France: Online Filing System Expanded

As of April 5, 2023, third-country nationals who are family members of EU/European Economic Area(EEA)/Swiss citizens; spouses of French citizens; and parents of minor French citizens must apply for their residence permit through the ANEF portal. This includes temporary one-year cards, multi-annual cards and resident cards, as well as the corresponding cards for Algerian nationals.

Previously, ANEF had expanded to include the mandatory filing of naturalization by decree applications.

Online filing reduces administrative hurdles since it eliminates the need for applicants to appear at an immigration department to file their documents. Specifically, the main goal of online filing is to harmonize and simplify the filing process and documents required, while avoiding long appointment waiting times.

Previously, each local authority had their own filing process which varied from one immigration category to the next. Online filing also allows applicants to follow the progress of residence permit applications through their personal online accounts on the portal.

Although there are technical issues encountered when using this online system, the government is currently working on implementing backup filing solutions.

The French government is progressively digitalizing all immigration processes in order to keep up with high demand and the need for faster filing processes. More improvements are expected and we will report on related reforms.