We have for some years spent most of the summer in our second home in Pas de Calais. The house is 80km from the tunnel. We primarily live in the UK but arrive around now and depart in September (with a few return weekends to UK). We are aware of the changes next year regarding 90 days etc.
So when could we go there?
It isnt really a holiday because we live there.
It was clear up to now, no way we can go. But as off Monday I am not sure.
The current travel restrictions I am aware of but are they changing as of Monday? I am aware that travel is eased albeit not much in Pas e Calais
No. Although the borders are open to people coming from Schengen area and UK, you are only allowed in if you have an imperative reason to travel. And visiting your second home isn’t one of them. We have had to tell our foreign clients they can’t come yet.
As an aside, you do realise that you won’t be able to continue to do this in the future either? Post-transition at end of the year you will be limited to 90 days in every 180 in Schengen area unless you get a long stay visa.
(And also you shouldn’t have been doing it like this anyway. If your backside is in France when you are working then you should be declaring the earnings in France, and the penalties for non-compliance are pretty severe. )
No, I go through the pain of taxes and the complexities, the bank declaration on the French account, also the agreement on not paying duplicate taxes, its a bit of a horror!
We were going to live permenantly in France when we retired, that was stalled by Brexit, I reached retirement age last week.
That was why I had registered a business, that with my pension allows me residence comfortably under the rules.
My wife’s Irish background has possibly allowed it to happen now and then nobbled by Covid.!
My fault, the travel form, I read it, my French friend sent it to me some time ago and another site member kindly sent it a few minutes ago. I will wait and see what they say.
Of course it didnt stop a million Paris residents evacuating to their second homes in March/April (per the French phone company).
My friends in Hesdin say they are not French at all, however my friend from Paris says what do the Ch’ti know anyway.
He also says I speak French with a Ch’ti accent so not to be trusted
Very little is being set in stone when it comes to lifting the lockdown. The 15th June sounds a reasonable time to focus on but a decision like that will only be made if the figures add up.
and, worse still… if folk go mad within the next days/weeks … and covid-19 gets worse … all bets will be off and it will be back to Confinement with a vengeance…
Some of the Facebook groups for francophiles are awash with statements about passenger ferries and flights restarting in June, but I can’t find anything official. Have you heard anything David?
Is it that clear? Philip has a business registered in France - if the registered office is at his house here there are very likely to be legitimate reasons for travel to it even under the existing ‘activité professionnelle’ heading.
We don’t yet know exactly what the new attestations will allow, but they’re bound to be less onerous, aren’t they? (though I guess the Pas de Calais is in a ‘red’ area?) - and in any case there will always be unique circumstances that don’t quite fit into a form (mine never seem to quite fit any forms!).
But is it an essential work? A lot of course will depend on the official you encounter (if any) as the degree of confusion is allowing individual gendarme/ border officials to decide what is right. And arguing with them is generally not a great idea.
