We report on Event-Related Potential (ERP) evidence of a processing delay in non-native processing at the bridge between clauses in recursive wh-movement in French. Both native and non-native speakers of French produced structure-based ERP distinctions at the clausal bridge. These distinctions are suggestive of a single sensitivity to the morphosyntax of the displaced wh-expressions at the embedded clause edge. However, there was a difference in the timing of statistically significant effects, which was also associated with distinct topographies in native and non-native speakers. We show that the neurophysiological activity in NNSs seems more diffuse than in NSs, consistent with a body of research that argues that non-native sentence processing takes place under reduced capacity. Given the relationship between activation level and speed, the processing delay might result from this distinct neurophysiological activity in NNSs. We speculate that this neurophysiological activity might be a consequence of a range of factors specific to L1-based L2 knowledge and retrieval.