Campus France quietly updated its flagship “Études en France” portal on 28 September 2026, confirming that all application, admission and visa-support functions are now 100 % dematerialised ahead of the 2027 academic year. The upgrade finalises a multi-year digitisation drive aligned with France’s attractiveness strategy for international students, which counted a record 412,000 foreign enrollees in 2025-26. Applicants from 73 countries must now upload academic records, pay fees and track visa appointments exclusively online; paper submissions and in-person document checks have been discontinued except for biometric capture at partner visa centres. The new interface offers real-time status notifications and integrates with France-Visas, enabling automatic transfer of approved admission files to consular systems—a feature expected to shave three to five working days off visa issuance. For universities, the API-linked dashboard delivers anonymised analytics on applicant pools, helping institutions adjust scholarship budgets and capacity planning. Several business schools told Global Mobility News that faster turnaround times should bolster efforts to recruit fee-paying Master’s candidates from India, Nigeria and Vietnam. From a mobility perspective, HR teams sponsoring dependants of student-employees should note the revised financial-means threshold (€877.50 per month) and earlier deadline for housing attestations. Consulates will refuse incomplete dossiers without system-generated QR codes, so employers advising interns or VIE assignees enrolled in French programmes must update checklists immediately. Campus France will host webinars in October to walk applicants, sponsors and education agents through the new workflow. Failure to use the online pathway where mandated could invalidate an admission offer, potentially delaying start dates and breaching employment contracts tied to study permits.
Source: Campus France
