On this page we'll take you though the process of applying for a carte de séjour if you're retired or otherwise economically inactive.
This means that you don't have paid employment and are not self employed, or if you do it's so minor that it doesn't count as 'genuine and effective work'.
Those applying in this category have to show that they have 'sufficient resources to not become a burden on France's social assistance system'.
​

​IMPORTANT: this page currently covers the situation as it is at the moment, with the UK still a member of the EU.

A new process will be put in place by the French Ministry of the Interior once we know whether the UK will leave the EU under a Withdrawal Agreement or with no deal, and this page will be updated at that point to reflect new information and procedures.

​Where do I apply?

• The responsibility for registering and processing applications for residence cards for anyone coming from outside France, whether EU citizens or third country nationals, lies with the préfet of each department, so your application will be dealt with by the préfecture that covers your department of residence, almost always by the Etrangers section.
  
  
• Very occasionally, you may be able to apply at your local sous-préfecture, but do check this first as not many sous-préfectures have Etrangers sections along with the ability to process the electronic fingerprinting needed for all cards. A trip to the main préfecture is almost always needed.
  
  
• In Paris applications are dealt with by the Préfecture de Police.
  ​
  
• ​Although all préfectures work to the same guidelines issued by the Ministry of the Interior and based on EU and French law, they all have different processes for applications, and these change often. 

​

How do I find information about my local préfecture?  

• Always check your préfecture's website for local instructions.
  ​
  

• You'll find this at the web address made up by the name of your department followed by gouv.fr - so, for example, www.charente.gouv.fr. Go to the section called Démarches Administratives. You may have to dig around a bit to find the section you want - it's usually, not not always, under the heading Etrangers. 

How do I apply?

Different préfectures have different systems: some ask you to make an appointment, while in others you turn up, take a ticket and wait to be seen to present your dossier and a few are asking for dossiers to be sent by post. Make sure you know how your préfecture works before you start the process.

• Some préfectures have application forms: if you are given a form to complete do make sure it's for the correct card and not a residence permit for Third Country Nationals.
  
  
• Préfectures have never had to deal with large scale applications for EU cartes de séjour before - indeed there are some that have never issued one before - and they're learning as they go along. Don't assume that if things are difficult it means that the staff are being deliberately obstructive - they're struggling with this too and only a handful have been given extra resources to deal with applications.
  ​
• ​If your préfecture seems not to know that you have the right to apply for a carte de séjour as an EU citizen, print out and take (or send) this document that we've created - it includes extracts from legislation and official guidance which makes it clear that préfectures must issue cards to EU citizens who meet the conditions: Le droit d’obtenir la délivrance d’une carte de séjour 

APPLYING FOR YOUR INITIAL CARD:
​LESS THAN 5 YEARS RESIDENCE IN FRANCE

​Carte de séjour UE: resident less than 5 years

• This is also known as the 'initial' or 'temporary' card.
  
  
• For the first 5 years of your residence in another EU country you must, in order to be classed as legally resident, be exercising free movement (or treaty) rights. When you apply for this card, the agent at your préfecture will verify that you are doing that and that you properly meet the conditions. That means that you have to produce a large bundle of documents to back up your application.
  
  
• An initial card may last for 1 year, or for anything up to 5 years. This is at your préfecture's discretion and is related to the stability of your work and/or your income. An initial card can't last for longer than 5 years.

What evidence do I need to provide?

You'll need to produce a dossier of evidence that covers these 4 categories:

1. Your identity;
2. Your 'domicile' - proof of your permanent address in France; and
3. Your health cover; and
4. Your resources.

​You will need to include photocopies of every document in your dossier, and to take the originals to your préfecture with you so that these can be verified if necessary. If you live as a couple, each of you will have to put together a separate dossier of evidence and make your application separately, although you can share the file of originals. In practice most préfectures will see you back-to-back if possible.

IMPORTANT: Some préfectures request translations of certain, or all, documents that are not in French. You'll need to check with your own préfecture whether they ask for this and if so, whether the translations need to be sworn translations (done by a traducteur assermenté).

Evidence of your identity

• Your passport; and
• 3 identical identity photos. These must conform to the official requirements, which you can find here;​
• Although it's not on the official list, most préfectures ask for copies of birth and (if appropriate) marriage certificates.
  ​

Evidence of your domicile

The guidance states that you can prove your permanent address 'by any means'. The following items are generally accepted:

• Rental contract and / or proof of rental payment;
• A bill from EDF, from your water supplier, from your internet or phone provider (not mobile phone);
• An attestation from EDF, downloadable from your EDF Espace client on their website;
• An attestation of your house insurance.

