For many non-EU nationals moving to France for more than just a short period, the Contrat d’intégration républicaine (CIR) is one of the first steps in establishing settled residency.
Organised by the Office français de l’immigration et de l’intégration (Ofii), it aims to support newcomers’ integration.
Those affected include employees on standard work contracts, people coming for family reunification with French citizens, and self-employed workers.
Those not affected include people – such as foreign retirees and early retirees – on ‘visitor’ visas, those on student cards or temporary work contracts, seasonal workers, close family members of EU (but not French) citizens, and holders of ‘talent’ cards, for example in certain highly qualified roles, and Withdrawal Agreement cards.
The CIR should not be confused with the Contrat d’engagement à respecter les principes de la République, a simple document applicants for French residency cards are asked to sign to confirm support for ‘Republican values’, such as gender equality and the secular state.
Changes have been made to the language and civic/cultural training elements of the CIR since summer 2025. From January 2026, there is a new requirement to take language and civic tests for those who go on to apply for a first multi-year residency card (carte de séjour pluriannuelle), a 10-year carte de résident, or for common routes to French citizenship.
Your main port of call is one of France’s 31 Ofii centres (see ofii.fr/ou-nous-trouver). Newcomers are typically called in for a visite d’accueil once they have validated a VLS-TS visa (‘equivalent to a residency card’) or applied for a first physical residency card.
If you do not hear from them within 45 days, it is advisable to make contact, providing a copy of your passport and visa details.
The visite d’accueil lasts half a day and includes a written and oral test to assess French language skills, plus an interview giving information about accessing local services to help you settle in.
You will be asked to sign a CIR document, presented with a translation if required. In it, you are asked to confirm you will respect essential values of French society and the Republic, take a serious attitude towards completing required training, and follow up on advice given. A medical check-up is often done on the same day.
Language requirements
If a person has at least European level A2 in French (on a scale of A1–A2–B1–B2–C1–C2), ie. is able to carry out simple tasks and have short exchanges about familiar topics, no further language training is offered. If not, in most cases you will be given free access to an automated online platform, allowing learners to study at their own pace.
From January 1, 2026, anyone applying for their first multi-year residency card must also show proof of reaching level A2, by paying for a French test costing €130–€190. Several are accepted, such as TCF, TEF and Delf. Level B1 will be required for a 10-year card and B2 for citizenship.
You can find test centres here. Ask if the test is on paper or, if on a computer, whether Qwerty keyboards are available. If taking the TCF, take the one labelled IRN (intégration, résidence, nationalité).
People with no certificate at A2 or more will not, from January – with exceptions, such as people with a French university diploma – be able to apply for a first multi-year card, but will only be able to access a ‘temporary’ (one-year) card. This may be issued no more than three times in a row.
Applicants for a first 10-year carte de résident, which includes some newcomers with family links or people who have lived in France for five years under another status, must prove the next level, B1, with more complex communication.
Citizenship requires B2. Over-65s are exempt from language tests, as are those renewing multi-year cards or cartes de résident. Disability-related test adaptations are possible.
The CIR commits newcomers to four days of integration training over several months. It covers themes such as institutions, the health and social systems, work, rights and obligations, and housing, plus key points of French history and culture.
How to find a training centre
As of December 2025, a network of private centres also offers a multiple-choice civic exam, which must be passed at 80% or more by the same people required to pass language tests. It is set at three levels: multi-year card, 10-year card, or naturalisation.
Further information, including examples of the content and how to find centres, is at formation-civique.interieur.gouv.fr. For some centres, see also this site, proposed by the Paris chamber of commerce, which also organises the TEF.
Laurent de Vathaire, manager of Kangourou Provence in Marseille, which offers TEF and civic tests, said it will cost €70. This reflects that it is a simpler test, sat in one go and taking no more than an hour.
Language tests have several modules, including an oral component, writing short texts, and listening and reading comprehension exercises. Questions will be factual (such as: “What are the two parts of the French parliament?”) or ‘situations’ (for example: “An employee in your mairie’s social welfare section wears an Islamic headscarf to meet the public: is that acceptable under principles of laïcité?”).
Mr de Vathaire said: “It is comparable to the test for the Code de la route (driving theory test): people will come along, sit down, take it on a computer and go home.” He said centres will largely be the same as those offering language tests. His centres will initially run group sessions twice a month, but this will evolve according to demand.
Another centre, Provence Lingua in Manosque (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence), said they will offer individual sessions only, on demand, at €100.
The CIR ‘contract’ lasts one year, sometimes renewable once. Six to nine months after you start the training, you will be invited back to Ofii to review what you have learned and receive further advice on local services relevant to you.
