French Consulate in London: appointments, hours and phone

The Consulate General of France in London, at 21 Cromwell Road in South Kensington, serves French citizens living anywhere in the UK outside Scotland, plus Jersey, Guernsey and Gibraltar through its honorary consuls. Its consul general is Mustafa Soykurt.

How to book an appointment at the French Consulate in London

The Consulate General of France in London sees the public mainly by appointment, and the booking depends on the service you need.

Questions about a file go to France Consulaire, the ministry's phone service based in France, which answers in French only and takes no visa questions. Visa applications are not handled at this counter at all: they go through TLScontact, and the consulate's visa section decides on them.

Passport and ID card appointments are booked on consulat.gouv.fr. The diary opens 60 days ahead, with the slots for day 60 going online at 6 pm each day; the consulate also adds slots on weekdays at 9 am for the same day and at noon for the following days, and has a waiting list that emails you when slots appear.

One appointment covers one person, and a passport and an ID card for the same person fit in one slot (passport page).

For a genuine emergency (a serious medical, work or humanitarian reason), the page asks you to email the evidence to [email protected].

The consulate's page on authenticating documents (updated 20 April 2026) still sends UK documents to the FCO Legalisation Office at the Old Admiralty Building in London, at www.fco.gov.uk/legalisation, and then to the consulate for a further stamp.

GOV.UK, which runs that office, has you apply online for a paper apostille or an e-Apostille instead, and both countries are parties to the Hague Apostille Convention (HCCH status table). Ask the French office that wants the document which of the two it expects. (sources: 1, 2, 3)

How to cancel an appointment at the French Consulate in London

If you cannot make it, cancel: someone else is waiting for that slot. The passport page asks you to do it on the booking platform or through the link in your confirmation email, and to contact the consulate if that fails. In 2023, it says, more than 8,000 booked appointments in London were not honoured.

Getting to the French Consulate in London

The office is at 21 Cromwell Road, London SW7 2EN. New passports and ID cards are collected at 6A Cromwell Place, London SW7 2JN.

The consulate's page places it in South Kensington: the nearest Tube station is South Kensington (Circle, District and Piccadilly lines), a few minutes' walk away along Cromwell Road. Only the person whose file it is may come in, with one companion for a child or a person with a disability, and large bags are refused.

Real reviews of the French Consulate in London

Reviews of the London consulate split between smooth recent visits and complaints about the phone line and booking. Here are three, summarised.

On Google the office averages 3.1 stars from 853 reviews.

His passport renewal in August 2026 went well: the booking site still had its usual glitches, but far fewer than before, and booking and paying in advance worked. He found the staff on site excellent.

Frédéric B.

She phoned in May 2026 to ask about a nationality certificate in English and was told the line does not handle English; when she tried in French, the call was cut.

C. H.

ID card and passport done in about ten minutes in August 2026. There is a photo booth inside; the print shop down the road charged him £8 for four pages.

Julien

Opening hours of the French Consulate in London

Most procedures are by appointment. For emergencies the consulate is open to the public Monday to Thursday 8:45 am to 12:45 pm and 1:45 to 4:45 pm; Friday 8:45 am to 12:45 pm and 1:45 to 3 pm. Collection at 6A Cromwell Place needs no appointment: Monday to Thursday 8:45 am to 4:45 pm and Friday 8:45 am to 3 pm.

Exceptional changes to the opening hours are announced on the network's home page, and the consulate closes on both French and UK public holidays (its 2026 list mixes the two).

Phone number of the French Consulate in London

For a question about a file, the number is France Consulaire, the ministry's information service, based in France: +44 20 7660 4400 at the price of a local call, or +33 4 13 68 08 51 from abroad (Monday to Friday, 8 am to 4 pm UK time, except French public holidays).

It answers in French only and does not deal with visas.

Outside office hours, for a real emergency involving a French national (an accident, a death, an arrest), the switchboard on +44 20 7073 1200 gives the number of the duty officer, according to the network's emergency page.

What this office handles in London

It takes passport and ID card applications for its district, runs the Registre and the consular electoral list, records births, marriages, PACS and deaths, receives nationality declarations and certifies signatures and copies.

It last took passport applications on the road in Manchester (28 to 30 September 2026) and Liverpool (1 and 2 October 2026).

It supervises seventeen honorary consuls: Belfast, Birmingham, Brighton and Newhaven, Bristol and Bath, Cardiff, Chester, Dover, Gibraltar, Guernsey, Jersey, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne, Nottingham and Chesterfield and Plymouth.

Any of them can hand over a passport or ID card applied for here, for £8.36 (€10), if you ask for it when you apply.

What you can settle without travelling

Details checked against the official pages on 10 November 2026.