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Method and sources

Every amount and every period on this site comes from a single parameter file, checked on against 62 Service-Public.fr pages, the official notice on the fee increase, Insee's minimum-wage series and the legal texts they cite. Pages and calculators read only this file: when an amount changes, it changes everywhere.

Why Service-Public.fr rather than Légifrance

The official text of the CESEDA (immigration code) and the Civil Code is on Légifrance, which refuses automated reading; its open API (PISTE) requires a registration we have not made. We therefore read the Service-Public.fr pages written by the government's legal-information directorate, which carry their check date and the list of articles applied. Every page on this site cites the page and the article, with a link to Légifrance.

Tax stamps

Schedule in force since 1 May 2026 (section 128 of the 2026 Finance Act): first issue €350 at the standard rate (€300 tax plus €50 stamp duty), €150 at the reduced rate; renewal €250 or €100; replacement at the first-issue price; VLS-TS validation €300 or €100; regularisation visa €300, €100 of it at filing; late filing €180; citizenship €255 (€127.50 in French Guiana). The rate for each of the 28 permits in the calculator was read on that permit's own page. The visa fee paid at the consulate depends on the country: we do not make it up, and the calculator says so.

Family-reunification threshold

The rule: the average gross monthly minimum wage over the 12 months before the application, plus one tenth for 4 or 5 people and one fifth from 6 people. The calculator averages month by month using the minimum wage in force on the 1st of each month (€1,801.80 from 1 November 2024, €1,823.03 from 1 January 2026, €1,867.02 from 1 June 2026). For an application filed on 13 October 2026, the average is €1,832.39, below today's minimum wage, because three months of 2025 fall within the period. Service-Public.fr shows today's minimum wage; our figure is the one for your filing date. Housing: 22 m² in zones A bis and A, 24 m² in B1 and B2, 28 m² in C for two people, plus 10 m² per person up to eight, then 5 m².

Eligibility dates

  • Naturalisation: 5 years of residence, 2 years after two years of degree-level study in France, none for a refugee; filing from age 17; answer within 18 months of the receipt (12 months with ten years of residence), extendable once by 3 months.
  • Marriage: 4 years of marriage, 5 years without three years of continuous residence in France since the wedding (unless the spouse was on the consular register); registration may be refused for 1 year, 2 years if the Government opposes.
  • Resident card: 5 years of residence (EU long-term, absences limited to 6 months in a row and 10 months in total), 3 years of marriage for a French national's spouse, French level B1.
  • Renewal: filing between 4 and 2 months before expiry; a 3-month receipt from the day after expiry. Dates are counted day-of-month to day-of-month; a 31st becomes the last day of a shorter month.

Salary thresholds

Reference salary set by the order of 21 August 2025: €39,582 gross a year for the talent card (skilled employee); 50 % more, €59,373, for the EU Blue Card. Company officer: three annual minimum wages (€67,212.60). Status change after the job-search card: more than €2,800.53 gross a month, one and a half times the minimum wage. Employer tax: 55 % of monthly pay for a contract of a year or more, capped at €2,567.15.

Waiting times: what we do not publish

No prefecture publishes an average processing time, and the figures that circulate come from forums. We publish none. We only calculate the legal periods: the date on which the administration's silence counts as refusal (4 months in general, 90 days for students and the EU Blue Card, 6 months for family reunification) and the maximum time to answer a citizenship application.

Checks

Automated tests replay every rule with the examples on the official pages before each release. Date fields first show the day the site was built, then your browser's actual date. Everything is reviewed at least every 12 months and after every reform.

Limits

  • The "which permit" guidance applies the main conditions; the prefecture also weighs public order, integration and documents we cannot see.
  • Algerian nationals fall under the 1968 Franco-Algerian agreement, with its own rules; we flag it without fully simulating it.
  • The rules for Mayotte and the overseas collectivities are not covered.

Spotted an error? contact@mon-titre-de-sejour.fr. Updated: 13 October 2026.

Sources

Official pages, legal texts and data series read for this site on French residence rules; last checked on13 October 2026.

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Rules in force 2026, checked on