Since 1 January 2021, British citizens have been third-country nationals in France. A British husband, wife or child living in London, Manchester or Edinburgh no longer enjoys European free movement and cannot simply arrive with a suitcase and settle alongside a partner already renting a flat in Paris, Lyon or Bordeaux. Every family arrival now passes through one of two narrow doors: regroupement familial, meaning family reunification, when the sponsor already living in France is itself a foreign national, or the carte de séjour temporaire portant la mention « vie privée et familiale », meaning a temporary residence card marked private and family life, when the person joining is the spouse of a French national or the parent of a French child. The two routes look similar from London, yet they obey different statutes, different offices and different time limits, and confusing them is the most common reason British families lose six months.

This guide is written for the British reader who already lives lawfully in France, or who is married to a French citizen, and who wants to bring a close family member to live here permanently. It explains each French term at first use, sets out the statute in the version in force on 3 October 2026, follows the reasoning that French administrative courts actually apply to refusals, and finishes with the practical challenges: the recours gracieux, meaning an informal appeal to the authority that refused, the appeal to the tribunal administratif, meaning the administrative court, and the defence against an obligation de quitter le territoire français (OQTF), meaning an order to leave France. Because residence and daily legal life are at stake, the focus stays on the person, not on the purchase of a house or the creation of a company, which belong to other desks. For the general entry rules that apply before any family route, the firm’s overview of which long-stay visa and which carte de séjour a British newcomer needs after Brexit remains the starting point; this article takes over where that overview stops, at the moment the family files.

Take a concrete example. Sophie, a British marketing manager holding a multi-year residence card in the 11th arrondissement of Paris, wants her British husband James, still working in Bristol, and their two children aged nine and twelve to join her. Alternatively, take Eleanor, a British woman married in London to Julien, a French national, who now wants to settle with him in Montreuil. Sophie must use regroupement familial. Eleanor must use the spouse-of-a-French-national card. Both women will face the préfet, meaning the state representative in the département who decides on residence, or in Paris the préfet de police, acting through the préfecture, meaning the local state office, and the Office français de l’immigration et de l’intégration (OFII), meaning the French Office for Immigration and Integration. Both must understand resources, housing, visas and deadlines before they book flights, because arrival on a short-stay Schengen stamp followed by an in-country application will normally fail.

I. Bringing your British husband, wife or children to join you in France through regroupement familial

A. Who can sponsor, who can be joined, and the eighteen-month threshold that filters British applicants

Regroupement familial is the only route by which a British resident in France who is not French can be joined for settlement by a spouse and minor children living abroad. The sponsor, called the demandeur, must already be living in France itself. The statute provides that a foreign national who has been lawfully resident for a minimum period may ask to be joined by a spouse aged at least eighteen and by the couple’s minor children. In the wording verified for this article, Article L. 434-2 of the Code de l’entrée et du séjour des étrangers et du droit d’asile (CESEDA), meaning the Code on the Entry and Residence of Foreign Nationals and the Right of Asylum, states that “L’étranger qui séjourne régulièrement en France depuis au moins dix-huit mois, sous couvert d’un des titres d’une durée de validité d’au moins un an” may request to be joined “Par son conjoint, si ce dernier est âgé d’au moins dix-huit ans” and by the couple’s children under eighteen. The eighteen-month lawful residence and the one-year title are cumulative. A British holder of a Withdrawal Agreement residence card, a multi-year carte de séjour pluriannuelle, a one-year employee card renewed once, or a resident card plainly qualifies once eighteen months have elapsed; a British visitor on a carte de séjour temporaire portant la mention « visiteur », a student, a seasonal worker or a short-stay visa holder does not. British sponsors holding talent passports and certain intra-group cards use a parallel “accompanying family” track rather than classic regroupement familial, so the first check is always the wording on the sponsor’s own card.

Only a married spouse qualifies. A civil partner, fiancée, fiancé or long-term cohabiting partner, however genuine the relationship, cannot use regroupement familial. Same-sex marriages validly celebrated, including in England and Wales or Scotland, are recognised provided the marriage certificate is produced with an apostille and a sworn translation where required. Polygamy excludes the route entirely. Children are defined broadly but strictly. Article L. 434-1 of the CESEDA requires the application to cover all the persons designated in the following articles, while allowing partial reunification only where the children’s interests justify it. Article L. 434-3 of the CESEDA extends the route to the sponsor’s own minor children and to the spouse’s minor children where descent is established only in relation to one parent or where the other parent has died or been deprived of parental rights. Article L. 434-4 of the CESEDA covers children entrusted to one parent under a foreign court order, subject to production of that order and the written permission of the other parent for the child to come to France. Article L. 434-5 of the CESEDA adds that the child must have legally established descent, including adoption, with verification by the public prosecutor where the adoption was pronounced abroad. British blended families therefore need to organise descent documents, custody orders and the other parent’s consent before filing, because a missing consent letter is a frequent ground for delay rather than an outright refusal. Minor children who arrive through this route are exempt from holding a residence card until majority but must travel on the correct long-stay visa and complete the OFII medical visit, as explained below.