If you live with another householder and don't actually pay household bills yourself, or all your bills are in (for example) your partner's name, you can supply an 'attestation d'hébergement' from the householder. This doesn't need to be complicated - an example of such an attestation is below.

​Nom Prénom expéditeur 
N° Rue 
CP Ville 
Nom Prénom destinataire 
N° Rue 
CP Ville
Objet : attestation d'hébergement de M./Mme (préciser les prénom et nom de la personne hébergée) 

Je soussigné(e) (indiquez prénom, nom), né(e) le (date) à (lieu), demeurant au (indiquez votre adresse), atteste sur l'honneur que (précisez si monsieur, madame, mademoiselle et prénom, nom), né(e) le (date) à (lieu), réside à mon domicile depuis (date). 

Fait à (lieu), le (date) 
Signature

Evidence that you have comprehensive health cover

This will normally be an attestation that you are in the French health system, either through PUMa or via an S1 form. You can print this out from your account page on the Ameli website. It can also be:

• proof that you have full private health insurance and that if so the cover provided is 'comparable' to that provided in the French system; 
• proof that you are covered by the the health system of another country and that if so the cover provided is 'comparable' to that provided in the French system;
• for the first year of residence (but not beyond this) an EHIC is acceptable as proof of health cover.

​You are not required to have a mutuelle (top up health cover).
​​

Evidence of your resources 

Your préfecture will be looking for any and all documents that will prove your income for the current period and the period going forward. This will vary according to your circumstances but could include:

• bank statements;
• avis d'imposition if you've lived in France long enough to be registered for tax and to receive your first avis;
• P60;
• notification of pension payments;
• notification of income from investments;
• proof of income from property rentals or non-professional gîte or chambre d'hôte activity;
• any payment you receive regularly from a third party;
• if you live on or supplement your income with capital, proof of the amount of your capital and proof of it being used.

>>>>>>> Download the Ministry of the Interior's list of evidence required for a carte de séjour - click here.

Sufficient resources

The need to prove that you're 'self-sufficient', and that your resources are enough to live on without being deemed to be a burden or potential burden on the state, is for many people one of the most worrying parts of applying for a carte de séjour and one of the biggest hurdles to jump through. In this paragraph we outline what it all means and how it is - or at least should be - dealt with by préfectures.

There is clear legislation outlining how the question of sufficient resources should be approached:

1. The EU Directive 2004/38/EC, which covers residency rights, says that 'the adequacy of your income will be determined taking into account your personal situation' and that countries should not simply apply the same fixed income thresholds to everyone. Most countries though have income guidelines, and France is no exception: the official government website quotes an income level equivalent to RSA (or to ASPA for over 65s) - see below for these figures. 
   ​​
2. If your income is higher than these figures, you will automatically be considered to have 'sufficient resources'.
   
   
3. However,  Article 8(4) of the Directive prohibits Member States from laying down a fixed amount to be regarded as 'sufficient resources', either directly or indirectly, below which the right of residence can be automatically refused (see this guidance from the European Commission). 
   
   
4. The EU Directive is transposed into French law by CESEDA (Code de l'entrée et du séjour des étrangers et du droit d'asile). Article R121-4 states that 'the sufficiency of resources is assessed taking into account the personal situation of the applicant' and that 'in no case can the amount required be higher than the level of RSA / ASPA'.
   
   
5. All of this means that préfectures cannot systematically refuse a carte de séjour to everyone whose income is below the RSA / ASPA thresholds - they must assess every case individually.

​ ​

What are the guideline income figures?

The guideline figures (applicable from 1 April 2019)
Under 65/live alone: 559,74€ per month;
Under 65/couple: 839,62€ per month;
65 or older/live alone: 868,20€ per month;
65 or older/couple: 1347,88€ per month.

There are other figures for families with children - see the government website here for details. 

Don't forget that these guideline income figures have increased over the last 5 years - possibly as your own income has decreased because of exchange rate fluctuations. So these historic figures might be useful to you when you're comparing your own income with the notional required figures.

The tables below will be updated as soon as the new ones appear. For now you just need to add the 2018 figures, which are:
For RSA (under 65) - live alone 550,93€ per month; couple 826,40€ per month (valid 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2019)
For ASPA (over 65) - live alone 833,20€ per month; couple 1293,54€ per month (valid 1 April 2018 to 31 December 2018).

