French bureaucracy is famously cumbersome and you can expect to spend a significant amount of time completing admin tasks.

But once you have made your application, how long should you expect to wait for a decision? When is it appropriate to get in touch and chase up an application and when should you just wait? What wait times are normal and how can you know if there is a problem?

It’s true that there are wide variations in waiting times – especially for things that are done on a local level such as cartes de séjour – but it’s also true that there are some guidelines on roughly how long you should expect to wait.

Please note that the times given in this article are averages, not a guarantee.

Visas

For many people, the visa service will be their first experience of French bureaucracy. The application process is two stages and both involve waiting.

First you make your application online via the French visa website, then once your application is processed you will be referred to a contracted service based in your home country who will organise the in-person appointment to have your documents checked.

EXPLAINED How to apply for a French visa

The waiting times for these can vary depending on the type of visa you are applying for, and the country you are applying from. The TLS Contact visa service, which is used to arrange appointments in the UK, has been widely criticised for slow processing times and a lack of information.

In general the quickest and most straightforward are student visas. Visitor visas can also be relatively straightforward provided you have sufficient proof of your income, while working visas and family reunification visas can take longer. The guideline time to apply is three months before your intended arrival date in France, and most people find that their application is processed within that time.

It’s important to make sure that all the relevant documentation is included, as requests for extra information will delay your application. You also need to ensure that you have applied for the correct visa type for your situation – if you apply for the wrong type of visa your application will be rejected and you will have to start the process all over again (and pay another visa fee). 

READ ALSO What type of French visa do I need?

Carte vitale

Once you have lived in France for three months you are entitled to apply to register in the French health system and get the carte vitale health card, which means that the government will refund your healthcare costs.

You can find full details on how to apply HERE.

The average length of time between applying and receiving the cards is between three and six months, but it’s not uncommon for people to wait a year or more. Once again, it’s important to include all the information requested with your initial application, as requests for more information will make the process even slower.

While you are waiting for the card to arrive, you will have to pay medical costs upfront – but make sure to ask the doctor or pharmacist for a feuille de soin when you pay. This is essentially a receipt, and when you finally receive the card, you can use the feuilles de soin to claim back costs accrued while you were waiting.

Carte de séjour (applications and renewals/changes)

Once you have arrived in France you will usually need to apply for a carte de séjour residency card within a certain time period (usually three months, but it depends on the type of visa you have).

Your carte de séjour needs to be regularly renewed, and if you lose the card or it is stolen you will need to apply for a replacement. If you move house, you will need to get the address changed on your card.

All carte de séjour queries are done via your local préfecture, which means there is a big variation by area – some préfectures are faster than others, while some areas have more immigrants living there than others.

If you’re applying to replace a lost or stolen card, there is an online application process to do that. Likewise if you need to change address. The process itself is usually fairly quick, but they you will often need an appointment at the préfecture to pick up your new card, and the time it takes to get the appointment also varies widely between préfectures.

The slight exception to this is the city of Paris, where carte de séjour queries are handled by the Préfecture de Police – in Paris there has long been an issue with getting appointment slots at the préfecture.

READ ALSO What to do if you can’t get an appointment at the préfecture

While it’s difficult to give an average time, there are plenty of people who wait months for an appointment slot, and some who even find that their old card expires while they’re still waiting for the new one.

Although this can be an extremely stressful experience, French authorities seem to take a relaxed attitude and simply suggest that you get a récépissé which can be used in place of a carte de séjour while you are waiting.

READ ALSO Everything you need to know about a récépissé

Driving licence 

After you have been living in France for a while you will probably have to swap your driving licence for a French one. Exactly when you have to make the swap depends on where your current licence was issued – full details here.

The swap process is done online via a service called ANTS and this is a nationwide process – all applications are processed in an office in Nantes. 

This service saw huge delays in 2020 and 2021 as hundreds of thousands of Brits in France tried to swap their licences in the wake of Brexit. People reported waiting for months and some were left stranded as their driving licence expired while they were waiting. Because the same service processes all applications for a licence swap, the chaos also affected other foreign licence holders.

Eventually a deal was reached on UK licences, and throughout 2022 the backlog was slowly cleared and processing times now seem to be back to normal.

Anecdotal evidence suggests the average processing time is now about four months, although some people have reported a quicker time.

Holders of UK and NI licences should not attempt to swap their licences earlier than the standard six months before expiry date (in case of licences issued before 2021) – licences submitted early will simply be rejected.

EXPLAINED What UK driving licence holders in France should do

You can find the latest information on processing times, and chat to people going through the process, in the Facebook group Applying for a French Driving Licence.

Citizenship

If you want to apply to become French, definitely expect to wait a while.

First you need to wait until you’re eligible – if you’re applying through residency you need five years of continuous residency in France (or two if you completed higher education in France) and if you’re applying through marriage you need to have been married for four years.

READ ALSO The ultimate guide to getting French citizenship

Then you need to assemble an enormous dossier of papers and make the application via the online process.

After that, the application is dealt with by your local préfecture so again there are wide regional variations.

The average time for the whole process – from making the application to having the in-person interview and then receiving the certificate of French citizenship – is between 18 months and two years. Some people do wait longer though, and up to three years is not uncommon.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that Paris – where applications are dealt with by the Préfecture de Police – is one the faster areas.