Wrapping up a three-day state visit to New Delhi, President Emmanuel Macron announced on 19 February 2026 that France will pilot a six-month visa-free air-transit regime for Indian nationals and triple the annual intake of Indian students to 30,000 by 2030. The measures form part of the new France–India ‘Year of Innovation 2026’ agenda.
For business travellers, the headline is the airport-transit waiver: Indian passengers changing planes in France for up to 24 hours will no longer need an Airport Transit Visa, removing a paperwork hurdle that has irritated corporate travel managers for years. Authorities will review security data after six months before deciding on permanent adoption.
![Visa-free airport transit and big student-mobility push for Indians]()
If you’re unsure how the new rules affect your next itinerary, visa-services platform VisaHQ can help. Their France portal (https://www.visahq.com/france/) tracks real-time regulatory updates, provides document checklists and still processes Schengen applications for travellers whose plans fall outside the waiver—letting companies and students stay compliant while France fine-tunes the pilot program.
On the academic side, French universities will add English-taught programmes and align admission calendars with the Indian academic year. Consulates in Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kolkata will get additional staff to issue long-stay student visas within 15 working days, down from the current average of 28. Macron said simplified post-study work permits and a fast-track “France Alumni” residence card are also under consideration.
Indian companies with secondment pipelines welcome the signals. “Shorter visa queues and more alumni with French language skills will definitely ease our Paris postings,” said a Bengaluru-based HR director at an IT multinational. The challenge, experts caution, will be housing and internship capacity in French university towns already under rental pressure.
For business travellers, the headline is the airport-transit waiver: Indian passengers changing planes in France for up to 24 hours will no longer need an Airport Transit Visa, removing a paperwork hurdle that has irritated corporate travel managers for years. Authorities will review security data after six months before deciding on permanent adoption.
If you’re unsure how the new rules affect your next itinerary, visa-services platform VisaHQ can help. Their France portal (https://www.visahq.com/france/) tracks real-time regulatory updates, provides document checklists and still processes Schengen applications for travellers whose plans fall outside the waiver—letting companies and students stay compliant while France fine-tunes the pilot program.
On the academic side, French universities will add English-taught programmes and align admission calendars with the Indian academic year. Consulates in Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kolkata will get additional staff to issue long-stay student visas within 15 working days, down from the current average of 28. Macron said simplified post-study work permits and a fast-track “France Alumni” residence card are also under consideration.
Indian companies with secondment pipelines welcome the signals. “Shorter visa queues and more alumni with French language skills will definitely ease our Paris postings,” said a Bengaluru-based HR director at an IT multinational. The challenge, experts caution, will be housing and internship capacity in French university towns already under rental pressure.
