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British pound falls again and heads for parity against euro

The value of the pound has tumbled against the euro post-Brexit referendum, with some experts predicting the two currencies could end up at parity. The falling currency can have a huge impact on the lives of expats in the EU.

Published: 6 July 2016 10:18 CEST

Photo: AFP

At the time of writing, the British pound is worth €1.17, down from around €1.40 before the June 23rd referendum that saw the majority of British voters opt to leave the EU.

This comes as a knock-on effect from the pound falling against the US dollar overnight, seeing lows that haven't been reached since 1985.

“The pound sterling recorded a bad performance after poor economic figures from the UK, including a stronger slowdown in services,” Eric Viloria of Wells Fargo told the AFP news agency.

This drop has seen the value of the euro drop slightly against the dollar too, with one euro currently worth 1.1050 dollars.

Some analysts have suggested that the pound and the euro will eventually reach parity.

David Meier, an economist at Julius Baer, said he would “not be surprised” to see parity within the next 12 months.

“We believe that weakness will extend gradually beyond the first shock reaction, as the fundamental data will continuously turn pound-negative,” he wrote in a research note soon after the referendum.

The past week of Euro per 1 GBP. Photo: XE.com

Impacts of a weaker pound for France

As the value of the pound continues to tumble, many Brits will see their summer holiday budgets rise considerably.

Brits make some 12 million visits to France every year, most of which are made in the summer. While companies like Brittany Ferries say they haven't noticed hordes of British travellers looking to cancel, it fears the fall in currency may impact future bookings unless the value of the pound picks up.

Many expats in France earn a living from the tourist industry, and its no secret that the British (and their wallets) play a large part in contributing to this industry.

Those working in operating tours or renting out property – popular jobs among Brits in France – are likely to see continued strains on their business if the pound keeps dropping.

The falling pound also spells bad news for any retirees living in France who depend on their UK pensions or investments for income.

And any Brits in the UK who have been planning to escape to France and buy a dream home in the country may have to rethink their plans, as finance experts told The Local soon after the Leave vote came through.

George White, who was planning to sell up in the UK and buy a house in France says he has been left in limbo.

“We were planning to move to an “equal valued” house [in France] which would in theory have been a nice big place will land and a swimming pool.. Now we are in limbo. We do not feel good about this,” White told The Local.

“We are devastated. We will lose financially.”

Estate agents in France fear that a falling pound will badly hit the foreign housing market, to which British buyers contribute massively in certain parts of the country like Dordogne.

Of course, the currency uncertainty brings good news as well, with those in France keen to visit the UK never having a better excuse to cross the channel and enjoy a cheap holiday.

And of course for those selling their house in France to return to the UK , there may be no better time.

David Thompson is one of those selling up and heading back to the UK.

“It makes sense to move back and sell the French property. Unfortunately we bought it at the peak of property prices and they have slumped since, so we aren't even getting back the amount we spent to buy it, so the more pounds sterling we can get from the sale the better,” he told The Local.

However looking on the positive side, it was only a few years ago that the pound and the euro were almost level and life went on pretty much as normal.

And after all, the Brexit isn't all bad news for Brits in France. In fact, we've come up with a whole host of things that show there is a bright side to the Brexit vote.

READ ALSO: The bright side of Brexit – The 'good news' for Brits in France

If you have been affected by the fall of the pound, either positively or negatively, please get in touch and tell us your story. Email [email protected]

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9 things Brits need to know about moving to France since Brexit

Brits who want to move to France now face a radically different process from those who took advantage of EU freedom of movement to make the move before Brexit.

It’s a more complicated process – but it’s still possible and 8,700 UK nationals moved to France in 2023.

Here are some of the big things you need to know before making the move.

1 Visa

The biggest post-Brexit change is that Brits moving to France now require a visa (unless they have dual nationality with an EU country).

The visa must be applied for first, and only when it is granted can you make the move – you cannot come to France and then apply for residency (unless you are covered by the Withdrawal Agreement, more on that below).

There are various different types of visas depending on what you intend to do in France – work, study, retire etc – and many of them contain conditions eg people on a ‘visitor’ visa are not permitted to work in France.

It makes things less flexible as it’s harder to change your plans once you have arrived. It also means that it’s harder to have a ‘half and half’ lifestyle – eg retire from your day job and move to France to run a gîte or B&B.

Explained: What type of French visa do you need

The best visa type is undoubtedly the ‘Talent Passport’, so it’s worth checking whether you fit any of the criteria for this visa type.

2 Residency card

Once you have your visa and have moved to France this is very far from being the end of the process.

You will need to apply for a residency card after a certain period (usually three months but different visa types have different rules) and according to your personal situation you may also be required to attend a compulsory medical, language classes and ‘integration’ classes through the French office of immigration and integration (OFII) – more on that here.

3 Health cover

When it comes to health there is some good news – Brits have retained many of their pre-Brexit rights to healthcare.

While you may need to provide proof of private health cover for your visa (depending on the visa type) once you have been resident in France for three months you are entitled to register in the French health system, which covers most of your medical costs.

Full details on how to register HERE.

Brits who are retired and have reached UK pension age also retain their right to an S1 – the status which entitles you to register in the French health system, while the UK continues to pay your medical costs.

