Gitte, a french driving licence does just the same thing 
1 Like
Iāve never understood why people are so keen to avoid carrying their passport. Itās not like it weighs a ton or anything. I always have mine with me because then I always know where it is. Iāve done this ever since many years ago I put it in a āsafe placeā. And ended up having to take a day off work, go to Liverpool and pay extra for a priority application because when I came to look for it a few days before I was due to travel, Iād forgotten what the safe place was. Many years later I moved house and found it - I had a telephone that had a little drawer that slid out underneath, presumably for keeping phone numbers in, and that was where Iād put it.
Personal choice. For me, I carry an absolute minimum of bits and bobs, but always have my Carte Vitale + Mutuelle tucked in my wallet and, if Iām driving, then my French licence + car docs.
Our passports with EHIC cards are in the ātravel bagā with cheque book/UK bankcard etc needed for āabroadāā¦and locked safely away.
Never had a problem.
Please tell me where? I have looked and ailed to find.
Could this be what you are looking forā¦
there are various versions (flash and pdf) on this page
Hi,
Does anyone else out there think that we may not have to do anything (naturalisation, carte de sejour, whateverā¦)?
We are a couple with no children, have been resident and paying taxes in France since 2010 - I am employed by a French company and my husband declares gite income under the RSI.
There are over 150,000 Brits currently resident in France and more than 3 times that many French in Britain.
I donāt want to naturalise and see little value in getting a carte de sejour as others have said here. My employment and good mutuelle provided by the company will surely continue to take care of healthcare.
So Iām unsure as to what risks there are, if any, after Brexit. I doubt that there would be any sense in the French government saying āyou canāt stayā or making our lives so administratively unbearable (or more so than it already is!) that we wouldnāt want toā¦
Any thoughts fellow SFN-ers?
Danielle
4 Likes
Totally agree Danielle! How refreshing to get away from all the headless chickens filling out their naturalisation documents! 
3 Likes
Yes Iām in your camp.
The French government is aware that we exist and if it decides something needs to be done about us, then they will hopefully look for a solution that creates a minimum of hassle all round. If there is an official announcement telling us that we have to do something, then naturally I will do it. If it all turns hard and sour and the only option is to apply for citizenship or a carte de sĆ©jour or else we all get booted across the Channel like so many footballs flying in both directions, which hopefully wonāt happen, but in the unlikely event that it does then I suppose Iāll get my papers in as soon as I can, thatāll be soon enough.
1 Like
Now then Simonā¦ we are not all headless chickensā¦
My head is very firmly on my shoulders. I am now going through a process which I mooted more than 10 years ago. At that time I was advised against it. The Maire reckoned it was too much bother/paperwork giving very little change for me (except the possibility of becoming Maire myselfā¦)
Anywayā¦Iām going ahead now, full-steamā¦ and my neighbours are very excited for me.
Hi all ( my first post ) ā¦ I attended a meeting where the UK Ambassadorās representative spoke to a group of expat British. This was just before Xmas. His view, representing that of the UK diplomats & civil servants in France and Europe, was that official Brexit would probably be done within the 2years but the process of sorting out all the issues about Health Care / Pensions / āRightsā / Trade deals / Customs and immigration processes etc etc etc, between each of the 27 countries with the UK could well take another 10+ years.
I donāt think that that is being over-dramatic as all the sources in the UK and EU seem to be saying the same ( apart from the pro-Brexit people perhaps ). I would imagine that certain countries like France and Germany and Spain will sort out the issues about the British people living in their countries fairly quickly as (a) thereās a lot of them ( ie us ) in these countries (b) thereās a lot of their folk in the UK and Ā© there is a long history of communication and deals between these countries ( as opposed to, say, the Eastern EU countries ).
So my position is that, like Marc and Barbara and many of us I guess, I will wait and see what happens in the French elections and then see whether I want to stay / apply for Dual Nationality. What worries me a lot is that most ( all ) of the French people I know / meet seem to be very blasĆ© about Le Pen simply getting through the 1st stage but getting beaten in the 2nd. Iām not so confident ! Andy
1 Like
Hi Andy. Many thanks for your contribution to the topic. Like you, I am not at all confident of Le Pen being beaten in the second round; however, the fact that she has refused to repay the E.U. ā¬300,000 of funds that she has āmisspentā, gives me a little more hope. I realise that people only see what they want to see, but Iām hoping that the fact that she has āmisspentā ā¬300,000 will give people pause for thought. Itās interesting to note that Farage and other UKIP members are suspected of doing the same thing, but with smaller amounts. Anyway, the French elections are not far away and we will all be a lot wiser before too long.
Andrew Iām working on the AE idea but as my competent state is the UK at the moment itās not a simple decision because it could entail me paying PUMA supplementary cotisations on all my UK income if I didnāt earn enough for the AE (just under 4000 euros and if you donāt earn more than that they assess you for supplementary cotisations on your capital income and maybe other income - that hasnāt been made clear yet). I need to be sure Iād either earn enough or be able to afford the extra payments.
