Yes — it’s normal, and it is French law. Hotels, furnished tourist rentals, chambres d’hôtes and campsites must have foreign guests complete an individual police form (fiche individuelle de police). What makes France different is what happens to it: your host keeps the form and shows it to the police on request, rather than transmitting it when you arrive.
Why do French hosts ask for my passport?
French rules on the entry and stay of foreign nationals require accommodation providers to record the identity of foreign guests on the fiche individuelle de police, and the completed form is held by the property. It is the same principle as the register a hotel has always kept, and it applies to a two-bedroom Airbnb as much as to a hotel.
What details are recorded?
Name, nationality, date and place of birth, residence, the document presented and its details, along with your arrival and departure dates.
Who holds it, and for how long?
The host keeps the completed form and presents it to law enforcement on request. It is kept for six months. There is no transmission to an authority at check-in, unlike Spain, Portugal and Italy.
Can I refuse?
You can, but the provider cannot complete the form without your details, and completing it is their legal duty. Refusing usually means check-in cannot be completed. You only need to show the document; the original stays with you.
Is it safe to send passport details digitally?
A legitimate request reaches you through the platform you booked on, or the property’s own check-in link before arrival. Three things should make you pause: a request to send a passport photo to a personal email address or a phone number you cannot match to the property; links that leave the booking platform or the property’s domain; and pressure to send details before a booking is confirmed.
Your data is covered by the GDPR and by French data protection law: you can ask what was recorded about you, have errors corrected, and ask for deletion once the retention period has passed.
If you’re the one collecting the details
The French duty is about producing and holding the record: capture each foreign guest’s details correctly, keep the form for six months and be ready to produce it on request.
UpMarket collects the guest’s document, verifies it at digital check-in and produces the completed record for the property to retain, in one flow with the guest conversation kept in a single inbox. Check-in and identification travel with the booking confirmation rather than chasing the guest at the door. Book a demo to see the French flow end to end.
Staying elsewhere in Europe?
Same question, different rules: Spain, Portugal and Italy, plus our overview of why hosts ask for passport details.
Frequently asked questions
Is it legal for my host in France to ask for my passport?
Yes. Providers must have foreign guests complete the fiche individuelle de police and keep it for six months.
Where does the form go?
It stays with the property and is shown to law enforcement on request, rather than being sent when you arrive.
Can I refuse?
You can, but the provider cannot complete the form without your details.
Is it safe?
Yes, when the request comes through the booking platform or the property’s own check-in link.
This guide was last reviewed in November 2026.
