I live in hope then
Shame these people didnât read this firstâŠ
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This post is all over social media. This family claimed French benefits from the CAF which clearly is evidence that they WERE and are ARE a burden on the state. For their CdS application they suddenly became self-employed and expected that to wash with the préfecture. Seriously?
She has fraudulently gained unmerited sympathy on several media platforms and I for one am delighted theyâre being chucked out.
Many people who shared her blog have since regretted it on learning the truth behind why theyâre CdS applications have actually been refused.
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A little correction is needed here, the wifeâs AE business was created in June 2017 so they didnât suddenly become self employed to support their CdS application.
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The usual reason for creating a non-earning AE is to obtain free healthcare and benefits.
Sorry to be cynical, but thatâs how it is.
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I thought there were minimum earning limits with AE to stop that situation arising?
Thank you PeterâŠthe little blob in the photo is now 6 months old, & doing everything a lively little blob of that age doesâŠthough, thankfully, not in my house 
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No.
Youâre probably thinking of the new measures introduced with PUMA that plugged the loophole whereby early retirees with a substantial unearned income (investments, rent etc) used to be able to set up an AE, declare business earnings of maybe a few hundred euros a year and pay just a few euros cotisations per year. Nowadays, if a worker (employed or self employed) earns below a certain threshold then any unearned income they have is assessed for healthcare contributions as well (cotisations subsidiaire maladie). But thatâs based on the assumption that families that donât need to bring in a living wage, will have some other regular source of income from their capital or investments. So a family that is spending its savings rather than using the capital to provide a sustainable income, can still set up an AE with a very low turnover or even no turnover at all and gain access to healthcare for the entrepreneur and his/her kids for free or near enough.
I havenâ t looked beyond what was in the Connexion, and from what it said there itâs not obvious how the other partner would have accessed health cover, since PUMA also stopped ayant droit cover for adults. If he has had no health cover, that in itself would make him ineligible for a CdS.
I think the point is that none of this would have arisen if Brexit hadnât happened. Legal or not, under the radar or not, living on benefits or not, it wouldnât have mattered. They could have carried on regardless. The truth of this Brexit vote is raising itâs ugly head - you are either legal or you ainât and if you ainât then you will be required to leave the EU and go âhomeâ. We have no rights or privileges any more, we are at the mercy of politicians. Mind you it could be worse, I could be in England as an EU citizen fighting to get through anti EU pickets at ALDIâs.
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Maybe true but this is more due to the fact that the French, almost uniquely in the EU, are very relaxed about people living in their country if they can manage to do so without bringing attention to themselves.
The other country which has hitherto been similarly relaxed is, of course the UK.
Iâm not sure they could have got into their current situation in any other country.
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Where is Bill?
Weâll never know whether this couple were deliberately milking the system or not but it was a huge gamble applying for residency given their alleged circumstances and unfortunately theyâve come unstuck. The only sympathy I have is for the children who may now be uprooted from school and friends.
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We moved many times during my school years⊠yes, it was unsettling, but it was planned âŠ
How much worse for these kids if uprooting is just dumped on them⊠ghastly.
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Somewhere in Brittany, Fran/Lily. He and his French wife quit SFN about 12 months ago after some kind of spat, canât recall the details (not with me).
He had sailed the worldâs oceans in his small boat, maybe he is doing that now, looking for his goose.
Agreed, Fidelma. And compounded by the UK Governments deliberate(?) obtuseness when it comes to the rights of UK Citizens in Europe and vice-versa.
Surely thatâs the point - we are all being let down by an administration that thinks its ok to use us as a negotiating point?
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And this seemingly, makes some folks assume that their criticism of others in difficult circumstances, is justified.
I suspect that thereâs quite a lot of âfearâ behind some of the comments on the Connexion FB page.
Having visited the ladyâs business website I feel apprehensive and sympathetic towards her because I think there is an element of babes to the slaughter, she seems totally unprepared on all fronts.
She appears to have created a business website showing her siret number but written totally in English and without any of the obligatory âmentions lĂ©galesâ required under French law. DIRECCTE can impose fines of many thousands of euros for having a non compliant business website and they donât accept ignorance of the law as an excuse.
If she is going to stay in France I think she needs to wake up to her responsibilities and obligations all round.
Iâm sorry, and call me a goody two shoes or whatever you want to call me, but I donât buy this. Are we really saying that it should be OK to break the rules? Does that mean that itâs fine to break all the speed limits as long as you donât get flashed, cheat the taxman as long as you donât get caught, etc etc? Are we really saying it doesnât matter whether a person is legal or not, whether theyâre abusing the benefits system or not?
Thatâs not the kind of society I want to live in.
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Fidelma⊠I spend a great deal of my time⊠helping folk who have âfallen in the mireâ for NOT following guidelines etc etc⊠(in various aspects of life in France).
Not always, but in many cases . it is simply because they choose NOT to do the necessary things to be âcorrect/legalâ (or whatever is applicable to their situation) here in France.
Too many think âit is OK⊠so long as one does not get caughtâ⊠
and, of course, it is NEVER OKâŠ
Many do not get caught⊠but that does not make it an open invitation to others to copy their bad example.
and certainly they should not blame everyone/everything but themselves in the event that they DO get caughtâŠ
(my comments are not aimed at any particular family/person⊠but, if the cap fits⊠
)
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Donât get me wrong I have been paying into the system here for 13 years, I have done our best to be totally legal and get all the relevant permissions and numbers, EORI, SIRET and otherwise. What annoys me is the majority of the folk on here have no sympathy for someone, admittedly nieve at best is now facing a very uncertain future. (We had no control of Brexit, we couldnât get the vote no matter how hard we tried.) There will be many more folk like this, retirees, couples who wonât meet the criteria and dead legal, I somehow think that there will be very little sympathy for them either. About as much sympathy that EU migrants will get in the UK?
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Fidelma⊠I think you may be being a little harshâŠ
In my experience⊠folk of every nationality will pull out all the stops to help those in need. They act most generously⊠yes, even before "all the facts are known⊠" and sometimes in spite of âall the factsââŠ
Anyone who has been here a while, met all criteria etc⊠should contact their Mairie ⊠if they are concerned about their future situation.
In fact, anyone at all⊠go to the Mairie⊠be upfront and discuss the current and future situation⊠it might prove useful, if only to dispel fearâŠ
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