French ‘Brexit’ residency cards up for renewal in 2025: is process known yet?

The first of the five-year Brexit Withdrawal Agreement (WA) residency cards – given to some Britons living in the EU at the time of Brexit – will be up for renewal in 2025. 

The majority of these cards, for people who had been living in France before Brexit for less than five years, were issued in 2021, meaning they will need to be renewed in 2026.

For those given out in 2020 however, they must be renewed - and upgraded - this year.

Official advice given to The Connexion previously is that the Interior Ministry wishes people to apply to renew two to three months before their existing cards expire.

On renewal, the holders will be able to upgrade to a ten-year ‘permanent stay’ WA card, which allows absences of up to five years from France without losing residency rights.

However, other than this, there are no differences in other rights conferred with either the five-year or ten-year version of the card.

There is no cost to upgrade to the ten-year version – usually such applications for a [non-Brexit] residency card in France cost around €200.

Read more: Residency rights and border changes: What's new in France in 2025

Renewing/upgrading the card 

Those who want to upgrade the five-year version of the card should be able to do so relatively straightforwardly. 

The original application process in 2020 was online, with a visit to the prefecture required to collect it. 

However, since the portal closed, all WA card formalities involve a visit to the applicant’s local prefecture. 

There have been hopes that the applications would go online via the government’s ‘Anef’ website, but this is not the case as yet, so unless this changes, those affected should make an appointment at their prefecture to drop in the paperwork.

The Interior Ministry has previously said applicants would only need their original card (or their updated one if the original was lost/stolen), a valid British passport, and three passport-style photographs. 

This is in line with the simple procedures that France applied after Brexit for people who had already been living in the country for more than five years at that point.

They were not required to show any additional documents, such as proof of financial or employment situation or continuous residency in France, though the Withdrawal Agreement had allowed countries the possibility to ask for such paperwork.

Upgrading the card before expiry 

French officials previously stated that those wanting to upgrade to a ten-year version should wait until their five-year card is set to expire.

Having said this, the WA and the French decree which put it into action technically state that people can apply for the ‘permanent stay’ card after being in their host country for five years. 

We cannot say, at this stage, whether prefectures are liable to be open to dealing with ‘early’ applications, in the case of the five years coming up significantly before the first card’s expiry date, however you may wish to make enquiries with yours if the issue is important to you. 

Read more: How long can someone remain outside of France before residency permit is invalid?

You can read more about WA cards and other residency permits in our visa and residency help guide on sale here.