Young people: DCEMs can be important for travel

Under-18s do not usually need their own residency card in France and can stay legally with a foreign parent who has a card.

From the age of 16, however, if a young person is going to work, do professional training, or register as a jobseeker, they need to request their own residency card. If their parents have a WA card, they can apply for this specific type of card see chapter 7 on other types of residency cards. 

If the family came under ordinary non-EU citizen arrangements, the card will either be a carte vie privée et familiale or a carte de résident, with its expiration determined by the family’s situation.

Card requests are usually made via the Anef website, except in the case of Brexit WA cards, which are made via prefectures.

Residency cards are not required for children who have French nationality.

While under-18s do not usually have their own residency card, it is useful to obtain a travel document lasting five years, called a DCEM (document de circulation pour étranger mineur), which provides proof that the child or young person is a resident.

The British Embassy says that children will need these documents to prove that they are not concerned by the European Entry/Exit System (EES). However, it has not been clarified whether this applies during the six-month ‘phase-in’ period starting in October 2025.

If your child may need one and you have travel planned, it is advisable to start the process as soon as possible, as many documents are required and some may need translating. You should also allow time for processing.

You can apply on the Anef website by clicking “Je demande un document de voyage.” A DCEM costs €50, payable in timbres fiscaux purchased at a tabac shop or online. DCEMs are free for Brexit WA families.

The document is currently issued as a PDF with a security QR code rather than a plastic card.

However, the Interior Ministry has stated that the adult applicant and the child must still wait for a text alert to go to the prefecture to collect it, “to ensure the DCEM is issued to the correct child.”

The Rift campaign group for Britons in France reports that, although not currently obligatory, DCEMs have been requested at smaller airports where borders are managed by customs officers (Douanes) rather than border police.

Before the introduction of the EES, children were not required to have a DCEM, similar to other children of nationalities that do not need visas for short-term visits to France.

The ministry has also stated that passports of under-18s covered by the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement should not be stamped. However, as this can be difficult to prove when children are travelling without their parents, a DCEM can help avoid passport stamping.

In any case, passport stamps have no legal effect on residents’ right to live in France.

Minors travelling abroad without an adult must have a free autorisation de sortie du territoire.