What is the difference between a French carte de séjour and a titre de séjour?

Reader Question: I often see The Connexion mention needing a 'titre de séjour' to apply for things in France, but my residency card says carte de séjour. Is there a difference?

This can be confusing, because the terms are often used interchangeably in France.

Titre de séjour is the broader, administrative term.

It is commonly used by officials and refers to any document (usually in the form of a credit-card-sized card) issued by the French prefectures that proves a foreign national’s right to reside in France.

Most non-EU/EEA/Swiss nationals staying in France for more than a short visit will obtain one.

It differs from a visa (formalised with a sticker in the passport), which is issued by consular officials, giving an initial right to enter and stay, and is often prolonged by obtaining a card if the person is settling longer-term. 

Note, however, that the VLS-TS (visa de long séjour valant titre de séjour), often issued for a year, is deemed to become 'equivalent' to a first titre de séjour once it has been 'validated' online in the first months after arrival.

The term séjour refers to a ‘stay’ in France (the right to remain in the country), while titre refers to the document proving that right.

Carte de séjour is the everyday term

Many people in daily life refer to all physical residency cards as 'cartes de séjour'. 

In The Connexion, we also sometimes use the general English terms ‘residency card’ or ‘residency permit’.

These cards may be required for various administrative procedures where proof of your legal right to live in France is needed.

The term also forms part of the official name of some residency cards, but not all. 

For example, several types of permit are explicitly labelled carte de séjour, often issued to people who have relatively recently moved to France and valid for one or several years before renewal.

An  example is a carte de séjour 'visiteur', often issued to retirees. 

Some other kinds of card are called carte de résident (literally ‘resident’s card’), which emphasises a more settled status.

These are typically valid for 10 years and may be granted to people who have lived in France for at least five years, or who have certain family ties to French citizens.

All of these fall under the broader category of titre de séjour.

We also note that residency cards issued to Britons under the Withdrawal Agreement (WA) following Brexit are labelled carte de séjour - Article 50 TUE - even though the 10-year version, in particular, confers rights similar to those of a carte de résident.

This is likely because they are a one-off kind of card, deriving from a treaty, so not directly comparable to the standard French/EU carte de résident status, even though the protections are in most respects similarly strong. 

The (WA) cards themselves also say titre de séjour along the top, but this changes nothing about the rights they grant holders.