driving immigration france
Temporary French residency and foreign driving licenses
<p>Residents of France who hold a non-EU, non-EEA license to drive may continue to use that license for up to one year after establishing residency, subject to certain conditions.</p>

<p>The relevant law may be found at <a href="http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichCodeArticle.do?cidTexte=LEGITEXT000006074228&amp;idArticle=LEGIARTI000006841395&amp;dateTexte=&amp;categorieLien=cid" rel="nofollow">www.legifrance.gouv.fr</a>.  A more user-friendly account of the rules is available at <a href="https://www.service-public.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F1459" rel="nofollow">www.service-public.fr</a>.</p>

<p>The definition of "residency" seems to cover any stay longer than 90 days, which is the time by which a non-EU, non-EEA spouse of an EU citizen must apply for a residence permit.</p>

<p>Consider now the case of a non-EU spouse of an EU (not French) citizen.  They reside in the non-EU country for 8 months each year.  When they arrive in France for a 4-month stay, they apply for a residence permit for the non-EU spouse.  They leave, and six months later, the residence permit becomes invalid.</p>

<p>Does the invalidity of the residence permit cause the 12-month driver's license clock to reset, making it legal to continue to drive using the foreign license during subsequent periods of temporary residence in France?</p>

<p>Citations to specific provisions of French law will be helpful.</p>

<p><strong>Summary:</strong> Your scenario does in fact work, but there's no clock to reset.</p>

<p>The second paragraph of <a href="https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichCodeArticle.do?cidTexte=LEGITEXT000006074228&amp;idArticle=LEGIARTI000006841395&amp;dateTexte=&amp;categorieLien=cid" rel="nofollow noreferrer">R222-1</a> which you cite (my emphasis):</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Dans le cas où ce permis a été délivré en échange d'un permis de conduire d'un Etat n'appartenant pas à l'Union européenne ou à l'Espace économique européen et avec lequel la France n'a pas conclu d'accord de réciprocité en ce domaine, il n'est reconnu que pendant un délai d'un an après l'acquisition de la <strong>résidence normale</strong> en France de son titulaire.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Roughly translated,</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Where this licence has been issued in exchange for a driving licence from a non-European Union or non-European Economic Area country with which France has not concluded a reprocicity agreement in this domain, it is only recognized for a period of one year after the acquisition of <strong>normal residency</strong> in France by the holder.</p>
</blockquote>

<p><em>Résidence normale</em> has a specific definition given in <a href="https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichCodeArticle.do;jsessionid=28169213DC5F82139B571F84AA07E70B.tplgfr26s_1?idArticle=LEGIARTI000032289687&amp;cidTexte=LEGITEXT000006074228&amp;dateTexte=20180813" rel="nofollow noreferrer">R221-1</a> III, which is residing in a country for at least 185 days. Confusingly, this definition is not related to the residency permit (<em>carte de séjour</em>) which is where you get your 90 days from. However, if one were to gain <em>résidence normale</em>, the start date of the one year period is considered to be the date of issue of the first residency permit as per <a href="https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do?cidTexte=JORFTEXT000025175223#" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this 2012-01-12 administrative decree</a> Article 4 II.B. Still with me?</p>

<p>In your scenario though, the couple never gains <em>résidence normale</em> and so the one year clock never starts. The couple can continue their 8-months away / 4-months in France <em>ad <strike>nauseam</strike> infinitum</em>.</p>

<p>For more info, Titles 1-2 of the <a href="https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do?cidTexte=JORFTEXT000025175223#" rel="nofollow noreferrer">administrative decree</a> is the most detailed resource I was able to find on the topic.</p>

<hr>

<p>Please take this answer <em><a href="https://www.wordreference.com/fren/prendre%20avec%20des%20pincettes" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="with a grain of salt">avec des pincettes</a></em> as it took awhile for me to sort out the intricacies and I'm not quite 100% sure I got all the details right.</p>
