Permanent EU residence card: renewal cut to a 2-year absence statement

Citizens of the EU, the EEA and Switzerland who have resided legally and continuously in France for the previous five years acquire a permanent right of residence across FranceLegifrance, and a 10-year cardService Public renewable as of right is delivered to them. The card, marked « Citoyen UE/EEE/Suisse - Séjour permanent - Toutes activités professionnelles », certifies a right that no longer depends on holding a job: administration can no longer ask the holder to prove employment. An absence from France of more than two consecutive years makes the holder lose the permanent rightLegifrance.

A first permanent card requires five continuous years of professional activity in France and continued residence, with or without work. The dossier combines a valid identity card or passport, an indication of domicile under six months old brought by any means, evidence of five years' continuous stay at one document per half-year such as rent receipts or invoices, evidence of the right of residence over those five years such as attestations d'emploi, contracts or registration, and an e-photo code. Workers who stop before five years can still qualify: retirement including early retirement after three years' regular residence with the last twelve months worked, permanent incapacity after two years as an employee or through a work accident or occupational disease opening a social-security annuity, and involuntary unemployment or involuntary stoppages counted as employment. Involuntary cessation is evidenced with a « certificat d'incapacité de travail », a France Travail registration with the duration of the ended activity, or stage follow-up attestations. Delivery is free, at the préfecture or sous-préfecture of domicile.

Renewal of the permanent card now follows a single short list for every holderService Public. The applicant files online through the ANEF service with a valid identity card or passport, an indication of domicile under six months old brought by any means, an « attestation sur l'honneur certifiant que vous ne vous êtes pas absenté du territoire français pendant plus de 2 ans consécutifs depuis l'obtention de votre dernier titre de séjour permanent », and the e-photo codeService Public. The five-year continuity justificatifs and the five-year right-of-residence justificatifs are no longer asked at renewalService Public, and the separate retired and permanently-incapacitated renewal document lists have disappearedService Public: one attestation covers the only fact that can end the right. Since the right itself is permanent but the card is valid only ten years, the card must be renewed at expiry; renewal is likewise free and handed over at the préfecture of domicile.

The involuntary-cessation evidence in the employee and non-employee lists now names a « certificat d'incapacité de travail » where the page previously required a « certificat d'inaptitude au travail délivré par le médecin du travail ».

Legal basis: articles L233-1 to L233-6 and L234-1 to L234-3, R210-1 to R286-2, R233-11 to R233-18 and R234-1 to R234-6 of the Code de l'entrée et du séjour des étrangers et du droit d'asile.