Brexit going to be 'cataclysmic' for expats!

Already signed up Dave and printed the article and placed it on a Brit bar here in Burgundy!

Thanks for coming back.

Trust you have a well supported bar!

Many thanks Marc. I had read somewhere that the language test isn’t an issue for people who’ve been here more than 5 years – maybe I mis-understood, and the assumption is that by now we speak perfect French! OH had learning difficulties as a youngster and has found learning the language impossible despite intensive immersion courses, tapes, watching only French TV etc. He’s brilliant at other things which I seem incapable of grasping, but languages aren’t on the list.
I hope that won’t count against him, learning difficulties don’t go away because you’re older!

1 Like

Hello again Celia

I would have thought that learning difficulties would be taken into account, as in my experience the French are good like that. Your news about being resident for more than 5 years is welcome (15 years for me) and I will check it out. I will see the Mairie this afternoon and, if I get any further information, I will notify you.

2 Likes

You are assuming that the cost of each procedure is the same in both countries.
I wouldn’t be surprised if costs are higher in France because I suspect that the wage bills are higher - medical professionals here more highly paid, hospitals less under-staffed, more personalised care given to each patient.
Hard to know because how do you find out the cost of procedures in the UK, to compare with the costs on the ameli website - but 100% of not much could work out significantly less than 70% of a lot.

1 Like

the five year rule is for residency - you have to have already lived (been resident) in France for five years BEFORE submitting an application form for naturalisation. The language test is there for all apart from the over 60s and those who hold qualifications from a francophone country :wink:

Vous ĂȘtes dispensĂ© de produire ce diplĂŽme ou cette attestation prouvant votre niveau de français si vous ĂȘtes :

titulaire d’un diplĂŽme dĂ©livrĂ© dans un pays francophone Ă  l’issue d’études suivies en français,
souffrant d’un handicap ou d’un Ă©tat de santĂ© dĂ©ficient chronique,
ùgé de plus de 60 ans.

1 Like

Oh, that’s what it was, I was confused – thanks Andrew. As we’re both over 60 I guess that’ll be okay then.

1 Like

“The single biggest concern among British expats is the loss of EU citizenship, 
”

Surely there is no such thing as “EU citizenship”, as the EU is not a country and a republic! That being the case, there is no danger of “losing” it!!!

Personally, I am a subject of HM the Queen - and am proud to be so! My passport is a UK passport. I am British first, and anything else second.

1 Like

I consider myself an EU citizen but I’m happy to accept your hair splitting and change that to membership. I certainly don’t consider myself a ‘subject’ of HRM. Dreadful, outdated, anachronistic concept IMHO.

8 Likes


It really depends how you define citizenship, going by the definition here we are very much European citizens, it doesn’t mean clinging to outdated values.

1 Like

European citizenship gives you rights anywhere in the EU. French citizenships and british citizenships are parts of the whole.
Britain out of the EU means no rights per se except those negotiated 

Healthcare
Work
Business
Studying etc etc
Wake up! It’s a new world order

1 Like

The whole idea of Brexit becomes more complex as the weeks go by. It is now clear that Mrs May never thought it was a good idea to leave the EU. But unlike Mr Goldsmith, she put personal ambition before principles.
If she is still PM next March, she will have to try to convince parliament to let her trigger Article 50 without knowing what deal she can make with the remaining members. And even if she can negotiate a deal, it could still be vetoed by some obscure region that most Brits have never heard of.
So with the majority of MPs opposing Brexit, it seems quite possible that there will be a vote of no confidence that will force an election. Unless the extreme right are able to put up candidates in more than 50% of constituencies, it may not be possible to form a government of any colour that would be prepared to trigger Article 50 and Brexit will be abandoned "because the electorate have not voted for it."
Meantime it is costing some of us a lot of money, with Expat pensioners taking the biggest hit (No surprise there for those of us who are already among the poorest pensioners in the developed world) while financial speculators happily rake in the profits from all this foolishness.
So watch this space. My guess is that the UK just can’t take this leap into the unknown and in a few years time the whole ugly business will have faded from memory like a bad dream. But I could be wrong


2 Likes

It is more a question than a reply from me:

I am French, my wife is English and we got married 20 years ago in South Africa. We live in France since 2008. My question is, will my wife be affected by the Brexit, in terms of medical care, and residency? Should she think about taking dual nationality?

