Is It Possible To Pause An Entrepreneur Visa Due To Illness?
Apologies if this is the wrong forum section for this, I couldn’t get the “business visa” section to load.
I’ve been living in France on an Entrepreneur/Profession Liberale visa since July 2024. I renewed my visa in August 2025 and was granted a one year Carte De Sejour Temporaire. Since September 2025, I’ve been commuting back to the UK for around one week per month in order to undertake a ten month training course to qualify as a therapist, so that I can expand my business in France. As a result, I’m spending a lot more time outside of France than I ordinarily would.
Unfortunately, at the end of October, I became unexpectedly ill and needed to return to the UK to have major surgery for a pre-existing medical condition (it was important that my surgery was conducted by the same surgeon who has operated on me previously). Due to the recovery time necessary for this operation, and some health complications that have resulted afterwards, I have only spent ten days in France since the 29th of October, and am still currently in the UK. Due to my health condition’s ongoing nature over the short-term, it would be ill-advised for me to travel back to France soon, but I’m really concerned that - between this and the number of days that I need to spend in the UK between now and the end of June for my training course - my visa could be revoked because I don’t meet the residency requirements for it (because of this period of ill health which had to be resolved in the UK).
I’ve emailed my prefecture (Aveyron) asking for further information about how many days I am allowed to spend outside of the country each year, and to ask whether it is possible to take a medical pause on my visa until I am fully recovered and well enough to travel to France. However, I’ve had no reply, and I’m getting pretty worried about this.
All of the information that I can find on the internet is very conflicting, and I am really worried that I am going to lose my visa and my life in France (which I have worked so hard for) because of this medical issue, which should be resolved within the next couple of months.
Do you have any information about whether such a visa pause is possible, or about how many days I am allowed to spend outside of the country on this visa without compromising my visa or my French tax residency? Any advice at all would be appreciated, as I’m really struggling to find answers to this. I’m really hoping that there is a mechanism for pausing a visa, as people must sometimes find themselves in a situation where they need to return to the UK to care for family members, or because of unexpected medical issues.
Best wishes,
Ciara