Three further filters apply from the outset. Article L. 434-6 of the CESEDA allows exclusion of a family member whose presence would threaten public order, who suffers from a disease listed in the International Health Regulations, or who is already resident in France. The public-order ground is interpreted narrowly by the courts but it covers serious criminal history and fraud in prior applications. The health ground is now confined to the listed diseases and cannot be used to refuse on general medical grounds. The “already resident” ground prevents a person already living in France without authorisation from regularising through a back-door family application filed from inside France: the family member must in principle still be living abroad when the sponsor files, then apply for a visa at the French consulate once the préfet authorises entry. For a British family split between Bristol and Paris, this means James and the children remain in the United Kingdom while Sophie’s file is examined in France, typically for six to nine months, and only travel once the consulate issues the visa. Booking one-way Eurostar tickets before that visa is issued is the costliest mistake observed in practice.

In the Île-de-France, meaning the Paris region, the file is lodged online through the dedicated portal of the Ministry of the Interior, then instructed by the OFII territorial directorate and decided by the préfet of the sponsor’s home département: the préfet de police for Paris itself, the préfet of Seine-Saint-Denis for Montreuil, of Hauts-de-Seine, Val-de-Marne and the other surrounding départements elsewhere. The English-language page of the public service portal summarises the scheme under the heading family reunification and confirms the eighteen-month rule, the spousal age condition and the principle that the file concerns only a married spouse and minor children, as set out on the official service-public page on family reunification. British sponsors should read that page alongside the statute, because prefectures apply the portal checklists literally and an incomplete Cerfa form is returned without examination.

B. Resources, housing, republican principles, the OFII enquiry, the visa, and the only three lawful grounds for refusal

Once eligibility is established, the sponsor must satisfy three substantive conditions that the préfet verifies through an OFII enquiry, and refusal is lawful only on those grounds. Article L. 434-7 of the CESEDA provides that the applicant is authorised to be joined only if three conditions are met: “1° Il justifie de ressources stables et suffisantes pour subvenir aux besoins de sa famille”, meaning stable and sufficient resources; “2° Il dispose ou disposera à la date d’arrivée de sa famille en France d’un logement considéré comme normal pour une famille comparable vivant dans la même région géographique”, meaning suitable housing judged by local standards; and third, compliance with the essential principles governing family life in France. The wording matters because each quoted phrase has generated detailed case law that British families can use to challenge an error.

Resources are assessed over the twelve months before filing, counting all stable resources of the sponsor and spouse, excluding family benefits, equivalent retirement allowances and the minimum social allowances listed in the statute. Article L. 434-8 of the CESEDA explains that “Pour l’appréciation des ressources mentionnées au 1° de l’article L. 434-7 toutes les ressources du demandeur et de son conjoint sont prises en compte”, then sets a band fixed by decree between the monthly minimum wage, the salaire minimum de croissance (SMIC), and that wage increased by one fifth, graduated by family size. In practice the OFII applies the regulatory scale found in Article R. 434-4: roughly the SMIC monthly average for a family of two or three, increased by one tenth for four or five persons and by one fifth for six or more, averaged over twelve months. Payslips, tax notices (avis d’impôt), employment contracts and bank statements must show regularity, not a single generous month. Periods of involuntary unemployment with benefits can still count where the overall average holds, but reliance on the revenu de solidarité active (RSA), meaning the minimum income benefit, or on family allowances alone will fail. British sponsors paid partly from London, for example a cross-border salary or dividends, should produce translated contracts, French tax returns showing worldwide income where resident, and proof of transfer into a French account, because the OFII counts stable resources wherever earned but requires documentary proof it can verify. Short contracts, trial periods ending before the decision, and cash work without payslips are the three resource patterns that most often lead to refusal in Paris files.

