I seem to remember from last time it was very quick however I applied over a week ago and have heard nothing. I’ve had problems with CAF which are almost sorted out however they can’t unblock my payments until I have the Kbis / siret nor can I get paid for the work I did last month!
If anyone has had any recent experience I’d love to hear!
I didn’t set up a Micro Entreprise but last year I did need to create an “entreprise sans établissement en France” to allow my UK-based employer to obtain a siret and thus contribute to the French social security system. This was, admittedly, during the 2nd wave of lockdown so it’s normal the process wasn’t as slick as it should’ve been but it took several months and was only resolved by regularly calling the URSSAF team to chase things up. Hope your experience is quicker than mine!
Eeek not what I wanted to hear 
I eventually sent them a message from my URSAFF page explaining that I’m a bit desperate and asking for some idea of time. I’ll update when / if I hear back!
Wow hats off to URSAFF! I messaged them yeasterday at after 4.30 to explain I really need my number in order to sort things out.
Within a short time I had this message:
Votre demande a été transmise à votre Urssaf sous la référence:
Then today I had this and on the little slider thing it has moved from Demande Soumise to Demande Validée plus this message:
Votre demande a été validée le 28/08/21 et est en cours de traitement afin de finaliser votre compte en ligne auto-entrepreneur. Un courriel vous sera envoyé dès que votre affiliation à l’Urssaf sera finalisée.
so hats off to them, they have been very helpful in getting my dossier moving!
Hello Gareth, I have been looking at ways to move to France, since Brexit (dare I say the word!) it seems incredibly difficult to do, unless one sets up a company or is a student or has a work contract. I was interested in what you mentioned that you did not set up a micro entreprise, but created an “entreprise sans établissement en France”.
I am currently running a limited company, its a consultancy business (1 employee/myself). I am due to wind the business down as I want to move to France and start a different business. The current business is not really what I want to do going forward . However I am now wondering since coming across your post, if I ought to kept the business going for a short while and then create an entreprise sans établissement . Would this enable me to obtain the micro-entrepreneur visa (business visa) or would it be another visa type? Any advice you or other members on the forum can offer would be much appreciated!
I am not Gareth but I do not see how this would work.
You would not be setting up a business in France. Simply, a UK company(your own, but that is irrelevant) wants to employ you to work in France. But for it to do that, your company would first need to get authorization to employ a non EU citizen to work in France. I do not see how your UK company would justify this.
The difference it seems to ls that Gareth did not need a work permit because he had already moved to France before the end of transition while he still had EU freedom of movement including the automatic right to work in France. And so, under the withdrawal agreement that right was protected.
Thanks for your thoughts! It seems that Brexit has scuppered another potential route to move to France! However as you indicated, my UK company would unlikely qualify/ be justified to employ a non-EU citizen.
I am now thinking, it will probably be easier to close the current business, apply for a temporary long stay visa to visit for up to 6 months this year. The return to the UK for some months (for tax reasons) and then next year apply for a long-stay 1 year visa, with a new business, under micro-entrepreneur status and see how I go from there.
Well please do not give up, I did not mean to put the mockers on your plans, just to point out a potential flaw for you to address.
One way or another, if you want to live and work in France you have to get your plans checked for feasibility, and as long as they pass muster you should be ok to proceed.
Look at it from the other side. France wants people to come here and make a positive contribution to the French economy. It is not so keen on people coming here and taking jobs or business away from French/EU employees/businesses, or living here benefiting from what France has to offer whilst contributing to another country’s economy. You basically need to show you are going to bring something to France, rather than take out for yourself.
Sandcastle: It was a long shot, my initial proposal, but thank you for your practical advice and encouragement!
Sorry for the delay replying. Sandcastle is correct and my move was only possible because it was before the end of the transition period. Sadly I don’t think creating an “entreprise étrangère sans établissement en France” would allow you to issue a visa. It’s just designed to allow foreign companies to contribute to French social security.
You could contact URSSAF to be sure. They were extremely helpful once I managed to get through to them.
Don’t give up all hope, though. Brexit has made things much more difficult but there’ll still be ways of getting a visa and moving to France.
No problem regarding the response time. Thank you for your advice and perspective on the matter, it is very helpful. I won’t give up. I guess as the old saying goes " where there is a will there is a way!"