Separate visa for Monaco?

There are absolutely no land border controls at all, when entering Monaco. None.

LOL, imagine the natural surliness of urban bus drivers hitting the stratosphere, if they had to ask for passports on the overcrowded buses that do the 1 euro run between Nice and Monaco!

If you arrive by cruise ship, private ship or private boat, you will be arriving at a non-Schengen country.

If you arrive by land, either by road or by train, there are normally no checks on the Schengen (French) border.

We visited from Nice.. .like Diane I guess, on a public bus that cost a euro.. I have no idea when we actually passed the imaginary border.. there is no border that one can discern.

Arriving from ship is perhaps different.. but just visiting from anywhere on mainland.. no problem. Technically isn't Monaco under Frances jurisdiction?

The great English writer , W. Somerset Maugham ( who lived a great deal of his life at his home in Cap Ferrat , once quipped that , " Monaco is a sunny place for shady people " . If interest grabs you , read his story " Gigolo and Gigolette " .

Technically isn't Monaco under Frances jurisdiction?

No, "technically", and in every other respect, Monaco is an independent Principality. It has similar independence as other small countries like Andorra, Vatican, and San Marino. These small countries do buy services like electric, water, sewage and other public services from their larger neighbors but they are independent.

Jen,

I doubt that visiting Monaco will be a problem, as there are no border checks to enter the principality. It's much like a small city on top of a hill, and you can either walk up or take the Bus (but that will cost another €1).

Which country do you live in? While the Visa Officer may have been correct, I suspect he/she has never been to Monaco.

Hi All,

thanks for the confirmation. I called the 2nd time, another operator picked up the phone and has different answer >_< at least she confirmed there is no need to apply for a separate visa to enter Monaco. As many mentioned here that the EUR1 bus definitely would attract lots of tourists to enter from surrounding areas.

In my country (I live near Singapore :) ), the French Embassy appointed a third independent party for all visa applications queries called the TLS Contacts. This is where I called the first time and got that questionable answers from the operator. I called the Embassy directly afterwards only to receive a very reluctant answer that all answers from the 3rd party is the correct one as it is their official representative (though I believe the lady at the Embassy knows it's a fully misleading answer)..well diplomats...

anyway thanks y'all :D

One datum point about Monaco being part of France. In 2007, I was on a week-long cruise that visited various ports along the French Riviera as well as Monaco. Part way through the cruise, our itinerary was changed--a stop in Portofino replaced our planned stop in Corsica. The reason given by the cruise line (Windstar) was that we had to have a stop outside of France, and Monaco didn't qualify. Now, why the cruise line didn't know that when they came up with the itinerary makes no sense to me. Maybe the rules for cruises are different than other legalities, and perhaps the reason given wasn't the truth, but that was my experience.