I have been trying to renew my passport since December. Now my passport has expired and I find myself with no means to go back to France.... For the whole of February I did what I was advised to do which is log on at 11am and refresh the <make an appointment> page until one becomes available... Never a slot. So I have been trying to speak to someone on the phone but no one ever anwers, it is absolutely disguting. If someone has a solution please tell me as I am really getting depressed about this whole thing.

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN Dear Sir/Madam It has been hell trying to get a visa via your subsidiary TLS. I will like to bring this to your formal attention for action to be taken. I and many others feel this way that TLS is a bottleneck to the right to travel. this is not to do with the people that work there but with the systems. after an application on the Frace website, one is directed to submit an application o the TLS site. one has to file another form and make payment for their service which we did not request anyways. after that, you get an appointment only to start the days of help. Long waiting period and if you are lucky your document is submitted to France embassy for approval. if you are unlucky you will have lost your money and have started the application all over again from the TLS website. This is a scam that TLS runs to increase its revenue as there are no refunds for error applications. As frustrating as that may be this is done in the name of France embassy or consulate. if one can not use the internet there is no manual process which is a huge error. There is no way to correct the application by the TLS staff who are to help the applicant. the service TLS provides is supposed to good experience but not so great ie it is awful and not human. Please step up and get the service to redeem the good name of France from this scam that is been run in the name of France. Sincerely yours, an aggrieved traveler in the UK. John Kotun

The sad thing is that the situation has been bad for more than two years and there seems to be no urgency or desire to fix it. I have been contacting the consulate and trying the website for more than two years to renew a CNI and a passport without success. They respond to my emails to ask if it's urgent. Of course it is. I complained as many others did, I am sure, but it is not seen as a priority. I don’t get what they mean by the repeated question: “is it urgent?”. I respond yes it is, and they ask for proof. I don’t know how to prove that I need to visit my elderly mum. I did manage to get an appointment after two years and hundreds of attempts. Actually three different appointments for each member of the family at different dates and times making the time commitment and travel cost exponentially higher than it should be. My CNI is ready, I received two text messages to go and pick it up. No appointment is needed to pick up the document. When I went last week, the consulate was "exceptionally" closed for some building work they were carrying out. No communication was sent by email or text message to say don't come that day/week! I had to take a day off work and travel two hours each way using expensive British rail trains - I don’t live in London and my child does not go to Charles de Gaulle Lycée. Cannot afford it. I have written to the consulate to complain. Will they respond? Will they offer any financial compensation? Will they extend the time they’ll have my document available? (it has to be picked up soon). I doubt it. I will write to the Consul, the Député, the Ambassadeur, to the Ministre des Affaires Étrangères, the Président. I will not let this off until I get a decent response.

I don't think I'm ever going to get my passport renewed at this point. Impossible to get an appointment. I'm also based in Scotland and not enamoured with the idea of having to spend time and money travelling to and finding accommodation in London on top of the €96 fee for the passport itself. Why is it no longer possible to renew a French passport in Scotland? Sending every applicant to the same consulate just causes so many delays and backlog.

I've been waiting for my French visa for over a month, now I want to cancel my visa and get my passport back, but I wrote you a lot of emails, you don't reply, and the phone doesn't work. Please tell me how can I get my passport back！

One star? I think they deserve less than zero because it has been already 30 days since I started calling them more than once, every single day,on their emergency number but apparently the emergency calls are not urgent. ☹️ A real joke à la française where the hiding places of the administration who are paid by our taxes in France and who do less than nothing. They won't lift a finger to help a compatriot in distress. I am ashamed to think that they represent France abroad when a simple administrative document like passport or identity card takes forever. Online appointments do not exist and their appointment service is simply window dressing because you will not find anything even if you go there every day. Why so much incompetence? What do you do with your day? Drinking coffees and telling jokes? Thank you to the "pistonnés" of the French administration who sublimate the services of our country!!! Bravo Luckily it's not a question of life or death, because if that were the case, we would have been dead a very long time ago. An antipathetic staff who lie about the procedures to you and who is disdainful when it is part of their role to answer the phone and provide services. How do you do when the only place to do your administrative process is a pitiful one? Mr BAZARD Guillaume, is it time to take things in hand and ensure that these employees fulfill their duty to expatriates and provide a service that does not depend on everyone's goodwill? The Napoleon complex has its climax 🤨

Never answers the phone absolute joke. I guess they're too busy relaxing to actually do any work.

