Non-EU people living in France can invite their spouse and minor children as dependents to France. The invitation process depends on the resident permit category of the spouse living in France. So, let us explore the various ways to invite your dependent family members to France.
This article serves as a complete guide to the family reunification process. Also, it includes real examples of the various documents issued during this process. If you have any questions, feel free to use the comments section at the end. I will try to answer all the comments.
Since August 2024, A new online service allows users to submit a family reunification request without the need to send the application by post.
Table of Contents
Who must apply for Regroupement familial?
A: Titre de séjour “Passeport Talent”
- Spouses and children (minors) of the people holding this resident permit can benefit from a simplified family reunification process.
- Based on your Passeport Talent resident permit or its Attestation favorable decision, the dependents can directly apply for the Passport Talent Dependant visa.
- Here is a detailed article explaining the process. Dependent visa for spouse and children of Passport Talent visa holders
- The regular regroupement familial process is not applicable for them.
B: Titre de séjour “Salarié” or “Travailleur temporaire“.
C: Titre de séjour “Entrepreneur or profession libérale“
- Unfortunately, holders of these resident permits must follow the very long family reunion procedure known as “regroupement familial”.
- The entire process can take anywhere from 6 to 18 months.
- It involves 3 parts. First the OFII process in France, then the approval by Prefecture and finally the family visa application at a French Embassy/Consulate outside France.
Eligibility Criteria for yourself
There are 2 important criteria to satisfy before you can qualify to invite your dependents to France.
- You must be residing in France regularly for at least 18 months. For Algerian nationals, this period is reduced to a minimum of 12 months (Franco-Algerian agreement).
- A valid resident permit,
- Temporary residence permit for at least 1 year (salarié, vie privée et familiale, student, visitor, etc). or a multi-year residence permit
- Resident card or long-term EU resident card (issued by France) of 10 years
- or Récépissé for the renewal of one of the above resident permits.
You can verify your eligibility for family reunification by using an official simulation.
Eligibility Criteria for your Dependents
You can apply for family reunification procedure, if,
- Your spouse(he/she) is above 18 years old.
- Your child(s) is less than 18 years old. You can invite children from your previous marriage or the children adopted.
- Your family must be living outside France.
The age of your spouse and children is assessed on the date of submitting the application to OFII in France.
OFII Checklist of Documents
Here is a detailed checklist of documents required for the family reunion “regroupement familial” application in France. Do not staple any documents. Use paper clips, if required.
- Please refer to the detailed checklist available here OFII Checklist: Complete list of documents for Regroupement familial application
Accommodation Conditions
You must have an accommodation considered normal for a comparable family living in the same geographical region. The accommodation must meet certain health and equipment requirements.
Depending on the area where it is located in France, it must have a total living area of at least:
Location in France | Size |
Zones A and A bis Ex: Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Nice, Toulouse, etc | 22 m² for a couple without children. Then 10 m² per additional person |
Zones B1 and B2 Ex: Grenoble, Nantes, Rennes, etc | 24 m² for a couple without children. Then 10 m² per additional person |
Zone C Ex: Cahors, etc | 28 m² for a couple without children. Then 10 m² per additional person |
An online simulator shows the type of zone (A, A bis, B1, B2 or C) related to your postal code in France.
Note:
- I couldn’t find any official information about the number of rooms required based on the family size.
- For example: A family of 3 with parents and 1 child might require two bedrooms. But, it is also not practical economically to have one bedroom per person for a larger family.
- So, it really depends on the apartment and the opinion of the person doing the house inspection.
Financial Resources
Your financial resources must reach a certain net amount, which varies according to the size of your family:
Total Family Members | Income |
2 or 3 people | SMIC or average of 1,766.92 €, over the last 12 month |
4 or 5 people | average 1,943.61€ over the last 12 months |
6 or more people | average 2 120,30 € over the last 12 months |
The income can come from salaried or self-employed work, investments, retirement pensions, etc. The dependent spouse’s resources are also taken into account, provided that he or she receives income that will continue to be paid to him or her when he or she leaves his or her country.
All your financial resources and those of your spouse are taken into account, except the following:
- Family benefits:
- Equivalent retirement allowance
- Active Solidarity Income (RSA)
- Solidarity allowance for the elderly (ASPA)
- Specific Solidarity Allowance (ASS)
Regroupement Familial Process
- A complete checklist of documents is available below. OFII Checklist: Complete list of documents for Regroupement familial application
Step 2: Complete the Application and send it to OFII
The application can be submitted via an online or offline process.
Online Process: Since August 2024, A new online service allows users to independently submit a family reunification request on the portal sso.anef.dgef.interieur.gouv.fr.
- The process is designed to be user-friendly, offering step-by-step guidance with tooltips. The questions asked during the application are tailored to your previous answers, and the required documents vary based on your declared situation.
- The local authority will review your application and identify any missing information. You will be notified of any issues via mail or email.
- Shortly, users will be able to submit additional documents directly through their online tracking space.
- You can monitor the progress of your application on your dashboard and will receive notifications when the status of your application changes.
Offline Process: Here is a detailed guide to help you complete the application form.
- Complete the form using a black ballpoint pen and capital letters.
- The completed application along with the supporting documents must be sent by registered post to the local OFII office.
- You find the address of your local OFII from this online directory.
Step 3: Verification of documents by OFII
- The OFII checks whether your application is complete.
