I’m very behind on all of this but will need to work in France, etc. I have bank account, green health card, have done a few jobs with payslips before going back to UK more permanently a few years back, I have a UK passport, a son in Paris and spend a fair bit of time here with him…I don’t want to get married (pacs is an option possibly)…I also spend a lot of time in the UK with my other child. I’m a bit behind on deciding how to deal with Brexit apart from just being annoyed at the whole issue and it is obviously time to be a bit more proactive…any advice welcome…
Have you looked at the UK gov web site… ???
Getting PACS’d won’t change anything, getting married would but you’d have to wait 4 years before applying for French nationality. As I understand it, unless you can prove that you’re resident in France before the end of the year (and apply for a carte de séjour) then you’ll be a third country national and need a visa or what ever they decide to come over and visit up to 90 days in any one 180 day period 
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You will have no problems coming to France to visit your son if you spend less than 3months in every 6 with him.
But what you will need to reflect on whether the work you do is sufficiently important as a driver to push you into becoming a French resident, and leaving the UK. Changing country is not to be taken lightly, as means declaring tax here, and many other bureaucratic procedures such as inheritance and including the need for an address. Also if you are below retirement age joining the health service here means abandoning the NHS (I have no idea what a green health card is!).
The other alternative would be to stay as you are, and get working visas when you wish to work here. Depending on what you do your employer can request them, or you can. They are not a given, so would need to do a bit of checking, but it is a possible route.
With only 35 days to go the fact that you’ve done nothing about it so far suggests to me that probably best to stay put!
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JUST TO QUOTE A DIFFERENT POST
[Tory Abney]
(https://www.survivefrance.com/u/toryroo)toryrooRespected
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Bruce please don’t worry, as you have been here for more than 5 years you don’t need any of the health info etc. All you need is:
- Passport
- Proof of settlement - it honestly doesn’t matter that you don’t have an exact date - take a stab at an approximate date and upload the earliest doc you have - so yes your drivers license should be fine. all they really care about is that the date is prior to 5 years ago so you are well over the line!
- Current proof of domicile. Just an EDF bill or something like that is all you need.
Don’t worry you’ll be fine!
The difference is that you intimated that you have work in France. Perhaps we read something into your phrase that was not intended but it sounded as if you work remotely here (many people do, and don’t realise this will become much more dodgy).
If you just meant you would need to find work here that’s a different issue! The question for you is then the financial one of showing you can be self sufficient and not a burden on French state. The other poster yiu refer to is over 5 years resident, so no financial threshold.
When I’m here I teach English so I have some records of that from 2017 but no huge earnings to show in my bank account…I can’t remember when I opened that but will check tomorrow…tax is all UK.
What is it you are trying to achieve?
Are you trying to cobble together evidence that you have been resident here for over 5 years? Which sounds a faint hope if you have never been a French tax resident. (And if you’ve never paid tax in France on your French earnings then perhaps best not to lift that stone!)
Or are you just debating with yourself about moving. In which case if you decide you want to then just an issue of getting health insurance and an address sorted pretty quickly - and actually being here. If by ‘green health card’ you mean a carte vitale, then at least you have a social security number but unlikely to have active health cover if you’ve not paid in for a few years. The rest you cn do with slightly more leisure.
I work in the EU. I’d like to retain that right…and have freedom of movement as I see myself spending more and more time here and possibly moving full-time.
Ermmm…if you want to retain freedom of movement then you have to move here now, not sometime in the future . Tax, health care, insurances, car reg, etc etc etc. Of course you can spend a certain amount of time out of the country, but this has to be where your centre of interests are. Otherwise you can end up in an awkward situation with the UK and French tax authorities, let alone other bodies.
The requirements for getting a CdS are pretty simple, but that is just a starting point and people are seeming to forget that you then have to follow through on being resident.
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He still wont have full freedom of movement throughout the whole of Shenghen.
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Thanks - I really appreciate all the advice and any more that people have to offer - life is never simple and especially at this time…
Good point! I keep forgetting that…
Yep, you need to have a European nationality (and obviously/unfortunately British nationality will no longer be European from 1st January 2021) to enjoy freedom of movement (unless this is negotiated into an agreement for those already legally in an EU country before the end of the transition period, if I’m not mistaken…?)
I can get a carte de sejour with my son but that is several hundred euros…for pacs or spouse there is no cost for that I don’ty think…
I think you’re getting things muddled up, Oliver. What are you looking to achieve?
??? As Andrew’s comment I think you are confusing the current withdrawal agreement carte de séjour (which are free) with so ething else.
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PACS isn’t a no cost option Oliver. The paperwork/translations etc. can add up.
I don’t suppose you’ve an Irish Grannie? An Irish passport is the simplest solution.
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Indeed it is, we had high hopes for my wife in 2016, with a name like Colluney and numerous Irish hereditory tales in her wider family, but it all came to nought. Back about 3 or 4 generations and all still in Bolton. Only her immmediate family had advanced ‘abroad’ to Nottingham, where she was born.
Not that it would have done me any good though. If only Wales was independant and still in the EU. My 2 Llanelli Grandpas would have done nicely. 
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Wouldn’t we all.!