Family reunification: bringing your family to France

Not sure if you can benefit from this procedure?

Know if I can benefit from it

Summary

  1. Procedure summary
  2. Does this procedure affect you?
  3. Procedure steps

Procedure summary

Your spouse and children can join you thanks to family reunification if:

  • You are a foreigner (not from the European Union)
  • You live in France legally

Does this procedure affect you?

You can bring your family under the following conditions:

YOU MUST:
  • Have been living in France regularly for at least 18 months. For Algerians, this deadline is at least 12 months.
  • Have a residence permit of at least one year (excluding the mentions passport talent, retired, seasonal, etc.) The renewal receipt can replace this residence permit.

Conditions for your family to benefit from family reunification

You can apply for family reunification for:

  • Your spouse (he/she must be 18 years of age or older)
  • Your less than 18 years old child/children

You family must live abroad.

N. B. : You can bring your partner’s biological children or born from a previous union. The same is applicable to foster children or those adopted through the kafala system for Algerians and Moroccans alike.

Other family members cannot benefit from family reunification (they must personally apply for visas if they wish to come live in France). For more information, click on the following link:

https://france-visas.gouv.fr/web/france-visas/ai-je-besoin-d-un-visa

Housing criteria to be respected

Your house must meet certain criteria in terms of space, comfort and habitability.

In order to make sure that your family lives in good conditions once it arrives in France, you must be a tenant, an owner or an occupant of a house free of charge. The house must meet certain criteria:

  • The required space depends on the number of people who will be living in it. It also depends on the area where the house is located (Zone A, B or C). Link to the public service simulator:
    https://www.service-public.fr/simulateur/calcul/zonage-abc

    Tableau du simulateur
    Tableau illustratif du simmulateur
  • Your house needs to fulfil the comfort and salubrity conditions related to the characteristics of a decent accommodation.

Conditions of resources

Your must have enough resources:
In order to bring your spouse/child, you must have a sufficient and stable income. The required amount depends on the family composition as explained on this table:

Tableau des ressource

Tableau illustratif des ressource

All your resources and those of your spouse are taken into account, except the following ones:

  • Family benefits:
    • Young child reception benefit (PAJE)
    • Family benefits
    • Family supplement
    • Housing allowance
    • Allowance for the upbringing of a child with a disability (AEEH)
    • Family support allowance

    • Schooling allowance

    • Daily parental attendance allowance
  • Pension equivalent allowance
  • Active solidarity income (RSA)
  • Solidarity allowance for the elderly (ASPA)

  • Specific solidarity allowance (RSA)

Procedure steps

The following steps need to be followed for applying for family reunification:

illustration1

Step 1 : Gather the necessary documents

  • The documents to be attached depend on your family situation. To get the list of document corresponding to your situation, click here.
  • Be careful! You need to translate into French all documents written in a foreign language.

To this end, you can contact a court-approved sworn translator. The list of approved translators is available here. Documents translated by other institutions are not accepted.

Translator

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Step 2 : Fill in the family reunification application form

Once all the documents are gathered, click here to download the CERFA n°11436*05 form. Fill it in and sign it. The information notice which will help you fill in the form is available here.

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Step 3 : Send your file

The complete file (CERFA form + supporting documents) have to be sent via mail to the Territorial Directorate of the OFII.

To find out the address of the nearest OFII Directorate, click here.

Adresse

What happens once you have sent your file?

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1) Documents control upon deposit of your file

The OFII checks if your application is acceptable and complete.

If the file is incomplete, the OFII directorate will send you the list of the missing documents. It will give you a deadline for the reception of those documents. If you do not complete your application in time, the OFII will give you back your whole file and you must redeposit a new complete file.

For complete and acceptable files, your will be issued a file deposit certificate. This certificate will bear the list of the family members who are part of the application.

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2) Your file is registered, what is next?

L’OFII or the town council, depending on the case, will come inspect your house.

The prefecture will make a decision on your application within 6 months since the file deposit certificate.

In which cases family reunification is not possible?

You cannot bring your family to France through this procedure in the following cases:

*N. B. : Your marriage took place after the application for OFPRA’s protection? Your children were born from a union after the application for protection? It this case, the family reunification procedure is not applicable. The applicable procedure is the family reunion.

  • You hold a residence permit bearing the mention “retired”, “seasonal worker”, “passport talent” or “Intra-corporate transferee ICT”. For more information, click on the following link: https://france-visas.gouv.fr/web/france-visas/ai-je-besoin-d-un-visa
  • You have been living in France since less than 18 months or less than 12 months for Algerians. You can register your file as soon as you have reached the minimal duration of regular residence in France.
  • You live illegally in France.

Watch our video to learn more about family reunification

Miniature de la vidéo

Documentation