How to Get Residency in France: 6 Routes Compared (2026)

Nobody gets residency in France in one go. You get a visa, then a card, then renewals, and only years later a long-term card or a French passport. The route you start on decides what you’re allowed to do here. Below we compare the six routes we handle, using the official French texts only, so you can pick one before you spend money on a file.

What does residency in France mean in practice?

Service-Public, the French administration’s official information site, puts it plainly. An adult foreign national staying in France for more than 3 months must hold a long-stay visa or a residence card, unless they’re a citizen of a European Economic Area country or Switzerland (who needs a residence permit).

In practice there are two documents. The visa gets you in, and the consulate issues it before you travel. The residence card lets you stay, and the prefecture (préfecture) issues it after you arrive. Some long-stay visas, called ‘VLS-TS’ (visa de long séjour valant titre de séjour), act as your residence permit for as long as they’re valid, 4 to 12 months, once you validate them. Others are stamped with the words “carte de séjour à solliciter dans les 2 mois suivant l’arrivée”, meaning you must apply for a card within 2 months of arrival (long-stay visa page).

If you’re working out how to move to France for good, plan for the end point now, because the 10-year cards and naturalisation have their own language rules.

Which France residence permit types are open to you?

Here are the six routes side by side, with a link to our page for each. We’ve quoted the headline conditions from Service-Public as they stood on 2 November 2026. They aren’t the full list, so read the official page for your route before you apply.

The investor route heads the table because it’s France IDEA’s main programme, and the next section covers it in detail. Sources: the Service-Public pages on the talent card, visitor card, entrepreneur card and talent-famille card. Each route can lead to a 10-year card, and our Permanent Residence and Citizenship Pathway page explains how.

Investor residency in France: the €300,000 route

If you have capital but no French employer, this is usually the strongest option, and it’s the one France IDEA focuses on. Officially it’s a multi-year ‘talent’ card for a ‘porteur de projet’ (project holder), in the economic investment category. You’ll still see its old name, ‘Passeport Talent investisseur économique’, and it’s often sold as the France golden visa.

Who it suits

It’s built for investors and business owners who want to move their family to France without taking a job or building a company from nothing. The authorities look at the investment and what it does for jobs, not at your diploma or an employer.

The official conditions

Service-Public lists three conditions for the economic investment category (talent card page):

• you invest personally, or through a company you run or in which you hold at least 30% of the capital;
• you create or safeguard jobs, or commit to doing so;
• the investment goes into tangible or intangible fixed assets in France and is at least €300,000.

Your file then has to prove it. That means evidence of the investment (or your commitment to make it), a business plan with a yearly job-creation commitment, and proof that jobs will be created or kept within 4 years of investing (same page). In France IDEA’s programme, the €300,000 goes into an operating French company and stays there for 5 years, as explained on our France Residency by Investment page.

Your family

Your spouse (aged 18 or over) and your children can come with you. Your spouse gets a ‘talent-famille’ card without going through family reunification and may work (talent-famille page). Children don’t need a residence permit until they’re 18. Our Talent Passport family guide covers the details.

How long the permit lasts

Service-Public caps talent cards at 4 years, and our investor programme is built around a 4-year card that you renew. Like the other cards here, the first one costs €350 in tax stamps (talent card page).

From investor card to permanent residence

Years on a talent card count towards the 5 you need for the EU long-term resident card, valid for 10 years, and naturalisation can follow. That is the path from an investor card to permanent residency in France. Both steps carry a language level and a civic exam, explained below.

Which route to residency in France fits you?

These are made-up examples, not client cases.

• A family with capital but no job offer. One spouse puts €300,000 into a French operating company and gets a multi-year talent card. The other spouse gets a ‘talent-famille’ card and can take a job. The children simply go to school.
• A retired couple with pensions. They won’t work and have regular income, so the visitor card fits, renewed each year.
• An engineer with a French job offer. A contract of more than 3 months paying at least €39,582 gross a year points to the ‘talent-salarié qualifié’ (qualified employee) category. The employer doesn’t need a work authorisation.
• A founder with a tech project. If the ministry in charge of the economy (ministère chargé de l’économie) recognises the project as innovative, the startup route applies. That recognition comes before the visa.
• A consultant opening a small firm. A master’s degree (or 5 years of similar experience) and €30,000 of funding open the talent business-creation category. Without those, the usual answer is the 1-year entrepreneur card.

Still deciding how to move to France? Our route finder on the homepage asks a few questions and sends you to the right programme page.

How do you apply for a French residence permit?

Whichever route you take to residency in France, the steps run in the same order. Only the evidence changes, plus one extra ministry opinion for business routes.