- If your application is incomplete, OFII will send you the list of missing information. It will give you some time to send the missing information.
- If you do not complete your application on time, it will be closed. You will have to submit a new complete application.
- If your application is complete, you will receive by post a certificate of completion known as “Attestation de dépôt”. It will indicate the list of your family members concerned by the application.
- Here is a real example of the “Attestation de dépôt” issued by an OFII office in France.
Step 4: House Inspection
- An official from the local Mairie (town hall) will come to visit your accommodation.
- Parallelly, your financial resources will be verified. The official can ask some questions during the inspection.
- Treat these officials with respect and answer their questions patiently with all the details.
- The inspection report will be shared with local OFII office and the local prefecture.
Step 5: Decision by Prefecture
- You are almost at the end of the OFII process.
- The local prefecture will make a decision on your application for regroupement familial.
- It must make a decision within 6 months from the date of your “attestation de dépôt” by OFII.
- The decision is then communicated to the OFII. It will update the Mairie and consulate of France related to the residence of your family abroad.
- If the prefecture has not replied within 6 months, your request is considered refused automatically (implicit refusal).
- However, this process can sometimes last longer than 6 months. So, you must check with your local prefecture if you haven’t received any response within the 6 months period.
Step 6: Regroupement Confirmation letter
- The local Prefecture will issue an official confirmation letter.
- You must send this original letter to your dependents living outside France.
- Here is a real example of the final approval letter issued by a Prefecture in France.
Step 7: Family visa application outside France
- Using the original confirmation letter from the prefecture, your dependents can submit a family visa application to the French embassy or consulate in their country.
- Usually, it is submitted at a VFS office via an appointment.
- Your spouse will be issued a VLS-TS F1 family visa valid for one year. Your minor children will be issued a family visa valid for 3 months.
- They must travel to France within 3 months of receiving their visas.
- Here is a real example of the VLS-TS visa issued by a French Embassy/Consulate in India.
Step 8: OFII validation & DCEM in France
- After reaching France, your spouse must validate his/her VLS-TS visa.
- The validated visa allows your family to stay in France without having to apply for a residence permit in the prefecture during the 1st year of stay. Please refer to the following article for more details, Should I validate my long-stay visa or do I have to apply for a residence permit directly?
- The relevant CESEDA code for online validation in R431-16-15.
- For your children, you must apply for the DCEM online on ANEF website.
- DCEM: Document de circulation pour étranger mineur. It is a travel document issued for minors less than 18 years old.
- The local Préfecture will issue an attestation via ANEF. Its validity is usually 5 years.
Step 9: Medical Visit, CIR, & French language exam
- Your family must complete a medical examination after reaching France.
- The medical certificate given by the OFII at the end of the visit is essential to obtain a Carte de Sejour at the end of the 1st year of stay in France.
- Your spouse and children over 16 years of age must sign a local integration contract known as contrat d’intégration républicaine (CIR).
- Also, their French language competence will be examined. If they are complete beginners, they will be assigned free French classes up to 400 hours.
Practical Examples from the community
Here are some actual examples of the family reunification process from across France. These are real life personal experiences shared by the expat community.
- OFII Nantes: Regroupement familial and dependent visa application experience by Krunal Padiya.
- OFII Dijon: Regroupement familial and dependent visa application experience by Varun.
- OFII Toulouse: Regroupement familial and dependent visa application experience by Rahul Sharma.
Really grateful to them for sharing their personal experiences.
Additional Information
- You should only send photocopies of the requested documents to the OFII.
- Documents written in a foreign language must be translated into French by an official translator known as “traducteur assermenté”. A list of official translators in France is available here.
- The family reunification procedure does not apply to your ascendants such as parents, grandparents, etc.
- They may come to live in France on a visitor visa, if they have sufficient resources or if you can sponsor them.
- Usually, partial family reunification is not allowed. So, all your family members must arrive together in France.
- However, an application for partial family reunification may be exceptionally authorized in the interests of the children.
- You must submit a request by a motivation letter at the time of submitting your application. The reasons that can be accepted relate to the education of the child, his/her health or even a housing too small to accommodate all the members of your family.
Sources & References
- Practical examples from the expat community across France.
- Regroupement familial service-public.fr
- Le regroupement familial : faire venir sa famille en France ofii.fr/procedure/regroupement-familial
- Frequently Asked Questions about French Visas france-visas.gouv.fr
- Document de circulation pour étranger mineur (DCEM) service-public.fr
- Le contrat d’intégration républicaine (CIR) ofii.fr
- List of OFII offices across France ofii.fr
- Should I Validate My Long-Stay Visa Or Do I Have To Apply For A Residence Permit Directly? prasanthragupathy.com
Hi,
I have already applied for the regroupement familial, I already received the attestation de dépôt and the house visit is also done. Meanwhile, can I apply for a long term visitor visa to visit my spouse in France?
Hello, You can try if you want and people have done it in the past. Personally, I wouldn’t do it and risk a visa rejection.
Update 30/08/2024: Since August 2024, A new online service allows users to independently submit a family reunification request without the need to send the application by post.
Hi,
My situation is different. My husband has 1 year Travailleur temporaire titre de sejour and I came on student visa right now on APS. We got married in France. So, how can we get a family visa in France?
Hello,
In your case, you both can be on independent resident permits too based on your own jobs.
If one of you can get a Passeport Talent CdS, it will make your lives a lot easier. The other spouse can apply for Passeport Talent Famille resident permit.