Help! Overwhelmed and confused (non-EU citizen on WHVisa)

Many will have been resident for 5 years, of course, and acquired the right of residency whatever their income.

For those resident less than 5 years I think the French still want reciprocity - which might be problematic the way the settled status stuff is going.

From what I read before the previous Brexit deadline deal/no deal was the important decider. Whatever, I stand by my original point that the people who say that nothing will change after Brexit are wrong, whatever flavour of Brexit happens. FOM was a great opportunity for so many people and that will be lost.

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:+1:

How do they all do it I mean they’re many expat Australians kiwis South Africans in France many Americans too but their mostly older retired people maybe their is easier for someone retired I don’t really now

You just need a decent pension. If you have that it’s not complicated, if you don’t it’s very complicated. Unfortunately the UK state pension is, well, not over-generous, and on its own it likely won’t be enough.

It’s just enough for a couple who need to demonstrate income of 1347.88€ per month

Assuming 2x full “new state pension” which is £168.60 a week that works out at £1461.20 a month - even at € - £ parity that fits comfortably (until inflation kicks in and the UK govt refuses to index link pensions for those retired to the EU).

Whether you’d have as good a quality of life given France’s higher cost of living I’ll leave as an exercise for the reader.

A single retiree on just a UK state pension would be sailing very close to the wind as they have to demonstrate an income of 868.20€ per month from a pension income of £730.60 - needing a € - £ rate of at least 1.18€ per £

But anything on top of the state pension and you should be OK.

Is there any difference in tax on pension in the uk vs France?

Let’s just confirm here (as far as I can see) - UK folk already resident in France for 5 or more years - on less than full UK pension - will be OK as far as needing a certain “income level” is concerned - provided they have lived those 5 years or more quite legally.

(there are many folk who do not have the full UK Pension :zipper_mouth_face:)

Don’t want anyone panicking…unnecessarily… there’s already more than enough stress on the rounds… :thinking: :shushing_face: :hugs:

In the UK the state pension alone falls well under the personal allowance so no tax to pay if that’s all you get.

It falls under the income tax threshold in France as well - AFAIK at any rate, although only just (2019 allowance = 9,964€). Not sure about social charges.

That is a really important point - any Brit over in France for ≥ 5 years (legally) will have permanent residency rights whatever their income level.

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Cheers Paul… I thought we really should emphasise that point… :hugs:

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But not as easy for non-europeans. I don’t think retired Australians and New Zealanders can just stroll in with a 10,000€ / year pension and be welcomed, which will be the situation for UK people after B-day. A lot of the antipodeans we’ve met aren’t here all year round.

Is that absolutely definite?
Our friend has been here 17 years and now has a uk pension.
She’s sold her house and is moving into her studio to give herself some cash in the bank to apply for residency card!
She knows she didn’t meet the income level if the exchange rate wasn’t in her favour!

The 5 year thing? - yes - see the the French government website.

Note that you do have to be able to prove a bunch of stuff, including that your income has been above threshold for the 5 previous years, that you have indeed been resident for 5 years, filling in tax returns, had health insurance etc.

And not everyone gets the max pension - especially women - so they may not meet the threshold.

Ones I meet a American in France when I asked what he’s status in France was he told me he came on a tourist visa and then just stayed on overstayed so I asked if he was not afraid of being sent back and he said no the French police have never questioned him about status he told the stop him allot in traffic stops so I believe the government here are not putting any effort to hunt down overstayers especially not from what they call friendly country’s

You’re right, French police aren’t immigration officers and they have enough to keep them busy with their own job. The biggest problem for sans papiers is, not having any rights. France isn’t too bothered about you being here because you will never be a liability as such, as far as French administration is concerned you don’t exist so you can’t access state healthcare or benefits. You can’t apply for a job or set up a business, go through border controls, get married, you have to put up with all kinds of restrictions. If you’re here legally you do have rights, and that’s important to most people.when they’re planning a new life in another county.

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I think what you will find with most Kiwis/Aussies (not sure about South Africans) is that they have dual nationalities. Our country’s were quite recently settled and have had high immigration rates in order to build the ‘new’ population - A lot of my parents peer group are ‘10 pound Poms’ - a term used to describe anyone that was part of a AU/NZ Government initiative called the ‘Assisted Passage Migration Scheme’ after WW2 and lasted a couple of decades. These people would then hold an NZ or AU passport and a British or EU one…

Random fact for the day: It’s so common that even two of our latest Prime Ministers were dual passport holders, migrating over with their families in the 60’s.

Even my generation the next rung down could apply for these additional passports as a means to claim heritage and from what I understand it can passed through several generations. (Dependent on the independent agreements between countries of course & these laws frequently change…)

For example; If my father had migrated from England - I would be able to obtain British nationality as long as my father had never renounced his citizenship to the UK; I would therefore be British by birth rights (having been born to a British national) and my daughter (if I had one) would also be British by birth rights, having been born to a British national EVEN if I (the middle generation) had never claimed my British nationality.

It used to be quite a prized process to go through - up until… just now really! I’m sorry to hear of the election results in the UK.

That looks great! Thank you Anna :pray: :cherry_blossom:

That is no longer the case. Even though the child born abroad to a British citizen (who is in neither the army nor the diplomatic corps) will get British citizenship, if he or she (that child) continues to live outside Britain, his or her child won’t automatically have British citizenship nor the right to reside in the UK.

That’s so correct Vero, nothing is automatic. To claim ancestry or heritage involves an application, a cost and an initial visa process. But as long as your grandparents were born in the UK or as the below says ‘on British-registered ship or aircraft’ (so en route to elsewhere :laughing:) it is possible claim UK ancestry as far back as two generations.

Unfortunately for my individual case, my family was shipped out on the much earlier voyages! I am a historically rebellious blend of the ‘scum’ or petty criminals England banished in the mid 1800’s (the convicts) and the upper-class opportunists that paid their way (the free settlers) - topped off with a little slice of Italian, curtesy of WW2’s post-war mass migration (my closest link to European heritage).

I really don’t know about South Africa, but I imagine the migrational patterns (which was frequent) from EU/UK to AU/NZ would reflect similar to there. Resulting in finding a lot of us Southern Hemisphere folk sneaking back to the Northern side of the equator with two passports in hand. :world_map::ship::airplane:

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