Documents & formalities

All the useful information to ensure you meet regulations when travelling

Before anything else, find out about the conditions for traveling abroad in the Covid-19 health context. Find in one click all the travel conditions for your destination from Lyon thanks to our online service.

ID documents

You can't leave without them! Passport, visas and identity cards, even for children: forgetting them means saying goodbye to your trip. With heightened security measures in place due to Operation Vigipirate, domestic flights are also subject to strict checks for everyone’s safety. Before your departure, check which formalities you will need to take care of with your travel agency, tour operator or airline.

Save time at border control with PARAFE*
Do you hold a French biometric passport? Are you a national of one of the 27 member states of the European Union, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein (Schengen Area) and over the age of 18? Choose the new PARAFE facial recognition gates and get through border control in a blink of an eye.

*Automated Border Control

French nationals

To travel within France, you will need to present a French national identity card, a passport, or a driver's license. If you are travelling to a French overseas territory via a foreign country, you will be required to show a passport.
To travel within the European Union and the Schengen Area, you will need to present a French national identity card or passport. Remember: a minor travelling without his or her parents must also have a permit to leave the country, signed by one of his or her parents.
For other destinations, you will need to present your passport. For some countries, other documents may be requested (e.g. a visa). Find out more in the Travel advice section of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs website.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs website / Travel advice

EU nationals

To travel within France, you will need to present an identity card or passport. If you are travelling to a French overseas territory via a foreign country, you will be required to show a passport.
To travel within the European Union and the Schengen area, you will need to present an identity card or passport. Remember: a minor travelling without his or her parents must also have a permit to leave the country, signed by one of his or her parents.
For other destinations, you will need to present your passport. For some countries, other documents may be requested (e.g. a visa). Find out more in the Travel advice section of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs website.

Conditions for entry to and movement within the Schengen Area

To travel within France, you will need to present a passport and your residence permit if you have one. Find out about visas if you do not have a residence permit issued by France or a country in the Schengen Area.
To travel within the European Union and the Schengen Arean, you will need to present a passport and your residence permit if you have one. Find out about visas if you do not have a residence permit issued by a Schengen country.
For other destinations, you will need to present your passport. Some countries request visas or other documents. Find out more in the Travel Advice section of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs website.

Conditions for entry to and movement within the Schengen Area