So, you’re sitting there wondering if you can actually disappear and start over. Most people who look up how to join the French Foreign Legion are usually at some kind of crossroads. Maybe the 9-to-5 feels like a slow death, or maybe there’s a breakup that’s left a hole in your chest, or maybe you just want to see if you’re actually as tough as you think you are.
It’s not a movie. Forget Beau Geste. Forget the romanticized version of a man in a white képis wandering through a desert sunset. The reality is a lot of scrubbing floors, screaming corporals, and boredom punctuated by moments of extreme physical intensity.
The Legion is the only wing of the French Army that is open to foreign nationals. It’s a unique beast. You don’t apply online. There’s no LinkedIn portal. You literally have to show up at the gates of a recruitment center in France with your passport and the clothes on your back. If you’re looking for a digital application, you’ve already failed the first test of resourcefulness.
Where you actually go to start
You can’t just walk into a French embassy in New York or London and ask for a ticket to Paris. They’ll laugh at you. Or just politely tell you to leave. To start the process of how to join the French Foreign Legion, you must be on French soil.
The primary selection center is at Aubagne, which is just outside of Marseille. This is the mother ship, the 1er Régiment Étranger. However, there are smaller recruitment offices (called Poste d’Information de la Légion Étrangère or PILE) scattered across France in cities like Paris, Lyon, Bordeaux, and Lille.
If you show up at a PILE, they’ll give you a bed for a night or two, a bit of food, and then they’ll put you on a train to Aubagne. That’s where the real nightmare—or adventure—begins.
The basic "must-haves" and the "don't-bothers"
The entry requirements are surprisingly simple on paper, but the "hidden" requirements are what catch people out.
First, you need to be a man. Yes, the Legion remains one of the few all-male military forces in the world. You need to be between the ages of 17 and a half and 39 and a half. If you’re 40, don't bother. They are strict. If you’re under 18, you need parental consent (notarized by the French state), which is a massive headache, so most guys just wait until they’re 18.
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You need a valid passport. It doesn't matter where you're from. Brazilian, Japanese, American, Russian—the Legion doesn't care about your nationality. They care if you're fit.
- Physical health: You need a Body Mass Index (BMI) between 20 and 30. If you’re a beanpole or a tank, you're out.
- Teeth: This is a weird one. You can't have more than 4-6 missing teeth. They need to be healthy. If you have a mouth full of cavities, they’ll send you to a dentist and tell you to come back when it's fixed.
- Vision: You don't need 20/20, but you can't be legally blind. Glasses are generally okay, but your correction can't be extreme.
- The Criminal Record: This is the biggest myth. People think the Legion is a sanctuary for murderers. It’s not. If you’ve killed someone, raped someone, or you’re a drug trafficker, Interpol will be waiting for you at the gate. The Legion wants "small-time" rebels—guys with a few bad debts, a messy divorce, or a minor scuffle with the law. They want people who need the Legion, not people who will bring heat from international police.
The Selection: "Gestapo" and the Blue Room
Once you pass the gate at Aubagne, you enter the "Pre-selection." They take your phone. They take your civilian clothes. They give you a tracksuit that probably doesn't fit.
The most infamous part of how to join the French Foreign Legion is the security interview. The guys running it are nicknamed "The Gestapo." It’s an intelligence service (DSPLE) that will grill you for hours. They want to know why you’re here. They will check your social media. They will check your criminal record. They will look for lies.
If you lie about having a kid or a wife, they will find out. Honestly, it’s better to be a "broken" honest man than a "perfect" liar. They are looking for "Lucidity." They want to know if you will desert the moment things get hard. If you have a million dollars in the bank back home, why would you stay in the rain in French Guiana for 1,200 Euros a month? You wouldn't. So they’ll kick you out.