Housing is verified by an OFII home visit or documentary inspection. The dwelling must be regarded as normal for a comparable family in the same area, assessed by total living area, number of rooms, sanitation, safety and overcrowding rules drawn from the Construction and Housing Code and the departmental health regulations. For a couple with two children in Paris, a one-room studio will be judged insufficient; a two- or three-room flat of adequate surface with proper bathroom, heating and ventilation will normally pass. The sponsor must hold the lease or title and prove occupation: a bail d’habitation, meaning a residential lease, recent rent receipts, electricity bills and, for owners, the taxe foncière notice. Where the family has not yet moved to a larger flat, a signed promise of lease or purchase effective at the planned arrival date can satisfy the forward-looking wording “disposera à la date d’arrivée”. If the OFII visit finds overcrowding, the sponsor should move and request a second visit before the préfet decides, rather than waiting for a refusal. The third condition, respect for republican principles governing family life, targets polygamy, forced marriage and the subjection of children, and is rarely at issue for British families, but the file includes a declaration on honour that must be signed without reservation.

Procedure runs in five stages. The sponsor files Cerfa form 11436*07 with civil status documents, residence card, proof of eighteen months’ residence, twelve months’ resources, housing title and the declaration. The OFII checks completeness, investigates resources and housing, and issues a reasoned opinion. The mayor of the commune of residence gives an opinion on housing and resources. The préfet decides within six months of a complete file; silence for six months counts as an implied refusal that can be challenged. On authorisation, each family member applies within the following months to the French consulate covering their home in the United Kingdom, through France-Visas and TLScontact, for a long-stay visa marked regroupement familial. On arrival they report to the OFII, undergo the medical examination, sign the contrat d’intégration républicaine (CIR), meaning the republican integration contract with language and civic training, and receive a temporary card. Article L. 412-1 of the CESEDA states the general rule that “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”, so entry without that visa cannot be regularised at the counter in Paris: the family must return to London for the correct visa if they entered as tourists.

Refusals must be reasoned and can only rely on the three statutory grounds plus the Article L. 434-6 exclusions. French courts enforce this closed list strictly. In a Bordeaux reunification case concerning a Senegalese resident, the Administrative Court of Appeal recalled the predecessor of the current articles, holding that “Le regroupement familial ne peut être refusé que pour l’un des motifs suivants” before examining resources and housing, a reminder that a préfet cannot invent a fourth ground such as the sponsor’s nationality or the short duration of the marriage: see CAA Bordeaux, 21 February 2023, No 22BX01053. The same judgment examined twelve-month average resources and the substitution of grounds, confirming that where the initial housing reason was wrong, the court examines the substituted resource reason on its full merits rather than annulling automatically. For British sponsors this means a refusal letter must be read line by line: if the housing surface cited is wrong, produce the OFII measurement report and the floor plan; if the twelve-month average was miscalculated because a month of statutory maternity pay or a London payslip was ignored, rebuild the table month by month with bank credits. A recours gracieux to the préfet within two months, with the missing lease or the corrected average, often resolves measurement errors faster than court action, but it does not suspend removal and it extends the court deadline only once, so parallel preparation of the court appeal is prudent. Where the family member is already in France and receives an OQTF alongside the refusal, the challenge shifts to the 48-hour or 30-day litigation described in Part II, and any Article 8 argument based on the European Convention on Human Rights must be raised explicitly from the first pleading.

II. Joining your French husband, wife or French child as a British national, and defending the right to stay in Paris and the Île-de-France

A. How a British spouse of a French national and a British parent of a French child obtain the vie privée et familiale card

Where the person already settled in France is French, British family members do not use regroupement familial at all. They apply directly for the carte de séjour temporaire portant la mention « vie privée et familiale », a one-year temporary card that authorises work without a separate work permit. The most common case is the British spouse of a French national. Article L. 423-1 of the CESEDA provides that a foreign national married to a French citizen is issued this card where three cumulative conditions are met, including that “La communauté de vie n’a pas cessé depuis le mariage”, that the spouse has kept French nationality, and that where the marriage was celebrated abroad it was first transcribed onto French civil status registers. Each phrase carries practical weight for British couples married in a register office in England or at Gretna Green. Transcription, called transcription de l’acte de mariage étranger, is requested from the French consulate that covers the place of marriage or from the Nantes central civil status service; without the transcribed acte de mariage and the French livret de famille, the Paris counter will refuse to register the application. Community of life is proved by a joint lease, joint tax assessment, joint bank account, electricity bills at the same address and, where relevant, birth certificates of children: the préfecture looks for a genuine shared household, not merely a marriage certificate. Retention of French nationality is proved by a national identity card, passport or certificate of French nationality; where the French spouse also holds British citizenship, the French passport must still be produced as such.