As for the carte de sejour, I had a bad experience when I separated from my ex when I was basically dropped by the bureaucrats in both the UK and France and found myself without child benefit and healthcare for a couple of years while they argued out who was responsible for me. Not helpful when my tenant also gave notice so I was totally without income until I found another tenant - which wasnāt quick. I was able to join the CMU by proving my right to permanent residence but it took time. The child benefit issues were eventually resolved after two and a half years and two SOLVIT complaints, one against each country. At the end of it all, Europa advised me to get a carte de sejour permanent so that if I had similar problems again in future, it would be resolved quickly.
I never did it until now but Iāve noticed that whenever anyone says weāll be ok where we are they always say āthose who are lawfully residentā - and the carte de sejour proves that you are, the permanent one proves that you have been and have a permanent right to stay. I reckon weāll all have to apply for them at some time anyway so why not beat the rush and/or get in before they make the requirements more onerous? It seems to be accepted that eventually our rights will be frozen at what they are when the UK leaves - so a carte de sejour permanent backs up what those rights are.
Another consideration for me is that France is signed up to the EU immigration rules about third party nationals which say that anyone who has been legally resident for more than five years has to be granted long term resident status as long as they have enough income to support themselves. That doesnāt give us the same rights as an EU CiItizen (who doesnāt have to prove income once they have the permanent resident right, for instance) but at least it would mean we could definitely stay so having proof of that canāt harm.
I think itās likely that anyone who already has a card will be able to swap it for whatever card becomes relevant to us. A non EU one or an ex EU one? As they non EU one costs 279 euros, hopefully if we already have one we wonāt have to pay that Also, for the non EU one you presently have to have level A1 in French - increasing to A2 this year. I donāt need that at the moment to get the EU card so it could be one less thing to pay for.
At the end of the day itās free except for my time and printer ink and paper so itās worth a try.
I forgot to mention also that I have to prove my permanent right to stay to back up my sonās naturalisation application so it will be handy to have for that otherwise Iād only have to supply all the same documentation anyway. He wants to join the French army (and not the FFL part of it) so he needs to be naturalised to do that.
Re income issue is this you mean for a Carte de sejour or naturalisation? What if your income is āsourcedā in the UK but you are a French tax payer?
You have French income as well? I only have UK income which I declare in France. At the moment Iām not often taxed (social charges yes, plus value tax yes, but not income tax so far) because Iāve always had a good number of parts because of having four kids at home, now three.
However, I read on the requirements for naturalisation that there is an insertion professionelle element (and Iāve never worked here) and a centre of interests element and for the latter it actually says that the majority of oneās income has to be sourced in France. By that Iāve taken it to mean actual income from within France, which I donāt have at the moment.
Sorry I didnāt read back on what Iād posted before so I may not have been referring to the income requirements for naturalisation.
There are income requirements for residency, yes. Under EU rules if you are not working here you have to have a minimum amount of income to have the right to stay more than three months and to eventually attain the right to permanent residency after five years. This is the RSA level for your family composition if under age 65 and the ASPA level if over.
If we end up under non EU rules then we would need SMIC net, I believe.
For naturalisation, regardless of whether income is irrelevant to residency rights after five years of legal residence, they do still want income details. I canāt find for sure what they are but Iād think possibly the family regroupement levels that non EU people need could be relevant or at least be the worst case.
They are on this page, if youāre interested Regroupement familial | service-public.fr
If anyone knows whether these are the limits that would apply or if while weāre still EU citizens, it would be the RSA/ASPA levels that would apply for a naturalisation application, the same as for residency, please speak up
Louise (and Andrew too) as your spouse and child(ren) are French you are doubly protected from the rules that affect the rest of us. Itās much easier for you to get a resident card or become French (by declaration rather than to naturalise), whether weāre EU or non EU citizens or some status inbetween in future. You basically have the right to be here with your spouse as long as youāre not a danger to the public - or a polygamist
Weāre pacsād rather than married but I know what youāre saying. I also run a business here and employ french people, basically have no links with the UK everything is hereā¦BUT according to the gov site I would still have to go through the naturalisation process, thereās no fast track scheme for our cases just more weight behind the dossier. I understand it as you do, Debra, but the stories comming out of the UK about EU nationals married to brits being told to leave makes me a little worried about retaliation in the EU, especially the way, or complete lack of any sort of tact, currently being spouted in the UK. But at the end of the day, I canāt be bothered to go through the 2 year+ naturalisation process plus all the documents etc. Iāll just get a carte de sĆ©jour, as I used to have all those years ago, and jump through easier hoops, unless things change that isā¦!
But youāre a father of French children and have easier residence rights because of that.
1 Like