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LATEST: How much money do I need to stay in France after Brexit?

France has now published the official document detailing the minimum resources British people need in order to apply for residency. Here's what you need to know.

Published: 30 January 2020 12:11 CET
Updated: 30 November 2020 13:42 CET

LATEST: How much money do I need to stay in France after Brexit?

Photo: AFP

Contrary to the stereotype of all Brits in France as wealthy, gin-swilling expat types, many people in fact live a frugal life on low incomes – especially pensioners.

So the idea of there being a minimum income requirement to remain in France has caused a great deal of anxiety, and has lead some people to try and avoid registration altogether, for fear they will not meet the threshold.

The online process for residency applications is now open, and on Sunday the French government published in the Journal officiel an Arrêté outlining the minimum income requirements.

PREPARING FOR BREXIT

For articles on the rules around residency, healthcare, work and driving after the end of the transition period, head to our Preparing for Brexit section

Why is there a minimum at all? Doesn't the Withdrawal Agreement give British people already resident here the right to remain?

Well yes it does, but it is not unconditional.

The Withdrawal Agreement states that anyone who is legally resident in France before the end of the transition period on December 31st 2020 has the right to stay here.

But it's that phrase 'legally resident' that is important.

France and the UK were the only two countries in the EU that did not require people arriving under Freedom of Movement to register for a residency card. Because of that, many British people in France assumed that Freedom of Movement was unconditional, but in fact it has always been the case that legal residence has conditions.

And one of them is being able to prove that you are financially self sufficient and will not be a burden on the French state.

For people in work this is relatively straightforward but for people living off low incomes – pensioners with only a very small pension, early retirees or people who are otherwise economically inactive, it can be more problematic.

These have always been the rules, so technically it is nothing to do with Brexit, it's just that Brexit marks the first time that a lot of British people have formally entered the residency system and are therefore being exposed to the limit.

And what does financially self sufficient mean?

Some people think that simply having lived for a significant period of time in France and not having claimed any benefits or state help is enough to show that they're self sufficient, but in fact this is not the case.

So how much do I need?

The Withdrawal Agreement states that each application must be considered on a case-by-case basis, so there are no set-in-stone limits.

The French take the level for RSA as a guide figure. Revenue de Solidarité Active (RSA) is the French in-work benefit. Anyone earning below a certain amount is entitled to top-up benefits and this is the figure that is being used to calculate what is a reasonable income level.

As with all benefit levels, it changes over time, but currently the level is €564.78 per month.

There's good news for British people – the French government has said that unlike for other types of application, British people can declare this as an income for their household – so if you are a couple you only need €564.78 between you, not €564.78 each – and there is no higher rate for over 65s.

In more good news, RSA is the guideline figure that will be applied for all types of application. The French benefit level for pensions – ASPA – is higher and there fears that some people would not meet this threshold, but the Arrêté says that RSA is the guideline figure.

The document states: “The adequacy of resources is assessed in the light of the personal situation of the person concerned.

“Regardless of the number of people in the household, the amount required may not exceed the minimum amount of the RSA for a single person without children.”

The case-by-case decision process also means that if, for example, you fall slightly below the threshold but own your own home outright, the préfecture will have to take that into account when deciding your case.

To read the Arrêté in full, click here.

Only some people need to supply proof

In more good news, once the online portal for residency applications went live, it became clear that the French government is only asking for proof of means for people who have lived in France for less than five years.

People who have lived in France for longer than five years simply need to supply personal information, proof of address and some evidence of the date they arrived in France.

For more on how the application site works – click here.

People who have lived in France for less than five years apply as one of the following categories; employed or self-employed, student, job-seeker, retired or otherwise economically inactive, the family member of someone who fits the above criteria or the spouse, civil partner or live-in partner of a French person.

Of these categories, only those applying as 'retired or economically inactive' need to supply proof of their means. Documents that will be accepted for this include your most recent tax declaration, information on pension payments or recent bank statements.

Source: service-publique.fr

My income is lower than that, what can I do?

If you fall into the category of someone who needs to supply financial information and are worried that you fall below the threshold, there is some flexibility in the system. These figures are a guide and countries are legally obliged to decide each case on its merits, rather than just applying the figures as a cut-off point.

