Documents to bring when you move to France

Before you start

• Know your residence route (work, talent card, study, family or EU free movement), because it decides which documents you need

Documents you need

• Passport valid well beyond your planned stay

  required

• National ID card (EU/EEA/Swiss citizens)

  optional

• Long-stay visa (non-EU citizens)

  optional

• Official ID photos

  optional

• Employment contract or job offer

  optional

• Recent payslips

  optional

• Most recent tax notice

  optional

• Full birth certificate

  With parents' names; legalised or apostilled and translated if needed

  required

• Marriage

  If relevant to your family situation

  optional

• Diplomas and transcripts

  optional

• Driving licence and a recent certificate of driving rights

  optional

• Medical records

  optional

Step by step

1. 1

   Step 1: Identity and residence documents

   • Passport, valid well beyond your planned stay. Non-EU nationals need it for every residence procedure; the prefecture usually asks for copies of the pages showing your identity, validity, visas and entry stamps. EU, EEA and Swiss citizens can live in France with a passport or national ID card.
   • Long-stay visa (non-EU nationals), applied for before you travel through France-Visas or, in some countries, the Études en France procedure for students. The supporting documents depend on the purpose of your stay.
   • ID photos meeting French standards. You can also have them taken in France; many booths provide the digital code that online procedures ask for.
2. 2

   Step 2: Civil status records (état civil)

   Bring full birth certificates for every family member, showing parents' names, plus marriage, civil partnership or divorce records and children's birth certificates. These are used for residence cards, family reunification, health insurance, family benefits and, later, naturalisation.

   Ask for recent copies where your country issues them, and get several originals if you can. Naturalisation, for example, requires civil status documents in full, original version.

3. 3

   Step 3: Legalisation, apostille or nothing

   French authorities usually require a foreign public document to be legalised, unless an international agreement says otherwise:

   • EU documents: EU Regulation 2016/1191 lets certain public documents issued in an EU country, such as birth certificates, be used in France without any authentication formality.
   • Apostille: countries party to the Hague Apostille Convention issue an apostille in their own country.
   • Legalisation: otherwise, the document is first certified by your country's authorities and then legalised by the French embassy or consulate there. In 2026 Service-Public lists the fee as €60 per document for foreign nationals.

   The French foreign ministry publishes a country-by-country summary table (tableau récapitulatif de l'état actuel du droit conventionnel) on diplomatie.gouv.fr; check it, and the consulate in your country, before you start.

4. 4

   Step 4: Sworn translations into French

   Documents not in French usually need a sworn translation. According to the French foreign ministry, accepted translators include translators accredited as court experts by a French court of appeal (traducteur expert près une cour d'appel) and translators approved by French embassies or consulates abroad. Service-Public notes that for documents that must be legalised, the French translation is made before legalisation begins. Ask the office that will receive the document whether it accepts a translation made abroad.

5. 5

   Step 5: Work, study and money documents

   • Employment contract or job offer, and for talent or EU Blue Card routes, proof of the salary and qualifications required.
   • Diplomas and transcripts, ideally with translations. Employers, universities and the recognition centre (ENIC-NARIC France) may ask for them; see recognition of qualifications in France.
   • Proof of income and your latest tax notice, which landlords may ask for. French landlords may only request documents from an official list, and foreign documents are accepted if written or translated into French, with amounts converted into euros.
   • Cash: if you carry €10,000 or more in cash or equivalent when entering France from outside the EU, you must declare it to customs, for example online with the DALIA service up to 30 days before travel.
6. 6

   Step 6: Driving documents

   A non-EU licence is recognised for one year after you take up normal residence in France; within that year you must apply to exchange it if your country has a reciprocity agreement with France, or later take the French test. The exchange is done online with France Titres (ANTS) and requires, among other documents, a certificate of your driving rights less than six months old from the authority that issued your licence. Request it shortly before you leave, because it is much harder to obtain from abroad. Since 12 May 2026 the exchange costs €40. Students can usually drive on their foreign licence for the duration of their studies. EU and EEA licences follow separate rules. See exchanging a driving licence in France.

7. 7

   Step 7: Health documents

   • Medical summaries, prescriptions and a supply of essential medicines for the first weeks.
   • Vaccination records for children: France has compulsory vaccinations for young children, and proof is checked for nursery and school enrolment.
   • EU citizens: bring your European Health Insurance Card (EHIC). If you will stay insured in your home country while living in France, ask your insurer whether an S1 form applies to you; it lets you register with the French system on that basis.
8. 8

   Step 8: Belongings and pets

   • Household goods: if you have lived outside the EU for at least 12 months, personal belongings you have owned and used for at least six months can usually be imported free of duties when you move your main residence to France. You need a detailed, dated and signed inventory in two copies and customs form cerfa 10070, must import within 12 months, and must not sell or rent the goods for a year.
   • Dogs and cats: they need a microchip and a valid rabies vaccination (valid three weeks after the first injection), an EU pet passport within the EU or an official health certificate from outside the EU. From many non-EU countries a rabies antibody test is also required, taken at least 30 days after vaccination and at least three months before arrival. Register the animal in the French database (I-CAD) after arrival.

How to organise your documents

Watch out

Common mistakes

• Bringing a short extract of a birth certificate when the office needs the full version with parents' names.
• Forgetting children's vaccination records, which delays nursery or school enrolment.
• Letting a non-EU driving licence go past the one-year exchange deadline, after which you must pass the French driving test.

Tips

• Ask for two or three originals of key civil status records; several French procedures keep a copy or ask for a recent one.
• Ask the receiving office for its own checklist before ordering translations; requirements differ between the prefecture, OFII, the CAF and universities.

Frequently asked questions

Editorial answers written by our team, based on the sources below.

Official links

In your plan

• Check that your passport or ID card is valid long enoughAdd to plan
• Order birth certificates, apostilles and sworn translationsAdd to plan
• Gather and translate your work and housing documentsAdd to plan
• Plan how to bring your belongings and cashAdd to plan
• Apply for your long-stay visaAdd to plan
• Find the residence route that fits your move to FranceAdd to plan
• Check whether your qualification needs recognition in FranceAdd to plan
• Choose how your partner and children will join youAdd to plan

Sources

Written and checked by HomiStart editorial against the official sources below. Next scheduled check: 5 Apr 2027.