Help needed here.
We received a letter from CAF today entitled: Droit au séjour- demande de renouvellement The contents have set panic in. It says that my droit au séjour ends on 1/3/2016 and that all benefits will stop then. It asks if I have a titre de séjour. The CAF phoneline is permanently engaged and I cannot get an appointment at CAF for 10 days.
UK passport holders, we have lived here since 2008 although I have been unemployed since January 2014 and receive ASS and also rent allowance. My wife works has worked 24 hours a week from October 2009 to October 2015 she now works 5 hours a week and benefits from chomage, while trying to find better work. At 59 I cannot find work. Are they telling us that we have no right to be in France. A fexw sleepless nights ahead.
If you set up an online account with CAF it seems to work very well. In a lot of cases you can scan documents and send them by email.
Not sure why all the hostility, CAF is only doing its job. It has to check that public funds - that's our taxes - are being used correctly. It's perfectly correct that after 5 years of legal residence you have full rights. But obviously, they still have to check that you do have 5 years of legal residence.
Hello Karly. When I wrote this post I said the line at CAF was engaged, in fact it turned out to be the wrong telephone number on their letter. When I eventually found the right number, they were helpful and told me to send a copy of my passport, attestation from CPAM or whoever your regime may be, as will as avis d'imposition impots. I did this and it was noted as treated on my personal space within 2 weeks, they originally said 4. Payments have carried on as normal. They told me that they were checking that we still lived here and were still in the French system. Because you were recently receiving payments, there is no reason why you should not continue so long as you still hold your carte vitale is still valid. CPAM, CAF etc. do not talk to one another, so unfortunately we have to prove eligibility. As usual, it will take a few weeks to sort out, but Good Luck. I hope this reassures you.
Hello, I have also received this letter and chosen to ignore it as didnt think it was applicable to me/us. However we have since had our 'child benefit' stopped and cant seem to get through the the CAF. Even our translator has been struggling. Could you tell me the list of documents you needed to provide for them to reinstate your money?
We work here and so I was going to include an Avis D'impot, Attestation Fiscale and a copy of our health insurance cover with Allianz. Would you recommend sending a copy of our passports (even though they already have a copy of mine and my partners, but not the children)
Thanks
I have received the same letter with the same expiration date. I did some research on the web and found out this has been going on for at least a year. Today I went to the local Caf office where the clerk showed total ignorance in front of the faultive message in the letter. And said I had to fill it in whatsoever. Finally adviced me to use my internetconnexion to mail in a demand for seeing a CAF adviser. I thought I had been behaving rather calm and correct but the clerk was stressed, arrogant and irritated, pretty unpleasant attitude. The clerk finnishes me off with "Without any earnings you can't stay in France". The clerk could at least be happy having a job paying three times more than I touch to support three persons.
Being unsatisfied with my visit I called the CAF service, wait ten minutes and pay per minute, this clerk was as nonunderstanding as the earlier, and insisted I filled in and sent over the form. I insisted on that the CAF allready have all my information and updated as well. But she then insinuated that I might have left the country and just wanted to continue lifting the RSA! "Vous comprenez Monsieur?"
I just asked for help with the rent for the new appartment we just moved in to.
I quoted a text I found on internet yesterday that confirms that "after 5 years of legal uninterrupted residence in France You obtain a permanent droit au séjour, after this period You are not any more obliged to justify your staying, working or not, You can stay definitely in France unless You present a serious threat to public order."
The clerk asked where I got this text from, and I answered truly: www.service-public.fr , silence and then goodbye.
Next move is getting a rendez-vous with an adviser. Once out of two there is a chance to be received by a decent clerk.
After my research on the web I find it under all critics that this letter continues to circulate. The text in it is not only faultive it is not even comprehensible. The CAF as organisation ows a public excuse and individual corrections for this harassements. Make a research Yourself and you will see that there are many victims from many EU countries.
I moved to France from Sweden 20 years ago, and I intend to stay.
I phoned CAF and asked them if it was either an error or a joke. My answer was that is neither, simply bin it. That, I take it, is an official advice, therefore I used it to stoke our stove.
I'm glad you have resolved it. I guess we are just lucky in the Tarn that the local CAF office accepts people with or without appointments. I thought that was normal. As usual, each region has their own rules!
CAF have been sending these out to a lot of ex pats over the last few months - reply and as proof of droit de sejour you give a copy of your passport stating that as an EU citizen the carte de sejour was abolished for us over 10 years ago ,
Thanks Mandy. I eventually got through to CAF, but the letter had the wrong number, but the person at the other end told me not to worry and gave me a list of what to take in. Unfortunately you cannot just turn up and queue at CAF in Gironde, any more. If you do not have an appointment, you will not be seen. The same at CPAM
Don't panic. We had one of these letters. Just answer the questions and return the form. That's what we did and our housing benefit has continued as normal. It seems that lots of people who have been living in France many years have received this letter. If you are still worried then I think that you can just turn up at most CAF offices without a rendez-vous and wait in line to see someone.
John don't panic.
I'm sure someone on here will be able to tell you exactly what the letter / form is...
but if you google "Droit au séjour- demande de renouvellement" it seems lots of people have had similar letters and they're just checking you're still alive / entitled to benefits...
You have a right to be in France - you're a European (for now!)