Good afternoon all, in need of some help regards arriving in France without husband (will be following next year, daughter doing A levels)
How do I prove income…I’m supported by my husband, I do have a house that we rent in Chester. Is this enough evidence?
Any advice on this would be amazing as I’m getting a little worried.
Thanks in advance
This sets out what you need to provide - it is pretty straightforward
I guess the rent from a house in Chester will cover the financial resources requirement (which I believe for one person is income over 550€ or £500 per month) - and I also guess a bank statement showing this will be accepted as proof (@toryroo) ?
I can see a slight problem in that married people are taxed as a family, as you are both foreign and the main earner is in the UK, that doesn’t make for residency in France.
The only slightly tenuous argument I can think of in favour of French residential status would be to plead “rapprochement de conjoint”? Not sure how well that would work though.
It’s not clear how this would arise in terms of the carte de sejour though, is it? - Since (if I have understood correctly) Caroline has her own house and therefore her own independent rental income? The family tax situation will surely only arise when her husband moves over to France - until then they are living separately.
It will be pretty obvious to the powers that be that you are doing this to establish residency before Brexit. Given that the French are being very relaxed about this then they may well accept your application if it meets the letter of the requirements. You aren’t required to have done a French tax return, but as well as an address and health insurance I think you will be required to have sufficient income in your name going into your account.
You may well get asked additional questions about your family situation. My OH moved here a year before I did as I was looking after my mum and the tax people struggled with that, but eventually he was able to submit an individual return despite us being a couple.
They still haven’t given us 100% on the figures (that will be confirmed when the decree is published) but the current information is that it is equivalent to the RSA so €524.16 for a single person and €786.24 for a couple.
This scenario has been written into the WA - family can join the person who has arrived before the 31/12 and retain the same WA rights. And yes it is an individual application for the CDS so showing the rental income is fine.
Absolutely - but there are a lot of people making sure they are here by the 31st (as is their right) and the powers that be are perfectly aware of that. If I wasn’t already here I’d be doing the same 
You will be fine. I have found everyone so helpful and accommodating. I asked all the questions I could think of and was told the best way to go. I have dual nationality and it is not all straightforward.
Isn’t that what I said in the rest of the sentence - the powers that be are likely to be generous if you tick the minimal boxes they ask for?
I can see that being a bit problematic, sorry. We are taxed as a couple if we are married or pacsed, and residence is based not just on where you live but where you work, where your children go to school etc. If one partner goes off to live elsewhere (but you aren’t separating officially) that isn’t altered.
Rapprochement de conjoint is for fonctionnaires asking for a move so they aren’t at opposite ends of the country, and applies if one partner is employed somewhere and the other wants to join them so the family is living together again - getting rental income from a house doesn’t count as working.
I don’t see how the notion of rapprochement de conjoint applies in this situation, I’m afraid.
It is possible for a married couple to be taxed as individuals if they genuinely have separate houeholds due to their work. You would need to discuss this with the tax people. It is unusual though and they would need full details to consider it.
For residence you would be applying as a self supporting individual so if your rental income is sufficient there is no problem.
There is no set in stone income figure and never will be because decisions are made case by case. But the withdrawal agreement applies exactly the same conditions as freedom of movement rules and as Geof quoted they do not ask for a lot.
This is what we did…and was accepted.
We have to be careful not to unduly worry Caroline or anybody else in a similar situation. We moved to France in July 2012 and didn’t even do a French tax return for that year - our first were in 2014 on 2013 income and those were separate - our first joint one was in 2015 on 2014 income. None of this caused any problems at all with the tax or any other authorities - so I find it hard to see how future tax returns will have any effect on applying for a carte de sejour now.