Coming from France
Yoga teacher training in India for French students
SHORT ANSWER
French students travel on India's e-Tourist visa, about US$25 for 30 days. Understand the French context first: the established route here is FNEY-affiliated training of roughly 900 hours over four years. A 200-hour is an international qualification, not an equivalent to that.
Visa and fee information reviewed
Recognition
Will a 200-hour from India be recognised in France?
READ THIS BEFORE YOU BOOK
France is one of the countries where the honest answer needs stating plainly. The established French route is a four-year, roughly 900-hour training through an FNEY-affiliated school, and a 200-hour from India is not an equivalent to it — nobody should tell you otherwise. That said, teaching yoga is not a state-licensed profession in France, so no qualification is legally required to teach, and studios vary widely in what they ask for. Many French teachers work perfectly well on international qualifications, particularly in studios serving an international clientele and in retreat work. If your ambition is to be recognised within the traditional French yoga establishment, do the FNEY route. If you want a serious international foundation, a deeper practice, and the ability to teach in studios and on retreats, a 200-hour does that here as elsewhere. What it will not do is shortcut the French system.
FNEY (Fédération Nationale des Enseignants de Yoga)
Founded 1967, federating some 900 teachers and nine affiliated schools. Its route, through the École Française de Yoga, runs to roughly 900 hours across four years and is the established professional standard in France.
Union Européenne de Yoga (EUY)
The European body FNEY helped shape. French training is built around the European minimum programme rather than the 200-hour model used internationally.
Visa
Which Indian visa French students need
The 30-day e-Tourist visa is enough for the course; the one-year version costs little more.
| Visa | Fee | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 30-day e-Tourist visa (July–March) | about US$25 | — |
| 30-day e-Tourist visa (April–June) | about US$10 | — |
| 1-year multiple-entry e-Tourist visa | about US$40 | — |
What catches French students out
French passports get the standard rate with no reciprocal surcharge. The usual trap is the 30-day window against a 24-day course — allow for a delayed flight and a night in Delhi at either end and the margin is thin. Apply through indianvisaonline.gov.in rather than the commercial intermediaries that rank above it, which charge several times the real fee for the same authorisation.
Fees change and vary by passport — verify at indianvisaonline.gov.in, and see visas and arrival.
Getting here
Flights from France
Routes
Paris Charles de Gaulle flies direct to Delhi daily. Lyon, Marseille, Nice and Toulouse connect via Paris, Amsterdam or a Gulf hub.
Typical fare
€500–€850 return, higher during the July–August holidays and at Christmas
Flying time
About 8.5 hours direct from Paris, 13–16 hours with a connection
Delhi to Dehradun is a 50-minute flight or roughly six hours by road. The morning flight gets you to the farm in time for lunch.
Best months to come from France
September to November and February to April. The Toussaint holidays in late October line up well with our best weather, and February avoids both the monsoon and the cold mornings.
Paying from France
We price in US dollars, so the euro cost moves with the exchange rate. Card payment is simplest; ask before arranging a SEPA transfer, since it does not reach us directly.
Also worth knowing
Three things that apply only to French students
Courses are taught in English
Everything here is in English and we do not currently teach in French. Comfortable conversational English is genuinely necessary — anatomy and philosophy sessions move quickly, and struggling with the language costs you most of the value.
Nothing here counts towards the FNEY route
The four-year French training does not accept transferred hours from an international 200-hour. Treat the two as separate paths rather than expecting one to shorten the other, and plan accordingly.
August is the wrong month
The French holiday month is the middle of the Rishikesh monsoon, when the valley is wet, humid and prone to landslides on the mountain roads. We do not run trainings then and we would advise against any school that does.
Coming from France?
Ask us whether this qualification does what you need it to do at home. We would rather tell you it doesn’t than take the booking.