If your income is equal to or higher than the amounts listed above, you will meet the sufficient resource condition.
If it isn't, continue reading.

I'm worried that my income might fall below the guidelines - what can I expect?

• The official Ministry guidance to préfectures states that personal circumstances must be taken into account when determining whether somebody is likely to represent a 'burden on the state'. For example, somebody with no mortgage or living rent free is likely to need a lower income than somebody in a large rented house with high outgoings, and an amount will be notionally added to your resources to reflect this.
  ​
• Others may have low income but sufficient capital. Resources do not always have to be in the form of regular income: if you can show that you are living from, or supplementing your income with, capital, the préfecture must take this into account.
  ​
• The first, and most important thing, for you to do is to put together a clear statement of all your resources and how you live on them now, then back this up with evidence in your dossier. It may help you to write this down on a separate paper and hand this to the agent at the préfecture.
  ​
• If you live as a married couple or are PACS'd, your préfecture will look at your avis d'imposition and will take your overall household income into account.

There have been various bits of EU case law and results of French tribunal cases on the question of sufficient resources - some of them are described in this report from GISTI - the 'Groupe d'information et de soutien des immigrés' - including:

• The resources may come from a third party and are not limited to those you receive in person. So, for example, income received by your spouse or durable partner should be taken into account, even if your spouse is a third country national. Income received from another person or organisation can be taken into account too. The third party must guarantee in writing the amount and the duration of the payments being made, and you must take this to the préfecture to support your application.
  
  
• The resources must be lawful and available;
  
  
• The resources do not have to be received regularly and may be in the form of a capital sum rather than, or as well as, income. In this case the whole of the capital sum does not have to be accessible on the day of your application, although it is up to you to prove that it exists.

The opinion from the Conseil d'Etat of 28 November 2008 makes it clear that even if you have not applied for RSA or other state benefit and are living on resources lower than the guideline limits, a préfecture may still refuse to issue a carte de séjour on the grounds that you don't meet the conditions for legal residence.
​​

REALITY CHECK!

EU law and the French law that derives from it are clear: in order to be able to live here legally as a non-active EU citizen, you must, for the first 5 years of your residence, have sufficient resources, defined as we describe on this page. If you don't, it's likely that you won't be considered to be legally resident and that you won't receive a carte de séjour. 

After Brexit all British citizens will have to have a carte de séjour in order to be able to stay in France. 

If your resources - your income and any capital you regularly use to supplement it - are below the guideline figures by more than just a few euros, you may have some serious thinking to do and some choices to make. This is especially the case if your resources have always been below the guideline figures since you arrived in France, as this means that you have never been legally resident. 

The issue here isn't whether you can live on the resources you have - it's whether your resources meet the conditions. 

If your resources are below the guideline figures you may need to have a long hard think about what you can do: for example, how could you increase your income for the 5 year period required? This might include working, registering as a jobseeker, setting up a business,
letting some rooms in your home, or even borrowing some money or asking for an allowance from family.

If you don't meet, have never met, and can't meet the conditions for legal residence it's possible that you may not be permitted to stay in France.

The tough news is that sometimes a lifestyle choice is incompatible with being legally resident in another country.

What if I'm receiving RSA or other French state aid?

The fact that you currently receive state aid isn't in itself an automatic reason for refusal of a card. EU Member States aren't allowed automatically to consider that a citizen having recourse to a social assistance benefit does not have sufficient resources to enjoy the right to reside in the host country.

This has been confirmed by case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), in particular by the Brey case (2013), which made it clear that countries must always undertake a case-by-case analysis and must consider a number of factors, in particular 'the amount of the benefit, the duration, the temporary nature of the difficulty and the overall burden for the social assistance system'.

The principle, established in EU law and reinforced in CJEU case law, is this. A retired or otherwise inactive EU citizen:

1. who in the past has met the conditions for legal residence (ie can show that they had sufficient resources and health cover); but
2. who does not currently meet those conditions and is in receipt of benefits;
3. may nevertheless benefit from a continued right of residence and a continued right to receive benefits;
4. on condition that they have not become an unreasonable burden on the social assistance system of the host country.
   
   

​The key term here is unreasonable burden, and it is this that will be examined by your préfecture. 

