'This is Brexit' - family gets 30 days to leave France

The sad thing is that they applied for residency before Brexit is settled. Effectively they could have had another year to build up their income.

Iā€™m confuddledā€¦ did they apply for Carte de Sejour our Carte de Residentā€¦??

Not clear is it?? Will ask The Connexion on Facebook.

I am a member of RIFT (remain in France together) their website has up to date news of all that is happening during this time.

Copied this from their FB page ā€¦
Why are the French authorities getting a bashing?
OQTFā€™s have nothing to do with brexit, not just applied to UK citizens, it applies to all non French citizens who do not meet the criteria for legal residence in France, whether they are EU citizens or TCNā€™s.
In order to live in France (as with other EU countries) you have to fulfill the criteria in order to exercise your right to Freedom of Movement, whether or not you have to have a CdS to prove it.
See https://www.remaininfrance.org/retired-or-otherwiseā€¦ for further info - especially the ā€˜Reality Checkā€™ box further down the page.

Applying for a French CdS if you're not economically active

Applying for a French CdS if youā€™re not economically active

Applying for a French CdS if youā€™re not economically active

It also had addresses of legal organisations who can help, including the British Embassy in Paris !

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This seems a bit suss to me and maybe we havenā€™t got the full picture. If theyā€™ve been here two years with a couple of kids one of whom is in school theyā€™d already be fully in the system as it were and should have an Avis dā€™Impots etc which should help with their residency application.

Ermm, did they not think about this in advance? Thereā€™s easily available information around about the requirements, so it strikes me as totally daft to apply if you havenā€™t put together a solid dossier. For example a good business plan (in french) to show that while you might not quite make the income level now you will soon.

And if they moved 2 years ago, and are still to buy land, build a house set up a business and so on - then what have they been doing? Strikes me that we are not getting the whole story. They say ā€œthey havenā€™t taken a penny off the French governmentā€, but whoā€™s paying for their childā€™s schooling? I bet they are still driving on UK plates, so what precisely have they contributed to the country they seem so keen to live in?

Sorry, but Iā€™m out of sympathy for british people who think requirments donā€™t apply to them.

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I did wonder whether they have been ā€˜under the radarā€™ so to speak. Maybe applying bought them to the attention of the authoritiesā€¦
There do seem to be some geniune cases though where criteria hasnā€™t been met through mitigating circumstances and I would hope that help would be on hand for those people.

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Maybe take it up with the government in London, nobody else can possibly be to blame. If they were legit they would be putting it in a French newspaper not some minor-interest anglosphere paper.

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They probably canā€™t speak french, so hard to get a french journalist interested? Or is that my cynical side showing too much?

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Well possibly also a Fr journalist might just think it isnā€™t particularly newsworthy at best, and might encourage people to think mean thoughts at worst.

Serious lack of sympathy on Facebook from Connexion readers and lots of mean comments.

It is quite possible that this family are sure they have done everything correctlyā€¦ and thus will feel very hard done byā€¦

Maybe there has been some major misunderstanding between them and the ā€œofficialsā€ā€¦

On the other handā€¦ I know some folk who will probably get similarly treatedā€¦ mmmmā€¦ not my faultā€¦ after all, you can lead a horse to waterā€¦ butā€¦ :wink::upside_down_face:

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Whatever the circumstances I find it extremely difficult to watch a mother of two young children in tearsā€¦I canā€™t actually see what the family have done wrongā€¦theyā€™ve moved to Franceā€¦set up a tech business which all takes timeā€¦

They still have their savingsā€¦

The lack of compassion towards fellow human beings never ceases to make me feel that the world just canā€™t carry on like thisā€¦

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Seems to be a conflict of infoā€¦ Connexion talks about ā€œresidency cardsā€ and the lady talks about ā€œcarte de sĆ©jourā€ā€¦ very different thingsā€¦ and it is not stated which CdS the lady has applied forā€¦ (room for error here too)

Whatever, the 30-day letter sounds like a standard format of ā€œrefusalā€ā€¦ sent out automatically when info given by an applicant does not ā€œtick all the boxesā€ in some wayā€¦

If the applicant then provides further info etcā€¦ it is quite possible that the situation can be successfully resolved.

I hope this lady is rethinking her application and putting together a dossier which will support a reversal of the original decisionā€¦ if she truly does meet the criteriaā€¦

(If I got a similar letter, I would be hotfooting it to my Mairie and asking for their help in sorting things outā€¦)

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Helen talked about a lack of compassion but in this case it seems as though the couple caused their own problems so where do you draw the line?

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Yes they have savings, so they are not starving. They have a roof over their heads, they appear to be healthy so why do they need compassion?

A mother or father of two young children to me has a duty of care. And to move your children to a new country and fail to research and understand the requirements of that country for you to be a legal resident is just plain stupid. And then to complain afterwards doesnā€™t spark any sympathy in me at all. Particularly blaming french authorities when they have just done what is clearly set out out that is the law. It is unfortunate, but they have been here two years so they have had time to sort themselves out, or maybe even get a job if the business wasnā€™t working?

I would have compassion for a mother or father of two young kids who stole things because they were starving because their house burnt down. Not for people with all the means at their disposal who just failed to organise.

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Just read a few comments on the FB Connexion

Many typically smug bastards that have spent more time here, & ā€œknow the scoreā€

Sorry, but not everyone does the same in-depth research before movingā€¦things have changed since 2004 according to one blokeā€¦

Itā€™s not right to dismiss them a idioticā€¦they may have got it wrong, but so what ?!

ā€œThere but for the grace of (insert religious deity of choice) go Iā€

Just my thoughts

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Freedom of movement criteria havenā€™t changed since 2004.
Clearly not everyone does the same research before moving, but everybody has access to the information if they could be ar5sed to do their research, so if a person doesnā€™t bother, who is to blame?

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Havenā€™t really been following this but it sounds as though (others have observed this) they have been living on savings and ā€œunder the radarā€ one way or another and, having applied for CdS or whatever have had to prove income and have been unable to do so.

I do feel sorry for them and especially the kids but Iā€™m not at all sure that it has much to do with Brexit except, perhaps, they would have continued to live as they were avoiding the spotlight - but no less illegally for that.

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