Foreign nationals living and working in France are set to pay significantly more for key immigration documents next month. A decree implementing the 2026 Budget Law will raise the government taxes attached to almost every type of residence permit, alongside a five-fold hike in the stamp duty for naturalisation applications. According to the official explanatory note published on 20 April 2026, the standard tax for the first issue of a temporary, multi-year or ten-year resident card will rise from €200 to €300, while the reduced rate for students, seasonal workers and certain family-based migrants doubles from €50 to €100.
![France to Increase Residence Permit and Naturalisation Fees from 1 May 2026]()
In this changing landscape, VisaHQ’s France desk can help applicants and employers stay compliant. Through its portal (https://www.visahq.com/france/), the company provides real-time fee updates, tailored document checklists and submission support that can prevent costly errors when the tariff structure shifts.
A separate €50 stamp duty—previously €25—will now apply to every issue, renewal or replacement of a card. A brand-new €100 charge is also introduced for the ‘autorisation provisoire de séjour’, a document widely used by intra-company transferees, graduate job-seekers and humanitarian cases. Employers sending staff to France on short assignments will therefore need to budget for an extra €150 (tax plus stamp) per employee if an APS is required. The Ministry maintains two exemptions (victims of trafficking and holders of temporary protection) but all other categories—including APS holders leaving prostitution—must now pay. Business immigration advisers note that the most eye-catching rise concerns nationality. From 1 May the stamp duty on naturalisation, reintegration or declaration of French nationality jumps from €55 to €255. Although the fee remains halved in French Guiana and is waived in several overseas collectivities, it represents a steep new cost for employees who have spent five years or more on assignment and now hope to secure a French passport. Human-resources teams have only ten days to adjust their relocation budgets, inform assignees and, where possible, pre-pay existing fees before the switch-over date. The France-Visas payment interface and the ANEF residence-permit portal are scheduled for an overnight update on 30 April; practitioners warn that past upgrades have caused temporary outages. Companies planning bulk renewals or naturalisation drives are therefore advised to submit and pay by 29 April to avoid the higher tariffs. Beyond cost implications, the government argues that higher taxes will help finance a backlog-busting digitalisation programme and beef up prefectural staffing. Yet migrant-rights NGOs fear the changes will deter low-income applicants and create an additional barrier to long-term integration. They have called on the Conseil d’État to review the proportionality of a 364 % increase in the citizenship duty. For now, however, the new prices are set in law and will take effect nationwide from 00:00 on 1 May 2026.
In this changing landscape, VisaHQ’s France desk can help applicants and employers stay compliant. Through its portal (https://www.visahq.com/france/), the company provides real-time fee updates, tailored document checklists and submission support that can prevent costly errors when the tariff structure shifts.
A separate €50 stamp duty—previously €25—will now apply to every issue, renewal or replacement of a card. A brand-new €100 charge is also introduced for the ‘autorisation provisoire de séjour’, a document widely used by intra-company transferees, graduate job-seekers and humanitarian cases. Employers sending staff to France on short assignments will therefore need to budget for an extra €150 (tax plus stamp) per employee if an APS is required. The Ministry maintains two exemptions (victims of trafficking and holders of temporary protection) but all other categories—including APS holders leaving prostitution—must now pay. Business immigration advisers note that the most eye-catching rise concerns nationality. From 1 May the stamp duty on naturalisation, reintegration or declaration of French nationality jumps from €55 to €255. Although the fee remains halved in French Guiana and is waived in several overseas collectivities, it represents a steep new cost for employees who have spent five years or more on assignment and now hope to secure a French passport. Human-resources teams have only ten days to adjust their relocation budgets, inform assignees and, where possible, pre-pay existing fees before the switch-over date. The France-Visas payment interface and the ANEF residence-permit portal are scheduled for an overnight update on 30 April; practitioners warn that past upgrades have caused temporary outages. Companies planning bulk renewals or naturalisation drives are therefore advised to submit and pay by 29 April to avoid the higher tariffs. Beyond cost implications, the government argues that higher taxes will help finance a backlog-busting digitalisation programme and beef up prefectural staffing. Yet migrant-rights NGOs fear the changes will deter low-income applicants and create an additional barrier to long-term integration. They have called on the Conseil d’État to review the proportionality of a 364 % increase in the citizenship duty. For now, however, the new prices are set in law and will take effect nationwide from 00:00 on 1 May 2026.
