Permit Price
£80
Getting Your Firearms Permit for France
France offers outstanding driven game shooting, including wild boar, red deer and partridge, with some of the most productive deer stalking ground in western Europe. Since Brexit, UK hunters no longer benefit from the EU Firearms Pass and must follow the non-EU entry route for firearms. For most hunting trips involving up to two firearms, the process centres on a verbal declaration at French customs under the temporary admission procedure. Trips involving more than two firearms require a formal import authorisation.
Last Updated:
March 5, 2026
Processing Time
Variable; contact the relevant federation directly
Authority
Fédération Départementale des Chasseurs (local department)
Difficulty
Moderate
Best Hunting Months
Boar Oct–Jan, roe deer Jun–Sep, partridge Oct–Nov
Tristan Dummer
Founder
France offers some of Europe's finest driven hunting — wild boar, red deer, and partridge across productive private estates, with excellent stalking ground throughout Normandy, the Sologne, and the southwest. UK hunters are non-EU nationals post-Brexit, but the process for hunting in France is straightforward. You deal with the destination country's authorities, not the UK. No UK export paperwork is required for temporarily travelling with your own firearms.
Step 1: Confirm Your Hunt and Get a Letter of Invitation
Confirm your hunt dates, location, and accommodation with your French host or outfitter. You will need a formal letter of invitation from them confirming the department (département) where the hunting will take place. This letter is central to your permit application and you cannot proceed without it.
Step 2: Apply to the Local Departmental Hunting Federation
Contact the Fédération Départementale des Chasseurs for the department where your hunt is taking place. France has 94 departmental federations — one per department — and the annuaire on the FNC website lists each one with direct contact details. Submit your letter of invitation along with your UK Firearm Certificate and your application. The federation validates your foreign hunting permit and issues the documentation required for you to hunt legally in France during the current season.
Step 3: Validation Fee
Validating your foreign permit involves payment of a cotisation (membership fee) and a redevance (government levy). Your French host or the departmental federation will advise on the current amounts. This is paid directly to the federation as part of the validation process.
Step 4: Travel and What to Carry
Travel to France with your firearms and carry your UK Firearm Certificate, your validated permit documentation from the departmental federation, your letter of invitation, and your passport. Your firearms must be declared and transported in accordance with airline regulations — unloaded, in a locked hard-sided case, in the hold.
Step 5: Comply with French Hunting Regulations
Hunting in France is managed at département level through the federations. Your French host holds the relevant permissions for the hunt. Season dates, bag limits, and species rules vary by département and are confirmed annually. The Fédération Nationale des Chasseurs (FNC) is the national body and a valuable reference for understanding the regulatory framework.
We can manage your application for you
We handle the forms in collaboration with the authorities to make sure everything is in your hands or on your phone before you fly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Some hunting and sporting competition shoots ask outfitters and hosts to organise their guests temporary firearms permits. Your outfitter will be able to do this on your behalf through the Ambulo platform or you can do it yourself.
For outfitters and hosts organising permits for their guests, please contact tristan@ambulo.co to streamline this process.
To amend your application and your permit, before you travel, you need to contact us at least 14 days before your departure date. If you need to make amends to your permit, please email tristan@ambulo.co
Generally, you do not need to buy an additional permit for your stopover. However, some countries may require you to buy an additional permit. This is generally on a country by country basis. For example, if you are travelling to Poland, but flying to Germany and driving across, you may have to buy a permit for Germany, depending on the location.
Permit costs vary depending on the country you are travelling to. Once our permits go live you will be able to see a full pricing break down. We have priced this to be roughly the same price as hiring a rifle or shotgun at your final destination. Nothing beats taking your own equipment across!
At the moment, extending the length of your permit duration is not possible. We advise that you ask your host to either add a buffer time frame to the end of your trip in case you would like to stay longer. You can of course come back earlier if needs be but the duration and date of validity for your permit is linked to your arrival and departure dates you set out in your application.
For business and partnerships, please contact tristan@ambulo.co
At the moment, Ambulo only provides permits for the destination you are hunting within. If you are driving to your destination and crossing countries, you will have to follow each countries firearm rules and restrictions. This generally means you will need a permit for each country, if you are driving through Europe, for example.
We do not offer refunds at the moment, but is something we are working on. The reason we do not offer refunds is based on the agreements set by consulates, embassies and police forces of the destination countries.
You can either scan your Firearms License, Passport and letter of invitation through a traditional printer scanner, or use an application like Turbo Scan.
If you are using an app that converts photos into a scanned file, ensure all areas of the pages you scan are clear and legible and are saved as a PDF. For people with a UK firearms license, where your certificate contains multiple pages, ensure all pages are photographed and collated into one PDF.