France Raised the Student Visa Funds Requirement to €877.50 a Month

If you were planning a French student visa around the old figure of €615 a month, your numbers need updating. For applications filed from 1 August 2026, the minimum monthly resources a student must show is €877.50.

What changed

The change comes from Decree 2026-526 of 22 June 2026. Instead of a fixed sum, the requirement is now set at 47% of the gross monthly minimum wage (the SMIC) in force on the day you file. At the current minimum wage, that works out to €877.50 a month. The decree took effect on 1 August 2026.

Because the figure is tied to the minimum wage, it can move when the minimum wage does. Always check the number on the day you apply rather than relying on a figure you read months earlier.

The difference over a year

If your stay is twelve months, the old minimum was 12 × €615 = €7,380. The new one is 12 × €877.50 = €10,530. That is €3,150 more to show. At an indicative rate of GHS 13.5 to the euro, €10,530 is roughly GHS 142,000, though the rate will have moved by the time you apply.

Who is still assessed at €615

Campus France states that long-stay student visa applications filed up to and including 31 July 2026 are assessed at the old €615 a month. Anything filed from 1 August 2026 is assessed at the new figure. What matters is the date the visa application is filed, not the date you were admitted.

If you already hold a French student permit

Sources covering the decree indicate that renewals are affected too, which would mean showing the new figure when you renew rather than the one you showed originally. If you are already in France on a student permit, ask your prefecture which amount applies to your renewal before you assume it does not apply to you.

Check the paperwork you are working from

Some older guides and checklists, including some country-specific ones, still show €615. A document being official does not mean it has been updated. Confirm the current figure with the French consulate or visa centre handling your application, and on France-Visas, before you build your financial file around it.

What to budget in total

The €877.50 a month is the living-cost minimum. It is separate from tuition. For 2026/27, Campus France lists tuition for non-EU students at public universities at €2,902 a year for a bachelor's and €3,950 for a master's, with waivers possible for some students. A master's student planning a full year should therefore think in terms of about €14,480 (€10,530 plus €3,950) before flights, a first month's deposit and the visa and procedure fees.

Our cost calculator separates what you spend from what you only need to show, and it now uses the new French figures.

The bottom line

The French route is still one of the most affordable destinations for a degree. But the amount you must show has gone up by about 43%, and a thin financial file is still the most common reason these applications fail. Start building the evidence earlier than you planned, and make sure the money has a visible history behind it, not just a balance on the day.