For example if you own your own home outright and therefore don't have to pay rent or a mortgage, that would be taken into account.

It's also a question of overall resources rather than just income, so if for example you took redundancy with a decent payout, that money would be taken into account when assessing whether you are self sufficient.

It sounds obvious but it's also important to include all types of income (eg rental income from a UK property) and all savings when you make your application. Some of the early cases of people being refused for residency on income grounds were of people who did actually have sufficient resources, but had not disclosed all financial information on their application.

Could I really be refused permission to stay in France?

Yes, it is possible. In total 3,367 orders to leave France were issued to EU citizens in 2017 because of failure to meet the legal residence conditions.

If you fall a long way below the threshold and that has always been the case while you have been in France then you have technically never been a legal resident here.

The good news is that there is some breathing space – British people have until June 30th 2021 to make their carte de séjour application.

So that gives people below the threshold seven months to think about how they can reach that – either by getting work or enrolling with the French unemployment office Pôle d'Emploi, setting up a business, renting out a few rooms in your house or if possible asking a family member to make you a regular income.

Can't I just not register?

Tempting as it might seem to just ignore the whole thing, this is not really an option. Once the deadline for applying for residency passes, British people in France will be legally required to have a carte de séjour.

Without one you will be an undocumented migrant and as such not eligible for healthcare or social security. If you travel out of France you may not be allowed back in and if authorities catch up with you you risk being deported.

Important – this all applies only to people who are already in France by the end of the transition period on December 31st, 2020. People who want to move after that fall under a different regime.

Member comments

Anonymous - 28 April 2021 at 19:37 CEST

I read recently that the Carte de Séjour had become the Titre de S… .
Anonymous - 3 September 2021 at 19:08 CEST

I have a house in Languedoc and was considering moving over prior to the deadline of 01.01.2021, so now I am in the category of a tourist with restricted time allowed in France.

Should I wish to move over in the future, can you tell me what the procedure would be?

I should be self sufficient financially, having UK pensions and barring a dramatic decrease in the value of the GDP.

I will be 79 years of age in December.

Become a Member to leave a comment.

'I feel exiled': How Brits in Europe are locked abroad with foreign partners

Europe is home to hundreds of thousands of British nationals, many of whom have foreign partners and children. But if they want to move to the UK to live and work it will soon become more difficult.

When it comes to getting a partner visa, the UK has some of the strictest rules in Europe. In addition to hefty fees and a healthcare surcharge, the Home Office requires British citizens and long-term residents who bring their foreign partner to the UK to have a minimum income showing they can support them without relying on the social security system.

The minimum income up until now was set at £18,600 (€21,700), or £22,400 (€26,100) if the couple had one child, plus another £2,400 (€2,800) for each other child.

But these income requirements will rise steeply from April 11th 2024.

How it works: What Brits in Europe should know about UK’s new minimum income rules

From this date the minimum a British national or long-term resident will need to earn if they want to return home will increase to £29,000 (€33,800) and up to £38,000 (€44,313) by spring 2025, although there will no longer be an additional amount for accompanying children.

Alternatively, families need to prove they have at least £62,500 (€72,884) in cash, which from 11 April will increase to £88,500 (€103,207).

‘Family life has been destroyed’

To put this in context the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford suggests that around 50 percent of UK employees earn less than the £29,000 threshold and 70 percent less than £38,700. The Observatory also says that while the number of people affected by the policy is small compared to the overall UK immigration (family visas represent 5 percent of all entry visas), the impacts on concerned families can be “very significant”.

The Migration Observatory notes that other European countries apply income thresholds to sponsor foreign partners. Spain, for instance, requires sponsors to have an annual income equal to the social security salary. In Denmark, sponsors must not have claimed social benefits in the three years before the application. But in Spain and the US, the partner’s foreign income also counts towards the threshold.

So what does this mean for mixed British and international families living in Europe who might want or even need to return to the UK to live?

Campaigners have complained that many Britons with foreign partners have simply been “locked abroad” or families have been separated while they try to meet the minimum income or savings requirement.

Reunite Families UK, a non-profit organisation supporting people affected by the UK spouse visa rules, says this policy causes distress, especially for children.

