Is a carte de famille useful for mixed French-British couples?

Reader Question: I am a French national married with a UK national. We live in the UK and have a holiday home in France. Recently a customs officer suggested we could obtain a carte de famille so my husband is not limited to 90 days. Do you know what he meant?

We believe the customs officer was mistaken in the information they gave you. 

There is a residency card called vie privée et familiale that the spouse of a French national can apply for. This is sometimes also referred to as a card for famille de français.

However, these cards are aimed at people who have moved to France permanently on a first visa and not those who just want to extend the amount of visa-free time in the Schengen area to visit a second home.

Other than this, we can think of no other cards that the customs officer could be thinking of. 

Read more: New language tests for French residency cards: Eight key questions

Long-stay visa

With regard to visiting as a non-EU citizen, the visa wizard on the French consular service’s website is a good starting point. If we input your husband’s scenario, it says he needs a long-stay visa to remain in France for over 90 days. 

The visa is free and requires minimal supporting paperwork, however as the website points out, applications in the UK are handled by TLScontact on behalf of the French consulate. 

For a visit of up to six months at a time, you should select on the visa wizard the visitor/visiteur choice, and the appropriate visa would be a temporary long-stay visa for a fixed period, non-renewable.

Otherwise, a spouse of a French citizen can obtain a free visa de long séjour valant titre de séjour (VLS-TS), also with light paperwork, and you would click family or private settlement/installation familiale ou privée. 

However, the VLS-TS is not suitable for a temporary stay, as it must be validated online within the first three months and you will be called in by the OFII service to undertake immigration procedures, such as a language test and civic training. 

It is on expiry of the VLS-TS that people can then apply for a residency card.

Alternatively, however, if you have been married a sufficient amount of time, your husband could apply for French citizenship through marriage while in the UK.

This would allow him to stay in France for longer than 90 out of 180 days, although you would both have to be careful about not spending too much time in the country for tax purposes (generally, if you spend more than half of the year in France you are liable to be seen as domiciled here for tax reasons).

While it is possible to apply for French citizenship from the UK, your husband will need to fulfil a number of criteria, including having a sufficient standard of written and spoken French. 

These language requirements may become tougher in changes set to come in by decree by no later than January 1, 2025, having said which it is not yet certain if this will apply to those applying via marriage. 

Read more: Is it possible to apply for French citizenship while living outside France?