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When can I start counting my residency in France towards citizenship?

If you see your future in France then you might be considering applying for French citizenship - but applications based on residency require a certain length of stay in the country. We look at what counts towards your citizenship.

Published: 13 November 2023 12:06 CET

When can I start counting my residency in France towards citizenship?

Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP

Becoming French is a big step but it gives you all sorts of benefits from the practical – shorter queues at airports, no more renewing residency cards – to more intangible benefits such as being able to play an active role in the democracy of your new home and a feeling of belonging in your community.

READ ALSO 10 reasons to become French

But when can you make your application?

First of all, it depends on how you are applying – through descent, through marriage or through residency.

Descent

If you have a French parent you can apply for French citizenship in your own right once you turn 18 with no other time limit (although if your parent has been out of France for a long time they may need to prove they still have a ‘connection’ to the country). Full details here.

Marriage

If you are applying through marriage there is no need to be resident in France but you must have been married for four years – so you can’t drop off your citizenship application on the way home from the honeymoon.

Residency

The most common way for foreigners to apply for French citizenship is through residency. The headline figure is five years of residency, but exactly when your qualifying five years start can be a little more complicated.

Higher education – if you completed higher education in France (a masters programme or above) then the five-year qualifying period is cut to two years, provided you meet the other criteria.

Consecutive years – the key thing about your residency period is that five consecutive years are required – so if you graduated in France, moved back to your home country and then came back to France later to work, your university years would not count.

Likewise various shorter periods in France would not count towards your five-year total.

That doesn’t mean that you can’t have holidays outside of France, of course, but you must maintain your residency in the country “without interruption” for five consecutive years before you begin your application for citizenship. For non-EU citizens that means having consecutive visas/cartes de séjour that cover the whole period.

Exactly how long you can spend out of France and still maintain residency depends on the type of residency permit you have – full details here.

Work and family

As well as physically being in France, the French government also requires that France be “the centre of your material interests (including professional) and your family links”.

All applications are individually assessed but some circumstances that could affect your application are if you are married and your spouse lives in another country, or if you have minor children and they live in another country – as this suggests you do not see France as your long-term base. Having parents, siblings or other family members in another country will not count against you.

Likewise there is no need to be working in France – so retirees can apply – but if you are working and all or most of your work is done outside France (eg remote work for a company in another country) this means that France is not the “centre of your material interests” and could count against you. Having assets in another country – eg a property – would be unlikely to count against you, provided that most of your finances are based in France.

There is no financial qualification for citizenship per se, but you must have “stable and sufficient income” to support yourself and your household.

What proof do I need?

If you’re applying through residency, the five-year or two-year requirements are the minimum period for residency, but in order to apply for citizenship you also need to provide a big bundle of documents which usually include tax declarations.

EXPLAINED How to use France’s new online portal for citizenship

If you don’t have all the documents required, it’s usually advised to wait until you have everything you need, or your application risks being rejected.

Applications for citizenship are done online and the French government has a helpful little web tool – find it here – that allows you to input your personal circumstances and then creates a bespoke list of documents for you.

The exact documents you need vary depending on your personal circumstances, but it’s normal to ask for the previous three years’ tax declarations and a certificate from the tax office covering the previous three years.

Some documents will also need to be requested from your home country including a recent version of your birth certificate and a criminal records check and these will likely take several weeks or even months to gather.

If you’re applying through residency you will also need a certificate of competence to at least B1 level French that is no more than two years old – you will need to book the exam yourself before you begin your application.

TEST Is your French good enough for citizenship?

Does pre-Brexit time in France count for Brits? UK nationals in France only began to be issued with cartes de séjour in 2021, under the terms of the Withdrawal Agreement. However, many of them had been in France for much longer than that.

The good news is that when it comes to citizenship, Brexit makes no difference it’s all about your consecutive years in France.

As with EU citizens who apply for citizenship in France, you will need to provide documents that prove your arrival date and continued residency such as rental or work contracts and tax declarations.

Can I leave France during the application process?

The average time for the application process is 18 months to two years, and some préfectures can take longer than that. Obviously you can go on holiday while you’re waiting, but you cannot leave France for good or your application will be annulled.

The requirements for citizenship state that you must be resident in France “at the moment the decree of your naturalisation is signed”.

Once your application is approved and published in the Journal Officiel, you can then apply for a French passport. Once you are French you can come and go as you please and you will retain your right of residency in France even if you spent years or decades out of the country.

TIMELINE The 6 steps to French citizenship

Member comments

Anonymous - 13 November 2023 at 17:45 CET

My daughter attended the American University of Paris for the full four years of her BA program, and continued to live in Paris another 4 years, working full time. She spent the last 6 months in the US, but returns this month permanently to Paris. She does hold an Italian passport (obtained prior to her arrival for her undergrad program).
Can you help us understand what her eligibility may be at this point for applying for French citizenship?

Become a Member to leave a comment.

Are Australian pensions taxed in France?

The situation for Australians can be particularly confusing, largely due to the fact that Australia and France do not have a bilateral social security agreement (though there is an income tax treaty).

Before going any further, it is worth noting that this article is meant to give an overview of the pensions situation for those with Australian pensions in France. It does not replace professional financial advice, and Australians looking to retire in France should seek out expert financial assistance before making any decisions about their pension.

The first step is to determine whether or not you are a tax resident in France (you can look through our guide). All tax residents must fill out a yearly tax declaration, and they must report all global income, even if it is not subject to tax in France.

Where is my pension taxed?

