Visa for France from Saudi Arabia: price, documents and processing time 2026

Yes. Holders of a Saudi Arabian passport must obtain a visa before entering France for tourism or business. The application is filed with the French embassy or consulate covering your place of residence, not once the journey has started. A short stay visa allows 90 days per 180 day period, a limit counted across all entries into the Schengen area rather than per trip.

The published fee is the government charge alone. Two or three other lines are added before the visa is in the passport, and they are what makes the final bill.

• Government fee90 EUR

  Schengen scale: €90 for an adult, €45 for a child aged 6 to 11, free below 6. Some facilitation agreements set a lower rate, the consulate confirms which applies to you.

• Application centre feeCapped at €45

  The Visa Code caps an external provider’s service fee at half the visa fee. It is charged on top, and it is not refunded either.

• Agency or online serviceOptional, added on top

  Never compulsory. An intermediary fills the form for you, it does not change the decision or the processing time.

• ExtrasVariable

  Courier return, SMS tracking, compliant photo, insurance, sworn translation or legalisation, depending on what the post requires.

We only display amounts published by an official source. Confirm the total before paying anything.

The official visa fee is 90 EUR, payable as instructed by the consulate. A standard file includes the application form, a valid passport, compliant photographs, proof of accommodation, evidence of sufficient funds and travel insurance covering medical costs and repatriation. The exact list of documents, their format and any service charge applied by the visa centre are published by the embassy or consulate, and that is the only list to follow because requirements differ by purpose of travel.

The process starts with an appointment at the consulate or at the visa centre it has authorised, and slots can be scarce in busy periods. At the appointment you hand in the signed application form, your passport, photographs in the required format and your supporting documents, then give your biometric data if it is not already on file. The decision belongs to the French authorities: until it is issued, avoid buying non refundable flights or accommodation.

• Your application goes to the state that is your main destination. If France is where you spend the longest, it handles the file, whatever the entry point.
• With no main destination, the competent state is the one you enter first.
• If France has no consulate in Saudi Arabia, another Schengen state may act on its behalf under a representation arrangement, or the file goes to the post accredited for your country.

Then the application goes to the post accredited for Saudi Arabia, often in a neighbouring capital, or to a state acting on its behalf. Confirm which post is competent with the official source before travelling to a third country to apply, a rejected file at the wrong counter costs the trip and the fee.

The regime follows your nationality, not where you live. If you reside in Saudi Arabia but travel on another country's passport, the rule on this page is not yours. Filing usually still happens from your country of residence, at the post competent for it, but the requirement itself comes from your passport.

Recorded processing takes 15 to 45 days, varying with the season, the purpose of the trip and the volume of applications. Applying early avoids having to postpone a departure, especially as the passport stays at the consulate while the file is examined. Book flights, accommodation and time off after the visa has been issued rather than before. If the trip is urgent, only the consular service can say whether a faster route applies to your case.

The most common confusion mixes up the permitted stay, here 90 days per 180 day period, the validity printed on the visa sticker and the processing time: these are three separate things. Check the remaining validity of your passport and the number of blank pages as well, since both cause refusals at the counter. Finally, many intermediary websites add their own service charges on top of the official fee, while the application itself is lodged with the consulate or the centre it has appointed.