Some foreign people who have spent multiple years in France on one-year ‘visitor’ visas/residency cards find prefectures are reluctant to give them a 10-year carte de résident, a secure long-term residency status, even though this is their right.
The Connexion spoke to an immigration avocat (lawyer) about how to minimise risks of this happening and what to do if it does.
There are three kinds of 10-year card called carte de résident (resident’s card), including a kind mostly issued to those with close family established in France, as well as a ‘permanent’ kind, that may be issued on renewal of a first carte de résident.
However, the kind we are concerned with, here, is the carte de résident de longue durée – UE (UE long-term resident’s card).
This confirms a status which is defined by a 2003 EU directive, so it benefits from protections above national French law.
The directive outlines how the right to it arises after a non-EU citizen has lived in an EU country having sufficient stable means to support themselves and being covered for healthcare during the five years (12-month periods) before applying for the card.
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The person should also have lived in a ‘continuous’ manner in France during this period; defined as not more than six months consecutively or more than 10 months in total (with certain exceptions if the absence was for a good reason, such as linked to study or work).
Problems arise sometimes when people apply after having had five years in France under cartes de séjour ‘visiteur’ (including a first year on a visa de long-séjour valant titre de séjour, ‘equivalent’ to a first carte de séjour).
This may be linked to the fact that these are one-year (renewable) cards described by France as temporaire (temporary), as opposed to cartes de séjour pluriannuelles (‘multi-year’ cards, issued for between two and four years) or the cartes de résident mentioned above.
EU directive
The EU directive says long-term resident status is not aimed at those ‘staying exclusively for temporary reasons such as au pairs and seasonal workers’, and a list of such kinds of residency status excluded from the EU-long term resident scheme was put into article L426-18 of France’s main immigration law.
However, this does not include people on cartes de séjour ‘visiteur’, a status available to those able to support themselves without working in France, who in many cases use this to move on a settled basis.
People on this status are legally not allowed to work or start a business, but must live from sources such as pensions and investments (rentals may be possible if not deemed ‘professional’).
Many such newcomers hope to later gain a 10-year card to avoid annual residency admin, benefit from a more secure legal residency status and perhaps do part-time work or start a small business as an income top-up.
Immigration avocat Indiara Fazolo, from Paris, confirmed that, despite the terms ‘visitor’ or ‘temporary card’, visitor card holders are not among those excluded from applying for the carte de résident status due to the inherently temporary nature of their stay in France.
Even so, she confirmed reports from some relocation specialists that obtaining the 10-year card can be challenging.
“It’s sometimes difficult, but ‘visitors’ are not one of the exceptions listed by law,” she said.
“One problem is that in practice prefectures may find it bizarre to give a carte de résident to someone on a ‘visitor’ card because the principle of the carte de résident is that the person has the centre of their interests here in France.
“But people should ask for it and the case law shows that when people take this to court the courts allow it to them. So, if the law doesn’t exclude it, it’s not up to the prefectures to invent problems that don’t exist in law.
“However, the most important thing to check in such cases is that the people concerned have been declaring their income in France, which is not always the case.”
She said that they must ensure that, even if income is from abroad, it is correctly declared to France (The Connexion’s annual guide to French income tax details how this is done), so this can be checked for stable and sufficient revenues. If possible, she said, attach five years of income tax statements (avis d’impôt) as proof.
Application guidance
Another factor is that the person, when submitting their application, should explicitly name the card they are applying for (carte de résident de longue-durée - UE), she said.
If they are under-65 (and without health exclusions) they should also ensure they supply the required (B1) language certificate and a pass in the new civic test as proof of integration in France.
Those exempt on age grounds could consider taking a language test voluntarily as additional evidence of integration, she said.
They should also provide proof of having been covered for health (note that since 2016, affiliation to the French system via the ‘Puma’ system, if not covered through work, is obligatory to those in stable, legal residency), and if they are homeowners, proof of this.
“But if the prefecture responds that you cannot have the card due to having had ‘visitor’ cards, that’s illegal – assuming they even respond, as sometimes they don’t and just go on renewing one-year visitor cards indefinitely,” Ms Fazolo explained.
She said immigration lawyers such as herself can assist with preparing an application, or, if one is refused, with an appeal to the administrative court.
“However, the process can be long, and people should expect to likely have to renew the card again at least once, before they get the response. But it can be worth it, to have peace of mind for ten years, especially for older people,” she said.
Some relocation experts report having seen on occasion, 10-year cards issues that stated the holder could not work, however Ms Fazolo said she has never heard of cases of this.
No such card is provided for in French or EU law, with the EU directive stating (article 11, ‘equal treatment’) that EU long-term resident status gives equal rights with French nationals as concerns access to salaried or unsalaried work.