The Luc Léger Test
Physically, the "Luc Léger" (the beep test or shuttle run) is the gatekeeper. You need to hit at least Level 7. If you can’t run, don't show up. You also need to do pull-ups—at least 7 or 8 with perfect form. No kipping. No cheating. The physical standards aren't Olympic-level, but they want to see "grit."
Then there are the IQ tests. They are logic-based, using patterns and shapes. You don't need to speak French for these. They want to make sure you aren't "thick." You need to be smart enough to learn a new language and follow complex orders under fire.
The "Anonymous Identity" and the New Name
You might have heard about the Identité Déclarée. In the past, everyone got a new name. Nowadays, it’s a bit different. Usually, they give you a new name and a new birthday (the "Legion Name") for the first year or two. This is for your protection and theirs.
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Eventually, you can go through a process called "Regularization of Military Situation" (RSM) to get your real name back. You'll need this if you want to get married or buy a car. But for that first stint? You’re whoever the Legion says you are. It’s a clean slate.
Life after "The Rouge"
If you make it through the three weeks of selection at Aubagne, you become a "Rouge" (Red). You’ve passed. You sign a five-year contract. Five years is a long time when you’re being yelled at in a language you don't understand.
You get sent to Castelnaudary, the "farm." This is where the actual basic training happens. It’s four months of hell. You will sleep three hours a night. You will march 50 kilometers with a heavy pack until your feet are a mess of blisters. You will learn the Code d’Honneur du Légionnaire.
The first rule? Legio Patria Nostra. The Legion is your fatherland.
Where do you go?
After training, you get assigned to a regiment. Your ranking in training determines where you go. If you’re at the top of the class, you get to choose.
- 2e REP (Corsica): The paratroopers. The elite. If you want the hardest life possible, go here.
- 3e REI (French Guiana): Jungle warfare. Humidity, snakes, and gold-miner patrols.
- 13e DBLE (Larzac): Infantry with a massive history.
- 2e REG (Plateau d’Albion): Combat engineers in the mountains.
The Pay and the Reality of Money
Don't join for the money. You’ll start at roughly 1,300 Euros a month. It’s basically minimum wage in France. However, you get free food, free housing, and you don't have many expenses because you’re always on base or in the field.
If you’re deployed or in a paratrooper regiment, you get bonuses. But let’s be real: you’re earning every cent. It’s hard labor. You are a soldier of France, and France will get its money's worth out of you.
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Why most people fail
The failure rate is massive. Out of every 10 or 15 guys who show up at the gate, maybe one makes it to the end of the five years.
It’s not usually the physical stuff that breaks people. It’s the "Civilian Brain." In the modern world, we are used to being able to leave. If we don't like a job, we quit. If the food is bad, we complain. In the Legion, you are a number. You have no rights for the first few years. You can't have a car. You can't get married. You can't even wear civilian clothes for a long time.
The psychological weight of losing your freedom is what makes guys jump over the fence in the middle of the night (desertion). If you desert, you can never work in France again and you'll always be looking over your shoulder.
Practical Steps to Take Right Now
If you are serious about how to join the French Foreign Legion, stop reading blogs and start doing these three things:
- Run. Not a 5k on a flat treadmill. Run in the rain. Run on trails. Get your cardio to the point where a 10km run is just a warm-up.
- Learn basic French. You don't need to be fluent, but knowing how to count to a hundred and knowing the parts of the body will save you from a lot of push-ups. Use Duolingo, sure, but focus on "military" French.
- Get your documents in order. Make sure your passport has at least a year or two left on it. If you have medical records from old surgeries, get them translated into French. It shows you're prepared.
Travel to Paris or Marseille. Have enough cash for a one-way ticket and a few days in a hostel. Walk up to the gate at Fort de Nogent (Paris) or Aubagne (Marseille). Knock. Say "I want to enlist."
That’s it. From that moment on, your old life is over. The Legion doesn't care who you were. They only care about who you are when you're tired, hungry, and being told to march another ten miles. If you can handle that, you might just find the brotherhood you’re looking for.