Official site updated for how to renew post-Brexit French residency cards
Residents can swap 5-year for 10-year cards, government update confirms
Some residency cards - including Brexit withdrawal agreement cards - must be renewed at a prefecture
BreizhAtao / Shutterstock / Diocese in Europe
Britons with five-year Brexit WA cards can now apply for a 10-year ‘permanent’ card once they have totalled five years of legal residency, confirms an updated government information website.
The site (service-public.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F35032) states that “having resided in France for at least five years allows you to apply for a residency card bearing the words Séjour permanent”.
It says this should be done dans les deux mois before your five-year card expires.
Paris immigration avocat Haywood Wise previously told The Connexion this wording, which often appears on official residency card sites, can be read as meaning ‘no later than’.
It is not known if the process will eventually be put online, and Britons are still being told to contact their prefecture.
The swap is free and a decree on documents required for this card says you need just your current residency card, a UK passport and a passport photo – taking several copies is advised.
It also refers to proof of living in France in 2020 but it is likely that the five-year card would be seen as evidence of this.
A reader whose five-year card expires in 2026 reports being told by the sub-prefecture of Béziers (Hérault) to wait until three months before their current card expires.
The Hérault prefecture has not responded to an email enquiry about this.
It may be its preferred procedure but it is not stated as a legal requirement in the WA or the French decree on documents as linked to at the site quoted above.
The European Commission’s guidance on permanent residence states: “WA beneficiaries who have resided legally in the host state… for a continuous period of five years acquire the right to reside there permanently… The application for a residence document evidencing this right can be made as of the moment when the right of permanent residence is acquired.”
If you have information on how your prefecture is dealing with this, let us know via feedback@connexionfrance.com.