1. Check the conditions for your route. For each condition on the Service-Public page, note the document that proves it.
2. Get the ministry opinion if you are creating a business. For business creation and innovative projects, you first ask the economy ministry whether it considers the project “réel et sérieux” (‘real and serious’, talent card page).
3. Apply for the long-stay visa. You apply to the French consulate in the country where you live, no earlier than 3 months before you leave. Check your passport first. It must be valid for 3 months after the visa ends, have 2 blank pages and be under 10 years old (long-stay visa page).
4. Validate the visa or apply for the card on arrival. A VLS-TS has to be validated online within 3 months, and you pay a tax at that point. If your visa says you must apply for a card, you have 2 months. For a talent stay of 1 year or more, the consulate issues a 3-month talent visa and you apply for the card online within 2 months of entry (talent card page).
5. File on ANEF and keep the receipt. The ANEF website handles VLS-TS validation, many card applications, renewals and naturalisation (Service-Public). Each French residence permit application gives you a digital filing certificate straight away. Keep it.
6. Pay the stamps and collect the card. The prefecture lets you know when the card is ready and how much to pay. Bring proof of the tax stamps when you collect it. Visitors also hand in the medical certificate from the French Office for Immigration and Integration (Office français de l’immigration et de l’intégration, OFII; visitor card page).
7. Renew on time. The online renewal window opens 4 months before your current document runs out and closes 2 months before it (Service-Public).

What documents do you need for a residence permit in France?

Every card has its own list on Service-Public, but most of it overlaps, so you can start on the core papers before you’ve settled on a route.

The core file

• your passport (identity, validity, entry stamp and visa pages) or another accepted identity document;
• your long-stay visa or current residence permit;
• proof of address in France less than 6 months old;
• your e-photo code, from an approved photographer or photo booth;
• your signed pledge to uphold republican principles;
• proof that you have paid the tax and stamp duty, which you hand over when you collect the card.

Route-specific evidence

• Investor: proof of the €300,000 investment, the business plan and evidence of the jobs created or kept, or your commitment to create them within 4 years (talent card page).
• Visitor: proof of resources, a handwritten statement that you will not work, health insurance for your stay and the OFII medical certificate (visitor card page).
• Startup and business creation: the economy ministry’s opinion, proof of funding and the company’s registration papers, such as its articles or Kbis extract.
• Family: marriage and birth certificates and the main holder’s card (talent-famille page).

How much does a French residence permit cost?

You pay official fees with tax stamps (‘timbres fiscaux’), bought online or from a tobacconist that sells them. The amounts below are Service-Public’s, checked on 2 November 2026.

Translations, apostilles (your consulate can tell you which ones your country’s documents need), language tests and adviser fees come on top. One Service-Public warning is worth repeating: private websites charge for help with naturalisation, yet apart from the tax stamp the procedure is free (naturalisation page).

How do you get permanent residency in France?

In everyday use, permanent residency in France means a 10-year card. There are two main ones, and both now carry the language and civic conditions brought in by law no. 2024-42 of 26 January 2024 on immigration and integration.

The EU long-term resident card

Once you’ve lived in France lawfully and without interruption for at least 5 years, you can apply for the ‘résident de longue durée-UE’ card. It lasts 10 years and can be renewed. You’ll also need health insurance, proof of republican integration and stable, regular resources of at least the minimum wage (the Smic, shown as €1,867.02 gross a month when we checked; long-term resident card). Not every permit counts towards the 5 years, so check each of your past cards against the official list.

The 10-year resident card

The ordinary ‘carte de résident’ is reserved for situations that Service-Public lists, and it costs €350 (10-year resident card).

French language and civic exam since 1 January 2026

Since 1 January 2026, non-EU nationals applying for a first multi-year card or a first resident card have to prove their French and pass a civic exam (language requirement page). Levels follow the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).

The civic exam is 40 multiple-choice questions, and you pass with 80%, which means 32 right answers (integration contract page). If you’re over 65, the language level doesn’t apply to you, and nor does the civic exam for the resident card. As for proof, the only tests the Ministry of the Interior accepts are the TCF and the TEF. Their certificates last 2 years, and some diplomas can be used instead (Service-Public).

French citizenship

To be naturalised by decree, you normally need 5 years of residence in France (there are exceptions), French at B2 and proof of assimilation, which is checked through the civic exam and an interview (naturalisation page). You apply separately, on ANEF or by post, and nothing is automatic.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Treating the visa as the finish line. Miss the 3-month validation of a VLS-TS and you’re no longer lawfully resident, and you can’t cross back into the Schengen area.
• Assuming a company gives you the right to live in France. Registering one creates no residence right on its own. You still need a card that fits.
• Choosing the visitor card and planning to work. The visitor card rules out all work, employed or self-employed. If you want to work, look at the talent or entrepreneur routes.
• Filing renewals late. The window opens 4 months before expiry and shuts 2 months before. File late without a good reason and the 10-year resident card page lists an extra €180 fee.
• Leaving the language test to the end. Only certain tests count, and the certificate lasts 2 years. Book early enough to have it in hand, but not so early that it expires before you file.

Frequently asked questions

How France IDEA helps

We begin by matching your situation to one route, and you can try our route finder before you call us. Then we build the file for that route, your family’s papers included, and keep track of the dates that matter, from visa validation and the 2-month window to renewals and the 5-year mark. The French authorities make the decision. What we control is the quality of the file: complete, coherent and filed on time. If you’re weighing up the €300,000 route to residency in France, start with our France Residency by Investment page, then contact France IDEA to talk through your plans.

Official sources

Last updated: 2 November 2026. This is general information, not legal advice. French immigration rules change often, so check the official pages listed above before you file anything.