I currently spend up to six months in France cruising the French waterways and producing a series of 16 guides to them. Like many boaters and other long stay visitors to France (such as families of residents), I will be severely restricted from now on. So, I’ve just launched a petition to try to persuade the French tourism minister to reciprocate the six months tourism-free travel offered to French tourists to the UK (see below). Please sign it if you can.
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Your country voted to leave Europe. I don’t understand why you think that you are entitled to anything beyond what any other third country national is entitled to. Sorry for sounding harsh but I know Aussie friends who either have to stay with the 90 / 180 rules or apply for a visa each year and I find it gobsmacking that after voting to leave you now want to be given special treatment. If you look at this article it will give you some of your visa options for staying longer than the 90 days at a time:
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The proposed activity also sounds a lot like income-generating travel (ie work), so presumably would require that a French tax return be filed.
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Sorry I won’t be signing. The cost of the visa is modest and applies to all third countries. The United Kingdom made a choice, and unfortunately UK citizens have to live with this.
What the UK chooses to do to attract visitors to its shores is entirely up to it.
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I’m gobsmacked that you tar us all with the Brexit brush. Forty-eight per cent of us didn’t vote for Brexit. So why should we not request from the French government what we’ve already agreed to give French visitors to the UK? Or are you suggesting the UK government should revoke that and limit French visitors to 90 days? I don’t think that would please the friends and families of the 150,000 French citizens living in UK.
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Sorry, I don’t really I’m just super angry about it hence sounding a bit cranky!
Wow OK, I actually missed that, do you have a link to more information on this? If that is the case then I have changed my mind and think that you should be allowed to! Good luck with your petition. I’m afraid I can’t sign as I had to ‘junk’ them after I signed up for something else and proceeded to be bombarded with daily spam email from them.
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Perhaps the route may be to petition the UK government to negotiate with the French minister in a reciprocal deal to achieve the already generous UK gift of six months allowance.
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Not tarring you personally, but majority rules so tarring the overall vote (which many of us here were not even allowed ro participate in). And since the United Kingdom has said it wishes to have sovereignty and make its own decisions then why should there be reciprocal agreements?. That is what the EU is for.
What I am gobsmacked about is people only now realising and protesting about the implications that have been pretty clear for 4 years. Where were you in the run up to the referendum? Were you launching petitions to persuade people that Brexit was a bad idea?
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Yes, I agree. Is the 6 month allowance for all EU cits? If yes then it would be far better going this route and being able to get signatures from all over the EU on the parliament site.
Don’t see why Tory. The UK makes it own road now. Quite frankly I feel the French government and administration have done quite enough to make generous exceptions for the British. So I don’t see why they should do anything more. There is a perfectly workable visa system, which applies to all TCNs. I see no justification for the Uk to ask for more.
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Fair enough - I don’t much like being lumped in with the 52% either but we don’t have much choice.
No, there’s no reason we can’t ask.
But what incentive is there for the French government to change anything?
Well, there are these little things called agreements; I realise they don’t mean a whole lot to the likes of Johnson but I’m old fashioned and like to think they are worth something.
Your last sentence sounds like a threat, do a lot of negotiating do you 
Petitioning the UK government will achieve the square root of naff all I’m afraid.
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Mmm, this is all sounding rather harsh. If Brexit is ever to be undone, one way is for the rules and regs that are currently in place to be gently, gently unpicked.
Also, I’ve belonged over the years to clubs where things have fractured and some have gone off on their own. The danger of those still in the club is that they turn their backs on those who have left and say “well we didn’t want them/like them anyway”. Then a few years down the line, it seems like the people who have left actually were quite good news and had something to contribute.
Tarring with the same brush - not a way to win those who are also angry in the UK back to the fold.
I’d rather leave the door open, be welcoming, show sympathy and within a generation all of this may be reversed.
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I don’t wish to open up the Brexit debate all over again and yes, I and many others did campaign to our own British government - vigorously. The French Europe Minister, Clement Beaune, is on record as saying that the British negotiating team seemed disinterested in discussing anything to do with freedom of movement (even for tourism). So yes, we are still pressing our government to open up this issue. All I’m endeavouring to do is persuade the French government to do the same. I would have thought it’s in the interest of all British residents in France that friends and family members can visit and stay in future without having to carefully count the Schengen clock or apply for a long-term visa - which isn’t that simple. And Tory, this is the link you asked for: You will not need a visa to come to the UK - Check if you need a UK visa - GOV.UK.
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Personally it’s time to move on. There are more important things now to occupy attention. I wish people well, but that’s the extent of it.
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I assume you mean visa free not tourism free.
I do not understand why feel restricted. You simply apply for a visa to stay in France as a tourist for longer than 6 months if you want to keep doing what you do. France opened long stay visa applications for Brits on 1 Jan. I understand that it is a little more hassle but it is not difficult or expensive from what I have read.
But good luck with your petition, although I will not be signing it.
It is possible that France may make a bilateral agreement with the UK in the future but I think if this happens it will be as a result of negotiation between the two governments (so I am not holding my breath) not as a result of a petition from somebody who happens to not like the idea of applying for a visa.
Apart from anything else I think you will be lucky if you are allowed into France as a tourist at all within the next six months.
It concerns me more that young Brits have potentially lost the right to take seasonal jobs in Europe, than that affluent Brit holidaymakers now need to apply for visas. This is a bit of a hobby horse of mine because I spent much of my life working with young people and I know how valuable and even life changing the experience of working abroad can be to some of them. There is lobbying going on about making it easier for young Brits to work in France and that is where my support is given.
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Tory - I feel that is a little harsh.
When one considers the turnout, only 37% of the electorate actually voted for Brexit, so roughly ⅔ of the electorate did not vote for the divorce.
It was carried through by a cabal of politicians, press barons and high-wealth individuals who knew they would lose if the UK stayed as part of the EU but could make substantial gains if it left.
As far as @WaterwaysCruiser is concerned, it is entirely possible that he is behaving correctly and declaring (and paying tax on) the work done in France. Assuming he makes a profit, I would hope that it would be more than sufficient to cover the visa cost.
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Perhaps, but it is true they did vote to leave! There were also numerous times where it potentially could have been stopped and no one did.
Thanks I’ll have a read.
Thanks for the comments, Brian. Actually, all the profits on sales of my guides go to the French charity ASPAS (Association pour la Protection des Animaux Sauvages). Next time something wild and furry warms your heart, think of me… 
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Typical British attitude IMO - next they’ll be asking for free access to healthcare as it’s free in the UK and not pay a TV licence as they pay it in UK 
I can see why the EU negotiators had a hard time convincing the UK about a level playing field here…
I think it’s a bit choice really - there are many Brits here in the EU who are in desperation about losing their rights to FOM so no, I won’t be signing up to your petition either.
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Very noble, but is that before or after you’ve paid tax in France for 6 months work here and what counts as «profit»?
Maybe more than a few very able French guide writers will be a little peeved about the unlevel playing field 
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