PACS or marriage in France: picking one and getting it done
The short version
- A PACS is a civil union signed at the mairie, free and quick; marriage is the same mairie with more paperwork and stronger rights
- Both make you one tax household in France; only marriage counts as married to the IRS and to US immigration
- Marrying a French citizen opens a residence card and, after 4 years, citizenship by declaration; a PACS helps but guarantees nothing
- Bring a US birth certificate under 6 months old, apostilled and sworn-translated, plus the US Embassy's self-attestation in place of a certificat de coutume
France gives couples two official options, and Americans usually know only one. The PACS, the pacte civil de solidarité, is a civil union signed at the town hall and has become the country's default first step. Marriage is the older, heavier institution, and the only one the United States recognizes as a marriage.
Both are open to same-sex and opposite-sex couples, both happen at the mairie, and both turn two French tax returns into one. They part ways on inheritance, on residence rights if your partner is French, and on how much paperwork the American half of the couple has to import.
PACS or marriage: the honest comparison
| PACS | Marriage | |
|---|---|---|
| Where | Mairie of your shared home, free, or a notaire for a fee | Mairie where one of you has lived at least 1 month, free |
| Paperwork for an American | Fresh birth certificate, the custom certificate workaround, a certificate that you are not already in a PACS | The same plus proof of address, witnesses, a hearing and 10 days of posted bans |
| Default property rules | Separation of property | Community of what you acquire together, unless a notaire drafts a contract |
| Inheritance | Nothing without a will; tax-free once a will names you | Spouse inherits by law, tax-free |
| If your partner is French | Residence card possible, at the prefecture's discretion | Residence card as of right, 10-year card after 3 years, citizenship after 4 |
| In the eyes of the US | Not a marriage: single for the IRS and for immigration | A marriage, recognized without any US filing |
| Ending it | A joint form at the mairie, or one partner via a commissaire de justice | Divorce, with lawyers |
The short decision: for the tax household and a legal tie without ceremony, the PACS does it in an afternoon. If a French partner's status, inheritance without a will, or recognition back home matter, marry. Many couples do both, in that order; a marriage dissolves the PACS automatically.
The documents an American needs
Two documents cause nearly every delay. Order both before you book anything at the mairie.
Checklist
The certificat de coutume problem: mairies ask foreigners for a certificat de coutumea document from your home country describing its marriage law and confirming you are free to marry and a certificate of celibacy. The United States issues neither, since marriage records live with the states. The US Embassy publishes a self-attestation form instead, which most mairies accept without an embassy stamp; some insist on a consulate-notarized sworn statement or a certificate from a US-licensed lawyer, so ask yours before you book.
The US Embassy's marriage and PACS pagePACS requirements on service-public.frMarriage requirements on service-public.fr
The freshness rules collide: the birth certificate must be under 6 months old on filing day, the non-PACS certificate under 3. Order the birth certificate and apostille first, since slow states take weeks, and request the non-PACS certificate about a month before your appointment.
A PACS at the mairie, step by step
The PACS is signed at the mairie of your shared home. You declare a common residence on your honor, with no minimum time living together.
- Download the déclaration conjointe (cerfa 15725) and, unless a notaire drafts a custom convention, the model convention (cerfa 15726).
- Book the appointment. Many mairies want the file dropped off first, and big-city slots run several weeks out.
- Both of you sign at the appointment. The PACS binds you from that day and binds everyone else once it is recorded on your birth certificate or, for those born abroad, in the national register kept by the Service central d'état civil.
The mairie keeps no copy of your convention, so scan it and guard the original. Count on roughly 1 to 2 months from first contact to signature, mostly waiting for the appointment and the certificates. A notaire does the same job for a regulated fee of around 100 euros plus registration costs, worthwhile when you want a tailored convention.
A marriage at the mairie, step by step
Marriage asks for a lasting link with the commune: one of you must have lived there continuously for 1 month when the bans are posted, or have a parent who lives there.
- Collect the dossier de mariage and book a filing appointment. In Paris and other big cities, Saturday ceremony slots are booked months ahead.
- File the complete dossier with both sets of documents, witness details (2 to 4 adults, with ID copies) and, if a notaire drew up a marriage contract, the notaire's certificate.
- The registrar interviews you, together and sometimes separately. The hearing is routine for mixed-nationality couples, not an accusation.
- The mairie posts the bans for 10 days. The ceremony can take place from the 11th day and must happen within a year. You leave it with the livret de famille, the family booklet France asks for at every later procedure.
Plan on 2 to 4 months from first contact to ceremony, longer in summer. Two American habits do not travel: France never changes your legal name at marriage, though you may use your spouse's name as a nom d'usage, and a religious ceremony can only follow the civil one, never replace it.
What changes the day after
Either union makes you a single foyer fiscal, the household that files one return. For the year you sign, you file jointly for the whole year by default, with an irrevocable option to file two separate returns for that year only. Report the change within 60 days in your impots.gouv.fr withholding space; the first French tax return guide covers the mechanics.
On inheritance the two split. A spouse inherits by law and pays no succession tax. A PACS partner pays no tax either but inherits nothing unless a will says so, which makes a simple will at a notaire the first errand after signing.
Married in the US before 2019? Under the rules France applied to older marriages, a couple's property regime can switch to the French default after 10 years of living here, silently, with real consequences for who owns what. A notaire can lock in a choice of law in one appointment.
Residence and citizenship with a French partner
Marrying a French citizen is the strongest immigration position in French law. The spouse applies for a free long-stay visa as conjoint de Français at the consulate, then a vie privée et familiale residence card: 1 year first, then a multi-year card, each renewal conditioned on an effective shared life. After 3 years of marriage the 10-year carte de résident opens up, with B1 French and the civics exam since 2026. After 4 years of marriage you can claim French nationality by declaration, with B2 French since January 2026, and 5 years instead of 4 if you spent most of the marriage outside France. A marriage celebrated abroad must first be transcribed at the French consulate.
A PACS with a French partner confers no card as of right. The prefecture may grant a vie privée et familiale card on the strength of your family ties, and in practice wants proof of at least a year of shared life in France. The first card costs around 350 euros in taxes and stamp duty.
Spouse of a French citizen on service-public.frNationality by marriage on service-public.fr
The ladder beyond the first card is in the residency and citizenship guide.
The American side
The IRS does not treat a PACS as a marriage, because French law does not call it one: PACS partners keep filing as single or head of household, and a PACS cannot sponsor a partner for a green card. A French marriage is a marriage for every US purpose from the ceremony on, with nothing to register back home; the US taxes guide covers joint versus separate filing. Ask the mairie for several copies of the acte de mariage, which US agencies accept with a certified English translation.
We married in the US years ago. Do we need to do anything in France?
Nothing formal, as long as neither of you is French: a valid US marriage is recognized as is. The tax office, the health insurer and the prefecture will ask for an apostilled marriage certificate with a sworn translation, so get the copies before you move, as the moving checklist suggests. If one of you is French, the marriage has to be transcribed at a French consulate first.
My partner is American too. Does a PACS or marriage help my residence permit?
Not directly: a partner without French nationality has no status to share, so each of you applies on your own merits, as the long-stay visa guide describes. It matters later, when one of you holds a work permit or a stable card and wants the other to join as family, and marriage is the tie those procedures recognize most readily.