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France’s New Border Rules for 2027: What Americans Must Know

Eiffel Tower at sunset, illustrating France border rules for American travelers

By Maxime Roseau, co-founder of EasyFranceNow

If you are flying to France on vacation this year or next, the papers you need are the same as before: a valid US passport, and no visa for a stay of up to 90 days. What has changed is the border. Since April 10, 2026, the officer no longer stamps your passport. A European system called the EES records your fingerprints and a photo of your face, and keeps the count of your days. A second system, ETIAS, has been announced for years and is still not running. Here is how France border rules work for Americans now.

I’m French, and at EasyFranceNow I work on visa and residency applications for Americans who come to France. A simple trip now comes down to these three things, so here they are in the order you will meet them, with the official page behind each rule.

The short answer

  • You need a US passport that is (1) valid at least three months after the day you plan to leave the Schengen area and (2) that was issued within the last 10 years. You don’t need a visa for a trip of up to 90 days for tourism or business.
  • The EES registers your fingerprints and face the first time you enter. It is free, and there is nothing to do before you fly.
  • ETIAS is not in operation. No one can sell you a valid one today.
  • You may spend 90 days in any 180-day period in the 29 Schengen countries taken together, France included. The day you land and the day you leave both count.

Every rule below links to the official page it comes from. I read each of them at the time of writing (November 13th, 2026), and border rules change, so open them again before you travel.

How the EES changed France border rules

The Entry/Exit System, or EES, is the European Union’s new border register. The European Commission describes it as an automated system that registers non-EU travelers on a short stay each time they cross the external borders of 29 European countries. It records your name, your passport details, your fingerprints and facial image, and the date and place of each entry and exit. It also records refusals of entry. The system started in stages on October 12, 2025 and became fully operational on April 10, 2026, when the passport stamp ended.

For visa-free travelers like Americans, the official EES site says the system stores four fingerprints and a facial image. Children under 12 are not fingerprinted for now, only photographed. There is nothing to pay, and France’s foreign ministry says there is nothing to do before you travel.

You cannot opt out. The EES site is very clear: refuse your fingerprints or your photo, and you are refused entry.

What happens when you land

The first time you cross into the Schengen area, a border officer takes your photo and fingerprints and opens a digital file in your name. Your passport is not stamped. Some airports have self-service kiosks where you can register part of this yourself before you reach the officer. Service-public.fr, the French government’s information site, says using them in France is optional and free. The official EES site adds that the kiosks only work with a biometric passport, the kind with a chip, and that on this first crossing you meet an officer either way.

On later trips the file already exists, so officers only check your face and fingerprints against it, which takes less time. With a biometric passport and a kiosk at that border, the official EES site says you will usually not need to see an officer at all if nothing in your file stands in the way. Your exit is recorded too when you fly home.

Connecting flights and the train from London

Two details can potentially confuse Americans. One is where the check takes place. The EES runs at the external border of the Schengen area, so if you connect through Amsterdam, Frankfurt or Rome on the way to Paris, that first arrival airport is where you are registered, not in the airport of your final destination. The second potential confusion is the Eurostar train from London to Paris (traveling in a tunnel under the English Channel). According to the UK government, Eurostar passengers at St Pancras International train station (the Eurostar station in London) go through the EES checks before they leave the UK, and that non-EU travelers may be asked to use pre-registration kiosks in the station before the ticket gates. It also warns that the checks take longer when busy, so allow extra time.

There is an official Travel to Europe app for registering up to 72 hours ahead, but as of November 2026 it is only partially operational. When I checked it, it only worked fully for Sweden, partially for Portugal, and France was not yet included. Check back in early 2027 for updates.

Your data is retained, even after you fly home. The EES site says each record of entry or exit is kept for three years, and that your full personal file is kept for three years and a day after your last exit. If no exit is ever recorded, the data is kept for five years from the end of your authorized stay. EasyFranceNow’s guide to the EES for Americans has more details about who is exempt and how the system differs from ETIAS.

ETIAS in 2026: announced but not running

ETIAS is the part most travelers have read about, and also the part you can set aside for now. At the time of writing, the official ETIAS website said the system was not in operation, was not collecting applications, and that the EU would announce the start date several months before launch. No date was given. France’s foreign ministry page, last updated in April 2026, still says ETIAS is expected in the last quarter of 2026. That information is now outdated, but you’ll still see it quoted. Even once ETIAS opens, the rules give travelers a long transition period, explained below.

For now, any website attempting to sell you an ETIAS today is fraudulent. The French foreign ministry says that no websites currently issue ETIAS authorizations and adds a warning of these fraudulent websites. When it does open, the ETIAS FAQ says you will apply on the official website or the official app. Other sites may file for you, but the EU says they collect your data and may charge their own fee on top of the official one.

