You own a house in the Dordogne, the Luberon or the Pays Basque, you spend Easter and most of the summer there, and since Brexit the same question organises your whole year: how many days may you still spend in France without a visa, how do you count them, and what lawful route lets you stay longer when ninety days are not enough. The short answer is that British citizens are now third-country nationals in the Schengen area: you may stay in France and the rest of the Schengen zone for up to ninety days in any one-hundred-and-eighty-day period without a visa, and every day counts, including arrival and departure days and short trips to Spain or Italy. If you want to spend four months, winter in your French house or simply stop counting, you need a visa before you travel, in practice a long-stay visitor visa, then a visitor residence card, with proof of resources, health insurance and a signed promise not to work in France. This guide explains how to calculate your ninety days without error, which passport rules catch British travellers every year, how the visitor route works from the consulate to the préfecture (the local state authority that issues residence cards), what happens if you overstay, and how to challenge a visa refusal, a residence-card refusal or a removal order within the legal time limits.

I. How long a British second-home owner may stay in France without a visa: the 90/180-day rule and how to calculate it

A. Why ninety days in any one-hundred-and-eighty days is your ceiling, and how to count without error

Since the end of the Brexit transition period, British citizens travelling to France are subject to the Schengen Borders Code, Regulation (EU) 2016/399. Article 6 of that Regulation sets the ninety-day rule, restated in the British government travel advice for France as a visa-free allowance of up to ninety days in any one-hundred-and-eighty-day period for the Schengen area including France. The period is rolling, not per calendar year and not per trip, and earlier visits to other Schengen countries in the preceding one hundred and eighty days count towards the same allowance. A fortnight in Spain at Christmas therefore reduces the days available for France in March, and a weekend in Amsterdam counts exactly like a week in your own house.

Practical calculation works backwards from each day of presence. Take any day you are in France, look back over the preceding one hundred and eighty days including that day, and count every day spent anywhere in the Schengen area. If the total exceeds ninety, you are overstaying on that day. Count both the day you arrive and the day you leave as days of presence, because border practice treats any part of a day in the zone as a full day. Keep your own spreadsheet with entry and exit stamps, boarding passes and Eurotunnel bookings, because passport stamps remain the evidence officers check, and a missing exit stamp can make a lawful stay look like an overstay. Couples should each keep their own count: the limit is personal, so a husband who flew home early and a wife who stayed on do not share one allowance.

Two passport traps catch British second-home owners every year, and both appear on the same official page. First, the passport date of issue must be less than ten years before arrival: British passports renewed before 1 October 2018 sometimes carried extra months beyond ten years, and those extra months no longer count for Schengen entry. Second, the expiry date must be at least three months after the planned departure from the Schengen area. A passport that is perfectly valid for the United Kingdom can therefore be invalid for France. Renew early, and check both dates before booking the ferry. French law itself points to the same European framework: Article L311-1 of the CESEDA, the Code on the Entry and Residence of Foreigners and the Right of Asylum, requires every foreigner entering France to hold the visas and documents required by the Schengen Borders Code, plus proof of accommodation, means of subsistence, health insurance covering medical and hospital costs, and guarantees of return.

One common misunderstanding should be cleared up at once. Owning a house in France gives you no extra days. The ninety-day ceiling applies identically whether you sleep in your own farmhouse, a hotel or a tent, and no property certificate, tax bill or utility contract extends it. Likewise, time spent in France under a long-stay visa or a residence card does not count towards the ninety days: as the same British guidance confirms that time spent under a French residence permit or long-stay visa sits outside the ninety-day count. That doorway to the second part of this guide: the lawful way to winter in your own house is a visa, applied for before you travel, not extra days negotiated at the border.

B. What an overstay really costs: refused entry, a removal order and a ban of up to three years

The same official guidance warns that overstayers may be banned from entering Schengen countries for up to three years. That is the headline risk, but the machinery behind it has several stages, and each stage has its own legal basis and its own remedy. Understanding the sequence matters, because the earlier you act, the more options you keep.

