Residence permits
EU long-term resident card: your time abroad counted day by day
Enter the start of your lawful stay and your trips outside France: the tool finds the first date on which both absence caps are met.
Independent site, not linked to the French Interior Ministry, the préfectures or the exam centres.
Earliest date you can apply
1 March 2027
in 127 days
| Period required | 5 years |
| Days abroad over the 5 years | 38 |
| Cap (10 months) | 304 |
| Civic exam: | resident card level |
| French level: | B1 |
| Tax stamp: | €350 |
A guide date only: residence is one condition among others (valid permit, income, integration, criminal record). The préfecture decides.
The EU long-term resident card (carte de résident de longue durée-UE) is a 10-year French resident card open to foreign nationals who have lived lawfully in France for 5 years without interruption. Your stay counts as unbroken as long as your absences stay within two caps: no single trip of more than 6 consecutive months, and no more than 10 months in total over the 5 years. You also need stable income at least equal to the French minimum wage (SMIC), French at level B1 and, since 1 January 2026, a pass in the resident card level civic exam unless you are over 65. That applies to talent passport holders, refugees and beneficiaries of subsidiary protection applying for this card too. Official fees are €350. The tool above takes the start of your lawful stay and your list of trips outside France, counts each absence from the day after you leave to the day before you return, and gives the first date on which both caps are met over the preceding 5 years.
Do my trips block the EU long-term card?
Unbroken stay
Yes
| Total cap | 10 months |
| Cap for one trip | 6 months |
| Total margin | 6.0 mo |
Answers, dates and costs by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method
Requirements
| Requirement | What is asked |
|---|---|
| Unbroken lawful stay | 5 years |
| Longest single absence | 6 consecutive months |
| Total absences | 10 months over 5 years |
| Income | stable, at least the SMIC |
| French level | B1 |
| Civic exam | resident card level (not over 65) |
| Official fees | €350 |
| Validity | 10 years |
The absence rule, explained
Two caps work together and you must meet both. The first limits each trip: one absence of more than 6 months in a row is enough to break continuity. The second limits the total: added up, your absences over the period cannot exceed 10 months. Consultants on frequent short missions meet the first cap easily but can hit the second; people back from a long contract abroad tend to hit the first.
The tool counts each absence from the day after you leave to the day before you return, so a same-day round trip does not count. It then tests the 5-year window before each candidate date, starting 5 years after your lawful stay began, and moves forward a day at a time while a cap is exceeded. Add planned trips too, to see whether a future journey would delay your application.
When can I apply for the resident card?
Still to wait
1 year
| Period required | 3 years |
| French level | B1 |
| Stamps | €350 |
Civic exam and French, protected profiles included
The EU long-term card follows the resident card rule: level B1 and the resident card level civic exam, 40 questions with a pass mark of 32. That holds even when the application rests on a talent passport, refugee status or subsidiary protection, whereas the refugee resident card is outside the exam. Practise on the resident card mock exam, and see our French level page for the language proof.
Reading the result: an example
Say your lawful stay began in the spring, with a few weeks away every summer and, one year, an assignment abroad lasting several months. The tool first tests the date 5 years on. If the assignment exceeded 6 months, the date moves back until that absence falls outside the window. If it is the total that goes over 10 months, the date moves until the oldest trips drop out in turn. The result table then shows the days of absence counted and the cap that applies, so you can check the arithmetic yourself.
Keep the evidence that backs up your log. Boarding passes, passport stamps, hotel invoices and employer travel records all help if the préfecture asks how you counted. Expats who changed passports during the period should keep the old one: its stamps are part of the record.
EU long-term or another resident card?
If you are married to a French citizen or the parent of a French child, the resident card on that ground may come sooner. The EU long-term card is the route for people without a family tie to a French citizen: employees, the self-employed, talent passport holders and protected persons. It asks for discipline about travel over 5 years, so keep a running log of departure and return dates, with tickets or stamps as proof.
Once issued, the card is valid for 10 years. The reference remains the service-public.gouv.fr page on the EU long-term resident card.