Such as? For someone wanting to run a small business there is only one category - the one she has. So she would have to change track and could be a student, could try to get sponsorship for a salaried work permit, could marry a European. More likely to be successful if she takes what she has learnt this last year and reworks her business plan so that it is more robust. Being a creative artisan is hard work.
She was surprised/shocked at how much she was expected to make (SMIC 1800) and I’m wondering if things have drastically changed since she was granted the visa in 2024.
(Incidentally, I think she’s already married … to the chap she lives with… shame he’s not european 
)
It’s been SMIC for a long time. Although of course SMIC increases slightly each year.
so why is she so surprised ?? seems to me that we (Joe Public) only have a part of the story 
She was on TF1 a week or two ago and a few things struck me.
She didn’t seem to know what she had signed up for in terms of her visa or, at least it wasn’t clear. It ties up with the entrepreneurial visa as your business plan needs to show that you’ll achieve at least the SMIC solely from the business. Top ups from other activities can’t be included. If she had a different visa, she’d probably be expelled for working contrary to the conditions of that visa. There’s scope to make less than the SMIC in your first couple of years so long as you can demonstrate adequate resources to live and your business plan shows how and when you intend to get to SMIC.
I’m perhaps being harsh here but it wasn’t obvious that she’d made any effort to learn French, with the TF1 interview conducted entirely in English. Granted it’s possible she has been but wasn’t comfortable speaking French on national TV.
I was also curious how tenable her business would be as an incomer in rural France who doesn’t speak French. She was described on TF1 as a coutouriere which obviously covers quite a wide range of activities. I suspect very few businesses will make significant money in the first year or two, and many don’t make any at all, so wonder how realistic the business plan was.
In the link Cat provided she was speaking in French. It wasn’t particularly good French, but adequate for having only been here just over a year.
But I think you’re right in that she was totally naive about her visa conditions. They may well not have thought it mattered as if their income was sufficient in their terms then didn’t anticipate this being a problem. Possibly again lured by cheap housing in the Creuse, and thinking an amateur business would pass muster.
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The thing is, pre-Brexit, it probably would have been OK.
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Jane, as she has a partner who presumably is passing the fiscal test and possibly sufficient to meet their joint requirements, do you with your civil servant head on think it’s down to exclusively not meeting her business plan income that she is being singled out? It seems a bit strange otherwise as she has a partner (married?) so would that not carry some weight to alleviate the issue?
Someone mentioned earlier that the husband was spending time working on the house, I think.
From Stella yesterday.
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I’ll try and find the link… it was actually quite interesting. Google is the source of all sorts of stuff.
I’d be interested to read it. 
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It was particularly bad, and would make working (other than for English speakers) extremely complicated.
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https://www.lyonne.fr/pionnat-23140/actualites/cette-anglaise-vivant-en-creuse-est-menacee-d-expulsion-une-onde-de-choc-pour-ses-voisins-et-la-communaute-britannique_14819036/
Arrivée en décembre 2024 dans la commune, elle a rejoint son mari, Andrew, qui, lui, était venu s’installer quelques mois auparavant pour commencer les travaux dans la maison qu’ils avaient achetée. Originaires du nord de l’Angleterre, ils ont tout quitté et tout vendu pour vivre en France. « Nous aimons ce pays, la culture, la façon de vivre. Et la Creuse ressemble à là d’où nous venons. Nous ne voulions pas être en ville ». Le couple retape la maison – « c’était une ruine », selon Anne-Marie, une de leurs voisines – de leurs mains, mais aussi grâce aux artisans du coin.
Andrew, 58 ans, et Emma, 51 ans, ont tous les deux pu s’installer en France via le visa entrepreneur/profession libéral. Andrew est physicien nucléaire et travaille pour des entreprises dans le monde entier. Emma, elle, s’est enregistrée en tant que couturière.
Cette ancienne kinésithérapeute crée des robes et des bijoux d’inspiration médiévale. « J’ai dû soumettre un plan à la Chambre des métiers, qui m’a dit très clairement que je n’allais pas gagner l’équivalent du SMIC en un an, mais que je le pourrai après deux ou
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Yes and all paperwork has to be in good French too in case of any litigation problems. TBH I can’t see the profession of what she set up in. business as being a very good source of income these days especially in that rural region when most folks buy and throw clothes away when done with them. My MIL trained with Norman Hartnell as a couturier before being called up to the WRAF in WW2 and then carried it on privately for film stars at her home but never made a fortune from it.
I think you’ve hit the nail on the head. Perhaps also they used one of those snake oil “I can get you an entrepreneur visa” merchants.
According to them, “En Angleterre, nous n’avons rien, pas de logement, pas de voiture, pas de meubles, pas de travail…”: why should moving to France suddenly create any of that for them?
I’m sure I read somewhere that they’d sold-up everything in UK, to finance their new life… so they came to France with money to buy/renovate etc…
The husband’s visa (of whatever sort) is OK 'cos he arrived earlier in 2024 than his wife (who arrived in December 2024 I think) and he is not under any threat… (I find it all a bit weird)
The interesting thing is the coverage this is now getting. It makes clear Brits will now be targeted if they don’t cover themselves. Pre-Brexit as Billy says, not the case.
It’s a pity that the losses of Brexit are even harder thsn they look.
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I reckon it makes clear that folk must be sure they understand the Rules and are able to obey them.
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Why is the husband OK? As you note Stella, a bit weird!
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