Hello,
For first time I am applying for a 6 month VISA (it actually says 3 - 6 months), and created an account which is step one, and started the application process and there are a number of questions I have.
a) For type pf travel do it gives a number of options. As a UK citizen and subject I have chosen British subject passport but there is also “ordinary passport”. What is this?
b) national ID number. As a UK citizen/subject we don’t have one unless they mean national insurance number. So do I leave this blank? They do not mean passport number as this is a separate question.
c) for the accommodation screen I was expecting to enter the address of my French second home, but they offer options of staying with friends, or a hotel or professional company. No mention of one’s second home as an option, and yet the 6 month VISA is designed for second home owners particularly. Does anyone have a clue as to what one should enter here.
I cannot proceed with ,my application till I get this correct. I have phoned the VLS Contact help for the UK on 0845 730 0118 and left a message though there was no recorded outgoing message to make me think I had got to the right place - and no answer back from them so far.
Any help on my 3 questions greatly appreciated. Thanks, Richard.
I am onto my third 6 month visa, so a) tick ordinary passport, b) leave blank, c) put address of your second home and then in brackets put second home.
Hope this helps
Is it? I have no doubt a lot of second home owners use the VLS-T but surely it is designed for anyone who wants to stay in France or indeed Schengen for more than 3 months, be it visiting family or friends, travelling extensively, taking a course of study that does not qualify for a student visa, researching a possible future relocation, whatever.
Please keep us informed of the progress as we look to do the same shortly.
This is correct. We are also into our third 6 month visa so can validate this response.
Dont rely on getting a reply to any correspondence you have with TLS.
Applying for 6-month Visa at London office of TLS by a UK citizen. February 2025
The forms
Take with you these for each person applying. Yes, it is a lot of paperwork.
- Email confirming that you have an appointment which shows your name (You are not told to bring this, but we have required it on the 3 occasions we have applied)
- Application form (2 off) signed and dated
- Registration Receipt (1 off), also described as ‘receipt French Visas’. This is also a checklist with a barcode and a reference beginning FRA (This reference will stay with you through the process)
- Passport
- Copies of every page of the passport that has your details, entry/exit stamps or any other inscription (1 set of copies)
- Letter stating that you will not be working signed and dated (1 copy)
- Letter stating purpose of your visit signed and dated (1 copy) As we have a second home, we provided copy of the Attestation from the Notaire and a copy of EDF bill to prove ownership – 1 copy of each.
- Letter describing your funding (1 copy)
- Copies of 3 months of bank statements showing full name and UK address.
- Marriage certificate (plus 1 copy)
- EHIC card (plus 1 copy)
- Photographs (at least 2 per person)
The visit
The TLS London office is close to Wandsworth Town railway station. From the station to TLS is a walk of about 15 minutes passing a lot of cafes. There are toilets at TLS, but no café.
Arrival time is not strict. We were 20 minutes early. Your appointment time is not just related to you, there might be another 20 or 30 with the same time. Only those applying for visa can enter.
You can expect to queue four times.
First queue. If the centre is busy and it usually is, you will queue outside. The door will be opened from the inside and your email confirming that you have an appointment checked. When you enter you will immediately go through airport type security check.
Inside the centre, you will find hundreds of people queuing or waiting. Many from other countries.
Second queue. You will be directed to the document check. All they want to look at here is your passport and your application forms. They check the passport details on both, put your passport and form into a folder that you are given. Then you are directed to the next room where you will join the third queue.
Third queue. The FRA reference number on your form is what you look out for. Eventually it will appear on one of the screens (all screens have the same information) together with a Counter Number for you to go to. Go to the counter. The person who helps you will deal with one person at a time so if you are a couple, you both go to the counter and wait together. Usually, they ask you to hand over all your documents and they work out which ones they need at any point in time. They don’t say much as most of the time they are shuffling and copying papers.
They will print out more documents for you to sign. Just do it.
Then you pay. You will pay for the visa and pay £30 for a courier to send passport back to you.
They will put your documents into a blue folder, which you then take to the next queuing area.
