France, officially French Republic, is the country in northwestern Europe. It is boarded by Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany to the northeast, Switzerland, Monaco, and Italy to the east, and Andorra and Spain to the south. France had played important role in international affairs, with former colonies in every corner of the globe. France has long provided a geographic, economic, and linguistic bridge joining northern and southern Europe.
FACTS ABOUT FRANCE
Country: France or officially The French Republic
Area: 640,679 sq. km
Population: 82.8 million (17th in world and 2nd in Europe)
Financial Capital: Paris
Other biggest cities: Lyon, Nice, Strasbourg, Lille, Montpellier etc
Official language: French
GDP: $3.081 trillion (10th)
Per capita income: $47113 (26th)
HDI: 0.936 (5th)
Currency: Euro
Calling code: +33
Literacy rate: Around 99%
Unemployment rate: 9.4%
REASONS OF CHOOSING FRANCE
Nowadays Europe is being top study destination for the international student. While choosing most of the international students recommend France as a study destination because of following reasons:
1.Country member of the European Union
France is one of the members of European Union as well as Schengen country. So it will be plus point for the students who want to explore themselves in travel too.
2. English is also most used language
As the English is most used language of France, international students won’t face any kind of language barriers in the France. They can get education in English language as well as they can communicate with the locals and other international students too.
3. One of the most peaceful and safest places in the world
France is counted as one of the peaceful and safest country in the world. So it is very much safe to study and work in France. So the numbers of international students are also increasing year by year in France.
4. High-quality Education
France is a European country having best universities providing good quality education to national and international students. France is ranked in eleventh number among the best place to study in Europe. Students can get outstanding research and development opportunities.
5. Fees of University:
Universities of France offers several courses of study and the tuition fee of those program starts from 9000 Euro to 18000 Euro per year. Studying in France is affordable as compared to other countries like USA, Canada, Australia etc. And few universities also offer you scholarship in terms of your eligibility strength.
6. Perfect climate
There is temperate climate in France with four diverse climates like Oceanic Climate of western France have average rainfall; Central and eastern France’s have Continental Climate i.e. cold winters and hot summers; Mediterranean climate of south-eastern France is responsible for hot, dry summers and with rainfall above 600-800 m altitudes, France’s Mountain Climate has heavy rainfall, and snow three to six months per year. Overall climate is very much suitable for the students so this country can be good option to pick for further study in terms of climatic condition.
7. An individual with minimum academic percentage i.e. 50% in higher secondary or three year diploma student can apply, there isn’t such percentage bar or any kind of demand of excellence academic qualification.
8. IELTS or any kind of English language test is not compulsory to apply in France. If you IELTS you can apply in any university of France, if not then you can apply in selective one after having one interview with the university team.
9. France has world-class economic power and it is home to leading international corporations like Airbus, Total, Orange, LVMH, L’Oréal, Danone. So employment rate of France is high as compared to some European countries i.e. there is a lot of job opportunity for the national and international students over there. While you do your degree, there hundreds of start-ups and small companies who would love to welcome you into their team.
10. An individual can afford monthly expenditure by working around 20 hours per week. He/she can easily cover all the expansion like house rent, food, clothing, personal hygiene, transport etc with the earning of part time job.
LIVING EXPENSES
France is very affordable European country with stable economy. Living costs for international students costs minimum 300-400 Euro (maximum 615 Euro depending on place of location).
Accommodation: 200-250 Euros per month
Food: 100-200 Euros per month
ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA
While applying for any country student should go through three aspects. If you meet those 3 aspects you can apply in that country and university.
1. Academic Requirement
For France, an applicant must completed higher secondary education (10+2) for Bachelor and Bachelor for Masters Degree. If you have secured 50% or above in your academic, you can apply for the next level. An applicant with gap up to 2 years can also apply.
But SEE or SLC pass applicant cannot apply for the further study in France.
2. English Requirement:
Though any English language test is not mandatory to have admission in most of the universities of France, if you have done it is plus point for your visa otherwise you need to face an interview to prove your language skill. But in few public universities you must have done IELTS with minimum score of requirement as per university.
3. Financial requirement:
You need to arrange lots of things during your processing time for the visa like Application and Tuition fee, Accommodation charges in France. Documents for visa, Travel medical Insurance, Visa charge, Air ticket and so on. The over-all cost for applying in France comes around 12-13 lakhs (Increases if tuition fee is high). So if you and your family can afford this you, you can make mind to apply in France.
If you fulfill these eligibility criteria, you can start your procedure choosing nearest intake.
INTAKES:
Main intakes are during Spring Intake (Jan-Feb) and Fall Intake (Sep- Oct). Few universities also have deadline to apply for their upcoming intakes.
