VisaEligible residents in France can report a move without replacing their residence card
The declaration is free. A newly manufactured card is optional and normally costs €50, with specified exemptions; prepare recent address evidence before using ANEF.
Official announcement date: not established (undated guidance)
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Edited and checked by the VisaWand editorial team
Declare the move within the applicable three-month period
Foreign residents in France with a residence card issued for more than one year must declare a move within three months, including within the same municipality. Service Public’s May 2026 guidance directs them to ANEF. This guide distinguishes declaration from optional card manufacture.
The declaration is recorded free of charge and produces an attestation to retain. A replacement physical card is not compulsory. If requested, manufacture costs €50 in fiscal stamps, except for the listed EU, EEA and Swiss categories, qualifying family members and Withdrawal Agreement document holders. Prepare readable digital copies of the residence card, passport identity, validity and entry-stamp pages, and address evidence under three months old. An e-photo code is additionally requested when manufacturing another card.
Match the evidence to the actual housing arrangement
The separate Service Public address-evidence guide lists utility or fixed-line telephone and internet bills, a lease or rent receipt for tenants and owners. For a hotel resident, it asks for the hotelier’s attestation together with the latest month’s bill. A person staying with family or friends needs the host’s dated, signed accommodation statement and a copy of the host’s identity or residence card, plus supporting address evidence where the address on that card is outdated.
That general residence-card guide describes evidence under six months old, while the specific address-change page requires under three months. Use the more recent evidence required for the actual declaration, rather than treating the broader guide as permission to upload an older bill. If living with a host, establish whose name appears on the supporting record and whether it matches the host’s current address. The guide also says a secure address document bearing a 2D-Doc barcode cannot be refused merely as a document format.
The accommodation statement has an official free model
Service Public provides a free French-language accommodation-statement tool. It asks the user to personalise the information, download the PDF, then print and sign it. The text can alternatively be copied into another application for editing. This is useful when a host needs to supply the statement identified in the address-evidence checklist.
The downloadable statement is one component of that housing evidence, not a residence-card application or a new immigration permission. Ask the host to check the completed particulars before signing, and pair it with the supporting documents required for the actual accommodation arrangement. The model does not itself establish that a missing identity copy or an outdated supporting address can be ignored.
Buy a fiscal stamp only for the transaction that requires it
Service Public’s fiscal-stamp guide says the stamps used for foreign-national residence documents are electronic. They can be bought online through the official service or at a tobacconist equipped to issue them. The guide warns against buying a fine-payment stamp by mistake. Select the foreign-national document product and the amount appropriate to the transaction confirmed by the receiving authority.
The guide lists CB, Visa and Mastercard payments, while excluding PayPal and American Express. The electronic stamp can be supplied as a PDF containing a scannable two-dimensional code or by text message with its sixteen-digit identifier. Keep that evidence available in the required format. If the stamp is ultimately unused, the guide links to the refund-request service; a refund must be requested rather than assumed automatic. These payment instructions do not turn a free address declaration into a mandatory paid card order.
Use the responsible administration for a blocked online case
The help page linked to the ANEF service explains that Service Public does not have access to individual files and cannot confirm a case’s progress or correct it on the applicant’s behalf. It directs technical and case questions to the administration responsible for the service. For foreign-national online procedures, it identifies the DGEF Citizen Contact Centre, its online contact form and telephone 0806 001 620, Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm.
Use that route if the online declaration cannot be completed or its receipt is unclear, and explain the specific problem rather than paying an unrelated website to claim the declaration has been registered. The same help page says using the official online route does not attract an additional online-service charge, although some administrative products have taxes or delivery costs. No guaranteed address-update processing period was established by these pages. Keep the declaration evidence and resolve any approaching permit renewal separately; a change-of-address request does not itself establish an extended stay.