At the border, an overstayer who has left and tries to re-enter can be refused entry for failing the ninety-day condition. Inside France, a British visitor found beyond the visa-free period falls squarely within the removal regime of the CESEDA. Article L611-1 of the CESEDA provides that the authorities may order a foreigner to leave France where “L’étranger, entré sur le territoire français sous couvert d’un visa désormais expiré ou, n’étant pas soumis à l’obligation du visa, entré en France plus de trois mois auparavant, s’est maintenu sur le territoire français sans être titulaire d’un titre de séjour”, which means exactly the situation of a visa-free Briton who stayed past ninety days without a residence card. The resulting decision is called an obligation de quitter le territoire français, an OQTF, a formal order to leave France, usually with thirty days to depart voluntarily.

An OQTF can carry a second penalty that second-home owners consistently underestimate: a ban on returning to France, and through the Schengen Information System to much of Europe. Article L612-6 of the CESEDA states: “Lorsqu’aucun délai de départ volontaire n’a été accordé à l’étranger, l’autorité administrative assortit la décision portant obligation de quitter le territoire français d’une interdiction de retour sur le territoire français”, meaning that where no voluntary departure period is granted, the removal order is coupled with an entry ban lasting up to five years, or ten where there is a serious threat to public order. Even where a departure period is granted, ignoring it exposes you to the same ban and to forced enforcement. A ban is recorded, visible at every Schengen border post, and capable of ruining not just holidays but a later visa application, because any consulate will ask about previous removals.

None of this is unchallengeable, and the challenge starts immediately. Article L614-1 of the CESEDA provides that “La décision portant obligation de quitter le territoire français ainsi que la décision relative au séjour, la décision relative au délai de départ volontaire et l’interdiction de retour sur le territoire français qui l’accompagnent, le cas échéant, peuvent être contestées devant le tribunal administratif”, the administrative court, under a fast-track procedure. Time limits are extremely short, counted in days or weeks depending on the type of order and whether you are detained, so a removal order received on a Friday cannot wait until after the weekend for advice. Keep the stamped envelope, note the exact notification date, and seek advice the same day. The detailed remedies, and the parallel regime for challenging visa and residence-card refusals before any removal stage is reached, are examined in the second part of this guide.

II. How to stay longer than ninety days lawfully: the long-stay visitor visa, its renewal, and how to challenge a refusal or a removal order

A. Why the visitor route is the answer for most second-home owners, and how to walk it from the consulate to the préfecture

French law draws a hard line at three months. Article L411-1 of the CESEDA provides that “tout étranger âgé de plus de dix-huit ans qui souhaite séjourner en France pour une durée supérieure à trois mois doit être titulaire de l’un des documents de séjour suivants : 1° Un visa de long séjour”, meaning any foreigner over eighteen who wishes to stay more than three months must hold one of the listed stay documents, starting with a long-stay visa. And Article L312-2 of the CESEDA adds: “Tout étranger souhaitant entrer en France en vue d’y séjourner pour une durée supérieure à trois mois doit solliciter auprès des autorités diplomatiques et consulaires françaises un visa de long séjour dont la durée de validité ne peut être supérieure à un an”, so the application is made before travel, at the French consulate covering your home, for a visa valid up to one year. There is no way to convert a visa-free stay into a long stay from inside France: the first issue of a temporary or multi-year residence card is conditional on producing that long-stay visa, as Article L412-1 of the CESEDA states, “la première délivrance d’une carte de séjour temporaire ou d’une carte de séjour pluriannuelle est subordonnée à la production par l’étranger du visa de long séjour”. A British owner who flies in visa-free and then asks the préfecture for a card will be sent home to apply through the consulate.

For a retired or inactive owner who simply wants to enjoy the house, the right visa is the long-stay visitor visa, which leads to the carte de séjour temporaire portant la mention “visiteur”, the temporary residence card marked “visitor”. Article L426-20 of the CESEDA sets three cumulative conditions: “L’étranger qui apporte la preuve qu’il peut vivre de ses seules ressources, dont le montant doit être au moins égal au salaire minimum de croissance net annuel”, meaning the applicant must prove they can live on their own resources worth at least the annual net minimum wage, “Il doit en outre justifier de la possession d’une assurance maladie couvrant la durée de son séjour”, they must hold health insurance covering the stay, “et prendre l’engagement de n’exercer en France aucune activité professionnelle”, and they must promise to carry on no professional activity in France. The official service-public guidance currently quantifies the resources test at about €1,478 net per month over a year for a single person, described in the official wording as “€1,477.93 net monthly, over a year”, proved by pensions, annuities, rental income, savings or bank guarantees from creditworthy relatives, while family allowances are disregarded and housing conditions feed into the assessment. Prepare twelve months of bank statements, pension award letters, rental accounts and a property valuation if rental income is relied on, because consulates test stability as well as level: irregular transfers and unexplained lump sums invite refusal.

