I suppose France can only bill the UK in line with the agreement currently in force between the two countries, which I believe is for France to recoup the actual amounts that it has met upfront or reimbursed to S1 holders via their carte vitale.
Although feeling bound by a signed agreement, probably seems a quaint notion to the UK.
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Couple of thoughts, firstly when the S1’s first arrived around March 2021 off we went to the CPAM, who registered us, photocopied them and handed a bunch of forms to us, making a followup appointment. The forms were for CSS.
Once read, we returned and explained income was to high to qualify - they promptly said yes, of course, no need for an appointment, everythings done now bye bye.
Secondly, I’m researching a post in another thread about CdS renewal in 5 years time and a claimed France Connexion discussion with the interior ministry. I landed on a website which provides legal guidance on immigration - and I know there are offices where one can walk in - a sort of citizens advice?
Maybe any people in need here might be able to search out some assistance from that angle as well, though I appreciate such places might be focussed on defending african peoples rights rather than europeans?
Finally I wonder if finance stability is playing a part now - the minimum income for settling before brexit was 500 odd euro, and arriving now it’s more than a thousand? Which would be more than the CSS?
But shouldn’t affect people already covered by WA?
Tbh, a paranoid part of me fears something like that; a redefinition of ‘regular and stable’, or a review of it. That is an irrational fear I think though.
Exactly, it won’t.
Each type of CdS has its own specific conditions. When people renew their WARP they will have to meet the conditions for the WARP. Not the conditions for the VLS or the various other visa/cds combos that Brits are obtaining post Brexit.
Frankly,(we’ve so few facts…)
until one of those “refused” folk comes back from the Assistante Sociale with details of what the heck this is all about…
I reckon we should just chill… breathe… keep calm…no point in fretting when it might all be sorted …
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If you are eligible to apply for the CSS you are eligible, whatever kind of titre de séjour you hold. And if they are deciding that British S1 holders are excluded then they are excluded whether they have a WARP card or not…
The kicker is of couse that the threshold for CSS is lower than the minimum income required in one’s first 5 years in France for most visa holders. I believe they have maintained a lower threshold for WARP card holders.
I don’t think there are that many of them.
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However few… it would seem that this is causing alarm and fear… and none of us need any additional stress, not really, not now…(not in my opinion).
Indeed. It makes one kind of nervous about applying for CSS in case it leads to a review of one’s resources.
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I should say though I’m not concerned. I’m only voicing where the mind can go! I’ve got my CdS permanent and know it can only be removed if I’m real bad. Simply applying for CSS won’t do it!
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It’s not just the UK that issues S1’s though, is it? Don’t other European countries also issue S1’s to cover their citizens resident in France?
Ues a European wide scheme, Britain negotiated to continue the system -it was a bit uncertain for a while which was quite alarming at the time. But I think they are now the only non EU country in this particular club. Hence this current hiccup.
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Strange sort of post…, why should the French authorities and my contributions pay for foreign people for top up insurance?
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I don’t have sufficient information to assess the situation re “Refusal… blah blah” … so I’m stumbling in the dark a bit here…
but my understanding is that “whoever” had previously been granted Aid of some sort … and that aid has since been removed…
For anyone in genuine need… this would (I reckon) cause distress/concern… and I’m hoping that some good advice/help has been forthcoming…
It’s an EU thing, no? French resident UK citizens have probably fallen into a perhaps grey area of the withdrawal agreement. Hopefully soon to be sorted (if indeed there is an issue) Other European nationals (still being a part of the EU) won’t have this issue.
And as alluded to above by @Sandcastle the ‘delivery’ system is different; UK being free at point of delivery and France having a kind of 2 stage process (carte vitale and complémentaire) It’s possible (my supposition like thing) the withdrawal agreement might not have got this situation100% crystal clear covered. Further, it might be the process that’s unclear; it’s not that either party (UK nor France) intended to leave S1 holders without access to CSS, it’s the ‘HOW do we do it’ bit that’s been exposed. France has got to weave this new situation into its existing processes (and many know already of the labyrinth that is the Napoleonic code!)
Because one of the fundamental devise of France is fraternité. So those in need are helped if they are residents.
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It seems unlikely that it would affect immigrants other than Brits because of immigration requirements. Other than those on the WARP, immigrants are required to have an income level that would put them well above the threshhold. Even EU ressortissants are required to have sufficient income not to become a burden on the state when moving to a different EU state.
Also am I correct in thinking that inactifs who apply for PUMA have to prove a certain income threshold? If so, is that threshold above or below the CSS threshold? It would be interesting to know.
I am just wondering whether all this has started because France has noticed a large increase in the number of CSS applications since the Brexit intake, and is finding the system unsustainable.
Maybe things have changed but I didn’t back in 2007 (much to the disbelief of some forum member elsewhere!) We were very prompt in getting ourselves sorted when we arrived, within weeks we were up at CPAM getting ourselves ‘in the system’ If memory serves (and admittedly it rarely does these days!) no proof of income was requested.
I’ve always assumed these things were checked ‘behind the scenes’ and CPAM had access to tax records, bank details etc etc etc and could see our resources. It wasn’t until we applied for our initial CdS just before Brexit that anyone’s ever asked to see any documents pertaining to finances.
It seems things must have changed because I believe that nowadays the first thing to prove is that you have been living in France for at least 3 months at the time of application.
I cannot remember when it was, maybe seven or eight years ago, a dedicated processing centre was set up somewhere in the south of France to process healthcare applications for inactifs. I think the thinking was that CPAMs up and down France were all doing things differently and having one processing centre would solve this. As I recall there were delays and general chaos initially until the processing centre got on top of things but since then all seems to have run smoothly.
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This topic is being discussed on another forum where one of the people affected by this is an S1 holder with French nationality.
Wow, yes, not the most common of beasts but neither a rarity I guess!