Renewing Your Residence Permit After the VLS-TS Year

The renewal must be filed before your permit expires

A validated VLS-TS works as your residence permit for its first year. To stay on after that, you ask the prefecture for a residence card, and the request must be filed before your current permit expires.

Official prefecture guidance (Vaucluse, citing CESEDA article R.431-5) puts the window for the online request between the 120th and the 60th day before expiry — roughly 4 to 2 months out. Some prefectures give their own local guidance: Côtes-d’Armor tells applicants to file 3 months before expiry, and Bouches-du-Rhône states 2 to 4 months. Because practice varies by prefecture, file as early as the window allows, and check your own prefecture’s page.

How the ANEF request works

At most prefectures the renewal is filed online through the ANEF portal, not on paper. The sequence is short, but the documents have to be scanned and ready before you start.

1. 1Go to administration-etrangers-en-france.interieur.gouv.fr and create an account
2. 2Select the renewal pathway that matches the permit you hold now
3. 3Upload scans of your documents, following your prefecture’s checklist
4. 4Keep the attestation de dépôt you receive after submission — it records that your request is in

What you need depends on your prefecture and your route

There is no single national list. Required documents vary by prefecture and by route, but they generally include the items below. Always check your prefecture’s ANEF-linked checklist, as the lists differ from one prefecture to the next.

Unlike the first visa application at the consulate, a renewal can call for sworn French translations of documents that are not in French. Check your prefecture’s checklist for what it asks to have translated.

• Your passport
• Your current residence permit — the title that is about to expire
• Proof of address in France
• Evidence for your route: a work contract for salarié holders, proof of marriage or joint life for spouses

What your first year turns into

The card you receive at renewal depends on the basis of your stay. On several routes, this is the point where a one-year permit can become a multi-year card, the carte de séjour pluriannuelle, which runs 2 to 4 years and is itself renewable. The rules differ by route:

• Salarié: a first temporary card can convert to a multi-year card at renewal, on condition of assiduous attendance at the state-run integration training under the Contrat d’Intégration Républicaine (CESEDA art. L.433-1 et seq.)
• Passeport talent: this card is typically multi-year from first issue, up to 4 years, so renewal usually repeats a multi-year duration rather than switching (Oise prefecture)
• Visiteur: can also move to a multi-year card at renewal under the same general framework; visitor-status holders are commonly exempt from some integration-contract obligations, but confirm with your prefecture
• Spouse of a French national: the first document is a 1-year “vie privée et familiale” document. At renewal after one year you may request a multi-year card valid 2 years; after 3 years of residence you may apply for the 10-year resident card (justice.fr)

A first multi-year card now has language and civic conditions

The immigration law of 26 January 2024 and its implementing decree, décret n° 2025-647 of 15 July 2025, tightened the French-language and civic-integration conditions for a first multi-year card (CESEDA arts. R.413-15, R.433-5). For first-time applications filed since 1 January 2026, a first multi-year card requires French at level A2, and the Ministry of the Interior has announced that passing a civic exam is also required to obtain a multi-year card, a resident card, or naturalization.

These tougher rules apply to first-time applications for a multi-year card or a resident card. They do not apply to renewals of a card you already hold, which stay under the existing rules, and they do not apply to Algerian nationals, who remain under the France–Algeria bilateral agreement (Loiret and Côte-d’Or prefecture guidance). Confirm the level and the exam that apply to your case with your prefecture.

The fees rose on 1 May 2026

A finance-law reform raised the tax stamps for residence titles from 1 May 2026. The amounts below are totals; within them, the fixed droit de timbre rose from €25 to €50 (Bas-Rhin prefecture).

• First issue of a temporary card, multi-year card or resident card: €350, up from €225 (confirmed on service-public.gouv.fr)
• Reduced-rate cases: €150, up from €75
• Renewal of the same titles: approximately €250, up from about €200 — this figure was not confirmed directly on service-public.gouv.fr, so verify it before you pay

While you wait, the ADP keeps you lawful

After you submit, you hold the attestation de dépôt. If processing runs long, the prefecture issues an attestation de prolongation d’instruction (ADP). Since 1 June 2024 the ADP has generally replaced the paper récépissé for renewals, and it confirms that you are lawfully in France while your request is reviewed.

Travel is possible within limits. A récépissé or ADP issued for a renewal — unlike one for a first application — can permit travel when carried with your still-valid old title (Meurthe-et-Moselle prefecture). An ADP that explicitly says so allows re-entry into the Schengen area whatever the entry point, but it does not authorize travel outside the Schengen area while the renewal is pending (Haute-Vienne prefecture).

Later: the 10-year carte de résident

The carte de résident is France’s 10-year card, distinct from the 2–4 year multi-year card. The standard route requires at least 5 years of lawful, uninterrupted residence in France, plus conditions on resources, integration and public order (service-public.gouv.fr fiche F2208; CESEDA art. L314-8). Some categories can qualify sooner or on a separate legal basis — a spouse of a French citizen after 3 years of marriage, a parent of a French minor, recognized refugees.

Resources must be stable, regular and sufficient, excluding most welfare benefits; no single euro figure is published for the national 10-year card, and prefectures assess it case by case. Valid health insurance is required, as is a signed commitment to respect the principles of the Republic, assessed partly through the civic exam with the “carte de résident” mention. First-time applicants since 1 January 2026 must prove French at level B1 (service-public.gouv.fr F34501); this does not apply to routine renewals of a card already held.

Once held, the carte de résident renews largely automatically absent fraud, public-order issues or extended consecutive absence from France, and it authorizes work without a separate authorization. A distinct status, the carte de résident “longue durée-UE”, is also reachable after five years and adds intra-EU mobility rights. Exact document lists and how strictly resources and language are assessed vary by prefecture; confirm your own case with a prefecture or an immigration lawyer.