The National Assembly has voted to introduce automatic renewal for France’s multi-year and ten-year residency cards, removing one of the most burdensome pain-points for more than 3 million foreign residents. Under the bill—passed on 12 December despite government opposition—permits will now be renewed unless prefectures have concrete legal grounds to refuse, such as a criminal conviction or failure to meet integration criteria.
Today holders of the four-year ‘carte de séjour pluriannuelle’ and the ten-year ‘carte de résident’ must submit lengthy document packs, pay fees, and sometimes queue overnight outside prefectures. Those delays create administrative limbo for employees whose work contracts, mortgages or family-reunion applications depend on proof of status. Automatic renewal will allow businesses to plan international assignments more confidently and should eliminate last-minute contract suspensions caused by processing backlogs.
![French MPs approve automatic renewal of multi-year residency cards]()
For individuals who still need guidance during this transition, service providers such as VisaHQ can streamline the paperwork, monitor deadlines and advise on any unexpected denials; visit https://www.visahq.com/france/ for customized assistance with French residency as well as other global visa requirements.
The reform still needs to clear the Senate and be promulgated, but observers expect only minor amendments. Prefectures will retain discretion to run random compliance checks and to request updated proof of address or tax returns, yet the burden of proof shifts decisively to the administration.
For global-mobility managers the practical advice is clear: stop building six-month buffer periods into assignment planning. Once the new rules enter force—likely in mid-2026—HR teams will simply have to track the rare cases where automatic renewal is denied and mount an appeal within the standard two-month window. Meanwhile, employers should audit their foreign-worker population to identify whose cards expire in 2026-27 and may therefore benefit first.
Today holders of the four-year ‘carte de séjour pluriannuelle’ and the ten-year ‘carte de résident’ must submit lengthy document packs, pay fees, and sometimes queue overnight outside prefectures. Those delays create administrative limbo for employees whose work contracts, mortgages or family-reunion applications depend on proof of status. Automatic renewal will allow businesses to plan international assignments more confidently and should eliminate last-minute contract suspensions caused by processing backlogs.
For individuals who still need guidance during this transition, service providers such as VisaHQ can streamline the paperwork, monitor deadlines and advise on any unexpected denials; visit https://www.visahq.com/france/ for customized assistance with French residency as well as other global visa requirements.
The reform still needs to clear the Senate and be promulgated, but observers expect only minor amendments. Prefectures will retain discretion to run random compliance checks and to request updated proof of address or tax returns, yet the burden of proof shifts decisively to the administration.
For global-mobility managers the practical advice is clear: stop building six-month buffer periods into assignment planning. Once the new rules enter force—likely in mid-2026—HR teams will simply have to track the rare cases where automatic renewal is denied and mount an appeal within the standard two-month window. Meanwhile, employers should audit their foreign-worker population to identify whose cards expire in 2026-27 and may therefore benefit first.
