Applying for your first carte de séjour in 2026
Your long-stay visa gets you into France; the carte de séjour lets you stay. It's the first proper residence permit most Britons hold, and the application — choosing the right category, assembling the dossier, paying the (newly raised) fee, and doing it all through the ANEF portal — sets the tone for years of renewals to come. Get the category right and the timing early, and it's routine. Here's how.
The short version
- The carte de séjour is your residence permit — the card that follows your long-stay visa and proves your right to live (and sometimes work) in France.
- Choosing the right category is the big decision. Visiteur (no work), salarié (employee), entrepreneur/libérale (self-employed), vie privée et familiale (family ties), passeport talent (skilled) — each has its own rules and fee.
- Fees rose on 1 May 2026. A first card is now around €350 (some family/student cards €150), and validating your long-stay visa is €300.
- Timing is everything. Apply two to four months before your visa or current permit expires — not after.
- It all runs through ANEF, the online portal, where you upload, pay and track. The attestation de prolongation keeps you legal if the decision runs past your expiry.
- New for 2026: a civics test applies to multi-year and ten-year cards, and many permits expect around A2-level French.
There's a particular relief in holding your first carte de séjour: the visa that brought you over was always temporary, a bridge, but the card feels like permission to actually live here. Getting it is not hard, exactly, but it is consequential — the category you choose shapes what you can do, the timing determines whether you stay legal without a gap, and the whole thing now costs meaningfully more than it did a year ago. So it pays to go in clear-eyed. We'll cover which card is yours, what the dossier needs, the new 2026 fees, and how the ANEF process actually runs.
From visa to card: where you are on the ladder
Almost every British arrival follows the same climb. You enter on a visa de long séjour (VLS-TS), which you must validate online within your first three months — a step that effectively switches it on as a residence permit for its first year. Before that year runs out, you apply for your first proper carte de séjour. Renew it, and after a settled year you can often move to a multi-year card; after around five years, the ten-year carte de résident comes into view. Knowing where you are on this ladder tells you which application you're actually making.
Which card is yours?
This is the decision that matters most, because the category dictates your documents, your fee, and crucially whether you may work. Open each to see who it's for.
Common for retireesVisiteur — for the financially self-sufficient, no work
The default for retirees and the independently funded. You prove sufficient resources and health cover, and you agree not to work in France. One year to start, then renewable, and eventually multi-year. The trap: it genuinely bars employment, so if you might work, it's the wrong card.
EmployeesSalarié — for employees with a French contract
For those with a job offer or contract in France. You'll show your contrat de travail, recent payslips, and (depending on the role) an employer work authorisation. Its validity tends to track your employment, and a payslip is the gold-standard proof at renewal.
Self-employedEntrepreneur / profession libérale — for the self-employed
For running your own business or freelancing. Expect to show your business registration, a viable plan, and evidence the venture can support you. If you intend to set up as a micro-entrepreneur, this is the residence side of that coin — our working-in-France guide covers the business side.
Family tiesVie privée et familiale — for those with family ties
For spouses of French citizens, parents of French children, and others with strong family links. Often multi-year, sometimes at a reduced fee, and it permits work. You'll evidence the relationship (marriage or birth certificates) and, usually, that you won't be a burden on the state.
Skilled / longerPasseport talent & the multi-year card
Passeport talent is a distinct, often multi-year route for the highly skilled, certain entrepreneurs and researchers, sometimes applied for straight at the préfecture. Separately, most one-year cards can become a carte pluriannuelle of up to four years once you've shown a settled, compliant year — the goal you're climbing towards.
The choice people regret
Don't take the visitor card if there's any chance you'll want to work
The visiteur card is the easiest to qualify for — prove resources, prove health cover, done — which is exactly why people drift into it. But it comes with a genuine no-work commitment, and switching category later means a fresh application, not a quick amendment. If there's a realistic chance you'll take a job or set up as self-employed, choose a card that permits it from the start, even if it asks a little more of you now. Changing your mind after the fact is the expensive path.