The British spouse must in principle enter on a long-stay visa and apply within two months of arrival, then attend the OFII medical and sign the CIR. The official service-public page for this card, which British applicants should print and bring to the appointment, sets out the spouse case, the documents and the exemption situations, as explained on the official service-public page on the vie privée et familiale card and the companion page on the foreign spouse of a French national. Exemptions from the long-stay visa exist but are narrow, and Paris applies them strictly: attempting to convert a Schengen short stay or a visitor visa at the counter without an exemption text leads to a refusal and, frequently, an OQTF. British partners who are not yet married should therefore marry first and transcribe first, rather than travelling to France to “sort the papers later”. After one year of marriage and proven continued community of life, the card is renewed as a multi-year card, and after three years of marriage the holder may seek a ten-year resident card, subject to integration and public-order conditions. Separation, divorce or a break in cohabitation before the first renewal puts the card at risk, although protection exists where domestic violence is documented by a complaint, medical certificates and, where possible, a protection order.

The second major case is the British father or mother of a French child living in France. Article L. 423-7 of the CESEDA grants the same one-year vie privée et familiale card to the parent who shows effective contribution to the child’s maintenance and education under Article 371-2 of the Civil Code since birth or for at least two years. The child must be French and resident in France; the parent must prove real involvement, not merely biological descent. School certificates, medical appointments, payment of maintenance, regular contact evidenced by messages and travel, testimony from teachers and childminders, and tax parts for the child all count. Article L. 423-8 of the CESEDA addresses sensitive descent situations, including recognition of paternity or maternity under Article 316 of the Civil Code, and provides that where the parental link is established but proof of contribution is missing or no court order on contribution exists, the right to stay is assessed in light of private and family life and the best interests of the child. In plain terms, a British father whose French child lives with the French mother in Saint-Denis but who sees the child weekly, pays maintenance and attends school meetings has a strong file; a British parent who has had no contact for two years and produces only a birth certificate does not. Fraudulent recognition of paternity for residence purposes is a criminal offence and leads to withdrawal of the card, so files must be exact on dates of recognition, residence of the child and proof of payments.

Family members who arrived through regroupement familial join this same card once in France. Article L. 423-14 of the CESEDA provides that a foreign national authorised to stay under family reunification, who entered lawfully and whose spouse holds a temporary, multi-year or resident card, is issued a temporary vie privée et familiale card. James, in the earlier example, would therefore arrive on a regroupement familial visa and receive this card at the OFII stage, with the right to work immediately. His children, being minors, need no card until eighteen but must keep passports, visas, OFII certificates and school enrolment together, because the renewal of the parents’ cards and any later nationality application will require the full paper trail. Humanitarian exceptions exist for cases that fit neither box. Article L. 435-1 of the CESEDA allows a temporary card marked employee, temporary worker or vie privée et familiale on humanitarian or exceptional grounds without the long-stay visa condition in Article L. 412-1, after consultation of a commission where refusal is envisaged. British applicants sometimes invoke this provision after a visa error or a relationship that post-dates arrival, but Paris commissions grant it sparingly and require proof of deep, stable integration: years of presence, French-speaking children in school, tax compliance and community ties. It is a safety net, not a strategy, and should never be presented as a planned alternative to the correct visa.

B. Refusals, OQTFs and the Paris court timetable: what to file, where, and within how many days

RefusalAO decisions arrive as reasoned orders from the préfet, often accompanied by an OQTF where the applicant is already on French soil. Understanding the paper is the first defence. A refusal of regroupement familial states which of the three Article L. 434-7 grounds failed, with the resource table or the housing measurements attached. A refusal of a spouse or parent card states which Article L. 423-1 or L. 423-7 condition was deemed unmet, or relies on public order under Article L. 432-1 of the CESEDA, which allows refusal by reasoned decision where presence would threaten public order. Where the person is in France without a current right to stay, the same envelope contains an OQTF. Article L. 611-1 of the CESEDA lists the situations in which the authority may order departure, including entry without proper documents or remaining after expiry of a visa without a valid title. The OQTF fixes a voluntary departure period, normally thirty days, or no delay where the statute permits, designates the country of return, and may add a ban on return, an interdiction de retour sur le territoire français (IRTF). British recipients must read the delay box first, because the deadline for the court appeal runs from notification and is counted in days, including weekends, with only the end-point rules of the Code of Administrative Justice softening a weekend expiry.

