Can I obtain a visa to come to France and look after my elderly mother?
Family regroupment permits are limited for adult children
This reader would have to dstay through a visa in your own right
Leonid Sorokin/Shutterstock
Reader question: My mum lives alone in France and is in increasingly poor health. Is there a type of ‘carer visa’ I can apply for to move to France and look after her? I am 63 and have dual American-Brazilian citizenship.
There is no simple ‘carer’ visa for people in your situation, and having dual American and Brazilian citizenship does not change the situation.
France offers a ‘regroupement familial’ visa for non-Europeans living in the country to bring their family, but this is limited to spouses or children under the age of 18 and therefore cannot apply to you.
You did not mention the citizenship status of your mother, but even if she was a French or other EU citizen there is no simple route.
Family members of EU citizens can obtain a long-stay visa to join them in France only if they are:
The spouse/official partner of the EU citizen (sometimes possible for unofficial partners)
A child under the age of 21 or dependent on the EU citizen or their spouse or partner
A dependent parent of the EU citizen.
The situation is similar (though the visa category is different) if your mother is a French citizen.
Unfortunately, none of these applies to you.
To move to France you would therefore have to do so through a visa in your own right, for example by obtaining a job offer in France, presenting a viable project for self-employment or by showing that you have sufficient resources to support yourself from sources such as investments or rental properties.
In the latter case, you can obtain a 12-month VLS-TS visa and renew this annually.
More information is available in our help guides to Moving to France or to Visas and residency cards.
