Registering with the French consulate in the UK (Registre)

Consular registration
The Registre des Français établis hors de France is free, done online on Service-Public.fr and valid for 5 years. It is optional, but in the UK it is what lets London post your new passport home.

Registering tells the consulate you live in the UK. The consulate's Registre page recommends it to anyone moving abroad for more than six months: it eases dealings with the consulate and lets the consulate reach you, or the people you name, in an emergency.

How to register

Everything happens on Service-Public.fr, with your Service-Public.fr login.

You give your civil status and, if you wish, your parents', your family situation, your UK address and up to two people to contact in an emergency, and you upload three documents: a French ID card or passport, proof of residence in the UK and a recent photo.

The consulate you are attached to then contacts you to validate the registration, and you receive an email when it is done. Registration lasts five years, and you update it on the same site when your address, family or electoral situation changes; a move to another consular district transfers the file automatically.

Item Detail
Cost free
Validity 5 years
Where online, Service-Public.fr
Documents ID or passport, proof of UK residence, photo
Downloads certificate of registration and residence, consular card, statement

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What it changes in practice

Once validated, you can download from your Service-Public space a certificate of registration and residence, a consular registration card and a statement of registration.

Joining the Registre: Free; 5 years; ID card or passport; UK address proof; Photo

People on the Registre also pay the lower fee for several services: a certificate of residence is free for them and £33.44 (€40) for others, and a signature certification £12.54 (€15) instead of £25.08 (€30).

Passport by post
London posts a new passport only to the address on the Registre. Without registration you collect it at the consulate or from an honorary consul. See the passport guide.
Voting
Registering lets you join the consular electoral list at the same time; the April 2027 presidential election will be voted on in the UK.
Nationality by marriage
Your French spouse’s unbroken registration keeps the waiting period for a declaration by marriage at four years.
Leaving the UK
Update or close the registration on the same site.

Families and emergency contacts

You can attach your registration to a person who is already registered, or whose registration is in progress, which keeps a family together in the file. The second part of the form covers your stay: your UK contact details and, if you wish, one or two people the consulate should warn in an emergency.

The same form asks whether you want to vote in French elections from abroad. Before you finish, check every entry: the consulate uses these details to reach you.

Have ready
  • Your Service-Public.fr login
  • A scan of your French ID card or passport
  • Proof of your UK address
  • A recent ID photo

Registration ties in with voting from the UK and with the lower fees on the consulate's fee table.

 Register before you renew your passport: without it, London cannot post the passport to you. 

Official sources: Inscription au registre des Français établis hors de France; Service-Public.fr, registre des Français établis hors de France.

All consular procedures
How to book an appointment

Details checked against the official pages on 10 November 2026.

We are not a French government website. frenchconsulates.co.uk is a private guide and takes no fees or files.

Each detail comes from an official page, linked where we use it. Rules change: the consulate has the final word.

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