How to apply for a spouse visa for France

If you want to join your family or partner in France and enjoy the French quality of life, work, or even just the wine and cheese, a spouse visa is one of the best ways to move. It includes various immigration statuses that provide the right to work, a quicker route to multi-year residency permits, and – especially for spouses of French nationals – even grounds for French citizenship.

However, not all spouses have the same rights and privileges, even when legally married. These depend on whether you are the spouse of a French, European Union (EU), or non-EU national. Explore your options in the following topics:

Family visas in France

Joining family in France is a popular route to residency. At 31 December 2025, France had 4,470,970 valid residence permits and provisional stay documents held by third-country nationals. Of these, 1,456,546 were recorded under a family motive.

The French consulate is responsible for issuing most visas. However, the Office for Protection of Refugees and Stateless People (Office Français de Protection des Réfugiés et Apatrides – OFPRA) handles asylum applications.

If you decide to move to France to join your family, your options depend on your nationality, your partner’s nationality, and your relationship status. The possible permits include:

• VLS-TS or residence card marked vie privée et familiale (private and family life – VPF)
• Membre de famille d’un citoyen UE (family member of an EU citizen) residence permit
• Talent-famille residence permit
• Salarié détaché ICT – famille
• Regroupement familial (family reunification)
• Other long-stay visas

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Each of these family immigration routes has its advantages and drawbacks, which are detailed below. For advice on your specific situation, it’s worth contacting an expert to guide you through the permit types and requirements.

Types of marital status for French visas

Before diving into your visa application, it’s essential to understand the three levels of partnership in France:

• Married – married couples have obtained a marriage certificate in France or abroad from a governmental authority. Your partner is known as a mari/femme (husband/wife), époux/épouse (spouse), or conjoint/conjointe.
• PACSed – a PACS (pacte civil de solidarité) is a French civil union that creates legal, financial, and tax obligations between partners. PACS partners are generally subject to joint income taxation, but a surviving PACSed partner is not automatically an heir: a will is normally required for them to inherit. For immigration purposes, a PACS does not provide the same automatic residence rights as marriage.
• Concubinage – This status refers to living together in France. There are very few rights that come from cohabiting without a marriage or a PACS, and it can be hard or impossible to rely on concubinage to gain residence in France. Cohabiting partners are referred to as compagnon/compagne or concubin/concubine.

VPF route for spouses and partners of French nationals

For a non-EU spouse of a French national, the usual first step is a long-stay visa equivalent to a residence permit (VLS-TS) marked vie privée et familiale (private and family life – VPF). It generally lasts for up to one year, authorizes work, and must be validated after arrival in France.

After one year of residence, an eligible spouse of a French national can apply for a two-year multi-year VPF residence card. After three years of residence, they may be eligible to apply for a 10-year resident card. These later cards are not automatic renewals and continued eligibility, including the couple’s shared life, must be demonstrated.

PACSed and unmarried partners follow different rules, explained below.

Married to a French national

If you get married in France, your marriage is automatically registered with the French civil authorities, and you can qualify for VPF status. 

On the other hand, couples who married outside France must register their wedding with the French consular authorities (the French consulate in Los Angeles provides an example of the necessary documents, forms, and process – link in French). Only after completing this procedure can you apply for the long-stay family visa marked vie privée et familiale. 

PACSed partners of French nationals

A PACS with a French national does not create an automatic right to VPF status for a non-EU partner. The prefecture considers the PACS as one factor when assessing the reality, duration, intensity, and stability of the applicant’s personal and family ties in France.

There is therefore no automatic “PACS spouse visa” equivalent to the route for a legally married spouse. A PACSed partner living abroad must use the visa category that matches their circumstances, and any later VPF application is assessed individually.

Concubinage with a French national

Vie commune, or living together and sharing financial and housing documents, is not usually grounds to receive VPF status. However, if you are the parent of a French minor who lives in France, you may qualify for VPF status as a parent d’enfant français. You must normally show that you have effectively contributed to the child’s maintenance and education since birth or for at least two years.

Spouses of EU nationals: Membre de famille d’un citoyen UE

Partners of EU nationals may be able to receive a Family member of an EU national residency permit (membre de famille d’un citoyen UE). This permit is valid for up to five years, although in some cases, a prefecture initially issues it for one year. It allows for employment and is free of charge.

