Hello. Being new here, I hope this is the right place for this query, which doesn’t quite fit into moving to France or coronavirus, though it involves both subjects.
I’ve been trying to check on whether there is a time limit (90 days?) in which a UK resident can stay in France under current circumstances. The prefecture (Paris in my case) has an online form for extending visas past 90 days, but doesn’t mention EU citizens.
I’m asking because, for family reasons, I ended up in Paris during the lockdown. I part own an apartment here where my daughter and her mother live. Things didn’t work out for me in France but I still have links here and have always been welcome to stay. Meanwhile I have been living with my own mother in London who now has to self-isolate (she’s on the ‘serious’ NHS list but we’ve organised plenty of support for her). So I can’t stay there.
I have a small self-employed income and had been retraining as a CELTA teacher when the colleges all closed down. Until that course can start again, I’m better off and more use to my family here. Future residence is an option…but only an option at this point. This probably sounds all very complicated and all I can say is that this is the simplified version!..
I 'm aware that there are meant to be new residence regulations coming in in July. I will have been here for 90 days in early June. If anyone can give me any advice on how best to proceed I’d be very grateful.
The thing that you really need to make sure of is that you have health insurance. After passing the 90 day point you will be considered resident and your EHIC or travel insurance will not give you cover.
You are in a difficult spot! At the moment, during transition, UK nationals still have freedom of movement in the EU. The 90 day rule existed before Brexit, but basically everyone ignored it because unlike many other countries France didn’t require foreigners to register. So you could just carry on as you are for the time being and it is highly unlikely that anyone will check. The formal route to stay longer than 90 days was to ask for a carte de séjour (which few people bothered with until Brexit) but in every prefecture I’ve heard about they are no longer issuing them to UK nationals.
HOWEVER, it will change so this is a good moment for you to really think through what you want long term. If you do think you want to stay in France, then in June you can start to take steps to become a resident and join the health system and so on, and then in July apply for the new type of card. Although with no/small (?) income you could struggle to get a resident’ card so you need to look at that and your health insurance.
Apart from that it is a grey area. In some areas (like voting) UK nationals are no longer considered as EU nationals. So perhaps an option is for you to apply for a non-EU long stay visa? Especially if your kid is a minor that is a legitimate reason to stay. You would need to ask someone official about that - perhaps the embassy? But again your income could be a difficulty if it is below their threshold - you need at least 570€ a month - and health insurance. As you have been here over 90 days your EHIC is no longer valid.
But deciding what you want to do seems to be the important first step.
(And you can live with your vulnerable mother, you just have to follow the Uk shielding guidelines about separate utensils, and cleaning bath rooms and so on)
There are a couple of parts of Janes answer that I find confusing. As EU citizens no British nationals have needed a CdS to live and work in France. Before the referendum few British people applied for them but that number has increased in recent years despite the CdS offering no more rights than being an EU citizen does. At the moment, during the transition period, British nationals still do not require a CdS or visa to live or work here. France has announced that a Carte de Residence will be required for British passport holders from summer 2021 and the online portal to apply for those cards should be available from July this year. After the end of the transition period British citizens will be able to holiday in France without a visa but will be able to apply for a long stay visa if they wish to stay for longer than 90 days.
As you are not required to have a CdS and are ineligible to apply for a long stay visa you do not need to take any action at the moment.
The Treaty Rights for Freedom of Movement are for 90 days. Beyond that you must have health insurance and sufficient resources. Some countries require you then to register, France didn’t. But it did provide the formal route for an EU national to get a CdS if they so wished, and to simplify some administrative procedures. For example some employers liked to see them.
So as I said, its a formal route, not a mandatory requirement.
There was no need for a formal route. It’s old history now so not worth worrying about.
Thanks Jane and Dave, that’s all very helpful. It seems the best course is to hang on till at least July, see if the new online portal comes up and what’s involved, and meanwhile look into what can be done about travel insurance (if anything).
Jane, you’re of course right that this is an ideal moment to think about my long term future. Or at least it would have been! I was taking the teaching course for exactly that reason, but now everything is up in the air.
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Yes, which is why the “bloody foreigners” Brexit propaganda was such a disgrace. Britain always had the choice to manage freedom of movement had they wanted to.
Some good advice here John. I’m sure you’ll work it out.