As for pensions, let’s start off with the basics – if you receive a civil service pension from the government of Australia – meaning you were a federal or state public worker, then that pension is only taxed in Australia and it will not be taxable in France, though you will have to declare it along with all global income, although this could count towards your household income which can push you into a higher tax bracket.

As for all other pensions – these are considered taxable in France.

If you have a pension from another country besides Australia, different rules may apply based on that country’s bilateral tax treaty with France. Here is the situation for British, American, and Canadian pensions, and here is an overview of the system.

Age pension

There is a big catch for Australians – the lack of a social security agreement means that Australians living in France may not be able to claim their Age Pension (assuming they qualify based on income constraints).

While you can be an Australian living in Austria, Belgium, Chile, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Spain or Estonia, among others, and still claim your Age Pension, this is not the case in France.

What’s crucial here is when you move – if you start receiving your old-age pension and then you move to France, then you may be able to continue claiming the pension. If, however, you move to France before you reach pension age, then you will not be able to claim it unless you move back.

A spokesperson for the Australian government told The Local in a previous interview: “To be eligible for Age Pension, a person must generally be an Australian resident and be in Australia at the time the claim is lodged, or in a country with which there is an International Social Security Agreement in place.”

There is no such agreement with France. And, despite the efforts of some of the thousands of Australians living in France to get politicians in both countries to act, there appears to be little urgency to change the situation, which means it could be some time yet before we are able to give you any good news on the pension front.

There are groups pushing for a social security agreement, such as the Facebook group ‘Australian Pensions in France’, which can also be a helpful place to connect with other Australians navigating tax complexities between the two countries.

What about superannuation plans?

The next complex area is the ‘superannuation’. While withdrawals from a ‘super’ can be accessed after becoming a resident in France, there are tax implications to be aware of.

The Local spoke with Martine Joly, chartered accountant and tax agent from Bilateral Solutions, who has experience working in both the Australian and French tax systems.

Joly explained that the challenge is that “the two systems are totally opposite. In Australia, pensions are done by capitalisation, with your employer paying into the superannuation.”

In Australia, the contributions were taxed when being deposited, so they are meant to be tax-free upon distribution.

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However, France does not recognise this, so ‘super’ withdrawals are subject to tax here, even though in theory they have already been taxed in Australia.

To make matters more complicated, there are several different ways superannuation plans can be organised, but for the most part French fiscal authorities treat them as trusts.

This means that you may have additional reporting requirements each year, in addition to your annual French tax declaration, such as the “FORMULAIRE N°2181-TRUST2” which asks for the market value, as well as any accrued income, of the trust as of January 1st of that year.

If you are required to do this, then you will also have to name other people listed in the trust – whether they are ‘moral’ or ‘physical’ people. You will be required to give extensive information, including their dates of birth and addresses.

On top of that, you would also have to fill out an additional “event” declaration if a trust is created, modified or terminated. This must be done within one month of the event. This tax form is also available on the government tax site: FORMULAIRE N°2181-TRUST1.

How much can I expect to pay?

You will begin to be taxed when you start withdrawing from your super, and the way you are taxed will depend on whether you take payments in the form of an ‘income stream’ (periodic payments) or as a lump sum.

If you take your super as an income stream, even though it is meant to be tax-free in Australia, you will still owe tax in France once it begins to be distributed. You would be charged at the progressive marginal (barème) rate for income tax, going all the way up to 45 percent (for the highest earners only).

If you try to avoid paying, be aware that “Australia will inform France”, as Joly explained.

“They communicate well and it will not be lost. So the French will realise if you have not paid any tax, because it is fully taxable in France. You have to declare this pension income,” she said.

As for lump sum payments, whether or not you will owe tax in France depends on when you placed the super into your bank account.

“If you convert the super into a bank account prior to leaving Australia and becoming a tax resident in France, then this is not an income, it is a saving,” Joly said.

As such, you would not owe income tax on it, but you would still need to declare the foreign bank account to French tax authorities.

If you take your lump sum super after moving to France and becoming a tax resident, then you would owe tax here upon distribution.

Beware that lump sums are complex and you should get financial advice before making this decision. Technically, French tax authorities may allow a return of once off pension capital to be taxed at a flat rate of 7.5 percent.

But in reality, anyone seeking to do this would need the express, written confirmation from French tax authorities that this rate will be applied. Similarly, you should be aware that this likely will not be possible if you have already begun drawing from your ‘super’, as the flat rate is often only available if the full amount is taken at once. Again, individual professional advice is highly recommended.

You can also find more information at the French tax website Impots.Gouv.Fr.

Joly pointed out a few other things Australians in France should be aware of – including the possibility you may owe the IFI (Impôt sur la fortune, or wealth tax) which considers whether you have property valued at €1.3 million or above.

“Due to high real estate prices in Australia, people just owning a small apartment in Sydney may not realise they would owe tax on this in France later on,” she said.

You should also keep in mind that Australia’s tax year runs on a different calendar year. France considers the period from January 1st to December 31st, while Australia looks at July 1st to June 30th.

This may make a difference when considering your tax residency.

What about social charges?

Deductions in France come in two types – impôts (taxes) and prélèvements sociaux (social charges).

Australians have reported receiving social charges, in addition to taxes, for their superannuation income. That being said, there are several exemptions to social charges.

For example, if you are not working and your spouse is a recipient of an EU/EEA/UK pension (with an S1 form), then both of you would be exempt from paying the CSM health charge.

As the situation for Australians can be more complicated than nationals of other countries, it is highly recommended to seek expert assistance, particularly from someone who has qualifications in both countries and understands the tax treaty.

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