Some 65 percent of respondents in research carried out by the group said that their child received a diagnosis of a mental health condition due to the separation of their parents.

“Since its introduction, this policy has destroyed the family life of countless people and children,” Matteo Besana, Advocacy and Campaigns Manager at Reunite Families UK said.

“Women have been forced to become single parents to their children and live away from their partner and the father of their children only because they didn’t meet the threshold.

“As shown by our research on the mental health impact of the policy, these are scars that, particularly for children, will be carried for the rest of their lives,” Besana said.

The people most likely to be affected are women, who tend to earn less or not work because they took on caring responsibilities. Also heavily impacted are people under 30 and over 50 years of age, people living outside London and the Southeast of England where wages are higher, and those belonging to specific ethnicities, according to the Migration Observatory.

The Local spoke to two British women, in Italy and Sweden, struggling to return to the UK with their families because of these rules.

More savings needed

Sarah Douglas, who has been living in Italy since 2007, was planning to return to Scotland with her Italian husband and three children.

“It was always our long-term goal to move back to the UK after we had our children and once we’d have saved enough to buy a home in the UK,” she said.

“In hindsight, we should have gone after the Brexit referendum, but in the beginning it wasn’t clear what the final deal would be and I naively assumed that situations like mine would be taken into account and we would have the right to return… Once it did become clear, we were in the middle of the pandemic and it wasn’t the time to move,” she said.

Having stayed home to take care of the children, Sarah will find it hard to land a job near her family in Scotland that meets the minimum income required to sponsor a foreign partner for a UK visa.

Her husband, a computer programmer, has been trying to get an employment visa, “but most of them state that you must already have permission to work in the UK,” Sarah says. And applying for British citizenship is not an option for a non-UK resident spouse.

‘People need to be aware’

Sarah and her husband are trying to save as much as they can, an alternative to the income requirement, but the amount they need is rising to almost £90,000, meaning it may be a long time before they have enough to move home.

While the aim of the UK’s policy is to ensure families moving to the UK are not a burden on the taxpayer, the reality is that people arriving on a family visa are not able to claim any benefits from the UK government.

“They should judge the overall financial viability of the family unit, rather than just the earning potential of the sponsoring partner,” Sarah says.

“We could live well with my husband’s salary and he could work remotely. We are stable and financially secure, but because I don’t earn any money, they say we are not able to support ourselves.”

Sarah says that most of the British public are unaware of the minimum income requirement.

“People think if you are married, your husband is allowed to come to the UK, but when I say no, it doesn’t work like that, they are really surprised. A lot of people are not aware of how this could affect them,” she said.

Looking for a job from abroad

Another British women who lives in Sweden with her South African husband and two children and plans to move to the UK told The Local how the minimum income requirement had put them in a “precarious and stressful situation”.

The woman, who preferred to remain anonymous said: “After having the two children, I was very fortunate to find a research position and do my PhD, which is a salaried position in Scandinavia, and now that I finished, we are looking to leave.

“But I need a job in the UK to sponsor my husband, and as a new graduate with limited work experience, it is not easy. It is even more difficult when you are not in the country and I missed out on opportunities because they wanted an immediate start. I really don’t want to move without my whole family,” she said.

She says the UK’s policy is “gendered and geographically discriminatory” because it makes life harder for women and also harder for anyone who is planning to move to a part of the country that isn’t in London, where salaries are higher.

“I feel exiled from my country and separated from my family there,” she said.

Her husband, she argues, has his own company and could continue working remotely from the UK, earning well above the requirement. He would also pay taxes and national insurance while having to pay the healthcare surcharge, a form of double taxation, she argues. But that would not entitle him to a visa.

“Our house is on the market now. We have booked removal companies for the 6th of June. The dog is booked for his transport. I just think this policy is so out of touch with the modern world,” she said.

Reunite Families UK has called on the government to recognise the right for British or settled citizens to bring their close family members to the UK and scrap the minimum income requirement. Alternatively, the group says the rules should take into consideration the earning potential of both partners and consider “the best interests of children”.

A petition on the UK parliament website asks the government to reconsider the minimum income policy. If it reaches 100,000 signatures, it will have to be debated in parliament.

This article has been produced by Europe Street news.

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