Hi. I have combed the forums and searched the web but failed to find a definitive answer to the following question
What are the travel restrictions as a condition of holding a carte de sejour?
I have seen a mention of a two month limit on time outside of france which if exceeded may result in loss of the carte, is that during the life of the carte or per year…
I like to travel, obviously there is no tracking within schenghen, is there any real tracking beyond that?
Does anybody definitively know (sorry but not interested in " I thought"s)?
regds
Chris
I would look at it the other way, and look at the measures that would cause your permit to be taken from you. And in general it is for serious reasons. So committing crimes, not turning up at a court hearing, and doing anything that would mean you are considered a risk to public order. The big one that has caught out some UK nationals is employing an illegal worker - like getting someone to work for cash - or working in the black yourself. If found out you will be expelled as this is taken very seriously by the administration here.
If it is a 5 year card, then also not fulfilling the conditions in terms of financial resources and stable residence would cause it to lapse. But if you have a home here and are paying taxe d’hab and so on then surely that would count as showing you have stable residence? If you have no address in France while you are away that could be looked at differently maybe. And I guess there would be a natural limit as well as you mustn’t stay anywhere else long enough to become a tax resident there.
I know you say you are not interested in “I think” but just facts. But it is a characteristic of France that some things are very much down to case by case decisions of individual préfectures. So there may well be no definition of what constitutes proof of continuing stable residence.
You seem to be interested in details but have asked about a vague Carte de Sejour. The answer to your question will depend on the actual card that you hold.
A few minutes research starting here, https://www.service-public.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/N110, should lead you to your answer.
Is there a section that actually gives a time limit for anything under a full 10 year permanent residency card?
(Assumed OP was talking theoretically anyway as didn’t think he was even resident yet as not locked in to health system for vampire blood sucking)
I don’t think so.
Hello Christopher
from the little detail we have… I suggest you look at the link… it seems to cover everything or else it tells you where to go…
Edited to remove the link to gouvfr as I missed David’s bit… cheers Jane
would be useful to know which country Christopher resides in and which sort of CdS is being envisaged…
I’ve certainly read on the gouv fr info sites… or somewhere… that there time limits for some CdS…
As I have said… we have insufficient information from the OP … at this time…
Christopher himself has read it somewhere… but whether in English or French… who knows… 
I think the OP has raised an interesting question that may be relevant to others - for example needing to go bak to your native country to care for a sick relative. If you don’t yet have a permanent card (where the limits are clear) is there a restriction or not?
there’s loads of stuff on this very forum… but need to trawl a bit…
here is one link
https://brexit.gouv.fr/sites/brexit/accueil/vous-etes-britannique/droit-au-sejour.html
Ah, well. Perhaps someone will know for sure, as nothing on that link either apart from right to go to other EU countries for 3 months - which is standard.
Thanks for all the comment, regarding my question it seems I am not alone in wondering what the limits are, I did say in my original post that I had searched the web and numerous forums.
Christopher… can you spare us just a little detail… 
Do you have any entitlement to a CdS ??? or are you a UK Resident and looking to the future… ???
I certainly read the official French guidelines (and the link is somewhere re Brexit on this forum)… which mentioned different rights for Brits depending on how long they had lived permanently in France.
try working you way through this one…
and if all else fails… you could always zap a question to Le Ministere de l’Interieur
Once you have a permanent CdS the amount of time you can be out of France before you lose it is stated. Until that point you have to fulfil the terms for being eligible to renew the card you currently have. The OP appears to be a non question. If you want to maintain the right to reside in France and hold a CdS just make sure that you meet the conditions. How much time you spend on holiday is not one of them. Being in the French healthcare system, completing tax returns and having the centre of your life here are. If you are a UK citizen you will soon need that little bit of plastic to reside legally in France, the conditions to do so are clear, make sure you comply with them.
Nope…just “qui justifient y avoir résidé régulièrement pendant 5 ans”. I can’t see any definition of what regular residence would constitute.
The partner of a family member is going for settled status in the UK, and she is limited to 6 week holidays/travel abroad at the moment. But I can’t find any equivalent here.
In this case it means “within the rules” rather than “regularly” in the sense most speakers would use it (though “regularly” does retain that meaning in English it is a bit archaic).
Just for a CdS I’m not sure if there is a guideline as to how much time you need to spend in France, if there is I am sure someone on SF will know.
Citizenship is more about ties to France and its culture, I suspect, than simply % of time stood on French soil over the 5 year period.
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If you have applied for a a CdS you will know exactly what is required.
I have my CdS thanks, and yes once you have a permanent CdS you can’t leave the country for more than 2 or 3 years (I forget which off-hand).
But the area that is mute is whether there is anything similar in relation to the </=5 years cards - once you have acquired one. Not what is required to get one which is clearly laid out. You can complete tax returns, be in the health system, have bank accounts, investments etc etc. without being physically in France. So how much time you spend in the country could be highly relevant to an assessment of whether the centre of your life is here or not.
You obviously don’t understand the point I was making. That’s a shame but never mind without knowing if the OP has a permanent CdS or not it’s all pretty irrelevant.
My wife has a 5-year CdS which, like my own, notionally runs to the end of May 2023, and we’ve been permanently settled here since 2015.
But she’s been confined in UK since early March due to the lock-down and with no means of returning to France, despite her best efforts to secure a voyage home.
We hope the circumstances of her unwelcome exile will be viewed sympathetically in France when she is eventually able to return and I see no reason to be pessimistic about the outcome for our continued residency when the time comes to renew our Titre de Séjour next year.
Obviously not! Try again with different words as my understanding of your answer suggests you didn’t understand my point either?
Yes, without know what OP has it is irrelevant to him. (And seems he’s gone anyway!) but could be useful knowledge to others with <=5 years cards.
One would presume that Peter and partner would be totally fine.
Don’t understand this Peter as Eurostar is running as are some ferries.
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