Philip the French do not accept that we only have one birth certificate to last us our lives and you need to have an “up to date” one, so don’t waste your money getting them too early.
The ten year rule would also cover us. When we arrived in France, as a relocation of employment the company/relocation agency got us cartes de sejour. Now they will not renew them in our prefecture. At all, ever!I have passed this info to the British embassy as advised by Connexxion newspaper as they are monitoring experiences of this. I have read that some people have been granted cartes but I don’t know where they live or if it’s true.
I’ve found mine very useful for identification as it’s small enough to fit in my purse.
Philip
I 'm so sorry to hear about your wife’s illness,I hope you can have as much quality( and pain free for her) time as possible together. Courage, to you all.
I do agree that compiling documents at this time would be the last thing you need!
.I applied for naturalisation last September(waiting for interview date) and found it stressful enough, probably because I’m not by nature organised, and I have a very varied job history, I think someone once said it was a" parcours or carrière accidenté(e)!
I’m now belatedly applying for a 10 yr permanent residents card as well,as although I’ve been here over 20 years and should be OK( looking at the above list) I have an elderly mum in UK who is coping at the moment but may well need my help in the next year, so want to establish residence rights before I leave;(I have French sons so would want to come back to France )I suppose quite a few of us have already “sort of” lost freedom of movement rights ,we have to sit tight until March next year
There does seem to be more paperwork required for the Residency card as you have to go back 5 years instead of 3 for Naturalisation.
I suspect that I won’t have to present my birth certificate to the French authorities any time soon but I’ve noted the phrase “an up-to-date birth certificate” in other threads.
I confess that I am puzzled by this. In what way can a birth certificate be “up to date” - I mean it’s not as if the date or circumstances of my birth are ever going to change.
Up to date just means issued within the last 3 months. We had to get copies from the UK when we got married. Yes, it seems absurd to us Brits but the French authorities insist on it.
Thats interesting Debra, my French Wife and I have been married for more than 5yrs, what concerns me though, if I took French, or Dual Nationality, what would be the impact, on my English Will?
@Paul - Because in France things are added to your birth certificate the whole time eg marriage, divorce, pacs or remarriage, redivorce, widow/erhood etc etc. As French authorities ask French citizens for a birth certificate under 3 months old, that applies to foreigners as well. You can always try arguing.
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No, I know better than arguing with un(e) fonctionnaire - on either side of the channel 
I don’t know, Bill, but would the law that allows you to do that still be valid after brexit? Does it only apply to people from EU member states?
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Hi Debra… I seem to recall that it was decided: To deny anyone Resident in France… the right to choose their land or birth for their Inheritance Law… would be discriminatory. Having said that, there is a legal path which must be followed to ensure that the correct phrasing etc is used …
Our “legal eagle” @Guillaume_Barlet-Bat knows all about it…
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Thanks very much Debra, for coming back, are Americans, Australians etc able to apply their countries Law in this case?
The EU Inheritance Law about “land of birth” applies to every Resident in France … but must be done through the correct legal channels before death 
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Suggest that the regulation re wills won’t change after Brexit…
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Wills… and Inheritance are discussed at great length in the LEGAL ADVICE section of this forum…
there is a wealth of questions/answers/information… just waiting for you all to find… 
We wrote our own wills (holographic) quoting the relevant acts, took them to the notaire to look through. She said they were ‘perfect’ and would be acceptable by law. What’s more she didn’t even charge a sou 
Of course everyone’s situation is different so it pays to take legal advice.
As Stella says there is a lot of information on this forum
Hello Philip,
Getting back to the original post;
I’m sorry to hear about your wife’s health problem , and understand your reluctance to get involved with the “paperasse”. However , I have been surprised by some of the posts on this thread stressing the difficulty of obtaining a “carte de sejour permanente”.
Like you , we had cartes in the 90s and applied to renew them via the Charente-Maritime Prefecture. At the interview , we found that all our original documents were still on file , and the very helpful and friendly lady there was really only interested in our last 5 years of tax avis - as she said they proved that we are resident and have sufficient resources and confirmed our address. It is free of charge.
I am certain that you will have no difficulty.
On the other hand , friends who have gone for naturalisation, have found the process expensive, and long-winded , and at least one , although quite wealthy was turned down , because , living solely off bank interest , he was deemed to have no secure income.
Me too Patrick - surprised to say the least! I found the whole process really simple, efficient and quick - one day short of 3 weeks from start to finish, cards in hand. I’ve always found it invaluable to ask the Prefecture what they want before going off at an unnecessary tangent! Easy paperwork, easy meeting (finger prints etc) - totally stress free! Vive l’Ariège!!
OK well as an inactive in the Charente, divorced twice and with three children under my charge, the combination of the briefcase and box file I had to carry to my prefecture was quite heavy!
Nine months from making the appointment to getting the card!
I’m really impressed when I hear of people have a simple and quick procedure and just wish all the prefectures could have that. Still, at least I got one and only needed the two visits (one to supply all the paperwork and one to pick up the card). I’ve read some awful accounts of experiences at other prefectures. The guy in the Connexion who is writing a diary of his procedure is an example - though at least he got a card, albeit only with a year’s duration. Many have simply been sent away with nothing, their application not even considered, because their prefecture refuses to issue them to EU Citizens or even specifically British people.
My son’s dossier for his application for naturalisation was comparatively simple.
Just nuts isn’t it Debra! :-
Yep!
I was told I needed translations of all my certificates etc, so at great expense I got them all done - but the guys who handled my application (one was in training) didn’t actually look at the translations but just entered the details from my originals (which weren’t less than 3 months old). Yet since then, people who have applied at my prefecture have been told they need the translations - and turned away if they didn’t have them. Seems odd when that EU rule about not needing them has supposedly been implemented in France, even though it’s not mandatory yet.
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