Can elderly British mother live with us in France?

I am trying to arrange for my elderly mother to live with us in France. I am a British national with a 10-year Brexit Withdrawal Agreement carte de séjour and my husband is a Dutch national. Mum came to stay and I have been trying to get an appointment at the prefecture. Her UK travel and medical insurance runs out soon, as does her three-month stay in France without a visa, and she will have to return to the UK. She has reduced mobility and can no longer live independently. Is there anything I can do?

Your mother should have the right to live with you under the terms of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement (WA) if she is dependent on you. She may also be allowed to come and live in France as a family member of your husband, who is an EU citizen due to his Dutch nationality.

A non-EU citizen is seen as a family members of an EU citizen for residency purposes in France if the non-EU citizen is their:

1) Spouse or registered partner

2) Child under 21 or child under 21 of their spouse

3) Dependent descendant (child or grandchild) or ancestor (parent or grandparent)

4) Dependent descendant or ancestor of the spouse of the EU citizen

It is also possible for close relatives including, for example, siblings to come to live with an EU citizen if the relative is very ill. Bearing in mind these points, your mother should have a legitimate right to residency with you in France.

However, the normal route towards residency as a family member of an EU citizen (e.g. your husband) is for the relative to obtain a special free ‘family members’ carte de séjour from the local prefecture in France once they have arrived, within the first three months. This could pose a problem in terms of relying on your mother’s link to your husband as she will have already been in France for more than three months.

A dependent parent of a WA beneficiary living in France also does not need to come on a visa to join them under the WA, unless they are of a nationality normally requiring a visa for short-term trips to France (this is not the case for Britons).

In this situation, however, normally the person should apply to the local prefecture for a WA residency card, as soon as possible after coming so as to avoid overstaying beyond their 90 days without securing their WA rights. This poses the problem that you say that your mother’s 90 days is about to expire. The process will also require you to provide proof of her dependency on you.

According to one of the administrators of the Rift Facebook group, which defends the rights of Britons in France, Justine Wallington, the WA section on family members relies on an EU law that does not provide a very specific definition of what constitutes dependency.

However she said that they have generally found that “longterm financial dependency is better accommodated by the free movement directive – therefore also by the WA – than physical or medical dependency.”

Having said that, she said that the French decree which put the WA rules into French law, is more helpful, stating in article 3 that one reason for a family member to come is if they “urgently need personal help from the WA Briton for serious medical reasons”. The wording of the French decree also more generally refers to “dependent direct ancestors”.

So, rather than the legal right of your mother to stay, the main issue now could be the time and paperwork required to secure your mother’s status in France under these dependency rules, whether financial and/or due to physical and medical issues.

In some cases where a person subject to the 90-days rule finds themselves unable to leave due to unforeseen circumstances, it is possible to apply to a prefecture to extend the stay for up to 180 days. Illness is one reason that could be given.

The application in this case is for an autorisation provisoire de séjour (temporary right to stay). If this is granted, this may give you the time to work out a plan for applying for the WA residency card. The British embassy or an immigration lawyer are also possible sources of help.

Card applications for someone who is a member of the family of an EU citizen are usually submitted at this link.

As of 2025 new WA card applications still have to be made on paper to prefectures.