4 Remote working

The rise in remote working means that the dream of moving abroad seems much closer for working-age people – since you will be able to work remotely in your native language, maybe even keep your existing job and simply relocate.

While this is possible, you need to do careful research in advance to ensure that work is compliant with your visa and tax situation. Unlike some countries, France does not have a ‘digital nomad visa’ or other visa types aimed at remote workers, in fact the visa rules were written before remote working became widespread, which is why there are some grey areas.

Most lawyers advise getting a working visa (salarié if you are working remotely for a French company as an employee, or auto-entrepreneur for freelancers) and paying social contributions in France. Find full details on visa and tax implications.

You also need to be aware that being a remote working can have an effect on your long-term plans in France – for example if after five years of residence you intend to apply for French citizenship you will need to prove that the ‘centre of your economic activity’ in in France. If all your work is done remotely for foreign companies then this could be a reason to have citizenship refused.

5 Working restrictions

If you want to work in France (remotely or not) you first need to check if there are any restrictions on your profession – certain types of work are ‘regulated professions’ in France, which means you will need specific French qualifications and/or registration within a French guild or professional organisation. The number of professions that are ‘regulated’ is surprisingly wide – taking in everything from chimney sweeping to hairdressing.

The next step is whether your qualifications will be recognised in France – EU countries generally recognise most of each other’s qualifications apart from in certain specific areas like medicine, but this is no longer the case for qualifications gained in the UK – more details here.

There are also certain jobs that are restricted to French citizens only, while others – including working in the public sector in positions including being a librarian – are limited to EU citizens only.

In visa terms, the simplest way for working-age people to come to France is as a salarié (employee) but to do this you will need a job already in place and your new employers will have to act as sponsors for your visa and may also be required to get a work permit for you. All of which means that Brits are less attractive as employees than EU citizens, which makes getting a job harder.

The other option is to be self-employed as either a freelancer, contractor or running a small business – this is a more complicated visa to get, requiring a detailed business plan. Once in France you need to register yourself as a small business/self-employed and register with Urssaf.

6 Tax

If you are living in France, then you will need to do the annual income tax declaration – even if all your income comes from abroad and you are retired/not working in France.

Full details on that HERE.

This was in fact the case before Brexit as well but previously there was a little more flexibility for people who split their time between France and the UK. These days if you want to be here for the majority of the year then you will need a visa/residency card, which removes much of the ambiguity about who is a ‘resident’.

The main post-Brexit difference is the rate at which prélèvements sociaux (social charges, similar to National Insurance) are charged on overseas income (eg earnings from work in the UK or income from renting out a UK property).

The rate is 7.5 percent for income from an EU country and 17.2 percent for income from a non-EU country – after Brexit, UK income switched to the non-EU rate.

7 Driving licence

Foreigners who make France their home will sooner or later need to swap their driving licence for a French one. This too was the case even before Brexit, but many UK or NI licence holders never got round to making the switch, and there wasn’t a lot of enforcement of the rule.

This has now been tightened up and UK/NI licence holders will need to swap their licences for a French one – the exact details of when you make the swap are slightly different for Brits than from other non-EU nationals due to a specific UK-France deal. Find full details HERE.

If you want to bring a car with you from the UK to France, you will also need to re-register it as French – full details HERE.

8 Banks

Most people moving to France will want to set up a French bank account for daily life, but you may also need a UK account, especially if you are a pensioner as some pensions will only pay into a UK account.

However since Brexit some of the biggest UK high street banks have been closing the accounts of their customers who do not live in the UK.

Alternatives include specific ‘expat’ accounts or internet banks – more details HERE.

9 The Brexit Withdrawal Agreement

It’s worth mentioning the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement even though most of it will not apply to newcomers. In brief, the citizens’ rights part of the Withdrawal Agreement covered people who moved to France prior to December 31st 2020, and intended to give them an easy way to remain in France and retain at least some of their pre-Brexit rights.

In general it does not apply to newcomers unless you are a close family member of someone who is covered by the Withdrawal Agreement – either a spouse or civil partner (in which case you must have married/ registered your partnership prior to December 31st 2020) or child. These people have a different path to residency, and can arrive in France and then request residency via the local préfecture of the family member who is already living here.

It’s also worth mentioning because of how different it is to the situation for new arrivals. It’s normal to ask Brits already living in France how they found the whole process – but if someone starts to tell you that getting residency is easy, the first question that you need to ask is when they moved here.

Those here prior to 2021 did indeed get an easy process – they had a special website to apply online for (free) residency cards and received straight away either a 5-year or 10-year card. This is a totally difference process to the one for Brits moving to France now.

If you’re asking around you would be better talking to Americans, Canadians or other non-EU nationals since their process is much more similar to that now in place for Brits.

. . . And new deals/visas/residency permits for Brits

Every now and again UK media will report which great excitement the possibility of a ‘new deal’ for Brits that will make moving to France, or buying a second home here, easier.

These reports should all be taken with a pinch of salt – there are currently no negotiations underway that would affect the process of Brits moving to France, and even if something is proposed in the near future it will likely take years to come into effect because these types of international agreements usually happen slowly.

A proposal for a ‘youth mobility scheme’ from the EU was rejected out of hand by British politicians before it had even been formally offered.

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