I have been trying to et a appointment to renew my passport since December, website 'keep checking 11am for new slot' is completely a lie and useless. How one place only to renew passport in whole UK is logical!? Extremely disappointed

Not only the whole booking process is a shamble... they didn't want to let me in since it is 1 adult only, even if you are a family with 2 kids! To top it up, refused me access to the toilets! Always hated my trips to the french ambassy in London but today they really took the biscuit! Du grand n'importe quoi...

it takes 3 to 4 weeks to renew your passport and ID. I m french, born in France from french parents and it's been 10 weeks I am waiting and they do not reply to any emails!! A PURE JOKE !!!

Never answer the phone clearly they're too busy relaxing to actually do any work

I genuinely request to please add other companies to your contract as TLS is a pathetic service provider. I’m still unable to get an appointment from them and if you call them they don’t pick up.and if you to to there center they don’t help you and tell you to call the center. It’s like zootopia in real life. I suggest adding competition can help them improve their service or scrap out their contract for poor quality service.

One negative point and one good point : - It was not very easy to book an appointment to renew my passport. (I have tried for month before I could find one). - But, the good news is, once I had (finally) an appointment and that I have been to the Embassy, the staff was absolutly amazing (from the security to the admin staff).

Absolutely hopeless. I have been trying to call them for weeks. Either they ask you to call the Consulate which in the end does not pick up the phone in their very limited time of 2-5 in the afternoon or you do get an endless ringtone but not a single agent picking up. Sent an email a week ago and I am still waiting for a reply. 2 full organisations serving the French people living in the UK and absolutely hopeless! What can you do seriously? Couldn't be more shocking seriously!

Waste of time , where is my passport, it’s been 2 months since I applied for short term visa, i did emailed Urgent need the passport back , no response, normally takes 10 to 15 days and you will have your passport back , you should stop visa process if you guys don’t know how to do your Job . I will never visit france in future, so rude ,

Had my passport renewed recently and dealt with friendly and helpful staff. The experience was very similar again when asking for my children's first passeports. The appointment booking system is frustrating and could surely be improved dramatically.