How ETIAS will work once it starts

ETIAS is a travel authorization, not a visa. The French foreign ministry compares it to the ESTA used for visits to the United States. US citizens will need one. ETIAS will apply to travel to 30 countries: the 29 Schengen countries plus Cyprus. Here is what the official FAQ says about it:

  • The fee is €20, waived for applicants under 18 or over 70, and it is not refunded if you are turned down.
  • It is valid for three years, or until your passport expires if that comes first, for as many trips as you like.
  • Most applicants get an answer within minutes. Some wait up to 96 hours, and a request for more documents or an interview can add up to 30 days. The EU advises getting it before you buy tickets or book hotels.
  • Each traveler needs their own, tied to one passport. A new passport means a new ETIAS, and there are no family or group applications.
  • The passport number has to be exact. Typing a zero for the letter O is enough to be refused boarding.
When ETIAS becomes mandatory

The start will be gradual. Under Article 83 of the ETIAS regulation, using ETIAS will be optional for the first six months once the system opens, a period the European Commission can extend. The, once open, the next six months will be considered a grace period, meaning travelers without an ETIAS pre-approval can still be allowed in once, on their first entry during the grace period, if they meet every other entry condition.

If you are a dual citizen of the US and France, or of another EU country, most of this does not concern you, as long as you travel on your European passport. The ETIAS site says you must use it for these trips, and the EES does not register EU citizens.

ETIAS will not change how long you can stay, and it does not allow you to work. It comes with the same rule of today: 90 days within any 180 days. EasyFranceNow’s ETIAS guide for Americans tracks where the launch stands.

The 90/180-day rule that limits your trip

Of all the France border rules, this one matters the most and has not changed. The European Commission’s page sets it out: in the Schengen area you may stay a maximum of 90 days total within any 180-day period. The area has 29 countries: 25 EU members plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. Ireland and Cyprus are not part of it, and neither is the United Kingdom.

A few details decide most counts:

  • The day you arrive and the day you leave both count as full days. Article 6 of the Schengen Borders Code says so. A trip from a Saturday to the Sunday of the following week uses 9 days.
  • The 90 days are one allowance for all 29 Schengen countries. A week in Italy or Spain after France comes out of the same 90.
  • Leaving does not reset anything. A weekend in London uses no days, but the days you spent in France before it still count until they fall out of the 180-day window.
  • Days spent in France on a long-stay visa or a residence permit are left out of the count.

A worked example with real dates

Say you spend 60 days in the Schengen area next spring, from March 1 to April 29, 2027, and want to come back later that year.

  • If you land on June 1, 2027, all 60 days are still inside the 180-day window, so 30 are left. Your last day would be June 30.
  • If you land on July 28, 2027, you still have 30 days, and your last day would be August 26.
  • If you land one day later, on July 29, 2027, you can stay a full 90 days, until October 26. You reach 90 counted days on August 27. From August 28 the March days start leaving the window, one a day, as fast as you add new ones, and on October 26 the spring trip has left the window entirely while your new trip reaches 90 days on its own.

In all three cases you’ve used 60 days, but how long you can stay depends entirely on the date you arrive. Always check a specific arrival date.

Where to check your own count

  • The EU’s official tool, can help check how long you can stay. You enter your passport number, the country and your dates, and it tells you whether your entry is OK and how many days you have left. It does not count any stay that began before April 10, 2026, even one that ran past that date. Those days still count toward your 90, so add them yourself.
  • The European Commission has a short-stay calculator, with a check mode for past stays and a planning mode for a future arrival. France-Visas notes that the calculator’s results are not legally binding.
  • EasyFranceNow offers a free Schengen 90/180 calculator, which gives the days used, the days left and the last day you may stay for the arrival date you enter.
  • The border officer can also be a resource. Both the EES site and Service-public.fr say you can ask the officers how many days you have left.

In EasyFranceNow’s guide, you can find more examples of how long Americans can stay in France without a visa as well as examples of what you can and cannot do during a visa-free stay.

What happens if you overstay

The EES is built to spot it. The EES FAQ says a person found staying past 90 days can be ordered to leave, usually with a chance to leave on their own first. A return decision can come with an entry ban recorded in the Schengen Information System, in principle for no more than five years. A traveler who has already used 90 days and tries to enter again is refused at the border, and that refusal goes into the EES as well.

What else the border officer can ask for

The EES changes how you are registered, not what you may be required to present according to France border rules. The entry conditions for a short stay are in Article 6 of the Schengen Borders Code. Your passport must meet the validity rules previously stated. You need a US passport that is (1) valid at least three months after the day you plan to leave the Schengen area and (2) that was issued within the last 10 years. You must also be able to explain the purpose and conditions of your stay and show that you have enough money for it, including the journey home.

