You can find a full explanation of the new rules in our separate explanation article, but in brief, the new law brings in tougher language requirements for long-term residency cards, while raising the language level required for French citizenship. In short, people over the age of 65 are exempt from both language and civics tests for residency card applications (the pluriannuelle and 10-year carte de résident statuses), but there is no broad exemption for citizenship applications. Brits who had lived in France for more than five years were issued with the carte de séjour permanent - the card itself needs renewing every 10 years but the right to remain is permanent.