I would give 0 stars if possible. I’m not 100% sure if it’s the visa center themselves that have insanely poor systems and unreasonable application processes in place or a directive from the bureaucratic and profiteering practice of the consulate-general of France in the United Kingdom themselves; but I’ve got to say it’s all a massive disgrace to slowly, flippantly and discriminately take people's freedoms away for no good reason. Obviously, anyone who is refused a visa for any reason would feel absolutely devastated and would want to leave a bad review on Google but I just wanted to share my thought and story to highlight the failings and shortfalls of not only the consulate-general of France in the UK and their Visa application centers but world governments as a whole. The reason for the visa application refusal was lack of justification for the purpose and conditions of the intended stay have not been provided or been reliable. Firstly, this sentence in itself assumes that we’re lying and not worthy of visiting the country. However, let’s say this is a fair and adequate reason for refusal. I will list the problems that need understanding and fixing: - 1. The earliest appointment date to apply for a visa was 25/05/2022. Considering we started the application process on the 17/03/2022 immediately after an earlier accepted 6 month visa had expired, this 2 month wait was far too unacceptable for people trying to plan and live their lives. Especially due to the fact that we thought applying for a trip that was planned for 2nd July 2022 - 13th July 2022 on 17th March 2022 would be ample amount of time to sort everything. This turned out not to be the case as it took the Visa center until the 24th June 2022 to make their final refusal decision. 2. Initial required documents which were provided: a. Last 3 months worth of bank statements (UK current account), b. flight details/confirmed return ticket c. proof of booked hotel accommodation d. recently signed official letter from your employer, and/or payslips for the last three months e. travel insurance. f. Passport details. 3. However, the Consulate General of France in the UK requested another set of documents on 27th May 2022 which included: - a. 12 months worth of printed bank statements (even though there was more than enough finances to support the required trip length). b. Mistakenly we also provided a supporting letter providing extra reasons to be taken into account to help justify the visit. These reasons include wanting to attend a family wedding which was planned during the trip. 4. Another request for extra documentation was then made on 8th June 2022 for the following: - a. Letter explaining why you travel to your boyfriend's mother wedding with your employer b. Proof regarding the wedding c. copy of your boyfriend's mother passport + French residence permit d. proof of wedding ie copy of "publication des bans/certificat de non objection" to be provided by the competent French townhall e. signed invitation letter. 5. The application was eventually refused after over a 3 month wait on 24th June 2022 (1 week before the intended trip giving us no time to appeal and plan accordingly). All of the above information seems unreasonable and excessive and an absolute invasion of human privacy. However, we did provide justifications for the purpose and conditions of the visit every step of the way and it was still refused which is totally unacceptable. I would like the people that make decisions on these systems to also go through this process to see if they like it. Who are the people that make these rules to say what reasons are acceptable to visit a specific country. A human of the world should have the freedom to visit anywhere they like as long as they’re not causing anyone harm and willing to stick to the laws of that country, providing that they were democratically decided upon and implemented by well intentioned and fairly elected representatives of the people. The Google Review Character Limit is 4000 so I can't continue with the review unfortunately

Absolutely horrendous services provided by Lina Felix. In fact , French consular services and their TLS centres were the worst I’ve come across.

France is an intolerant discriminatory country. It bans religious clothing like the hijab and has made life for Muslims very difficult. There’s no justice and it’s ruled by facists who think they are doing good.

Anyone here who has recently applied for the France Schengen visa and has/has not received lpassport yet ? PLEASE share an update to help as me including other applicants are still waiting for the passports over a month now and no action yet!

I have to speak to someone and as per the other reviews they just don't pick the phone! Come on where is our support in the UK? Having said that my son's passport was done very quickly.

The worst embassy i have come across, i would be surprised if they actually do any work. french embassy is just disgusting.

They just never never never never answer. I have tried to call both the embassy and the consulate for two weeks in a row during their opening hours and I never managed to speak to anyone. Like I don't understand if they are on holiday or what

How do I book an appointment to renew my ID card and French passport? Is it Embassy of France, London or French Consulate

What is your Quality Assurance measures whilst contracting TLS to carry out applications? I would strongly advise the reviews are reviewed and audited. I have travelled for years and never experienced such poor service. As a healthcare professional, I’d suggest your infection control procedures are reviewed and again audited. TLS London closed their doors and all telecommunication due to “a covid case”. This has affected so many people who had travel plans inc Erasmus students. Following this action of closure, I witnessed staff working closely together with no protection; facial masks. Communication with TLS is more than poor. The queries link is what is offered with a 72hr response system. Responses are not realistic and seem to be either copy/pasted or generated responses? Edinburgh office-why are they closed so much? No real operational schedule.

I have been trying to get an appointment to renew my passport for months. In the end I had to book an appointment in France. The only time an appointment became available I had one hour to make it there….so London only service by the looks of it. Absolute rubbish.

Very well organised and Covid-compliant process. Very polite and helpful staff. Thank you

How France can justify paying these so-called workers in the French embassy in Dublin and London is a joke! They don't answer the phone in either embassies even though you are given a contact number or supposedly put on hold to speak to somebody. Get rid! Please!