Introduction
and some definitions
This is one of the most complex areas of our guide as there are so many factors involved including your nationality, marital status, employment status for you, your spouse and your children. If the simple case described in this section doesn't cover you, it's best to start looking into the matter as soon as you can as it can take ages to resolve immigration issues.
Broadly speaking there are two basic types of immigration to France: where you are a European and where you aren't. There's third variant where you are a European and your spouse isn't which we'll cover separately.
Some definitions are useful at this point:
A "visa" is a permit to enter a country and is usually obtained from the French embassy in your country of residence. There aren't any French embassies in France itself of course and in some circumstances you may need to point this out to various people in the course of applying for your residence permit. A European Family Permit is a special type of visa issued to spouses and family members of European citizens who are not themselves Europeans.
France is in what's called the "Schengen Area" which is a group of countries which grant a single visa to enter all of them. So, if you have a Shengen Visa for, say, Belgium then you don't need an additional visa to enter France because both France and Belgium are in the Schengen Area.
A "residence permit" ("Carte de Séjour) is a document permitting you to live in a country. In some cases this permit may also give you permission to work in that country but you may need a "work permit" to do that.
A "work permit" gives you permission to work in a country. It may be incorporated into your "residence permit".
Europe has two basic classes of countries: those which are established and those which are subject to transitional arrangements. Established countries are, generally, those which have been in the European Union for four years or more. Newer countries are subject to transitional arrangements in some circumstances, notably in terms of requirements regarding residence permits.
European citizens in established European countries intending to work
The simplest case of immigration to France is where you are a citizen of one of the established European countries and are coming to France to work as either an employee or for yourself. Established European countries are those that have been in the European Union for more than four years; if it's been in the union for less than four years then transitional arrangements may apply.
This section also applies to you if you are French and if you have dual/multiple nationalities so long as one of those nationalities is European.
If this applies to you and all your family, then you just need to come to France and there are no documentation requirements at all beyond those which a French citizen would need to meet. In practical terms, the French must treat you as though you were French and had always been French. This doesn't mean that there is no paperwork to be done though! For example, if you up a business then you will need to register that business just as a French person would have to (see our section on employment for more information on this).
Although the heading says "intending to work", you can also move on the same basis if you are receiving a pension or other income sufficient to support yourself and your family. In practical terms, this means an income of something like 1000€ or more per month but that's largely irrelevant as the French don't seem to apply this criteria.
If you're in one of the new European countries for which transitional arrangements apply, see Europa. In practical terms, so long as you have a job lined up there doesn't seem to be any distinction between the new and the old European countries.
Fortunately, this section covers 90% or more of the immigrants to France from other European countries.
non-European citizens with European spouses intending to work
If your spouse is from a country that's been in Europe for less than four years then transitional arrangements may apply and will almost certainly be applied if there are any as France really loves documentation.
As in the previous case if you have "sufficient resources" (generally around 1000€ a month or more) you are treated as though you were intending to work.
If you are from a country which requires a visa to enter France, then you still need to get it from the country in which you are living. However, they aren't allowed to charge you for it and they can't refuse it either.
Once you reach France, you should go along to the mayor's office (mairie) in your commun and apply for a Carte de Séjour Europpenne. You'll need to bring along your passport, that of your European spouse and your marriage certificate plus two passport photos of you (none are required for the European citizen). Within 90 days, you should receive the Carte de Séjour (residence permit). These are the only documents that they are allowed to ask for but in practice they will often ask for considerably more; if this is the case you aren't required to provide them but will probably need to quote the law from Europe. You can get the same permit for the parents, grandparents, children or grandchildren of either you or your spouse regardless of their nationality.
Before you bother to go down this path, bear in mind that if you have parents or grandparents who were Irish or born in Ireland pre-1922 or the Republic of Ireland after that then you are Irish and can therefore apply for an Irish passport which in turn means that you come under the simple case covered last week.
This section is one that doesn't apply if you are French (unless you have dual/multiple nationalities) as the European law being used only applies if you are moving countries. Actually, in theory you could apply if you had lived in a European country other than France: there are always exceptions in immigration law.
non-Europeans
This section very briefly covers the variety of circumstances that may apply and how you might go about moving to France if they apply to you. There are just too many combinations and special circumstances to adequately cover all of the possibilities so hopefully this will give you a feel for how you might ease your transition to France.
If you are a visa national (ie a citizen of a country requiring a visa to enter France), then your first hurdle is the French embassy in your country of residence. There are many visa categories but the simplest lie in the areas of family reunification or if you already have a job offer in France.
I imagine that for most people the "job offer" option is most likely to apply. Obviously if you already have a job lined up there's no problem but if you'd like to organise one, see our section on employment coming soon.
Finally, don't forget that if you have parents or grandparents who are Irish or were born in Ireland pre-1922 or in the Republic of Ireland after that then you are Irish and can usually just apply for an Irish passport and thereby come under the very simplest case which we covered at the start of this segment.