News Digest: Changes to French Citizenship Applications & Tax Deadlines for Paper Returns

If it’s your first time filing an income tax return in France, then the deadline for submitting your declaration is fast approaching. The first of France’s staggered tax deadlines is next Tuesday, May 20^th, at 11:59 pm, and applies only to those who are submitting a paper form.

New residents who moved to France in 2024 will need to submit their first tax return in 2025 (declaring income earned in 2024) and must submit a paper return. From 2026 onwards, you will be able to declare your income online like everyone else. You can request a paper form from your local tax office or download it here and print it out. To submit your return, it must be sent by post (with an official postmark) or handed in at your local tax office by the abovementioned date.

When Do I Need to File My First Tax Return After Moving to France?

France Tax Calendar 2025: All the Key Dates for Your Diary

Exchanging a UK driving licence for a French one has been a subject of contention ever since Brexit, and while many French residents have now, like myself, managed to successfully exchange their licences, there are still several issues that keep cropping up. One of these issues has been the non-recognition of category A motorcycle licences issued in the UK.

Many UK licence holders are in possession of automatically issued motorbike permits, added to their licence without passing a specific motorcycle test, which are not valid in France. To rectify this, since 2017, France has no longer issued exchanges of category A licences – instead, only category A2 is copied over, which allows licence holders to drive motorbikes up to 35 kW power only. However, this has caused huge difficulties for motorcyclists who had passed a separate motorcycle test, as they found themselves grouped in with all other licence holders and effectively losing their category A motorcycle licence.

Thankfully, the French and British authorities have finally reached an agreement to ensure that those in receipt of a full Category A licence can maintain their rights. If you are applying for an exchange now, make sure that you create a check code from the DVLA (see here) and include this in your application; you can also include any additional documentation showing that you passed your motorcycle test in the UK. If you exchanged your licence in France since 2017 and lost your category A licence, you can now appeal this by applying for a correction via the ANTS website and including an official letter from the DVLA stating that you obtained your category A licence by taking a separate test.

Note that these exceptions only apply to those who underwent an official motorcycle exam to obtain their category A licence – if you haven’t taken the exam, you will only be issued the A2 licence.

A few weeks ago, French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau doubled down on his promise to tighten up the requirements for French citizenship by issuing new guidelines on processing applications to prefectures around France. We can now confirm the key information contained within this much talked-about circulaire (memo). The good news is that it is mostly a reinforcement of the existing rules and upcoming changes to language requirements; however, there are still a few changes that may affect certain candidates.

The guidelines include a reminder that a B2 language level will be imposed in the coming months, which will apply to both applications by decret and by marriage, and that applicants must meet the requirements for sufficient resources (minimum of the French SMIC). There’s also mention of the requirement to sign the Charte des droits et devoirs du citoyen français and a new written civic knowledge exam that will come into action before January 1st, 2026 (we’ll keep you updated as we learn more about this). In addition to this, the memo encourages prefectures to take a stricter stance against applicants who have previously had an irregular situation, stating that those who have previously resided in France without the correct papers (unless this was due to a proven administrative error) or who have been issued an order to leave France at any point, should be rejected.

The biggest changes regard the applicant’s work situation. Applicants will now require a minimum of five years of work experience in France, and candidates should ideally have held a CDI (permanent contract) for at least a year or consecutive CDDs (temporary contracts) for at least 2 years prior to applying for citizenship. Prefectures have also been instructed to reject applicants where the majority of income is “foreign sourced”, as this shows a lack of full integration in France, although there w exceptions will be made to this. It’s also not clear what the situation is regarding self-employed people or non-working applicants, such as retirees or stay-at-home spouses.

This week, we’re hosting an extra special live event for FrenchEntrée Members. Bilingual estate agent Ginny Mimault will answer questions on buying and selling in France in our upcoming Ask an Estate Agent Q&A on the 15th of May at 4pm (UK time).

This is a rare opportunity to enjoy a face-to-face chat with an experienced agent and receive honest, personalised advice on the issues that matter to you. Numbers are strictly limited, and there will be no pre-prepared presentations: just an entire hour devoted to answering your questions live! Unlike other webinars, you can even turn on your audio or video and put your question to Ginny directly (if you’re shy, don’t worry, the chat function will be active too!)