Proof of resources is easier with the right accounts
Visitor and several other cards hinge on showing stable resources, and a French account with clean statements makes that painless. If you're moving money over to prove it, a transfer service that doesn't gouge the exchange rate is worth having in place.
See the accounts and transfer services we rate →Pimpernel may earn a small commission if you use this — it never changes what we recommend, and there's nothing to sell you.
The dossier, and the ANEF process
Whichever category, the application runs through ANEF, the residence-permit portal, and the shape is consistent: create or log into your account, choose the permit type, upload your documents, pay the timbre fiscal, and submit. The document set always includes a valid passport, a recent proof of address, evidence of resources, proof of health cover, and a certified e-photo from an approved booth — plus the category-specific extras (a work contract, a business registration, a marriage certificate). Because ANEF has its own quirks — the e-photo trap, the repeated-document loops — it's worth reading our full ANEF guide alongside this one; that's where the mechanics live.
On submission, ANEF issues a récépissé, and if a decision hasn't come by the time your visa or current card expires, the attestation de prolongation d'instruction keeps you legal, working and able to travel. Processing commonly runs a couple of months; you'll be called for biometrics and to collect the card in person once approved.
What it costs in 2026
The numbers changed on 1 May 2026, and upwards. Validating your long-stay visa now costs around €300 (up from €200). A first carte de séjour is roughly €350 at the standard rate, with certain family and student cards nearer €150. Renewals — covered in depth in our renewal guide — sit around €250. And there are now adjacent costs to budget for: certified translations, the civics test (around €69) for multi-year and ten-year cards, and language exams where A2 is expected. None of these is enormous alone, but together they're worth planning for rather than meeting by surprise at the payment screen.
Not sure which card is yours — or want the dossier checked?
Choosing the wrong category is the costliest early mistake, and a first application has a lot of moving parts. Pimpernel can help you pick the right card and pressure-test your ANEF dossier before you pay the timbre and submit.
The 2026 integration requirements
Two newer expectations deserve a flag. First, the civics requirement: since the start of 2026 a civics test applies to multi-year residence cards, the ten-year card and naturalisation — expect a timed test on French values, history and institutions, with a pass mark around 80%. Second, language: many permits now look for demonstrable French at roughly A2 level. Neither should alarm you, but both reward preparation rather than a last-minute scramble — and our language guide is built precisely to get you to A2 without pain. Build these into your timeline from the start, especially if a multi-year card is your next rung.
Handled with the right category, an early start and a clean ANEF dossier, your first carte de séjour is a milestone rather than an ordeal — and it makes every renewal that follows more familiar. The trick is simply to choose well, begin early, and treat the portal with the patience it demands.
Your card is the first rung of a longer climb
First card, renewal, multi-year, and one day the ten-year resident card — each with its own window and paperwork. Pimpernel Pro's residency wizard maps your route, holds your deadlines, and reminds you before each clock starts.
- The visa & residency wizards
- Renewal & deadline reminders
- Document checklists
- Every Library guide, in depth
Master the portal first
Every step here happens on ANEF. Our complete guide decodes the account, the e-photo trap, every status, and the documents that keep you legal.
Read: ANEF explained →Already holding a card?
Renewal has its own timing, its own traps, and a late-fee you'll want to dodge. Here's how to renew without the last-minute panic.
Read: Renewing your carte de séjour →Straight from the source
The application itself is done on the ANEF portal (étrangers en France); the document lists and eligibility rules are set out on service-public.fr.
Card types, fees and requirements here are current for 2026 and drawn from official and specialist sources, but French immigration rules change often and vary by préfecture and category. Pimpernel are not immigration lawyers. Confirm the specifics for your situation on the official ANEF site or with a qualified adviser before acting. This guide is general information, not legal advice.