The appeal goes to the tribunal administratif of the sponsor’s home: the Administrative Court of Paris for Paris addresses, Montreuil for Seine-Saint-Denis, Cergy-Pontoise for several western départements, Versailles and Melun elsewhere in the region. Article L. 614-1 of the CESEDA provides that the OQTF, the associated residence decision, the voluntary departure period and any return ban may be challenged before the administrative court under the procedure in Article L. 911-1, which in practice means a single pleading seeking annulment of each decision with distinct grounds. Time limits are short: thirty days where a voluntary period was granted, forty-eight hours where the OQTF was issued without delay or in detention, with assignment to residence governed by Article L. 614-2 of the CESEDA. The appeal against an OQTF with a thirty-day period suspends removal until the court rules; the 48-hour appeal has its own urgent hearing track. A separate application for interim suspension, the référé-suspension under Article L. 521-1 of the Code of Administrative Justice, is available for refusals without an OQTF but requires proof of urgency and serious doubt, so it is reserved for cases with imminent harm such as a child starting school or a job offer lapsing. Legal aid, called aide juridictionnelle, is available under means conditions and should be requested immediately through the court’s office, with the appeal filed first and the aid request noted as pending, because waiting for the aid decision before filing misses the deadline.

On the merits, French judges apply a full proportionality review under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which in the words recalled in Nantes case law provides that “1. Toute personne a droit au respect de sa vie privée et familiale, de son domicile et de sa correspondance”: see CAA Nantes, 3 December 2021, No 21NT01527, where the court examined an OQTF against family life and the best interests of the child. The court weighs the length and stability of family life in France, the nationality and residence of the spouse and children, schooling, the impossibility of pursuing family life in the United Kingdom, and any criminal history, against the administration’s interest in regulating entry. For British families the Article 8 argument is often strong where children are in French schools, the French spouse cannot reasonably relocate for work or health reasons, and the British applicant has no serious convictions. It is weak where the couple married weeks before the application, never cohabited, or the British applicant has recent convictions for offences carrying imprisonment. The best interests of the child, drawn from Article 3(1) of the New York Convention on the Rights of the Child, are examined independently: judges look at schooling continuity, language, medical follow-up and the practical possibility for the child to follow the parent to Britain. A file with school certificates from the Paris rectorat, paediatrician letters, proof of extracurricular activities and evidence that the French parent works in France will carry more weight than general statements about family unity. British applicants should therefore attach to the court pleading everything the préfecture failed to weigh: updated payslips repairing the twelve-month average, a new lease curing overcrowding, the transcribed marriage certificate that arrived late, proof of weekly parental involvement, and a clear chronology showing that family life in France predates the refusal.

Practical management in Paris and the inner suburbs deserves a final note, because procedure is local. File online early in the morning when the appointment calendars for the préfecture open, keep every submission receipt with its QR code, and never surrender originals without a stamped inventory. Answer OFII telephone calls from an unknown number during the enquiry window, because a missed home visit is recorded as an adverse fact. If the OFII measures the flat, photograph the measuring device and the rooms on the same day and keep the estate agent’s floor plan with surfaces. If resources are borderline, add the missing month’s payslip and a short table showing the twelve-month average against the SMIC scale rather than leaving the judge to recompute. If transcription of a British marriage is pending in Nantes, file the consular receipt and request a stay of the préfet’s decision rather than submitting an incomplete file. And if an OQTF is notified at home or at the counter, sign nothing beyond acknowledgement of receipt, photograph every page immediately, note the exact time of notification, and count the appeal deadline from that hour. These small disciplines decide more Paris family cases than grand legal theory, because the tribunal administratif annuls most often for factual error, inadequate reasoning or a disproportionate Article 8 balance, all of which turn on dated, complete proof.

Conclusion

A British family can still live together in France after Brexit, but only through the correct door and with the correct visa in the passport before travel. Where the sponsor in France is itself British, regroupement familial requires eighteen months of lawful residence under a one-year title, a married spouse and minor children abroad, stable resources at or above the SMIC-based scale over twelve months, housing judged normal for the area, and respect for republican family principles, followed by consular visas, an OFII medical visit and the republican integration contract. Where the household includes a French spouse or a French child, the British applicant seeks the one-year vie privée et familiale card on the basis of transcribed marriage and continuing community of life, or on the basis of proven effective parenthood of a French resident child, with the same requirements of prior long-stay visa, medical visit and integration commitments. Refusals are lawful only on the grounds the statutes list, and every refusal with or without an OQTF can be challenged before the local tribunal administratif within days, with Article 8 proportionality and the best interests of the child at the centre of the judge’s review. Prepared early, documented month by month and metre by metre, and challenged promptly with corrected proof, a British family file in Paris or elsewhere in the Île-de-France gives the court what it needs to authorise the reunion the administration first refused.