All non-EU/EEA/Swiss foreigners living in France need a card, unless they are here for a temporary stay – usually up to six months – or if in their first year on a visa valant titre de séjour (VLS-TS), which becomes equivalent to a card once validated online.
Since Brexit, this includes Britons, with some 150,000 Withdrawal Agreement (WA) cards issued since and 11,000 first cards applied for in 2012, which are likely to be mostly ordinary cards for non-EU citizens.
However, there have been issues with the first issue and renewal of many types of residency cards.
Many requests are still made to local prefectures, but the government says it is working towards a target of all card applications, renewals and changes being carried out via the website Administration des étrangers en France (Anef) by next year.
You can create an account on the site using details from a visa or attestation provided on validating a VLS-TS.
Rules for card applications to prefectures typically ask that they are submitted dans les deux mois précédant l’expiration de votre carte de séjour – “in the two months preceding the expiry of your residency card” (including a VLS-TS).
Paris-based Franco-American immigration lawyer Haywood Wise said this should be read as “no later than” two months before. In theory, a fine can be levied if the request is late, but he said this is not usual.
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However, late requests might cause complications with your residency status.
Read more: Can I stay in France via the 90/180 day rule if visa has expired?
In many cases, especially since the pandemic and in large cities with high demand, it has become difficult to communicate with prefectures, with some refusing to see people without an appointment.
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Appointments can take months to obtain, said charity worker Pablo Krasnopolsky, who was among dozens of protesters outside the Valde- Marne prefecture recently. In the meantime, some people find their previous permit expires, he said.
“It can result in people losing their jobs or even their housing, so it has very serious social consequences.” He said this is “creating new undocumented migrants”, unintentionally.
Putting everything online at Anef might help, but so far several readers have experienced issues with applications on the site, including waiting months after applying for any updates on their file, and difficulty making contact with anyone to help.
Once you apply online, you should receive an attestation de dépôt document as proof of application.
In a further stage, if the dossier is considered ‘complete’, you should, if you applied in time, receive an attestation de prolongation, giving up to three months of entitlement to stay.
It should be renewed again if the prefecture needs more time. Card renewals via Anef are asked for between four and two months before expiry of the previous card – four months is best.
Read more: What is the difference between a French carte de séjour and a titre de séjour?
Text and email notifications
As part of the reforms promised, called PERSée, the Interior Ministry says that in future foreigners will automatically receive both a text and an email four months before a card should be renewed, followed by subsequent alerts two months and one week before.
The aim, it says, is to avoid situations where people find themselves without legal residency rights.
Stephanie Ayars, an American living in Alpes-Maritimes who ended up waiting 20 months for her residency card for self-employment in marketing, said the new system “is progress” and might help to avoid situations like hers.
She experienced stress after not receiving the usual text message that is the prefecture’s only way to notify that a card is ready to collect. Ms Ayars, 46, came on a student visa in 2020 to do an MBA, and applied for a student carte de séjour.
In September 2022, she applied to the prefecture for a new status to start her own business. In May, she finally received clarification that her card had been waiting. The prefecture has now renewed it as the original card had expired.
Over the 20 months she had submitted multiple inquiries via the prefecture’s site, as well as emails, with no response. Her application was successful, which she puts down to having spent thousands of euros on legal advice and the fact she is used to writing up business plans.
She said: “I’m sure it’s not easy for them. I’ve heard on the grapevine that the prefecture is overwhelmed and understaffed.
“But they must at least introduce a second communication channel, as it’s a risk with just one. It really does take your own initiative – I could have just continued to sit and wait. I have a trip to the US booked that I’ve already moved twice now. I’m so happy to have the card in my hands. I can plan my life.”
Reader Susan Hendry, 70, highlighted the issue of having to apply to change the name on her WA card because it had been issued in her married name rather than in her birth surname.
It was flagged up to her when she applied for a driving licence, using her residency card. “It’s been a nightmare because I can’t get anyone to speak to – the prefecture said it’s all online now.
“I applied with help from the local médiathèque, but will have to reapply again for my driving licence and am not sure I can legally drive.”
A change of surname on a Brexit WA card can be made online on the Anef website under Je déclare un changement de situation.