PROCEDURE FOR FRANCE
1. Firstly applicant need to select the university and courses which matches their previous study background.
2. After the applicant make a decision, it’s time to get enroll in the university and issue the offer letter. For Offer letter you need to submit following documents:
- Filled Application Form
- Passport Copy
- Motivation Letter
- Updated CV
- Academic Credentials (Certificates, Mark sheets, Transcripts, Diploma)
- IELTS/TOEFL copy (if any)
- Work Experience Certificates (if any)
- Photo (Passport Size, Color 2Pcs)
3. After that you need to pay the Application Fees as per the invoice sent by the university. (This is non-refundable)
4. After that Motivational Skype Interview will be conducted by the Admission Jury with student. (Interview date will be finalized within 7-12 working days after the complete application is sent to the university)
5. Admission decision will be given by the university within 3-7 working days of interview. If Admission decision is positive you will get the offer letter and you need to:
- Pay the registration fees of 200 €(non-refundable)
- Pay the 50% of the Tuition Fees to the Institution; Demand Draft acceptable (Refundable in case of Visa refusal).
6. As you need to show 3 months accommodation proof, we need to pay for our accommodation too.
7. Within 14 working days of payment of tuition fee you will receive final admission confirmation from Institution. In this lapse of time you need to arrange for the complete documents needed to lodge the visa.
- NOC (No Objection Certificate) from Ministry of Education
- Updated CV
- Statement of Purpose or Motivational Letter
- Sponsorship Letter
- Maintaining good transaction in the bank account of yours or your father mother or siblings for Bank Balance Certificate and Statement (Up to 3 months statement required if possible)
- Travel Medical Insurance
- Relationship Certificate
- Property Valuation and Tax Clearance Certificate
- Proof of All Income Source
- Citizenship of father and mother
- Police Report
- CA Report
8. In the mean time we need to book the appointment date for submission of documents. We need to visit France Alliance, Pulchowk, Lalitpur, for documents submission and interview. Before that we need to pay the visa Charges also.
| S.N | DETAILS | AMOUNT |
| 1. | Visa Fee | 99 EURO |
| 2. | Service fee | 30 EURO |
| TOTAL | 129 EURO i.e. Around 17000 NPR |
10. After that booking appointment in VFS Global from the website
for Bio metric Submission. Once you’ve booked your appointment, you’ll receive an appointment confirmation email along with the letter of appointment.
11. After that you need to regularly track application by visiting website > Enter Country > Enter reference number and Last name. Also regular check your email for the VFS notification.
12. After 2-3 weeks you will be called for the documents collection or you will get notification to collect your document while tracking your documents. And the timing for the collection of document is from 1 pm to 3 pm (Monday to Friday) from VFS Global.
13. After the collection you will get the decision Accept or Reject.
Accept:
Congratulation you have made it.
Reject: In case of Rejection you have two options:
- Appeal for the reviewing the denial of visa
- Refund of the tuition fee: For this we will mail the University for the Refund along with the refusal letter. If you have done swift before it may take till 3 months to get the fee refunded and If Draft then within an hour the fee will be refunded.
14. After Acceptance of your visa we need to reimburse the Demand Draft and send tuition fee in the university bank account through swift transfer.
15. Now it’s time to arrange for the air ticket. It may cost around 500 Euro.
16. After the ticket confirmation, the details of your flight schedule should be sent to the university so that they can arrange for the airport pickup and accommodation placement.
17. Now the student needs to exchange 1000 Euro (Pocket Money) from any commercial bank
18. As everything is managed it’s time for final departure orientation for the student. Also an applicant should travel to Poland during the flight as per the checklist mentioned below:
- Original educational documents (for Bachelor students higher secondary certificate + mark sheet + apostles / Master students: bachelor`s degree + mark sheet +
apostles and additionally higher secondary certificate with mark sheets but without apostles), - Identical Photographs,
- Offer letter, Invoice, Invitation Letter
- Passport with visa,
- NOC Copy,
- Flight Ticket with chop of 1000 euro
- Swift Copy,
- Fee transfer form,
- 1000 Euro (Exchanged Earlier for Pocket Money) and need to chop in Air ticket and Passport
- Warm Clothes
- Pressure cooker
- Basic medicine for headache, stomach ache, common cold, fever, etc
PLEASE DO NOT TAKE SHOWER IMMEDIATELY AFTER REACHING THERE
19. After reaching to the university always remember to provide original documents and photographs to the college for the further processing.
VFS GLOBAL
Address: VFS Global Services Pvt. Ltd., Chhaya Centre, Thamel,Kathmandu
VFS Helpline Details
Helpline number: +97714235515
Alternative Number: +977-1-5526253
Email ID: info.frnp@vfshelpline.com
Website: https://visa.vfsglobal.com/ind/en/fra
FRANCE ALLIANCE
Address: Ward number 4, Dhalko Bato (behind St. Mary’s school), Pulchowk, Lalitpur
Phone: 01-5520466 / 01-5009221 / 9808418422
Email: reception.afk@gmail.com
Website: http://www.alliancefrancaise.org.np/