Service-Public.fr, the French government's official information website, announced it on 22 April 2026: from 1 May 2026, the fees foreign nationals pay for their visas and residence permits are going up. For an international student, validating a long-stay visa will cost €100 instead of €50, and a first residence permit €150 instead of €75.
What the 2026 Finance Act changes on 1 May
The increase comes from Article 128 of the 2026 Finance Act, published in the Journal officiel on 20 February 2026.
When you get a residence permit in France, you pay two amounts: a tax and a stamp duty. Both are paid with a timbre fiscal, an electronic tax stamp you buy online or at a tobacconist's. The law raises the tax on first issue and doubles the stamp duty, from €25 to €50. The renewal tax stays the same, but the higher stamp duty makes renewals more expensive too.
At the standard rate, a first residence card (temporary, multi-year or resident card) will go from €225 to €350, and a renewal from €225 to €250. The tax on the long-stay visa equivalent to a residence permit (VLS-TS), the visa that serves as your residence permit during your first year, will go from €200 to €300.
Students pay the reduced rate, as do seasonal workers, au pairs, people who came through family reunification and those looking for a job or starting a business. This rate is going up as well. Citizens of the European Union (EU), the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland are not affected: they don't need a residence permit to study in France.
Student rates from 1 May
Here is what you'll pay at the student rate, before and after 1 May 2026.
| Procedure | Until 30 April 2026 | From 1 May 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Student VLS-TS validation | €50 | €100 |
| First student residence permit | €75 | €150 |
| Residence permit renewal | €75 | €100 |
When you arrive, you validate your VLS-TS online within 3 months and pay the tax at that point. The validation steps are explained in our student VLS-TS guide.
After one year, you apply for a temporary or multi-year residence card. Until now, this first permit after the VLS-TS was charged at the renewal rate, €75. The Finance Act now classes it as a first issue: it will cost €150. Later renewals will cost €100.
For a two-year master's started on a VLS-TS, the fees on your residence permits therefore go from €125 to €250. They come on top of the restriction on personalised housing benefit (APL), set out in the same Finance Act from 1 July 2026 for non-EU and non-EEA students who don't hold a scholarship.
After graduation: job search permit and APS
After a master's, most international students who want to stay in France apply for the “job search or business creation” residence permit, valid for one year. Many still call it the “APS”, but it is a residence card, and you already had to pay for it. It falls under the reduced rate and goes up in line with the other permits.
The temporary residence authorisation (APS) in the strict sense still exists for graduates from certain countries that have a bilateral agreement with France, such as India, Tunisia or Gabon. It used to be free. From 1 May, issuing and renewing it will be subject to a new €100 tax.
Only two groups are exempt: people on a programme to exit prostitution and beneficiaries of temporary protection, for their first APS and its first renewal. Graduates are not among them.
When and how to pay the timbre fiscal
For a residence permit, you pay nothing when you submit your application. The tax is due when the permit is issued: once your application is accepted, you get a text message telling you your permit is ready and how much to pay. You then buy your electronic timbre fiscal on timbres.impots.gouv.fr or at a participating tobacconist's, and show it when you collect your card.
For the VLS-TS, you buy the stamp when you validate it online, either on the internet or at a tobacconist's.
Other increases: regularisation and naturalisation
The regularisation visa fee, payable in particular by foreign nationals who entered France without a visa or didn't apply for their permit in time, goes from €200 to €300. Of this amount, €100 must be paid when you submit the application and is non-refundable, compared with €50 until now. The timbre fiscal for naturalisation applications goes from €55 to €255.
Sources
- Service-Public.fr – Residence permits: higher fees for foreign nationals from 1 May
- Légifrance – Law no. 2026-103 of 19 February 2026, Finance Act for 2026, Article 128
- Service-Public.fr – Foreign students in France: long-stay visa or residence permit
- Service-Public.fr – Foreign nationals in France: how to buy a timbre fiscal
- Deloitte Société d'Avocats – Immigration: higher fees on residence permits