IMPORTANT: This only applies if you have in the past had sufficient resources to meet the legal residence conditions for an inactive person.
If you have never met these conditions, it's unlikely that you would be granted a carte de séjour.
​

Some more information on the term 'unreasonable burden' - click here

The European Commission's Circular issued in September 2010 included some guidelines for host countries on the notion of an 'unreasonable burden'. It states this:

​"In assessing whether an individual whose resources can no longer be regarded as sufficient and who was granted the minimum subsistence benefit is or has become an unreasonable burden , the authorities of the Member States must carry out a proportionality test. To this end, Member States may develop for example a points-based scheme as an indicator. Recital 16 of Directive 2004/38 provides three sets of criteria for this purpose:
(1) duration
- For how long is the benefit being granted?
- Outlook: is it likely that the EU citizen will get out of the safety net soon?
- How long has the residence lasted in the host Member State?
(2) personal situation
- What is the level of connection of the EU citizen and his/her family members with the society of the host Member State?
- Are there any considerations pertaining to age, state of health, family and economic situation that need to be taken into account?
(3) amount
- Total amount of aid granted?
- Does the EU citizen have a history of relying heavily on social assistance?
- Does the EU citizen have a history of contributing to the financing of social assistance in the host Member State?
As long as the beneficiaries of the right of residence do not become an unreasonable burden on the social assistance system of the host Member State, they cannot be expelled for this reason[28].
Only receipt of social assistance benefits can be considered relevant to determining whether the person concerned is a burden on the social assistance system.

This is a complex area, and if you are refused a carte de séjour because you have been deemed to be an unreasonable burden on the state we recommend that you take legal advice from a specialist immigration lawyer.
​

How do I renew my card?

• You must apply to renew your card during the 2 month period before its expiry date;


• You'll need to present similar evidence to that presented for your first application, to prove that you still meet the conditions;
  
  
• If you've still been resident for less than 5 years, you'll receive another initial card;


• If you've now been resident for 5 years or more, you've acquired permanent resident rights and your application will be for a carte de séjour permanent (see below);


• You'll need to present your old card at the préfecture when you apply to renew, otherwise you'll be charged 25 euros.
  ​

>>>>>>>  Read the official French government page on applying for a carte de séjour as a worker - click here.

APPLYING FOR YOUR PERMANENT CARD:
​MORE THAN 5 YEARS RESIDENCE IN FRANCE

Once you’ve established legal residence here as a European for 5 years, you have the right to apply for a carte de séjour permanent.

Permanent residence allows you to live in France without having to meet any conditions. But:
​

• You must have been in France for at least 6 months in each of your qualifying 5 years. Absences longer than this will debar you;
  
  
• If you've previously held a carte de séjour covering your first 5 years of residence, you'll be asked to provide evidence that you continued to meet the conditions as a worker or self-employed person for the period since you last applied;
  
  
• If you haven't previously held an initial or temporary carte de séjour, you'll still need to prove that you've been legally resident for 5 years, so things will feel a bit as though you're applying for the initial card;
  ​
  
• Think of your application for a carte de séjour permanent as looking back for 5 years in order to establish your rights going forward.

The card is free, lasts for 10 years and is renewable. It will remain valid unless you spend a continuous period of two years outside France.
​

What evidence do I need to produce for a carte de séjour permanent?

You need to produce all the same evidence that's listed in the section above, for the initial card.

• If you've never held a carte de séjour before, this needs to cover a 5 year period.
  
  
• This doesn't have to be the 5 years immediately previous to your application, so if you met (for example) the sufficient resource conditions for a 5 year period in the past, you will already have established permanent residence during that period. In that case, you'll need to produce evidence for that period, along with evidence of your continuing residence since then.
  
  
• If you've held an initial carte de séjour, this needs to cover the period since you last applied for a card to prove that you've continued to be legally resident ever since.
  ​
  

IMPORTANT: Please make sure that you've read the information in the previous section on 'sufficient resources' before you apply for your carte de séjour permanent: unless you're applying to renew your permanent card (see below) you'll need to supply evidence of your resources for 5 years
​and show that you met this condition for that period.​

How do I renew my card?

• You must apply to renew your card during the 2 month period before its expiry date;
  ​
  
• You need to produce the following evidence to renew a carte de séjour permanent: passport, proof of permanent residence, 3 identity photos, proof of your continuing residence in France for the preceding years (household bills etc).
  ​

​>>>>>>>  Read the official French government page on applying for a carte de séjour as a retired or non-active person - click here.

Student