The US Embassy in France warns that if your passport does not meet the Schengen rules, the airline may refuse to board you, and for that reason it recommends at least six months of validity whenever you travel. It also warns that France does not accept the 12-page US emergency passport for visa-free travel.

For tourism, Annex I of the same Schengen Borders code lists papers the officer may ask to see: proof of where you will stay, the booking of an organized trip or another document showing your plans, and a return or round-trip ticket. If you are traveling with a tour company, its booking confirmation is one of those documents, so keep it on your phone with your hotel details and your return flight details.

Hosted stays and other exceptions

Staying with friends or family adds one step. French immigration law says that any non-European visitor coming for up to three months on a family or private visit must show proof of accommodation in the form of an attestation d’accueil, a hosting certificate that the host signs and has validated by the town hall, for a €30 tax paid by the host. Service-public.fr adds that a visitor who needs no visa shows it at the external Schengen border, so the host has to get it validated before you travel.

One group is not visa-free at all. France-Visas points out that American journalists traveling for work still need a French visa.

Staying longer than 90 days

If a trip is turning into a season or a year in France, the 90 days are not something to stretch. France-Visas says any stay in France beyond 90 days requires a long-stay visa applied for in advance (not once you are in France), and that your nationality does not exempt you. Holders of a long-stay visa or a residence permit are not registered in the EES, and their days in France are left out of the 90/180 count.

If you’re planning to stay for approximately six months, EasyFranceNow offers a helpful guide comparing the 90-day rule with the long-stay visitor visa. If you’re planning scouting trips before making your move, their guide to scouting trips and the 90/180-day rule explains how multiple visits can use up your allotted days, potentially limiting the time available for future trips before your relocation. And when you’re ready to make the move, EasyFranceNow’s long-stay visa guide walks you through the application process from the US.

Before you fly: a France border rules checklist

A few practical tips before you travel:

  1. Check your passport dates: Valid at least three months after you leave the Schengen Area, issued within the last 10 years, and ideally with six months of validity, as the US Embassy suggests.
  2. Count your Schengen days: Include every day spent in France or elsewhere in the Schengen Area during the 180 days before each day of your trip, including your new visit.
  3. Be wary of ETIAS websites: Ignore any site offering to sell you an ETIAS authorization now. Check the official EU website for updates.
  4. Travel on your EU passport: If you hold both US and EU passports, use your EU passport when traveling in the EU.
  5. Keep proof of your travel plans: Have your hotel or tour booking and return ticket available to show if requested.
  6. Staying with friends or family? Ask your host about the attestation d’accueil.
  7. Allow extra time at border control: Your first EES registration may take longer, as may passport control at St Pancras when arriving from London.

Frequently asked questions

Do Americans need a visa to visit France in 2027?

Not for tourism or business up to 90 days in any 180-day period. The US Embassy in France says US citizens with a valid passport can enter France for those trips without a visa. For more than 90 days, you need a long-stay visa, applied for before you leave.

Do I need ETIAS for a trip to France right now?

At the time of writing, the official ETIAS website confirmed that the system was not yet operational and was not accepting applications. Once launched, ETIAS will be optional during an initial six-month transition period.

Does the EES cost anything?

No. Registration is free and there is nothing to do before you travel. You give your fingerprints and a photo at the border or at a kiosk where there is one.

Do children give fingerprints at the border?

Children under 12 have their photo taken but not their fingerprints, according to the official EES site.

Do days in the UK or Ireland count toward the 90 days?

No, neither country is in the Schengen area. A trip there does not reset your count either: your earlier Schengen days keep counting until they fall out of the 180-day window.

How can I see how many days I have left?

Use the EU’s tool to check how long you can stay, the European Commission’s short-stay calculator, EasyFranceNow’s Schengen 90/180 calculator, or ask the officer at the border.

The new France border rules don’t make a trip harder than it was. The first crossing takes a little longer, and after that the system keeps the count of your days. What still trips people up is the old rule: the 90 days are shared across the Schengen countries and counted over a rolling 180-day window. Count them before you book.

This article is general information, not legal advice. Entry is decided by the border officer and the start date of ETIAS by the European Union. Check the official pages listed below before you travel.

About the author

Maxime Roseau is a co-founder of EasyFranceNow, a site that helps Americans move to and settle in France. He works on long-stay visa applications, VLS-TS validation, prefecture procedures, and permit renewals. He holds a Master’s degree in Business and Communication from Université Nice Sophia Antipolis.

Sources

In this article:
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