COPY LINK

BREXIT

INTERVIEW: French authorities issue latest driving licence advice for Britons in France

For British people living in France, driving licences have been a particular source of frustration, with changing advice and instructions as time went on. The Local called the head of the issuing office for the latest information.

Published: 28 January 2020 14:53 CET

INTERVIEW: French authorities issue latest driving licence advice for Britons in France

French authorities ask Britons worried about their driving licence's validity post-Brexit to keep calm. As long as the licence has not expired, there is no need to apply for a French exchange.Photo: A

The situation been a headache for not only British people, but also for the Centre d'Expertises et des Ressources des Titres – Echange des Permis Étrangers (CERT) which receives all the applications from the whole of France except Paris.

Their office in Nantes, northwest France, has therefore been overflowing with applications for months.

We asked Baptiste Mandard, Deputy General of CERT, for his advice to British residents in France. His answers relate only to people who are already resident in France by the end of the transition period (December 31st, 2020).

The Local: Will British driving licences still be legal after Brexit on January 31st?

Baptiste Mandard: Yes. As long as the licence has not expired, there is no reason as to why you cannot drive on a British licence after January 31st.

TL: For how long?

BM: The transition period lasts until December 31st 2020 and there won’t be any changes to the rules until after that date.

However, if your driving licence has expired or been suspended due to an infraction, you must convert your British licence into a French licence so that the French government can withdraw the points necessary.

Anyone who loses one point or more on their driving licence will need to do that [previous advice had been that this was only necessary for offences that deducted three points or more].

It is not necessary for all British drivers to convert their licences to French ones, only in certain circumstances. Photo: AFP

TL: How many British driving licence exchange applications are currently waiting to be treated at the CERT office?

MB: Since we opened our service two and a half years ago we have received 22,000 applications from UK citizens who want to exchange their driving licences. We still have 5,000-6,000 applications left to deal with.

The rest of them we have already answered – whether we accepted the exchange or not, we have sent out our answer.

TL: How many of the applications are declined?

MB: A third of all the applications – not just the British ones – we receive at CERT are incomplete and thus declined.

TL: How long can people expect to wait for their application to be dealt with?

MB: New applicants will get an answer about 3 to 4 months after they sent in their application. Old applicants (ie those stuck in the backlog] can expect a delay of six months, starting now.

About 50 percent of all the applications we received here in Nantes were useless. The applicants asked for an exchange, but they didn’t need to. These applications are not prioritised. First we deal with the applications that we consider urgent.

TL: Which are the urgent cases?

MB: The urgent cases are the people that have had their license suspended, those whose licence have expired, or those who have added a qualification on their licence and need to update it – from car to truck, for example.

TL: Will the applications that aren’t considered urgent be declined?

We ask people to wait in line, they are not a priority. We also ask people to wait to apply until we have launched our online procedure.

TL: Is that part of a plan to reduce the waiting time?

MB: Yes, we are launching an online registration platform to simplify the application process. Today you have to send in your application via post, but soon, probably sometime in the coming six months, you will be able to register online.

One of the reasons as to why we are moving to an online platform is that many of the applicants have moved and don’t receive our letters. That's a difficulty for us.

We have also completely reorganised our service. We have recruited more people and simplified our processes.

TL: What should a person do if they have applied for a French licence but have not yet received it, but their British licence is on the verge of expiring?

MB: As long as the licence has not expired, the person can still legally drive in France. It is the expiration date that matters. After the expiration date the person cannot drive anymore.

We are doing our very best to reduce the delays. We have managed to get them down from six to about 3-4 months. However I advise people to apply for a driving licence exchange at least 6 months prior to the expiration date just to be sure that they get their new licence in time.

TL: Is it possible that some applications have been lost in the process?

MB: I can imagine why you ask due to the delays. But bear in mind that that we have received a lot of applications. Sometimes people write us to ask where their applications are, but – and I cannot stress this enough – we are dealing with it as quickly as we can.

TL: What is the best way for people to check on their application?

MB: If people have an urgent, specific request, we ask them to write us via email. There is a simple online procedure that they can use in the case of an urgent request (link here).

TL: Some of our readers have told us that French police officers have told them that their licence is no longer valid and that they had to convert it into a French one. Are there any documents online or similar that people could show the police if they find themselves in such a situation?

MB: This is new to me. As far as I know there is no need for any supplementary documentation on the side of the driving licence. The British driving licence itself is sufficient.

TL: Do you have any other advice to British people in France regarding their driving licence exchanges?

MB: Come to us either if you have lost points on your licence, if your licence is about to expire or if you have added a qualification on your licence. Otherwise you do not need a French driving licence. We have a full year to look at what happens after December 31st, so there is no need to apply for an exchange now. Wait for our online platform.

Right now we just really would like to reassure your readers: you can still use your British driving licence after January 31st.

Note – for British people who have already applied for a licence and are stuck in the backlog at CERT, some may find that their photocard licence expires while they are in the queue. For those people, there is no need to panic, they can apply to the DVLA back in the UK for a certificate of entitlement that will allow them to carry on driving. For full details click here or head to the Facebook group Applying for a French Driving Licence to find out more.

Member comments

Become a Member to leave a comment.

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.

SHOW COMMENTS

Url copied to clipboard!