The récépissé: how long it covers you and what it allows
Between filing and collecting your card, a temporary document covers you: a receipt at the prefecture, a certificate on ANEF.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method
How long your receipt covers you
Receipt valid until
1 July 2027
| Permit ends | 31 March 2027 |
| Receipt starts | 1 April 2027 |
| File by | 31 January 2027 |
The récépissé is the temporary document you receive when a complete residence permit application is registered at the prefecture; on the ANEF online portal it takes the form of a certificate (attestation). For a renewal or a replacement it lasts 3 months and starts the day after your card expires: for a card ending on 31 March 2027 it covers you from 1 April 2027 to 1 July 2027, and it can be renewed. For a first application it lasts 4 or 6 months and can exceptionally be extended by 3 months. On ANEF, only the certificate extending the examination (attestation de prolongation d’instruction) proves lawful residence: it lasts 3 months at most and is renewed until the prefecture decides, provided you filed a complete application on time. The simple filing certificate is not a residence document at all. On renewal, the receipt extends the rights of your old card, including the right to work if the card gave it.
Three documents that look alike
In practice "récépissé" covers three different documents depending on how you filed. At the prefecture, a complete file gets a paper receipt. On ANEF, the portal issues an instant filing certificate; then, if the file is complete and on time, a certificate extending the examination; and finally a certificate of favourable decision once the prefecture approves. The Service-Public page on ANEF certificates, checked in December 2023, describes each one; the receipt page, checked in November 2023, covers prefecture filings. Both refer to CESEDA (immigration code), articles R431-12 to R431-15 and CESEDA, articles R431-15-1 and R431-15-2.
| Document | Channel | Proves lawful stay | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| First-application receipt | Prefecture | yes | 4 or 6 months |
| Renewal or replacement receipt | Prefecture | yes | 3 months, renewable |
| Filing certificate | ANEF | no | none |
| Certificate extending the examination | ANEF | yes | 3 months at most, renewed |
| Certificate of favourable decision | ANEF | yes, until collection | until the card is collected |
The dates, case by case
On renewal, the rule is mechanical: the receipt starts the day after the card ends and lasts 3 months. The site's engine applies it date to date, moving a day that does not exist in a shorter month back to its last day.
| Card ending on | File by | Receipt from | Receipt until |
|---|---|---|---|
| 31 March 2027 | 31 January 2027 | 1 April 2027 | 1 July 2027 |
| 30 June 2027 | 30 April 2027 | 1 July 2027 | 1 October 2027 |
| 15 December 2026 | 15 October 2026 | 16 December 2026 | 16 March 2027 |
For a first application, the receipt lasts 4 or 6 months, the time needed to examine the file and produce the card. A receipt issued on 13 October 2026 therefore runs until 13 February 2027 or until 13 April 2027. It can only be extended exceptionally, by 3 months at most, so until 13 July 2027 at the latest in the second case. The official page does not say how the prefecture chooses between 4 and 6 months: read the date printed on yours.
Working while the file is examined
On renewal the rule is simple: the receipt extends the rights of the previous card. If your employee, private and family life or talent card let you work, you carry on. On ANEF, the certificate lets you work only if the card you are renewing allowed it.
For a first application, it depends on the card requested. A prefecture receipt lets you work for an employee or temporary-worker card filed with a work authorisation, a job-search or business-creation card, a private and family life card (with some exceptions), an ICT card, a seasonal-worker card filed with a work authorisation, a subsidiary-protection or stateless-person card, or a resident card applied for at the prefecture. The ANEF certificate follows a similar list: employee, temporary worker, spouse or parent of a French national, family reunification, job search, talent and talent-family, seasonal worker, ICT, subsidiary protection and statelessness, and several resident-card grounds such as spouse of a French national, refugee or retiree.
For an Algerian national, the receipt allows work when renewing a one-year private and family life residence certificate or a ten-year certificate.
Your ANEF filing window
File by
30 April 2027
| Window opens | 28 February 2027 |
| Permit ends | 30 June 2027 |
One example from start to finish
Take a private and family life card ending on 31 March 2027. The ANEF filing window opens on 30 November 2026 and closes on 31 January 2027. On the day you file, the portal issues the filing certificate, which is not a permit. If the file is complete and lodged inside that window, the certificate extending the examination follows; it covers you from the day your card expires, for 3 months at most, that is until 1 July 2027, and is then renewed if no decision has been made. Once the prefecture approves, the certificate of favourable decision covers you until you collect the card, paying the renewal tax stamp at that point.
Three habits prevent most problems. File inside the window, because a late file loses the extension certificate. Save each certificate as soon as it appears in your ANEF account, since an employer or the family-benefits office may ask for the one currently valid. And before any trip abroad, check that the document you hold is on the official list of documents allowing re-entry into the Schengen area; if it is not, postpone the trip or ask the prefecture what applies to you.
Keep in mind that these documents carry dates set by the administration. The calculator on this page reproduces the rules, but the date printed on your own receipt or certificate is the one that counts in any check.
What makes you lose the receipt’s protection
Protection depends on a complete file. On ANEF, the certificate extending the examination is only issued for a complete file filed within the required period, meaning at the latest 2 months before the permit ends. A late or incomplete file leaves a gap between the end of your card and the decision; during that gap nothing proves your stay is lawful, which causes trouble with employers, banks and the family-benefits office (CAF). The renewal timetable gives your card's deadline and what being late costs.
A receipt says nothing about the outcome: the prefecture can still refuse the permit. If it stays silent, the implicit-refusal date is worked out on the response deadline page. General information, not legal advice; an independent site, not run by the French administration.