The health-insurance condition deserves the same care. The policy must cover all medical and hospital costs for the whole stay plus repatriation, since the France-Visas arrival guidance requires an insurance certificate covering all medical and hospital costs for the whole stay, plus repatriation and death expenses. A standard travel policy capped at ninety days will not do for a twelve-month visa; buy a dedicated long-stay or expatriate policy and check the territorial clause covers France for the full period. The third condition, the promise not to work, is absolute and covers employment, self-employment, trades and liberal professions alike: the statute adds that, by way of exception, the visitor card authorises no professional activity at all. Remote work for a British employer from the French house sits in a grey zone you should not enter without advice, because it contradicts the signed undertaking and can support both non-renewal and removal. If you need to work, even remotely, the visitor route is the wrong route: readers who moved to France to take a job will find the salaried-residence regime explained in our companion guide on how a British employee obtains the salarié card and challenges a refusal.

Once the visa is issued and you arrive, the formalities continue. A long-stay visa marked VLS-TS, visa de long séjour valant titre de séjour, a long-stay visa that doubles as a residence card, acts as your residence document for its first year, but only if you complete the required online validation within three months of arrival. The validation is done on the ANEF portal, the interior ministry’s online foreigners system, with payment of the stamp duty, after which the OFII, the French Office for Immigration and Integration, may summon you for a medical examination. Missing the three-month validation leaves you undocumented, which is precisely the situation Article L611-1 targets. Towards the end of the first year, apply for the one-year visitor card itself: the official guidance sets the renewal window between four and two months before the current document expires, and late filing without force majeure costs a €180 late penalty on top of the card fee. Each renewal re-tests resources, insurance and the no-work promise, so keep the same file updated year after year rather than rebuilding it from scratch.

Two refusals are possible, at the consulate and at the préfecture, and both must be motivated. A consulate that refuses the visa must state reasons of law and fact, and the leading decision on visitor visas gives consulates wide but controlled discretion. In its judgment of 7 November 2022, no. 449990, the Conseil d’Etat, France’s supreme administrative court, held that “L’étranger désirant se rendre en France et qui sollicite un visa de long séjour en qualité de visiteur doit justifier de la nécessité dans laquelle il se trouve de résider en France pour un séjour de plus de trois mois”, meaning the applicant must show why they genuinely need to reside in France for more than three months, and that failing such proof the authorities enjoy “un large pouvoir d’appréciation”, a wide margin of appreciation, reviewable by the court for manifest error. Read the full decision on Légifrance (CE, 7 November 2022, no. 449990). Concretely, owning a house helps but does not suffice on its own: explain the pattern of stays, family ties, renovation works or health reasons that require continuous presence, and evidence each claim. A second judgment shows how courts test motivation: on 17 September 2024 the Nantes administrative court of appeal upheld a visitor-visa refusal where the committee had adopted the consulate’s three reasons, namely that “la demandeuse de visa ne dispose pas de ressources suffisantes pour couvrir ses frais pendant son séjour”, that she lacked health insurance, and that her supporting information was unreliable, holding that such reasoning, citing Article L426-20, “satisfait aux exigences légales de motivation”, and concluding “Article 1er : La requête de M. et Mme D… est rejetée” (see CAA Nantes, 17 September 2024, no. 24NT00478). The lesson is symmetrical: an authority that ticks the three statutory boxes with facts will survive judicial review, and an applicant who documents all three leaves little room for refusal. A préfecture that refuses or declines to renew the visitor card is likewise subject to review, including for threat to public order under Article L432-1 of the CESEDA, and must notify appeal routes and deadlines with the decision.