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A non-EU family member of an EU/EEA/Swiss citizen who intends to settle in France must first check whether their nationality requires a short-stay visa. If a visa is required, it must be obtained before travel; if they are visa-exempt, they can enter without one. After arrival, a non-EU family member must apply online through ANEF for the residence card within three months of entering France.

Married to an EU national

People married to an EU/EEA/Swiss national must provide proof of the marriage when required for their visa or residence-card application. If a document needs to be translated into French, the translator does not necessarily have to be located in France: applicants abroad can use a translator accepted under the relevant consular rules. Certain public documents issued in another EU country may also be accepted without translation.

PACSed partners of EU nationals

It’s also possible to get a membre de famille d’un citoyen UE residency permit on the basis of a PACS. You must have been cohabiting for 12 months, but unlike being the PACSed partner of a French national, you may have lived together in France or abroad.

Concubinage with an EU national

It is technically possible to qualify for a membre de famille d’un citoyen UE residency permit if you can demonstrate, to the prefecture’s satisfaction, proof of five years of cohabitation with your EU partner. However, this is discretionary, and it’s entirely possible that the prefecture agent doesn’t grant you the permit on this basis.

Spouses of non-EU nationals

If you and your spouse are neither French nor EU nationals, you may be able to join them through another family route. These include the carte talent family route and the salarié détaché ICT route.

Talent (carte talent)

If your spouse holds an eligible carte talent, including the talent – carte bleue européenne (EU Blue Card), you may qualify for talent-famille status. As of August 2026, the EU Blue Card requires gross annual pay of at least €59,373, alongside the other eligibility conditions.

The talent-famille card is valid for the remaining validity period of the sponsoring spouse’s carte talent and authorizes both salaried and self-employed work.

This category requires that you be legally married, and you must have a marriage certificate. PACS will not suffice, nor will being in a long-term relationship. 

Salarié détaché ICT

The salarié détaché ICT category is for managers or experts temporarily transferred to France within the same corporate group while remaining employed by their company outside France. Eligible spouses and children can use the simplified accompanying-family procedure rather than ordinary family reunification.

The salarié détaché category permit is valid for a maximum of three years, which also applies to any accompanying family. After this period, the worker generally has to leave the country. The spouse can receive a salarié détaché ICT – famille status, which allows the spouse to work in France.

This category of permit only applies to legally married couples, not to PACSed partners or live-in companions. 

Other residency permit categories for non-EU citizens

Other categories of visa and residency permits do not enable you to sponsor your spouse easily and quickly. These types of visas include:

• Entrepreneur
• Salarié (worker)
• Student
• Visitor
• 10-year-card

If you are living in France on one of these categories and want to bring in your spouse, you must go through the process called regroupement familial or “family reunification.”

Immigration Attorney

Daniel Tostado

Insider tip

I never recommend the family reunification visa process to immigrants because it’s long (typically taking 18–24 months) and has a particularly high refusal rate. Therefore, I recommend other routes to France instead, such as the visitor, student, or entrepreneur visa.

If you decide to go through the family reunification process, you must have:

• A qualifying residence document at the time of application, such as a temporary residence card valid for at least one year, a multi-year residence card, a 10-year resident or long-term EU resident card issued by France, or a receipt confirming renewal of one of these documents
• At least 18 months of qualifying regular residence in France in the general case
• Suitable housing. For two people, the minimum is 22 m² in zones A/A bis, 24 m² in zones B1/B2, and 28 m² in zone C. Add 10 m² for each additional person up to eight people in total, then 5 m² per additional person beyond eight
• Stable and sufficient resources, assessed as an average over the 12 months before the application. As of August 2026, the minimum is €1,867.02 gross per month for a household of two or three people, €2,053.72 for four or five people, and €2,240.42 for six or more. Some applicants are exempt from the resources test. The threshold for the smallest household size is based on the French minimum wage (Smic).

It is possible to apply for regroupement familial sur place when the family is already in France, but it is an exceptional route. The beneficiary spouse must already be living in France legally with a residence card valid for at least one year or a multi-year card, the sponsoring spouse must meet the applicable family-reunification conditions, and the marriage must have been celebrated in France. The beneficiary does not have to show a VLS-TS obtained from a French consulate abroad.

If the application is approved, the beneficiary spouse receives a one-year temporary vie privée et familiale residence card.

Family visa conditions for specific countries

Algerian nationals

Algerian nationals are covered by the Franco-Algerian Agreement of 1968 and generally receive one-year or 10-year certificats de résidence rather than the standard residence cards described above. The ordinary carte talent regime does not apply to Algerian nationals.

