What is the contract of commitment to respect the principles of the Republic?

Verified 25 July 2024 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

A contract of commitment to respect the principles of the Republic must be signed by any foreigner requesting a residence document. This contract must be attached when the application is submitted. Refusal to sign this contract or failure to comply with it may call into question the issue of the title or lead to its withdrawal.

Warning  

The contract of commitment to respect the principles of the Republic is different from the republican integration contract.

Any foreigner applying for a residence document or renewal of a residence document has an obligation to commit, by contract, to respect the principles of the Republic.

There are derogations to this obligation for the following nationals:

  • Algerians: all residence permits
  • Tunisians:
    • Where the residence document applied for is in the capacity of an employee, a member of a Frenchman’s family, a pensioner for an accident at work or occupational disease, a beneficiary of family reunification where the foreigner who is joined is the holder of a residence card
    • Where the requested residence document is in respect of a period of 10 years of legal residence in France or of a period of 5 years of legal residence if the foreigner provides proof of a special residence permit
  • Moroccans: employee residence permit.
  • Citizens of the European Union and their family members
  • Beneficiaries of the residence permit ‘United Kingdom Withdrawal Agreement’
  • Citizens EEE outside the European Union: Liechtenstein, Norway, Iceland) and members of their families
  • Monegasque.

Please note

For these different categories of foreigners, the signature of the contract is optional, due to the special rules applicable to them.

All Title Categories the following are covered by this obligation:

  • Temporary residence permit (except those issued on title of temporary protection)
  • Temporary residence permit
  • Multi-annual residence permit
  • Resident card.

The principles to be respected are as follows:

  • Personal freedom
  • Freedom of expression and conscience
  • Equality between women and men
  • Dignity of the human person
  • Motto and symbols of the Republic: “liberty, equality, fraternity” for the motto, tricolor flag and national anthem for the symbols
  • Territorial integrity, defined by national borders
  • Secularism (not using one's beliefs or convictions to circumvent common rules governing relations between public services and individuals).

This contract must be signed on the lodging of the file for 1re application and renewal :

  • At the prefecture, if the request is made in the prefecture, by mail or dematerialized deposit on simplified-steps.fr
  • Or on the websiteANEF, if the request is dematerialized on this site.

A model of a contract of employment is available on the Ministry of Interior website. Its translation into different languages is also available on the website.

You can print the document and sign it to insert it in your application for a residence permit.

The version of the signed document attached to your file must it is imperative to be the French language version.

Model contract of commitment to respect the principles of the Republic

Ministry of the Interior

Pour en savoir plus

Warning  

The fact of not not to produce the contract of employment or to refuse to sign it in the context of filing a file for application or renewal of a residence permit will lead the prefecture to consider your file as incomplete and to refuse to examine it.

The contract is valid for the entire period of validity of your residence document.

Penalties for non-compliance with the contract may range from refusal to issue the residence permit or its renewal to withdrawal of the residence permit. The procedure and the conditions are not the same according to the category of residence permit.

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Temporary residence permit: temporary residence permit, temporary residence permit

Your application for a residence permit or renewal of a residence permit, may be refused if your behavior indicates that you don't respect one of the principles of the Republic.

Your residence permit may also be withdrawn for the same reasons.

This failure to respect the principles of the Republic is characterized by all the following criteria:

  • Deliberate act
  • Serious act (this criterion is considered established if the act involves a right or freedom of another person)
  • Disturbing the public order, including in the private sphere (home).

Long-term residence permit: multi-annual card, resident card

Your application for a residence permit or renewal of a residence permit, may be refused if your behavior indicates that you don't respect one of the principles of the Republic.

Your residence permit may also be withdrawn for the same reasons.

This failure to respect the principles of the Republic is characterized by all the following criteria:

  • Deliberate act
  • Serious act (this criterion is considered established if the act involves a right or freedom of another person)
  • Disturbing the public order, including in the private sphere (home).

The decision to refuse your residence permit or to withdraw it may be taken by the Prefect taking into account the following elements:

  • Severity or repetition of your actions
  • Duration of your stay in France.

The opinion of the Committee on the Residence Permit, before which you can make comments, is mandatory.

Please note

If you are refugee, beneficiary of subsidiary protection or stateless person, you must sign the employment contract. However, failure to comply with the provisions of this contract will not be sufficient to refuse you a residence permit or to allow its withdrawal. But these and other factors can be taken into account to establish a lack of integration or a threat to public order.

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