B. How to challenge a refusal or a removal order, and the tax-residence trap that a long stay sets

Start with the visa refusal, because it is the most common setback. Since the decree of 2016 every refusal of a visa, express or implied, must first go to the CRRV, the commission de recours contre les décisions de refus de visa d’entrée en France, the dedicated appeal body that re-examines visa refusals, within two months of notification; only after the committee expressly or implicitly rejects the appeal, silence for two months counts as rejection, may you petition the Nantes administrative tribunal, which has exclusive jurisdiction over visa litigation. The two cases cited above both travelled exactly that road, from consulate to committee to the Nantes courts. Your CRRV appeal should not repeat the application but repair it: add the missing bank statements, the compliant insurance certificate, the explanation of why a stay beyond three months is genuinely needed, and answer each stated reason point by point. Grounds based on family life carry weight only if documented with precision, as the Conseil d’Etat showed when it noted that the applicant’s French ties were limited to uncles, aunts and cousins while he already held a circulation visa for visits. New evidence is admissible and often decisive, so treat the CRRV stage as a second application, not a protest letter.

If the préfecture refuses or declines to renew your visitor card, the remedy is a two-track action before the administrative tribunal: an application to annul the refusal and, in the same filing, an application to suspend it urgently where return flights are booked or a sale completion depends on your presence. Attach everything the préfecture said was missing, plus proof of filing date, because timeliness conditions admissibility. Where the refusal is coupled with an OQTF, challenge both together within the removal time limit stated on the order, and ask the court to suspend enforcement pending judgment. Keep copies of every ANEF receipt, every registered letter and every appointment confirmation: in stay litigation the paper trail frequently decides the case.

For the OQTF itself, the hierarchy of arguments runs from form to substance. Check notification first: an order that misstates the appeal route or time limit can be annulled for procedural defect. Then attack the entry ban separately, because the ban outlives the order: argue family and private life, the house, the children’s schooling, medical treatment in progress, and show that a voluntary departure period should have been granted, which removes the automatic coupling under Article L612-6. On the substance, overstay is rarely defensible as such, so the realistic goals are annulment of the ban, a departure period that lets you organise sale or rental of the house, and preservation of a clean record for the next visa application. A removal order executed without challenge becomes a line on every future application form; a removal order challenged, even unsuccessfully, at least shows the consulate that the facts were tested.

Finally, the trap that no border officer will warn you about: the longer you lawfully stay, the more likely France becomes your tax home. Article 4 B of the French Tax Code treats as fiscally domiciled in France anyone who meets any one of three tests: “a. Les personnes qui ont en France leur foyer ou le lieu de leur séjour principal”, those whose household or principal place of stay is in France, “b. Celles qui exercent en France une activité professionnelle”, those who work in France, or “c. Celles qui ont en France le centre de leurs intérêts économiques”, those whose centre of economic interests is in France. A single test suffices. Spending more than about one hundred and eighty-three days in France in a year creates a strong presumption that your principal place of stay is here, and a full year on a visitor card makes that presumption very hard to displace. French tax residence means worldwide income declared in France, with the 2008 France-United Kingdom double tax treaty allocating taxing rights and its tie-breaker settling cases of dual residence. The practical consequences arrive the following spring: a first French income-tax return, possible social charges on investment income, and exposure of the British home to French wealth-tax calculations if you later become fully resident. None of this condemns the visitor route, but it prices it: before applying for a twelve-month visa, model the tax cost of becoming French-resident against the convenience of longer stays, align the visa year with the tax year where possible, and take advice the moment rental income, a pension lump sum or a property sale enters the picture.

Conclusion

Count your ninety days backwards from every day of presence, renew any passport that falls foul of the ten-year or three-month rules, and never treat ownership of a French house as extra days, because the law grants none. If ninety days are not enough, apply from the United Kingdom for a long-stay visitor visa with twelve months of solid financial evidence, a full-year health policy and a clear account of why you need to reside in France, validate the VLS-TS within three months of arrival, and diary the renewal window four to two months before expiry. If the consulate or the préfecture says no, repair the file and appeal in sequence, to the visa committee and then to the Nantes court, or to the administrative tribunal against a card refusal or a removal order, always within the deadline printed on the decision. And before committing to a year in France, weigh the tax residence that comes with it. The system rewards the organised applicant at every stage: the traveller who counts, documents and diaries rarely needs a judge, while the traveller who improvises meets one.