Bringing family under the regroupement rules

Regroupement familial is the process for a foreign person living in France to apply for foreign relatives to come to France to live with them.

It applies when the relatives are not coming under any other specific category or in their own right, for example, because of their own job offer in France.

It is common as, other than the case of the passeport talent, people coming on ordinary work visas do not have an automatic right to come with close family members immediately.

However, it is often possible for them to do so but they should indicate this intention on their visa application so all the applications can be linked.

If they come over at the same time as a spouse/civil partner who is not a French or EU citizen and does not have passeport talent status (and cannot benefit from the Brexit WA) they will generally have to obtain a ‘visitor’ visa and will not be able to work unless they later fulfil the conditions for a ‘resident’ card conferring this right, or change status, eg. because of receiving a job offer.

Regroupement at a later date, however, allows for the person brought over to work in France.

Regroupement happens in several steps, with the person in France applying for the right to regroupement from a body in France and the family members then applying for VLS-TS regroupement visas from the French consulate of the country where they live.

The conditions for regroupement depend on the exact status of the foreign national living in France and the relationship with the person who wishes to join them.

Essentially, non-EU foreigners in France on ordinary residency cards (notably not the special passeport talent status) are able to bring over their spouse and/or minor children, under certain conditions, including having been living legally in France for at least 18 months, a means test and having sufficient space at home to accommodate them.

The French minimum monthly wage, known as the Smic (€1,426 net) is sufficient for a family of two to three members, slightly more is required for larger families. As a general rule, income from benefits is not counted towards this.

Non-EU foreign residents in France do not have any specific right to bring their parents to live with them. Parents wanting to come to live with them would have to apply for their own card under ‘visitor’ status if they have sufficient means of their own.

The application for a regroupement familial is made to the local offices of Ofii, the French Office for Immigration and Integration.

Once Ofii has checked that the application and supporting documents are in order, an attestation is issued to confirm that the application has been lodged. The dossier is then studied further with input from the prefecture and mairie.

The French resident should send copies of the attestation and supporting documents to the family members, who can then apply in the country where they live for a visa de long-séjour valant titre de séjour (long-stay visa equivalent to a residency card) to come to France.

Once in France any adult family member should apply for a carte de séjour vie privée et familiale, from four to two months from expiry of the visa, to prolong their residency rights.

This status allows for any kind of work and there is no requirement of an autorisation de travail work permit to accept a job.

Minor children who came via regroupement have a right to have the same card at age 18 (or at 16 if they want to work).

The situation of minor children who come to France at the same time as someone on an ordinary working status (not a passeport talent) card is less clear cut apart from those who come before the age of 13 and thus have the right to a vie privée et familiale card.

As for others, they will also usually be able to obtain a card on the basis of their established family life and links in France, said an advisor from the La Cimade association, which helps immigrants to France.

However, she warned that there could be a grey area in the case of those who came over as older teenagers (eg. 16 or 17 years old), where some prefectures may consider that these links are too recent and not sufficiently established to issue them with this card.