The 10-year resident card is the most protective status in French immigration law short of nationality. It ends the annual trip to the prefecture and opens any profession. Since 1 January 2026 a first application also requires B1 French and a civic exam, though not for everyone. This guide sets out who qualifies, after how long, and what the new conditions really cover.
A carte de résident runs for ten years and is renewable. It lets you work in any profession without a separate authorisation, and it removes the yearly cycle of documents and appointments.
Three cards are often confused, and the distinction matters.
None of these is the carte de séjour pluriannuelle, the multi-year card of two to four years. That is what most people hold before reaching this stage, whether on a talent passport, a salaried employee card, or a family card issued after a long-stay visa.
The waiting period depends entirely on your route.
After three years
With no waiting period
After four or five years
That last route is the one most people mean when they say “five years”, and it is worth naming correctly. It is not the ordinary resident card. It carries its own conditions: resources at least equal to the minimum wage, and health insurance. Family benefits, the RSA and certain unemployment allowances are excluded from the calculation. Holders of the disabled adults’ allowance are exempt from the resources condition altogether.
The immigration law of 26 January 2024 tried to raise the family routes from three years to five. The Constitutional Council struck those provisions down on 25 January 2024, as amendments unrelated to the bill. Three years therefore remains the rule. Because the censure was procedural, the measure could return in a future text.
This is where most guides are either wrong or incomplete.
Since 1 January 2026, a first resident card requires level B1 in French, in speaking and writing. It also requires a pass in the civic exam marked carte de résident. B1 replaced the A2 that applied before.
The civic exam is a 40-question multiple-choice test on a computer, lasting 45 minutes, with a pass mark of 80 percent. Approved centres set their own price, which the Interior Minister put at 60 to 80 euros in an answer published in August 2026.
The language and civic conditions do not apply to every resident card. The statute names them exactly:
Several routes are absent from that list:
If you reach the card by one of those routes, neither condition applies.
Applicants over 65 are exempt from both the language condition and the civic exam. The two exemptions sit in two separate texts, which is why some sources report only one of them.
A medical certificate also opens adapted exam conditions or an outright exemption, where a disability or chronic condition makes assessment impossible. Candidates who read only braille are exempt from both tests.
The language condition and the civic exam attach to a first delivery only. A resident card is renewable as of right, subject to public order and proof of habitual residence. Our guide to residence permit renewal covers that process.
For the family routes, there is no income condition and no housing condition. The official sheet asks only for proof of address less than six months old. Income requirements belong to the EU long-term route, not to the family ones.
A card can be refused on three grounds:
One step surprises applicants. The prefect asks your mayor for an opinion on your integration. Silence for two months counts as a favourable opinion.
File online on the ANEF platform, in the window running from four months to two months before your current title expires. You receive a filing receipt immediately. Outside that window, no provisional document is issued, and a 180 euro late surcharge applies.
Your file will typically include:
Evidence specific to your route follows, such as a marriage certificate and proof of shared life.
The tax stamp and the medical certificate are only required when you collect the card.
If the prefecture stays silent for four months, that counts as a refusal, and your two-month appeal window opens.
Renewal is as of right, but two conditions can defeat it.
A grave threat to public order is one. Note the word: an ordinary public-order concern can block a first card, but only a grave threat blocks a renewal.
The second is habitual residence. The law defines it precisely, and more strictly than most summaries suggest. You must have transferred the centre of your private and family interests to France. You must also have spent at least six months per calendar year in France over the last three years. Refugees and their families are exempt from this second test.
Separately, a resident card lapses after more than three consecutive years outside France. For the EU long-term card, those three years are counted outside the European Union. That card also lapses after six consecutive years outside French territory.
Bilateral agreements displace the rules above. Algerian nationals hold a certificat de résidence under the 1968 agreement rather than a resident card. Tunisian nationals married to a French citizen can reach the ten-year card after one year of marriage instead of three. Moroccan nationals largely follow the general regime, with some differences.
The 2026 language and civic rules do not map neatly onto these regimes. Check your own position before applying any timeline from this guide.
Does five years of residence automatically give me the 10-year resident card? Not the ordinary one. Five years opens the EU long-term resident card, which carries resources and health insurance conditions the family routes do not.
Does time on a student card count? Several categories are excluded from the five-year calculation. Check your specific permit before assuming the years count.
Is the card issued automatically at the end of my multi-year card? No. You must request it, in the filing window above.
I already passed the A2 test. Is that enough? No. A first resident card now requires B1, a higher level, with a new certificate.
Will I need to retake anything in ten years? No. Renewals trigger neither condition.
Does the exam apply if I am a recognised refugee? No. The refugee resident card is not on the statutory list.
Can I work in any job? Yes, in any profession, without a separate work authorisation.
How long can I leave France? More than three consecutive years abroad causes the card to lapse. Habitual residence is also checked at renewal.
Does the card change my healthcare? No. Health cover follows residence in France, not the type of card you hold. See our guide to PUMA health coverage.
Does it lead to nationality? It helps but does not guarantee it. Naturalisation has its own conditions, including B2 French and the civic exam. See our French naturalisation guide.
The hard part is rarely the paperwork. It is knowing which route you are on, and whether the language and civic conditions apply to you at all. It is also knowing whether your years of residence count the way you think they do. A wrong assumption here costs a year.
Our team at LegalMova works through these files every week, from a [LINK: talent passport] or [LINK: salaried employee] card through to the 10-year resident card. We will confirm your route, tell you which conditions genuinely apply, and plan your filing window.
Book your free consultation with our team. No commitment, no jargon, just a clear answer on where you stand.
