Travelling in and out of France with a foreign minor child: the DCEM explained

A practical guide for foreign families residing in France

Every year, the same scenario plays out at Roissy, Nice or Gatwick: a family holding valid French residence permits tries to fly back into France after a holiday abroad, and the airline or the border police stop them — not because of the parents, but because of the children.

The reason is a structural feature of French immigration law that surprises most foreign parents: a foreign child under 18 living in France is not required to hold a residence permit, and therefore does not have one. Nothing in the child's passport shows that they lawfully reside in France. Without a specific document, the child may be treated at the border as an ordinary third-country traveller — and may need a visa to come back to the country where they actually live and go to school.

That document is the DCEM — document de circulation pour étranger mineur, the travel document for foreign minors. This article sets out who needs one, how to obtain it, what it costs, how long it lasts, and the practical traps worth anticipating.

1. What the DCEM is — and what it is not

The DCEM is issued by the préfecture to a foreign minor who resides in France with their family. Its function is narrow but essential: it allows the child to re-enter France, and to cross the external borders of the Schengen Area, without a visa, on the strength of their residence in France.

Three points are frequently misunderstood:

• It is not a residence permit. The child's right to remain in France flows from their status as a minor, not from the DCEM. A child without a DCEM is not in an irregular situation.
• It is not a substitute for a passport. The DCEM must be presented together with a valid passport (or, where applicable, another accepted travel document). It supplements the passport; it does not replace it.
• It is not compulsory. No penalty attaches to not holding one. But without it, every trip outside the Schengen Area — a summer in London, a family visit to Beirut or New York — raises the question of how the child gets back in.

In practice, for families who travel, the DCEM is not optional in any meaningful sense.

2. Who can obtain a DCEM

The application is made by a parent or legal guardian who holds a valid French residence permit — or, for EU/EEA/Swiss nationals residing in France for more than three months, who is not required to hold one.

The main categories of eligible children are:

• Children of foreign parents holding a valid residence permit — the standard case, including children admitted through family reunification (regroupement familial);
• Children recognised as refugees or granted subsidiary protection, on the basis of the OFPRA or CNDA decision;
• Children of a French national, where the child entered France with a long-stay visa in the "family of a French national" or "international adoption" category, on production of proof of the parent's French nationality;
• Children who entered France before the age of 13 under a long-stay visitor visa, on production of the visa and of school certificates covering the period since the child turned 13;
• Children placed in the care of the child welfare service (aide sociale à l'enfance) before the age of 16, on production of the placement order.

Children of British nationals who are beneficiaries of the UK Withdrawal Agreement are eligible on the same terms as children of EU nationals, including as regards the fee (see section 5).

3. Supporting documents

The core list is:

• the passport (or national identity card, consular identity card, etc.) of both the applicant and the child;
• proof of filiation: family record book (livret de famille) or full copy of the child's birth certificate;
• proof of the exercise of parental authority: marriage certificate, divorce judgment, or acknowledgment of paternity/maternity — the relevant document depends on the family situation, and the préfecture distinguishes between acknowledgment made before or after the child's first birthday;
• proof that the child habitually resides in France: school certificate, or crèche certificate for pre-school children;
• the child's e-photo code;
• the fiscal stamps.

Any civil-status document drawn up in a foreign language must be accompanied by an official translation. Documents from certain countries may also require legalisation or an apostille — a point worth checking early, as it is the single most common cause of delay in these files.

4. Validity and renewal

Validity depends on the child's age at issue, and is capped by the parent's own residence permit:

Child under 13 at the date of issue

• maximum validity: 5 years;
• if the parent's residence permit expires sooner, the DCEM is aligned on that expiry date;
• if the parent's permit expires within less than one year, the DCEM is limited to one year.

Child aged 13 to 18

• validity runs until the child's 18th birthday;
• if the parent's permit expires before then, the DCEM is aligned on that date, with a minimum of one year.

The document must be returned to the authorities if the child acquires French nationality or is issued a residence permit in their own right — typically on turning 18.

The practical consequence is that DCEM renewal is tied to the parent's immigration calendar. A family whose residence permits are renewed annually will find themselves renewing the children's DCEM annually as well, and each renewal takes time. Anticipation matters.

5. A specific point on Mayotte

A DCEM issued in Mayotte allows the child to return to Mayotte only. It does not permit travel to mainland France. Families with ties to Mayotte should treat this as a distinct regime rather than an administrative detail.

6. Practical points to anticipate

Apply well before you travel. Processing times vary considerably from one préfecture to another. Filing in June for an August departure is, in most departments, too late — and the filing confirmation will not get the child back into France.

Silence means refusal. If the administration does not reply within two months of the application, the silence amounts to an implicit refusal. That decision — express or implied — can be challenged: an informal review request to the préfet (recours gracieux), a hierarchical appeal to the Minister of the Interior, or an application to the administrative court, in principle within two months. Where a trip is imminent, interim relief proceedings may be appropriate. The two-month clock runs quietly, and families often discover it only once it has expired.

Keep the child's passport valid. The DCEM has no independent effect. An expired passport neutralises it entirely.

Watch the transition to adulthood. In the months before the child's 18th birthday, the question ceases to be one of travel documents and becomes one of residence status in their own right. That transition is best prepared a year ahead, not in the weeks that follow the birthday.

How we can help

Our Immigration & International Mobility team assists foreign families residing in France — including families whose tax residence lies outside France — with residence permits, DCEM applications and renewals, and challenges to refusals before the préfectures and the administrative courts. We work in French and English and can review your family's position ahead of your next trip.

This article is based on the official public information published by the French administration (service-public.gouv.fr, sheet F2718) and on the applicable provisions of the CESEDA (Articles L. 414-2 et seq. and D. 414-1 et seq.). It reflects the state of the law at the date of publication and is provided for general information only; it does not constitute legal advice on any individual situation.