This is what we were told at Cherbourg last week, leaving France for Ireland, as I had a short debate about it with the border guard. The same on the way back (only on the French side). If you don’t show, or don’t have your card, they will stamp your passport, if you show your card with your passport, they won’t.
The tax offices are already using drones like the predator etc to look for un registered buildings. One flew over us just the other day was loitering about for some 10 minutes or so before moving on. It was back some 2 hours later and did the same thing.
I believe they’re also looking for swimming pools/ponds/lakes which might not be registered …
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Do those have to be registered? Wondering why. How long has this drone approach been used? What did they use before, I wonder
Depending on what one has… yes, they do.
In years gone by, folk might well simply dig out a pond/lake/whatever… these days I would suggest folk check with their Mairie before going ahead… (my suggestion is based on a situation in our commune a few years back)
The Head Water Vole had to visit and inspect a wildlife pond/lake … which had come to their attention (during the Selling process… ).
Nearly put the mockers on the Sale… but it all got sorted in the end… phew.
That particular wildlife pond now appears on the cadastre and is officially registered/passed-inspection…
Tested my language skills somewhat, as my vocabulary re water-stuff/regulations etc was not particularly good (it’s better now… 
)
Incidentally, quite recently, we had a swimming pool identified in the village itself… seems the chap had omitted to ask permission… ooops.
The pool had been in place for years and was hidden from the casual glance…
I had a chance conversation yesterday during which a couple who had applied for their CdSs (despite the fact that they have always spent more time back in the UK) were mentioned. Neither have worked in France or submitted a tax return here.
In a bizarre twist, one of them has already received a permanent card!
I’m not criticising their actions as they should have been here full time during the crucial period but family circumstances prevented that. However, I am bemused about the issue of the wrong card.
Simple, if you could prove you’ve had a house here for many years (ie from an old house insurance certificate) then very other little proof was required to obtain a permanent card. This isn’t a criticism of the French authorities as they clearly wanted to make things as easy as possible for us Brits but disappointingly some people took advantage of this generosity to fraudulently obtain a CdS.
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…are really suggesting a pond of 3mx 2m and .75 needs to be registered…I would call that a puddle!
Good point. When we applied for our permanent EU CdSs back in 2018 we were asked for evidence of house ownership, despite that not being on the list of documents required. We emailed a scan of the Acte de Vente from 2002, which did the trick.
As we all know, property ownership is not evidence of residency, but I guess it shows a commitment (& second home owners still have to pay full Tax d’Habitation 
).
I had the chance to present my documents which would have got me a permanent card, the situation was borderline (could argue it either way).
But as I’ve made a commitment to be here long enough that the permanent card will be qualifiable-for soon enough I decided simply to present enough for the 5-year card.
Thanks to the marvellous information provided by @toryroo 's former place, the Franco-British Network who provided very clear flowcharts and the requirements for each of the different situations each applicant might be in, I knew exactly which documents to present that would result in the 5-year CdS.
A big factor in the decision was also @JaneJones 's dire warnings that to be resident one had to have reported tax to France also (even though exceptionally, this was not required for WA CdS). I had simply assumed because my income was so low in many years that no tax would be due anyway, that I did not need to start this process. I heeded Jane’s warnings and decided not to risk putting myself in an irregular situation. I’m happy with 5 years.
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I hope you are well rewarded for your integrity and honesty!!
If people have no intention of leaving France for long periods, and are not scraping the seld sufficient criteria then it really seems no great hardship to wait.
A recent article in the Living Magazine Charente edition:
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Thanks Graham.
Now I’m really concerned about my nude sunbathing :-).
Noticing also that usual suspects Cap Gemini and Accenture, not to mention Google, already have their snouts in the fees and data trough.
To be followed, no doubt, by Price Waterhouse, KPMG, IBM (potentially), Ernst & Young, with Deloittes probably picking it up second round :-). Oh, and McKinsey already specced it…
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Stamping passports - “if you show your card with your passport, they won’t.”
Oh yes the did! At Calais. On the first drive through (missed the ferry - too many fences) nothing got stamped.
On the second drive through searched through passports for previous stamps, he found one in and stamped Mme (inactive) - went to do mine, I said I’m a frontalier, I’d then have loads of stamps each week, he then didn’t stamp mine.
Cards handed over first, then passports. Anyone seen an official guidance site - maybe print that out and hand that over first, SVP, regarder ca, M?
I can only speak for those border guards (PFA) that we encountered at Cherbourg, at the times we went through.
to stamp or not to stamp… that is the question … 
Seems there’s been/still is… quite a difference in how folk are treated…
“oh no they don’t”… “oh yes they do”
Hopefully, this will get sorted as time goes by… and the Official Answer to the Question will become known to one and all… (most importantly, the Border Officials)
perhaps when ETIAS comes in to full force 
I hope so too! Someone queried “Why do people get hung up on passports being stamped?”
The answer is space in your passport. The two stamps took up half a page. I counted 42 pages. That’s 84 trips. Twice a year to plague island wouldn’t be too bad but would still takes up 25% space, which when travelling the world will come in handy.
A frontalier commuting weekly would be full in a year and a halfish. Then what?
If there’s no space to stamp, would you be refused entry? Most probably not, but it shows how crazy it seems. perhaps someone who attends these ‘embassy’ things might flag it?
But perhaps stamping is being done precisely to find those ‘5 year carders’ not in attendance 182 days per year? 
And maybe the ‘10 year carders’ might actually want a stamp now and again to show they’ve turned up!
I was checking earlier and they seem to have stopped their “outreach” meetings. No idea why but presumably they felt they wereno longer needed!
You get a new passport basically.
There’s a 50 page “large” version and frequent travellers can apply for duplicate passports so that one can be sent off for visa applications or, presumably, be being renewed while you travel on the other (though the valid reasons for doing so are fairly restricted).
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