EU citizen moving with US citizen spouse

Moving to or from France
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Hi everyone. I’ve been a lurker on this very helpful forum for quite a while now, but it’s now my turn to ask for some help.

I’m hoping someone can clarify a couple of details for our scenario of moving to France. Here’s the situation:

Me - EU Citizen of EU country A, have been living in EU country B for the past 10 years with my US-citizen spouse who has a long-term residence permit from country B.

In country B, I have been registered as the local equivalent of a micro-entrepreneur for the entire duration of our residency there. My spouse has had a full time job with an employer.

We have bought a house in France recently and have moved here a few weeks ago intending to live here full time. I’m in the process of closing my Country B microentrepreneur business and intend to open a French microentrepreneur one in January. My client roster is international and my business is portable.

My husband intends to also become a micro-entrepreneur here after he gets the CdS.

Going through the questionnaire on the Séjour en France de la famille d’un citoyen européen official page, I came across the following two paragraphs that left me a bit confused.

Si vous êtes à charge de l’accueillant européen, tout document prouvant le soutien matériel et financier apporté par l’accueillant dans le pays d’origine ou de provenance : documents émanant d’administrations publiques ou d’organismes privés (services sociaux, administration fiscale, établissements bancaires, organismes d’assurance, de protection sociale ou autres) ou de personnes privées (attestations, courriers ou autres) faisant apparaître l’effectivité de la prise en charge ou de la vie au sein du ménage.

My husband was not a dependent of mine in our previous country, and will not be here either once he sets up as a microentrepreneur. Should I assume this paragraph doesn’t apply to us and it’s just for dependents, such as children?

Justificatif du droit au séjour de l’Européen que vous rejoignez en France (par exemple : contrat de travail, preuves de ressources, assurance maladie, carte d’étudiant).

Since we are moving here together and at the same time, I have not had time to get anything established as a microentrepreneur. I’m also thinking it wouldn’t make much sense to do it now with the end of the year so close, so I was trying to stretch applying until January. We have bought private health insurance, of course. And we have sufficient resources to support ourselves (however that’s defined, I don’t know). Would showing that I have been a micro-entrepreneur in another EU country with invoices way above minimum wage even make sense? I’m not exactly sure how to deal with this requirement.

I would appreciate very much any experience or advice that you could offer. I have been reading other people’s experiences on this forum, but I’m not sure I found something that fits our situation.

Thank you very much for your time.

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As I understand it, in principle the non-EU spouse is dépendant on the EU citizen and, in theory, the EU citizen needs to have resources to support the spouse. I believe that, in practice, they will take joint earnings into account but there have been stories of some prefectures being difficult if that income is primarily from the spouse.

I appreciate that’s caveated like crazy and you’ll almost certainly be fine.

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Hello..to give some feedback on your other question regarding timing, my wife (EU citizen) registered her business after we moved and did the process online. If you need technical help, I understand that at your nearest Pole de Emploi, they will be able to help no worries!

Good luck with the venture and enjoy France :smiley:

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Welcome! @JohnH is right. The EU regulations work on the assumption that it’s the EU citizen who is supporting the non EU spouse. They do this in practice by looking at the financial resources of the EU citizen, to ensure that they can support the non EU citizen , and to demonstrate that neither of you will become burdens on the French state. You only need to demonstrate that you, as the EU citizen, have access to sufficient funds - eg available via a joint account - to provide for you both, if for example your husband has more income than you. See the table below setting out the type of evidence they’re looking for as proof of resources.

You need to ensure you can show enough financial resources to meet the minimum wage (SMIC) in France for a couple, presumably with no children. For some reason I can’t locate the actual figures, but hopefully someone else can.

There is a really helpful comprehensive guide which I’ll attach below that gives chapter and verse on almost every possible angle on the requirements for EU citizens and families - written by the EU Commission itself and based on European Court of Justice rulings. See the sections on ‘sufficient resources’ and ‘comprehensive health insurance’.

Having private health cover that is more than just travel insurance is necessary. After 3 months residence in France you can either apply to join the French health scheme or continue to be privately insured.

Good luck and hopefully others will weigh in as well with their thoughts.

EU FoM rights EN.pdf (2.0 MB)

Screenshot_20251113-182403-569
Screenshot_20251113-182403-5691560×720 89 KB

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I should add that I think the reason the regulations expect the EU citizen to be able to support the non EU citizen spouse is that it’s the former who is exercising their freedom of movement rights (FoM) when moving to an EU member state. The non EU citizen spouse only acquires their own FoM rights by accompanying the EU citizen who has satisfied the FoM requirements of having a) sufficient financial resources and b) comprehensive medical coverage.

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Thank you, @JohnH I hope we’ll be fine too.

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Thanks for explaining your scenario @MikeyPotts Did she register after you both moved, but before you applied for a CdS? Or did you wait to apply for your CdS until after she registered her micro-entrepreneur?

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Excellent explanation @George1 ! Thank you for the useful resource as well.

I found that the annuel SMIC for 2025 for one person is 21 621 € (brut) so 17 115 € (net).

I assume for a couple with no other dependents it would be double that.

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Hola..we are both EU passport holders so no CdS was required. I recall that she registered her business moreorless straight after moving here and regarding the Cart Vitale, your journey will be faster after you have registered your business too, but it is indeed a good idea to take out private insurance to cover the gap…I think we took 6 months with Cigna.

You, will do fine and are making the correct steps!

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It’s not just a good idea, it’s a condition of freedom of movement to have adequate health cover.

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€34231 is the figure that several search engines state as being the annual SMIC for a couple who are both working full-time with no children. As you say this is double the single person’s threshold. I was getting this €34k figure yesterday but thought it just seems too high!

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