The French national identity card, or carte nationale d’identité, is issued free of charge to any French citizen who requests it, and since August 2021 it comes as a credit-card-sized polycarbonate document with an electronic chip storing your photo, fingerprints, and civil-status data. You apply by completing an online pre-application on the France Titres portal, then attending an appointment at a town hall equipped with a biometric station (or at a French consulate if you live abroad). The card is valid for 10 years for adults and lets you travel across the EU and several neighboring countries without a passport.
Who Can Apply
French nationality is the only requirement. A newborn and an eighty-year-old have the same entitlement, and there is no legal obligation to carry the card day to day, though banks, employers, notaries, and public agencies routinely ask for it.
Dual citizens apply the same way as any other French national. If your French nationality is not obvious from your birth certificate, you may need to provide a certificate of French nationality or a naturalization decree. This comes up most often for people who acquired citizenship through marriage, descent from a French parent born abroad, or naturalization.
Documents You Need
Start with the online pre-application (pré-demande) on the France Titres portal. You enter your personal details, upload your photo, and receive a pre-application number or QR code to bring to the town hall.1Service Public. Passport, ID card, driver’s license: be ready in time to leave this summer If you skip the online step, the clerk at the counter will hand you a cardboard form to fill out in black ink and capital letters; the paper form cannot be downloaded in advance.2Service Public. Carte d’identité / Passeport : comment remplir le formulaire ou la pré-demande ?
Photo
You need one recent passport-style photograph taken within the last six months. It must measure 35 mm wide by 45 mm high, with the face measuring 32 to 36 mm from chin to top of skull, taken against a plain light background with a neutral expression and no head covering unless worn daily for religious reasons.3France Titres (ANTS). Identity photos Automated photo booths in train stations and shopping centers are accepted if they meet these standards.
Proof of Address
You must present a document showing your current address. Accepted options include a phone bill, electricity or gas bill, water bill, rent receipt from a real estate agency, home insurance certificate, property deed, or a statement from the family allowance fund mentioning housing assistance. The document must be in your name and include both your first name and surname.4Service Public. Application for identity card or passport: change in the accepted proof of residence Tax notices are currently not accepted.
Civil-Status Documents
For a straightforward renewal where you still hold your current card and it expired less than five years ago, the list is short: the old card, your photo, proof of address, and your pre-application number. If the card expired more than five years ago and you don’t hold a valid passport, you will also need a birth certificate (full copy or extract with filiation) issued within the last three months, unless your birthplace has digitized its civil records.5Service Public. Renewal of the identity card of an adult A certificate of French nationality may be requested if your nationality doesn’t appear on the other documents.
How the Appointment Works
You cannot simply walk into any town hall. You need an appointment at a municipality equipped with a biometric collection station, and that municipality does not have to be the one where you live. During the appointment, a clerk scans your documents and records your fingerprints digitally. For adults and children 12 and older, fingerprint data is stored on the card’s chip and transmitted to the national processing center where the card is manufactured. You leave with a tracking number to check the card’s progress on the France Titres website.
Average processing time runs about two to three weeks, though periods of high demand before the summer travel season can push it longer. When the card is ready, you receive a text message or email. You must pick it up in person at the same location where you applied, and your old card is surrendered and destroyed at that point. A card left uncollected for three months is automatically destroyed.5Service Public. Renewal of the identity card of an adult
Applying for a Child
A minor of any age can receive a French identity card, and the card is free including for first requests and renewals. The child and their legal representative (a parent or guardian who holds parental authority) must appear together at the appointment, and the representative must bring their own valid identity document along with the child’s file.6Service Public. Identity card of a minor: first request
If the parents are separated or divorced, the parent bringing the child provides their own proof of address. When custody alternates, both parents’ addresses can appear on the card if each parent supplies a separate proof of address. Fingerprints are collected starting at age 12.
Applying from Outside France
French citizens living abroad apply through their nearest consulate or embassy. The process mirrors the domestic one: complete the pre-application online, gather the same documents, and book an appointment at the consular office. Biometric data is collected there, and the finished card is returned to the consulate for pickup.
Processing times abroad tend to run longer than within France because consulates handle both passports and identity cards with smaller staffing. If a trip home is approaching and you need the card quickly, applying during a visit to France at a town hall with open appointment slots can be faster, since any equipped municipality can accept your application regardless of where you live.
Cost, and What Happens If You Lose It
A first application and a standard renewal are free. Replacing a lost or stolen card costs 25 euros, paid through a fiscal stamp (timbre fiscal). You must first file a declaration of loss (déclaration de perte) or a police report for theft.7Service Public. Carte d’identité d’un majeur : renouvellement en cas de perte
You can buy the fiscal stamp online at timbres.impots.gouv.fr with a credit card, receiving it by email as a PDF or by text message as a 16-digit code. Approved tobacconists also sell them.
The documents required for a lost-card replacement depend on what other identification you still hold. A valid passport, or one that expired less than five years ago, lets you use that document along with your photo, proof of address, the declaration of loss, and the fiscal stamp. Without a usable passport, you will also need a birth certificate issued within the last three months (unless your birthplace has digitized its civil records) and possibly a certificate of French nationality.7Service Public. Carte d’identité d’un majeur : renouvellement en cas de perte
How Long the Card Is Valid
The current biometric card is valid for 10 years for adults. When the printed expiration date arrives, you renew. No automatic extensions apply to the new format.
Older laminated cards issued to adults between January 2, 2004 and December 31, 2013 received an automatic five-year extension announced in 2014, giving them an effective validity of 15 years even though the printed expiration date still says 10.8Service Public. Can you travel with an ID card over 10 years old? The extension applied only if you were an adult when the card was issued and the card was still valid on January 1, 2014. It creates a real problem for international travel because some countries do not recognize the extension and will refuse entry when the printed date has passed. If you still hold one of these extended cards, renewing it before traveling abroad is the safest approach.
Traveling with the Card
As an EU citizen, you can travel throughout all 27 EU member states plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland using just your identity card instead of a passport.9Your Europe. Travel documents for EU nationals Several non-EU countries in the Balkans and Mediterranean also accept it, including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, North Macedonia, Andorra, Monaco, and San Marino.
For destinations outside Europe, a passport is almost always required. And an expired card, even one with an automatic extension, can cause problems at foreign border controls. Airline check-in staff are sometimes unfamiliar with the French extension rule and may refuse boarding. A current, unexpired card or a valid passport is the safe option for any international trip.
The France Identité App
France has introduced a digital companion to the physical card through the France Identité mobile app. If your new biometric card has a compatible chip, the app can generate a single-use digital proof of identity signed electronically by the Interior Ministry, which you can share by email or text when a business or institution needs to verify who you are. The digital version does not replace the physical card, and the government has indicated it should be accepted by institutions and companies that require proof of identity. Acceptance in practice varies, particularly for in-person transactions like opening a bank account or signing a notarial deed, where the physical card remains standard.