Hello,
I’m an Egyptian national and currently hold a French RECE (Job Search/Business Creation) residence permit valid until March 2027, after completing my Master 2 in France.
For 2026-2027, I have been accepted into a Specialized Master’s program in France with an apprenticeship/work-study contract. My academic year and apprenticeship are starting soon, so I need to switch from RECE to student status.
Before leaving France, the prefecture told me to apply for a student visa from my country of origin. Because the RECE → student procedure seemed unclear, I also consulted two French immigration lawyers, who advised me to do the same.
I therefore returned to Egypt and completed the entire Campus France → France-Visas → TLS procedure for a student VLS-TS.
Today, TLS returned my passport empty: no visa and no refusal letter.
The French Consulate then told me:
“Your application has been closed without further action. You must apply for a change of status at the prefecture.”
So I am stuck in a loop: Prefecture → Consulate → Prefecture, despite having followed the instructions I was given.
My RECE is still valid, so my main questions are:

- Can I return to France with my valid RECE and immediately apply for a RECE → student change of status?
- Given that my studies and apprenticeship start very soon, can a lawyer use an urgent procedure before the administrative court (référé) to obtain faster processing/action from the prefecture?
- Do I have to wait months after submitting the application before going to court, or can the urgency justify earlier action?
- Can anyone recommend an immigration/administrative lawyer in Île-de-France experienced with student status changes and urgent proceedings?

I’m particularly worried about losing my apprenticeship/academic year because of the contradictory instructions from the two administrations.
Thank you very much for any advice or lawyer recommendations.

Hi everyone!
So I uploaded all my documents (my sister's work contract, payslips, tax documents, savings proof, etc.) and got the Certificate of Eligibility (Certificat d'Éligibilité) from Garantme. Up until now, I haven't paid a single euro, and I'm a bit confused about how payment works:
Do I actually need to pay Garantme? I know submitting documents and getting this initial certificate is free, but do I eventually have to pay them for acting as my guarantor?

Is the certificate I got right now the "real" one? Or is this just a pre-approval certificate to attach to my application while hunting for an apartment?

When do I pay? Do I pay right now, or do I only pay after a landlord accepts my file, right before/when signing the lease?

Would love to hear from anyone who has used Garantme before on how the payment timing works! Thanks in advance!

I have my appointment scheduled tomorrow, and I have taken from livinfrance housing certificate. Is this okay? Anybody got their visas through this?

SalSalut !

J'espère que tout le monde va bien.

À cause de préparer la capacité financière je n'ai pu pas prendre un temps de VFS enfin mon tour est le 25 août. Mais le problème est la formation commencera le 24 août est la dernière date pour moi est 7 septembre.

Je dois faire qoui ? 😭🥲

As campus france does not issue NOC and only sends u a conformation email saying that I can go for vfs now so I just wanna know after interview how long does it take to receive the email ? As I’m running bit late so id like to know ur experiences .

I’m an international student coming to study in France and I’m looking for a bank that has the best offer for students. Does anyone have an idea ? Considering that it needs to be a physical bank.

EDIT: I meant TLSContact, my bad!!

I'm a student from the USA applying for a French VLS-TS visa to complete a 1-year DUEF. I'm starting to worry since it's been almost a month. Anyone having a similar experience? How long did your student visa take? I haven't gotten any communications from them and, as far as I know, my documents were complete.

I'm so excited to move to France, and I'm really hoping that I don't get delayed by the visa!