Regroupement familial
Residency route facts
Identity
| Official name (local) | Regroupement familial as of 2026-06-01[1] |
|---|---|
| Official name (English) | Not established from a qualifying source |
| Legal basis | Code de l'entrée et du séjour des étrangers et du droit d'asile (CESEDA), livre IV, titre III (regroupement familial) as of 2026-06-01[1] |
| Instrument type | national visa as of 2026-06-01[1] The procedure itself authorises the family's entry; the joining spouse then receives a VLS-TS which serves as a residence permit for the first year in France, and minor children enter on a visa marked « regroupement familial ». |
Who can apply
| Nationals not served by this route | Not established from a qualifying source |
|---|---|
| Minimum age | 18 as of 2026-06-01[1] The sponsored spouse must be aged at least 18 and legally married to the sponsor. Age is assessed at the date the reunification application is filed. |
| Criminal-record condition | Not established from a qualifying source |
Permit terms
| Initial duration | Not established from a qualifying source |
|---|---|
| Renewable | Not established from a qualifying source |
| Work rights | Not established from a qualifying source |
Permanent residence and citizenship
| Counts toward permanent residence | Not established from a qualifying source |
|---|
Requirements
| Who can sponsor | permanent resident, temporary permit holder as of 2026-06-01[1] At the date the application is filed the sponsor must hold a carte de séjour temporaire of at least one year (mentions named by the fiche include salarié, vie privée et familiale, étudiant and visiteur) or a carte de séjour pluriannuelle; or a ten-year carte de résident or carte de résident de longue durée-UE issued by France; or a receipt (récépissé) for the renewal of one of these. `specific_permits` is not used because the test is a class test on duration rather than a list of named permits — see sponsor_qualifier. |
|---|---|
| Eligible relations | spouse, minor child as of 2026-06-01[1] Spouse aged at least 18 and legally married to the sponsor, and children under 18. Children may be the couple's own with legally established filiation or judicially adopted, or from a previous union where the other parent has died or been deprived of parental rights or where parental authority is held by one parent under a foreign court decision. The procedure expressly does NOT extend to ascendants, who may instead come under the visiteur status if they have sufficient resources. A polygamous sponsor already living in France with a first wife cannot apply for a second wife. Partial reunification is not normally permitted: the whole family must arrive together, with an exception in the children's interest on a reasoned request. |
| Sponsor income requirement | 1 × statutory national minimum wage, gross per month measured over 12 months as of 2026-06-01[1][2] |
| Sponsor accommodation requirement | Yes as of 2026-06-01[1] |
| Sponsor waiting period | 18 months as of 2026-06-01[1] The sponsor must have resided in France for at least 18 months, which may be accumulated under a wider set of documents than those that qualify at the date of application — including a long-stay visa conferring the rights attached to a temporary card, a temporary card of under one year, a provisional residence authorisation, a first-issue or renewal receipt, or an asylum-application attestation. A sponsor resident at least 3 years in Mayotte holding a title of at least 5 years may apply on that basis instead. |
| Pre-entry language test | Not established from a qualifying source |
| Who qualifies as a sponsor |
|
Process
| Where to apply from | from abroad only as of 2026-06-01[1] |
|---|---|
| Statutory processing time | 6 months as of 2026-06-01[1] The prefect's decision must be notified within six months of the complete file being lodged with the OFII. Silence for six months is an implied refusal. Once visas are issued the family must enter France within three months. |
| Fees |
|
Physical presence
| none stated | to keep the permit as of 2026-06-01[1] |
|---|
Family inclusion
| Family members may be included | Not applicable Principals on this route are themselves the joining family members. |
|---|
Your next step
Read the requirements above considering your own situation: the income multiple, the absence limits, who you can bring. Check the country record for the reference figure those amounts are calculated from, and for anything that has changed recently.
The next step is your own case. That assessment is legal work. Create profile for our assistance in this.
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Verification
| Sources cited | 3 |
|---|---|
| of which official (tier 1) | 3 |
| Oldest as-of date | 2026-06-01 |
| Newest as-of date | 2026-06-01 |
| Reviewed on | 2026-08-11 |
| Schema version | 1.1 |
Sources
- [1] Regroupement familial (fiche F11166)
Direction de l'information légale et administrative (DILA) — Service Public · official portal · Tier 1 · Published 2026-06-01 · Accessed 2026-08-10 - [2] Smic (salaire minimum interprofessionnel de croissance) (fiche F2300)
Direction de l'information légale et administrative (DILA), Premier ministre — Service Public · official portal · Tier 1 · Published 2026-06-01 · Accessed 2026-08-10 - [3] Titres, cartes de séjour et documents de circulation pour étranger en France (dossier N110) — enumeration of French residence titles
Direction de l'information légale et administrative (DILA) — Service Public · official portal · Tier 1 · Published 2026-02-10 · Accessed 2026-08-10