French car registration documents go digital - but not yet for foreign residents

The France Identité smartphone app is now authorised to save an official digital version of the car registration document (carte grise) - but it is still not available for foreign residents with residency cards or visas.

As of June 30, the carte grise joined a growing list of official documents that can be digitised and stored securely via the government-backed France Identité app. 

This ‘digital wallet’ already allows users to upload the modern-format French national identity card and driving licence, in addition to the French health registration card la carte Vitale.

The app also allows cross-platform compatibility with the FranceConnect and FranceConnect+ apps, which grant users secure access to government services without entering their password or proving their identity each time.

With the latest update, drivers with a vehicle registered after 2009 may now input their carte grise’s registration number into the app, and then confirm their identity using a compatible ID card and the phone’s NFC reader. 

Once verified, the digital carte grise becomes available directly from the app’s homepage.

In the event of a roadside check, this digital version can be presented to police in lieu of the paper document. 

Indeed, the update means that drivers with a French identity card can now leave all of the required documents at home after insurance papers were also digitalised last year.

Even so, it would be wise to keep physical copies of all documents in hand until digital versions are more widely accepted.

How to use France Identité

You must have a French national identity card in ‘credit card’ format (introduced in 2021).

The smartphone app is a free download from the Apple Store and Google Play.

Once it has been installed, you can enter your documents one by one by scanning them into the app with your device’s camera. 

The first document to scan is your French national identity card. If you do not have this, you cannot proceed to scan others.

Nonetheless, an expansion of France Identité to include cartes de séjour was originally announced for late 2024, but no official launch date has been confirmed. 

Once implemented, this should allow foreign residents to use France Identité to store their documents. 

However, the Interior Ministry told The Connexion that it has no information on when this may happen. The Agence nationale des titres sécurisés, which is the agency responsible for identity documents in France, has not responded to enquiries on the subject.

In the meantime, foreign residents are advised to carry physical copies of all ID and vehicle documents, as digital or photocopied versions are often not officially accepted. 

The government also warns against using any unofficial third-party apps that propose digitising ID documents, as France Identité is currently the only recognised platform.