Thanks in advance for any response.

John (Jean)

in the same situation with a british husband.
Yes she will be affected. My hubby applies for carte de sejour at our prefecture. Dual nationality next on the agenda.
Your wife must be able to work reside and be cared for in illness. Already I heard that S1 form has been withdrawn by uk government so we heading towards brexit full steam ahead.
However Hollande has said expats will have their rights protected in France. Read the Connexion and there is a surge in cartes de sejour now. Brexit is real so be prepared to fight back now

1 Like

I hope you’re right Mike. One thing in favour of your theory IMO is that Davis and Fox seem completely out of their depth.

@John/Jean and Claudia - our situation too, OH is French as are our kids (although they’re technically daul nationality and can get UK passports if they ever want to) and I’m English. Here in the Tarn they’ve stopped processing applications for carte de sĂ©jour and I can’t be arsed to go through all the hassle of naturalisation unless it’s really necessary!

1 Like

I believe that Angela Merkel will try her best to make an example of the UK
and will not do any behind-the-scenes wheeling and dealing.
She will want to send out a message to other EU Member States that
we’re not in the door-to-door carpet-sales business, and that opting out
is not a way to try to pull the bedclothes towards oneself.

I hope you are right and good for her. The UK needs to be made an example of and hopefully stop behaving so arrogantly in the future.

2 Likes

Sometimes what I read here doesn’t seems to equate to anything I’ve read or talked about with other people, or indeed with people I have met
 and I wonder whether I could be living in a parallel universe
Where are the people of ‘like mind’ that I have met on this site these days
 Geoff etc
?

John, I don’t subscribe, as you know, to the ‘tide of negativity’ that sometimes overwhelms these pages


Nor do I recognise the descriptions of the new PM , Mrs May (who was in two minds, I believe, about Brexit) or the characteristics that makes a Tory
being sure, there are plenty of ‘good’ ones about, eg Justine Greening, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Zac Goldsmith,and some really good ones , like Churchill, in the past
 to name a few
I hope this isn’t going to degenerate into ‘Yah boo sucks’
party politics (the last thing we need)
I am happy to name Labour members who have their ‘hearts in the right places’ 
eg. Rachel Reeves
 without dwelling on ones who I don’t like because of well publicised hypocrisy
eg, Dianne Abbott

Watching the news, a couple of good things to report
Sunderland’s Nissan deal expanding and securing all those jobs, for all those people, well into the future

although in my book the wrong decision has been reached as regards Heathrow expansion and alot of time will be wasted (again) because it will be fought (again) 
but I expect - and there is a chance that some sort of expansion will go ahead at Gatwick, as they, I am told, can raise their own cash, without waiting for the Heathrow plans to fail. I would have opted for the Boris Island option, but they wont want to spend this amount of money

Ankela Merkel, will try to be fair, I believe and certainly won’t be doing anything that would damage Germany’s car industry for example

The trouble is that the whole bussines of EU protectionism, trade barriers, is a complicated issue and most people really ‘do not have the foggiest’ of how it works and how Britain stands to gain by being well out of it
Let me introduce you to someone who is an ‘Applied’ Economist and an expert in this field


&

Maybe not a parallel universe
more a ‘Slough of Despond’



and it’s not arrogant to express a different opinion, that’s real democracy, something that the current unreformed EU is lacking


6 Likes

I’m not sure about the universe but you certainly don’t live in my world and I’m glad about that because my world suits me a lot better than yours would.