A visa de long séjour valant titre de séjour, or VLS-TS, is a long-stay visa that becomes your residence document after online validation. The rule is for relevant non-EU visa holders. EU citizens do not validate a VLS-TS because they enter under free-movement rules.
Does your visa need validation or a residence-card application?
Read the wording printed on the visa sticker and the decision given by the consulate. If it is a VLS-TS, validate it through ANEF (France's online foreign-national administration portal). You must do this within three months of arriving in France, not three months from the visa issue date.
A different long-stay visa may state that you must apply for a titre de séjour, meaning residence permit, after arrival. France-Visas says holders of visas marked for a residence-card application must contact the préfecture, the local state administration for their home address, and start that process within two months of arrival. Do not validate the wrong visa type merely because both routes appear on ANEF.
What do you enter and pay online?
Create or access the ANEF service and choose the visa-validation process. Have the visa number and other sticker details, your actual date of entry into France, a working email address, and your French residential address ready. Check every entry against your passport before submitting.
The portal calculates the residence tax for the visa category. Pay online by bank card or use the portal's alternative for an electronic tax stamp bought through an authorised seller. The amount varies by route, so use the value generated for your case rather than an old fee quoted elsewhere. A tax stamp is proof of payment, not a replacement for completing the validation.
Download the final confirmation and store it with the passport. A payment receipt or unfinished draft alone does not prove that the VLS-TS was validated.
What happens after validation?
OFII (the French immigration and integration office) can invite you to a medical appointment, an integration interview, or both. Follow the notice even though validation itself is online. Keep your email, postal address, and ANEF account details current so an OFII request does not go unanswered.
If the portal rejects the visa number, arrival date, or payment, use ANEF support and keep screenshots showing the error and date. Do not wait until the three-month deadline to report a technical block.
Before the VLS-TS expires, check the Service-Public.fr instructions for your exact next permit. Validation covers the visa's own period. It does not automatically renew your stay.
Common misconceptions
Entering France does not activate a VLS-TS by itself. The border stamp and online validation serve different purposes.
The older paper process of mailing an OFII form is not the current validation route described by France-Visas. Use ANEF unless the administration gives case-specific written instructions.
Summary
First confirm that the sticker says VLS-TS rather than directing you to apply for a residence card. Validate on ANEF within three months of arrival, pay the tax shown for your route, and save the completed confirmation.
Respond to any OFII appointment and start the next residence-permit process before the validated visa expires.
Sources
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