Hello fellow SF members,
Am preparing to apply for permanent EU residency here. Any suggestions for where I might find a “sample” letter?
Many thanks in advance!
Judy
I’ll message you with a text that we used.
Hi Sandy… any chance of a rough outline ??
I reckon there will be others who are interested, too… 
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Here’s the text I used and I’ve shown the bits that can be personalised. A few people have copied this and made it their own, so it works.
Madame, Monsieur,
Je vous écris au sujet de ma demande pour obtenir une carte de séjour pour continuer de vivre en France.
Pendant de nombreuses années, j’ai toujours pris mes vacances en France et j’ai beaucoup voyagé à travers ce beau pays. En (année …) , j’ai déménagé en France avec mon mari.
J’aime bien ma vie dans la belle France. (then a short paragraph about the associations which I attend, the village events which I help organise. Add a bit to suit yourself. or leave blank.)
Je respecte et j’obéis la loi et le mode de vie français et je souhaite continuer à vivre ici tranquillement.
En conséquence du BREXIT, et n’étant plu consideré comme citoyens de l’Union européenne, il me faut demander une carte de séjour pour avoir le droit de continuer à vivre en France.
Je me tiens à votre disposition pour toutes autres informations.
Je vous prie d’accepter Madame, Monsieur l’expression de mes sentiments distingués.
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Is this for a Titre / Carte de Séjour Permanent? Had mine for some time now but was never asked for a Lettre de Motivation here in the deep South!
yes Simon, it does say on the application form that a letter must accompany. I had queried this but the Prefecture was glad to receive it. However, I know others that have not submitted this letter. But, on the form I had, it said that a letter was necessary … this is Agen/Lot et Garonne prefecture.
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Simon and Sandy,
Yes I’m applying for a 10-year CDS but EU version vs French. Prefecture here in Montpellier did tell me I need the letter.
It’s a nice letter Sandy, neither too effusive nor lacking in appropriate deference and gratitude. I will keep it by as a helpful template for possible future reference.
Although my own card has been issued and with the minimum of bureacratic how’s-your-father at St Lo (certainly no letter of motivation), my wife’s has been delayed because the photo was “trop sombre” (her complexion is African) it was merely a lighting issue in the "Approved’ photobooth in a local supermarket, and we hope the card will be issued soon, as she is a bit fed up at the delay. 
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Hi Judy - what’s the EU version ? Can you provide a link please ? I’d love an EU one but didn’t think it existed …yet!! 
Simon, here’s the link on government site:
It is not applicable to Denmark, Ireland or the UK (as a member of EU); but all other EU nations.
Thanks Judy - not applicable to me!
It seems that with the Carte de Sejour one main factor like the Nationality one is the involvement in French Life and culture in the widest sense, Sio I am a little surprised to see mention of Brexit as being a reason shown - but it reveals how different the French and British attitudes are doesn’t it? No splitting up of families and all that sort of thing.
That depends very much on how you define the splitting up of families. If physical proximity is the defining feature of family cohesion, then maybe you have a point. But it’s not a very strong one IMO. In some cultures the bonds of family are not so defined, and in that respect your own puzzles me.
I may be wrong… but I think that Brexit has made it necessary to get the CdS… which many of us would not have needed before Brexit came along…
so IMO using Brexit as one of the supporting reasons for the application, is fair enough…
but, then, maybe I am missing something… ???
I don’t think you are, Stella. It’s a moot point, perhaps. Some French may think it points to a wish to escape from UK and thus to take a kind of refugee position, implying a need to emigrate rather than a freely arrived at choice.
I’m not implying that as a motive, but it might be wrongly inferred from a letter. A kind of “rat leaving a sinking ship” impression on a French reader. Just a thought.
But if it was interpreted as a wish to confirm one’s positive appreciation of French culture, hospitality and respect for it systems of governance, the letter is just that.
It could come down to how remote the reader’s experience of petit déjeuner might be, and her/his impatience for lunch! 
