[tinytina]

Hi there,
I am interested to know if I allow my 10 year french spouse visa to expire without claiming nationality before then, what happends? Imagine I return to my home country for some time then decide I want to return with my family again after this 10 years, my husband and kids are all french (born here). I am just getting an idea of the repercussions first. to i got back to scratch like when I very first arrived? Going for interview with OFII, assessment of my language skills or do they have all my old details on file and perhaps give me another 10 year visa straight up?
Thanks in advance I can't find any information on this at all !
Tina

 

[95995]

But why wouldn't you just renew?

 

[Bevdeforges]

Once your carte resident expires, you go back to the end of the queue as far as applying for visa and titre de séjour. In fact, there is a time limit on how long you can have been out of France on a 10 year card when it comes to renewing it (within the time limit) - I think it's 3 years. But that's assuming you apply for the renewal before the card expires.

That's not to say that if you turn up at the prefecture the day after your 10 year card expires with a plausible excuse why you "didn't get around to" renewing before then they wouldn't process the paperwork for you. But it's not a given.

But no, they won't give you another 10 year card straight up. If you have to go back to the visa on re-entry, you start out again with one-year titres de séjour, depending on what sort of visa you return on.

Don't forget, either, that you have to be resident legally in France when you apply for and ultimately take French nationality. In theory, you are supposed to turn in your carte de resident (or titre de séjour) when you get a carte de resident. If you leave France and allow your card to expire, your residence period for nationality starts over again, too.
Cheers,
Bev