There are also important family-route differences. An Algerian spouse of a French national can enter France with a visa (a short-stay visa is sufficient) and apply during its validity for a one-year vie privée et familiale residence certificate. After one year of marriage, they may qualify for a 10-year certificate if the couple’s shared life continues. For ordinary regroupement familial, an Algerian sponsor generally needs at least 12 months of regular residence in France rather than the 18 months required in the general case.

British nationals

Since 1 January 2021, British nationals who move to France generally follow the immigration rules for non-EU nationals and need a long-stay visa for stays of more than 90 days. However, the EU–UK Withdrawal Agreement continues to protect eligible family-reunification rights where the British sponsor was already living in France before 1 January 2021. In general, the family relationship must have existed before that date, with specific exceptions for children born or adopted later. Eligibility depends on the Withdrawal Agreement conditions, not simply on whether the sponsor already holds a five- or 10-year residence card.

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Bilateral treaties

Several countries have specific bilateral treaties with France, including several African countries that were once under French colonial rule, such as Morocco, Tunisia, and Togo. These sometimes contain exceptions to standard French immigration rules. Check the French Ministry of the Interior’s current bilateral agreements page for the rules applying to each nationality.

Refugee spouses

Spouses of refugees benefit from a different procedure than regroupement familial. Instead, their procedure is called réunification familiale (which also translates as “family reunification”).

Family reunification for a protected person can cover a spouse, civil-union partner, or qualifying cohabiting partner. For a spouse or partner, the marriage, civil union, or stable and continuous shared life must generally predate the asylum application. The sponsor must have been granted refugee status, subsidiary protection, or stateless-person status.

If the marriage took place after the asylum application was filed, the couple normally falls under the ordinary regroupement familial procedure instead, with its residence, resources, and housing conditions.

Applicants can file for this visa at the French consulate in the country in which they live. 

Short-term visas

For short stays in France of 90 days or less, you may only need a short-stay visa.

Those who come from countries that do not require a Schengen visa can enter France for a short stay regardless of their marital status. Nationals of other countries require a Schengen visa.

How to apply for a spouse visa

You can begin applying for your French spouse visa on the France-Visas website. On this website, you can find requirements for specific visas and the application form, which you can fill out online.

Upon completing the form, France-Visas provides a link to book an appointment to file the visa. The website also provides a list of places to submit the documents in each country.

Validating your visa

After you receive a VLS-TS and arrive in France, you must validate it online within three months and pay the applicable residence tax. You can do this on the ANEF website. OFII may then contact you separately for integration or medical formalities.

If you are subject to the contrat d’intégration républicaine (CIR), OFII assesses your French and may prescribe language training. Civic training normally consists of four sessions totalling 24 hours; in Mayotte, it consists of two sessions totalling 12 hours.

Since 1 January 2026, applicants who are subject to these requirements generally need to prove French at A2 level and pass the civic exam for a first multi-year residence card. A first resident card generally requires B1 French and a civic exam. These requirements do not apply to every residence category, and exemptions apply in certain circumstances.

How much does a French spouse visa cost?

Fees depend on the family route. France-Visas charges €99 for a standard long-stay visa application, but a foreign spouse of a French national is exempt from the visa application fee. External visa-centre service fees may still apply and vary by country and submission centre.

Since 1 May 2026, residence taxes have increased. A VLS-TS is subject to the residence tax corresponding to the title it replaces; the ordinary first-title tax is €300. A standard first physical residence card generally costs €350, including stamp duty, while the standard renewal charge is €250. Reduced rates and exemptions apply to certain categories. The residence card for a non-EU family member of an EU/EEA/Swiss citizen remains free.

In the event of divorce or death 

Divorce, dissolution of a PACS, or the death of the sponsoring partner does not automatically mean that you must switch to a work or visitor permit. The effect depends on your residence category and circumstances.

For a spouse of a French national, VPF residence rights can continue in some cases where shared life ended because of the French spouse’s death or domestic or family violence. Non-EU family members of EU/EEA/Swiss citizens may also retain residence rights after death or divorce if specific conditions are met, including certain residence or marriage-duration rules, child custody or access arrangements, or domestic violence. Check the rules for your exact permit before changing status or leaving France.

Useful resources

• Service-Public.fr – information on different visas and permits for France
• france-visas.gouv.fr – start the visa application and track it online
• Étrangers en France – validate your visa and carry out other immigration processes
• OFII – read about the integration procedure when living in France