French MPs vote in favour of automatic renewal of long-term residency cards

French MPs have voted in favour of automatic renewals of multi-year residency cards and 10-year residency permits (cartes de résident). 

The vote comes despite the government’s stance against the measure.

Those who back the bill say it will end ‘fragility’ for residents left in limbo by lengthy procedures, and will reduce the administrative burden on civil servants currently responsible for processing renewal requests.

Renewals can currently take several months (reportedly, on some occasions up to a year) and can leave applicants without legal right to remain in France due to delays, even if they have submitted applications on time.

Long-term residents whose cards are not renewed in time can lose access to work, benefits, housing, and even healthcare.

A recent report by charity Amnesty International criticises the renewal procedure for its precarity and delays. 

The measure was brought forward by the Socialist Party during an allocated parliamentary ‘niche’ to propose bills to the chamber. It passed on its first reading by 98 votes to 37.

The bill was one of several to pass as MPs from the far-right were largely absent from the chamber, and present left-wing MPs from various parties banded together to support the Socialist measures.

The bill must now be sent to the Senate for further reading. 

It must be noted that the Senate is dominated by parties on the right of the political spectrum, and it is unlikely the bill will pass through the chamber in its current form. 

In its current format, the bill does not apply to the renewal process of shorter, single-year cards such as ‘visitor’ cards, nor to Brexit Withdrawal Agreement cards.

MPs debate topic

Socialist MP Colette Capdevielle who brought the bill forward called the current system “a glaring injustice,” during the debate yesterday (December 11). 

“We’ve managed the feat of clogging up the system for less than 1% of cases,” said the MP, referencing reports of delays and lengthy waits for appointments. 

“99.5% of residency permits, even after having been in an irregular situation, are renewed,” she said.

Under the bill, ‘multi-year’ residency permits (valid for up to four years at a time) and ten-year cartes de résident would be automatically renewed unless legal grounds for refusal are provided by prefectures. 

However, the bill was not backed by government ministers, who said it would create more problems for the system. 

Minister Delegate for the Interior Ministry Marie-Pierre Vedrenne said there were legitimate issues over “deteriorating processing times,” but automatic renewal would not solve these. 

“Without individualised review” of each case, there was a risk residents who no longer fit the criteria to live in France – such as those with a recent disqualifying criminal conviction – would wrongfully receive cards. 

There was a particular risk of this happening if the offence was committed close to the renewal date and was not yet properly logged in administrative systems, she said.

In addition, the Minister Delegate claimed the move would not cut bureaucracy but simply “shift the workload”, probably meaning that time would be spent looking into possible legal reasons for refusal, as opposed to processing renewal requests. 

Ms Capedeville asserted that officials already have the power to withdraw a residency card from someone if they have committed a serious criminal offence seen as making them a public danger and that none of the opponents had presented “the tiniest scrap of a solution or of humanity or realism”.

For their part, far-right Rassemblement National MPs said the Socialist Party was using its parliamentary niche to back left-wing proposals in an attempt to save face with voters after siding with the government to pass the social security aspect of the 2026 budget through parliament earlier this week.