Fourth queue. For Biometrics. The queuing system might use the FRA reference if its working, or first come first served. When it’s your turn, go through to indicated room where a photo will be taken of eyes and prints of fingers. They will retain the blue folder. You will be given a certificate that your biometrics have been done and are valid for 3 years, except they are not and you will have to come back next year to do the same.
In about 2 weeks your passport will be sent back to you with visa.
That’s it.
Very useful, thank you Graeme, oh boy I dislike civil servants, but not as much as those that voted brexit.
These processes all all imposed by the EU not UK. The French make a lot of money out of the visa process, as does TLS.
Agreed, but without Brexit “the French” would not be demanding anything of Brit visitors, except “enjoy yourselves” 
Christmas Card List
*Badger
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*JaneJones
I’m sure they see it as providing a service.
This thread started out as a useful one; I thought so anyway. May I appeal to those who want to involve Brexit not to do so please? There are many more threads that can be utilised for that. Thank you all.
Fair comment…
and I must say that your detailed post about the Visa is excellent and should encourage any faint-hearted/bemused Brits.
Well done !
Just a short comment from me Graeme about our now complexity. Wont add any more. Already copied and printed out at home. Maybe your post could be put somewhere in the information section @billybutcher.
Thank you Graeml for the comprehensive account of how to proceed and with what documentation at the Wandsworth TLS appointment centre. I now have an appointment booked to which I go with some trepidation.
Unusual in the online procedure is that it starts out with France-Visas, then you need to go onto TLS Contact and then back to France-Visas to print out the 2 docs required for TLS.
For the intended start of the 6 month VISA it does not state at that point that there is a 3 month min delay before the start of your Visa can happen, and you cannot go back and correct it. Slightly worrying.
Many thanks to all contributors. RH
Hello,
Yippee got my 6-month Visa in the post today (having paid the £30 for courier service) stuck inside a page of my passport.
Just a few things to add to the very comprehensive account of the proceedings at the TLS centre by GraemL, and this account relates to the 6-month visa only.
My TLS centre was Wandworth Town, South London and seems to deal with visas for France and Belgium. I was let in to the building (ground floor of a modern block) on showing my email for the appointment, a full hour before my appointment time. The queue to get into the building and the second queue had no seats but after that there is seating.
The long FRA number (given on online application before you go to the TLS centre) is vital and if the airline-type departure boards (posting up the FRA numbers and counter to go to) are not working, the last 4 digits of your FRA number will be called out, so memorise them! This is for queue/counter 3.
TLS or the French consulate did not say it in any of the online information they provide, but no documents will be returned other than the passport, with the visa (if successful) or without the visa (if unsuccessful) stuck into the passport.
Re documents: I asked at the 3rd counter I queued at, when you deliver up most of the documentation and the guy said the the consulate will look at it all and then destroy it. So remember to show originals if needed (eg the EHIC/GHIC) and deliver copies to TLS, all except for the passport, because you won’t get the docs back with the passport (and visa).
Also, for spectacles wearers, have photos ready without wearing them - they need 2. In the online application (before the appointment) a link is given where acceptable photos are shown which does include faces with glasses - but beware. In the event this is not acceptable. They do have a professional on site in the TLS centre in Wandsworth to re-take photos for £10, so all is not lost. You re-take the photos during the final. biometrics stage - the 4th queue, and the only one which takes place behind a curtain for privacy.
Finally, while some data on the application form is set in stone, some data can be altered, for example the start date of your visa. I had it down in the application form for starting 1st October and had it changed then and there in the 3rd counter to 1st November. So when TLS/consulate/cannot remember exactly who, say online that the start date will probably be 3 months from the date of application this is not necessarily true. Indeed the Connexion magazine says the start date given has to be within 3 months of the application date - and both those statements cannot be true, taken together.
Expect huge numbers of people, especially African and Asian people who need visas even for short stays in France or Belgium. It took me 2 and a half hours in all on a Friday, 10:30am to 1pm.
Bonne chance, Richard.
Well done Richard and thank you for the information, hopefully I can make use of it in the not too distant future