:

Get my hotel confirmation Search hotels

Does France require proof of accommodation?

Yes — France requires proof of accommodation for the whole of a short stay, and its published guidance accepts either a hotel booking or an "accommodation certificate" (attestation d'accueil) validated at the host's town hall. A booking that covers only part of the trip is accepted, but France then applies a higher daily funds figure to the nights it does not cover.

Every French short-stay application starts on France-Visas, the government's official portal: you complete the Schengen application form — Cerfa no. 14076*05 — online, then print the France-Visas receipt and submit the file at a French consulate or an approved visa application centre. You normally attend in person so your fingerprints can be taken, but France exempts you from appearing if your Schengen biometrics were collected less than 59 months ago, and some centres then accept a postal application. France does not use a single global outsourcing partner: the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs names three, and which one you deal with depends entirely on the country you apply from. What is constant is the accommodation rule, because France is unusual in tying the amount of money you must prove directly to the kind of accommodation proof you bring.

What the consulate expects

France's visa applications are collected by three externalised providers — TLScontact, VFS Global and Capago — split by country. TLScontact runs France's UK centres (London Wandsworth, Manchester and Edinburgh) and, since 18 April 2025, 11 centres across the United States and Kingston, Jamaica, with a central processing hub in Washington DC; it says it now handles France's visa services in over 20 countries across four continents. VFS Global operates France's 14 visa application centres in India. Capago covers South Africa (Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban) and, since 15 March 2025, Algeria, where it replaced VFS Global and TLScontact and opened centres in Algiers, Oran, Annaba and Constantine. The French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs is explicit that these providers handle only reception, file collection and biometrics — they take no part in the decision, which rests with the consulate alone. No consulate or visa application centre endorses, recommends or requires any particular booking website.

The confirmation is a dated hotel reservation in the applicant's own name, showing the property address in France and the exact nights of the trip — the document France's short-stay list calls a "hotel booking showing the applicant's name". It must be a genuine, verifiable reservation.

Typical documents for a France Schengen visa

Applications for a France Schengen visa commonly include:

  • Passport (or other travel document) issued within the last 10 years and valid for at least three months after your planned date of departure from French territory.
  • Short-stay Schengen visa application form, Cerfa no. 14076*05, completed, signed and dated via the France-Visas website, together with the printed France-Visas receipt.
  • Standardised passport photographs meeting France's ICAO specification. Business France's May 2026 short-stay list specifies three; individual visa centres often ask for one or two, so bring three and check your centre's own checklist.
  • Evidence of sufficient financial means, scaled to your accommodation proof: €32.50 a day with an accommodation certificate, €65 a day with proof of a hotel booking, or €120 a day without proof of a hotel booking. Where a booking covers only part of the stay, France applies €65 a day to the booked nights and €120 a day to the rest.
  • Proof of insurance covering medical and hospital expenses up to at least €30,000, plus separate proof of a guarantee of repatriation to your usual place of residence.
  • Evidence of the reasons for and conditions of the stay — for a tourist visit, a hotel booking showing the applicant's name or a lease agreement; for a family or personal visit, the original and a photocopy of the accommodation certificate.

Popular cities for your France trip

Get a confirmation matched to your destination and dates:

Paris hotels

How to get your France hotel confirmation

Search your destination and dates, pick a hotel, choose a confirmation style, and pay a small service fee. Your QR-verifiable PDF arrives in under 60 seconds — matched to your exact France Schengen visa dates, and verifiable by the consulate at any time. Full refund before you download.

Answers

Frequently asked questions

Does France want a hotel booking or an attestation d'accueil?
It depends on why you are travelling. France's list splits the two: for a tourist visit it asks for a "hotel booking showing the applicant's name" or a lease agreement, while for a family or personal visit — where you are staying in someone's home — it asks for the original and a photocopy of an accommodation certificate. The attestation d'accueil is not something you can produce yourself: your host must apply in person at the town hall for their own place of residence, using Cerfa form no. 10798*04, at a cost of €30 paid in tax stamps (payable even if the request is refused, and not refunded). If you are staying in a hotel, no attestation is involved.
Does my accommodation proof change how much money I have to show?
Yes, and this is specific to France. Most Schengen states publish one flat subsistence figure, but France sets three tiers keyed to your accommodation evidence: €32.50 per day if you hold an accommodation certificate, €65 per day if you have proof of a hotel booking, and €120 per day if you have no proof of a hotel booking at all. France also pro-rates a partial booking — €65 a day for the nights the reservation covers and €120 a day for the remainder — so gaps in your accommodation are expensive rather than fatal. Turning up with no accommodation evidence at all nearly doubles the balance you are expected to demonstrate against the hotel-booking tier. The same scale is applied again by border officers when you arrive.
Will I be dealing with VFS Global, TLScontact or Capago?
Whichever one holds France's contract in the country you are applying from — France uses all three, so you cannot assume it is the same provider that handled a previous Schengen application. TLScontact covers France in the UK (London, Manchester, Edinburgh) and took over the United States and Jamaica on 18 April 2025; VFS Global runs France's 14 centres across India; Capago handles South Africa and, since 15 March 2025, Algeria. Check the country page on France-Visas before booking anything, and note that none of these companies assesses your file — under France's outsourcing rules they only receive documents and take biometrics. They also do not endorse or require any commercial booking service, and neither does the consulate.
Do I have to use the France-Visas portal before I book an appointment?
Yes. France requires the application form (Cerfa no. 14076*05) to be completed and signed through the France-Visas website, and the France-Visas receipt generated at the end is itself a separately listed document you must bring — the form is not something you fill in on paper at the counter. Two other details catch people out: your passport must have been issued within the last 10 years as well as being valid three months beyond your departure, and you can be exempted from appearing in person if your Schengen fingerprints were taken less than 59 months ago, which in some countries opens up postal submission.
Does the hotel reservation have to be a real booking?
Yes. Under Article 32(1)(b) of the EU Visa Code, a consulate may refuse a visa where there are reasonable doubts as to the authenticity of the supporting documents or the veracity of their content — and it can ask for further documents or call you for an interview first. A reservation you have already cancelled, or one the property cannot confirm, is a document risk rather than a shortcut. Book something you intend to hold, or use a reservation that stays live and verifiable until the decision is made.

Get your France visa hotel confirmation in 60 seconds.

Genuine, QR-verifiable, and refundable until you download. Fix your proof of accommodation now.

Get my confirmation now