French residence permit: which foreign documents need translating for the préfecture?

By Keran Chaussard, administrator of the Directory of Sworn Translators of France — updated on 20 October 2026

Which residence permits are concerned?

The translation rule applies to every residence permit application, whether filed at the préfecture or online. The French online platform for foreign nationals (ANEF) handles in particular the following permits:

• private and family life (spouse of a French national, parent of a French child, personal and family ties)
• student
• talent and family members
• visitor
• seasonal worker
• beneficiary of international protection and family members
• EU, EEA or Swiss citizen and family members

When the family of a foreign national already living in France joins them, the family reunification procedure applies, with its own rules; to become French, the naturalisation procedure.

The civil status documents most often requested

Article R. 431-10 of the CESEDA requires applicants to prove their civil status and nationality; Annex 10 lists the documents for each permit. The most common are:

• The birth certificate: a full copy showing the most recent annotations (marriage, divorce, change of name), not a short extract. If it was established by a court judgment, that judgment must be attached.
• The passport, which proves nationality.
• The marriage certificate, for a permit based on family life or for a spouse.
• The children’s birth certificates, in particular for the parent of a French child.
• The divorce judgment or the previous spouse’s death certificate, where the family situation requires it.

Other documents may also be in a foreign language: diplomas and transcripts for a student or talent permit, a foreign employment contract or employer references, bank statements, a sponsorship statement. The same translation rule applies to them.

On renewal, the birth certificate is in principle no longer required: holders of a residence permit are exempt. Only new documents (birth of a child, marriage, divorce) need to be provided and, where applicable, translated.

Who must translate the documents?

Annex 10 of the CESEDA is explicit: documents in a foreign language must be translated by a sworn translator registered with a court of appeal, meaning a court-appointed expert translator on the list of a French court of appeal. In practice, this rules out:

• a translation made by you, a relative or an association
• a machine translation, even if checked
• as a general rule, a translation made abroad, including by an official translator in your country of origin

The translation has the same value whatever the expert’s court of appeal: a préfecture in Lyon accepts a translation by an expert registered in Paris or Rennes. It bears the expert’s signature and stamp and states their court of appeal.

Does the foreign certificate need legalising or apostilling?

A foreign public document presented in France must in principle be legalised (by the French consulate in the issuing country, or that country’s consulate in France) or apostilled if the country applies the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961. It is exempt where a bilateral agreement provides so, or for certain civil status documents from an EU country.

The order matters: first have the original legalised or apostilled in the country that issued it, then have the certificate and its apostille or legalisation translated. An apostille added after the translation will have to be translated in turn.

To find out what applies to your country, see the country-by-country table for foreign documents presented in France.

Must the certificate be recent?

Annex 10 sets no period of validity for the birth certificate: it only requires it to show the most recent annotations. Some préfectures nevertheless ask for a certificate issued within the last three or six months. Check your préfecture’s list or the ANEF instructions before ordering a new certificate and its translation.

Only proof of address has an age limit set by Annex 10: less than six months.

How do you upload translations to the ANEF?

• Upload the original and its translation: the translation alone is not enough, as the officer must be able to compare the two.
• Use a complete, legible PDF: every page, front and back, with the expert’s signature and stamp visible. A scan is better than a cropped photo.
• Keep the paper originals: the préfecture may ask for them at the appointment to collect the permit, or if in doubt.
• Ask the translator for an electronically signed version or a PDF of the paper original, depending on what your préfecture accepts.

Mistakes that delay an application

• A birth certificate extract instead of the full copy.
• A certificate without its recent annotations, for example without the marriage or divorce.
• A translation made abroad or by a translator not registered with a court of appeal.
• An untranslated apostille or legalisation, or one obtained after the translation.
• Names spelt differently on the passport, the translated birth certificate and the marriage certificate: give the translator the spelling used in your passport.
• An incomplete upload: a missing page, a forgotten back page, an illegible stamp.

Finding a sworn translator for a residence permit

The Directory of Sworn Translators of France lets you search for a court-appointed expert translator by language, département, region and court of appeal. For an imminent préfecture appointment, a rare language or a file with several documents, the express file submission service lets you entrust the request to the Directory, which passes it to an available expert.

Frequently asked questions

Which documents need translating for a French residence permit?

Every document written in a foreign language: most often the full birth certificate, the marriage certificate, the children’s birth certificates, a divorce judgment and, depending on the permit, diplomas or employment documents.

Who can translate documents for the préfecture?

A sworn translator registered with a French court of appeal, meaning a court-appointed expert translator, as required by Annex 10 of the CESEDA.

Is a translation made in my home country accepted?

As a general rule, no: the préfecture requires a translation by an expert registered with a French court of appeal.

Must the birth certificate be less than three months old?

Annex 10 of the CESEDA sets no time limit but requires the most recent annotations. Some préfectures ask for a recent certificate: check their list.

Does the foreign birth certificate need an apostille?

It depends on the country: apostille, legalisation or exemption. The apostille is obtained in the country that issued the certificate, before translation.

Do documents need translating again on renewal?

Not the birth certificate, from which residence permit holders are exempt. Only new documents in a foreign language need translating.

Sources

• CESEDA, Annex 10: supporting documents for residence permits (translation by a sworn translator registered with a court of appeal) (in French)
• CESEDA, Article R. 431-10 (proof of civil status and nationality)
• InfoMIE, “Les pièces pour la demande de titre de séjour” (in French)
• French Ministry of the Interior, “L’administration numérique pour les étrangers en France” (in French)
• Hague Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents
• Regulation (EU) 2016/1191 of 6 July 2016 on the circulation of certain public documents
• Law No. 71-498 of 29 June 1971 and Decree No. 2004-1463 of 23 December 2004 on court-appointed experts