France's 2024 immigration law contains several provisions that are intended to improve the integration of foreigners, including tougher language requirements.
You can find a full explanation of the new rules in our separate explanation article, but in brief, the new law brings in tougher language requirements for long-term residency cards, while raising the language level required for French citizenship.
- Those making their first applications for the multi-year carte de séjour plurianuelle must now demonstrate a language level of at least A2 on the international CERL scale.
- Meanwhile, those making their first application for the 10-year carte de résident must demonstrate at least B1 language levels.
- Those applying for French citizenship previously had to demonstrate at least the B1 level - that has now been raised to B2 level.
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We asked our readers to send us their questions on the immigration law, and the subject that came up again and again was whether there is any kind of exemption for over-65s, or for retirees in general.
In short, people over the age of 65 are exempt from both language and civics tests for residency card applications (the pluriannuelle and 10-year carte de résident statuses), but there is no broad exemption for citizenship applications.
Meanwhile, British retirees who have been in France since before 2021 should note that the changes do not apply to people who have the special Brexit carte de séjour known as the WARP or Article 50 TUE.
Long-term residency cards
There are two types of long-term residency cards which are affected by the change - the carte de séjour pluriannuelle and the carte de résident. Most people switch onto these after several years of one-year cards.
As mentioned above, people over the age of 65 who are applying for these statuses are exempt from the language requirement.
READ MORE: French government confirms civics and language test exemption for over 65s
Brits
UK nationals who lived in France prior to 2021 and have the special Brexit carte de séjour known as WARP or Article 50 TUE are not affected by the changes.
There are two types of Brexit cards - the five-year card and the permanent card.
Brits who had lived in France for more than five years were issued with the carte de séjour permanent - the card itself needs renewing every 10 years but the right to remain is permanent. It is therefore not necessary to provide any justification documents when it comes to renewal time, other than proof of continued residency in France.
Brits who had lived here for less than five years were issued with a five-year card. When these come up for renewal, in 2026 for most people, they can be swapped directly for the permanent card without having to provide justification other than proof of continued residency in France.
As such, Brits on Brexit cards are exempt from both the forthcoming civics and language tests.
Citizenship
Some foreigners in France may also want to apply for French citizenship, which can be obtained through marriage, through ancestry or through five years of residency (cut to two years for anyone who has completed higher education in France).
Citizenship has always had a language requirement, but the new law raises that from B1 level to B2 - full details HERE.
There is no age exemption to this - a previous exemption to language requirements for over-65s was scrapped in 2020.
Under the new rules over 70s are exempt only if they hold refugee status and have lived in France for at least 15 years.
There is a medical exemption for anyone who has a medical or cognitive condition that prevents them from taking an exam - a doctor's certificate is required for this.
Repeated renewals
Although personal circumstances (eg whether you are working, retired, or the spouse of an EU national) can affect your card, the most common route for early retirees in France is to arrive on a visitor visa and then move to the one-year 'visiteur' carte de séjour, which can be renewed annually.
After five years of renewals, people have the option to switch to longer-term cards - and most people take up that option to avoid the annual hassle and expense of renewing the card.
It should be noted that the language requirements are only for multi-year cards, so the first way to avoid the language requirement is to simply stay on annual renewals.
The new law does include a limit on renewals for some groups; however, this does not apply to people who hold a 'visiteur' carte de séjour.
As such, early retirees on the visitor card looking to avoid language tests until they reach the age of 65 can simply continue with annual renewals.
Emma Pearson
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