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SECOND HOMES

BREXIT: Could France let Brits stay more than 90 days without a visa?

For British second-home owners and people who enjoy long stays in France, the post-Brexit 90-day rule has come as a rude shock. But is it likely that a deal could be struck on this and would that even be legal for France to do as a member of the EU?

A silhouette of a couple, carrying an umbrella, as they walk along the Promenade des Anglais, in Nice, France.
How the visa waiver could be changed for Britons in France. Photo by Valery Hache / AFP

Since the start of 2021, Britons who do not have a carte de séjour residency permit or a visa have only been allowed to stay in France for 90 days in any 180-day period. 

There’s more on the range of visas available here.

READ ALSO ‘Not too complicated but quite expensive’ – getting a French visa as a Brit

It has come as a blow to thousands of UK nationals, who enjoyed up to six months a year in France in second homes, but now they must plan their time carefully to not fall foul of the law.

READ ALSO How second-home owners can properly plan for their 90-day limit in France

In neighbouring Spain, authorities in Valencia have called for Schengen rules to be suspended for Britons who want to spend extended periods there. Regional president Ximo Puig said he wanted “Brexit to be as Brexit-less as possible” and asked Spain’s Tourism Minister to “facilitate the visa situation” and “correct the restrictions” Britons now face.

French regions don’t have the same level of autonomy as those in Spain, but could France effectively change European rules at a local or national level?

Background

France was a founder member of the EEC, which later developed into the EU, in 1958, and was also one of the five founding countries of the Schengen Zone in June 1985. The implementation of the agreement in France started at the end of March 1995. The UK joined the EEC in 1973 and never signed up to join the Schengen Zone – which is concerned with the free movement of people.

France had already signed bilateral travel agreements with Canada (1950), South Korea (1967), United States (1949), Israel (1969), Japan (1955), New Zealand (1947), and Singapore (1985) before formally adopting Schengen.

According to the official journal of the European Union, this allows countries that had these deals in place before joining Schengen to “extend beyond three months an alien’s stay in its territory in exceptional circumstances or in accordance with a bilateral agreement concluded before the entry into force of this Convention”.

But 90 days was the limit of pretty much all bilateral agreements between European nations and third countries, with the exception of those with diplomatic passports in some cases. 

In short – France didn’t have a bilateral agreement with the UK prior to joining Schengen and even if it did, this wouldn’t necessarily mean Brits could easily extend their stay past 90 days. 

Could a new Franco-British deal be signed?

It would be nice, wouldn’t it? The 90-day rule is an EU rule and – in theory – it is possible that France and the UK could come to a separate bilateral deal. 

The UK operates the 180 day rule, where people can spend 180 days per year in the country without a visa or residency and they don’t have to divide them into 90-day blocks.

This has raised hopes that a similar deal could be put in place for France and several campaigns have pushed for this.

However, the UK government has never raised this officially and publicly as an issue and – given current relations between the two countries are slightly scratchy – it seems that any changes to the current rules are far from imminent.

READ ALSO Can Brits living in France spend more than 90 days in another Schengen country?

Under current rules, is it possible for Britons in France to get an extension past 90 days?

An extension of the 90-day rule is possible, but only in exceptional circumstances.

In France, an extension of the Schengen visa can be granted to an applicant for very particular reasons – such as a case of force majeure or a humanitarian reason that means you cannot immediately return to your home country without incurring serious danger to yourself or your family. Be warned though, this more usually refers to countries where a war or humanitarian disaster has broken out.

READ ALSO Warning over fines for people who overstay 90-day limit in France

Alternatively, an extension may be granted for important personal problems, such as the need to treat a life-threatening illness. The extension of the visa, if it is granted for this reason, is usually subject to a €30 administration fee.  

The EU is preparing to launch ETIAS (European Travel Information and Authorisation System) at the end of 2022. 

This doesn’t change the 90-day rule but it does mean citizens of visa-free countries including the UK will have to apply for authorisation every three years at a cost of €7, and also makes it easier to monitor the 90-day limits.

Is a deal between the two countries possible?

Anything is possible, but this would fall into a very grey legal area. 

On the one hand the EC states that “Member States may make specific arrangements in bilateral agreements. General exceptions provided for by national law and bilateral agreements shall be notified to the Commission”.

But on the other hand, “common measures on the crossing of internal borders by persons and border control at external borders should reflect the Schengen acquis incorporated in the Union framework”.

All things considered, the EU’s stance will probably be the deciding factor.

France is an EU big hitter and its current president is strongly committed to European ideals, making it unlikely that France would want to undermine EU principles in this way. Of course, domestic and international politics can change.

However, anyone hoping for a better relationship between the UK and the EU might have to wait 10-15 years, according to former British ambassador to France, Lord Ricketts.

Earlier this year, he told The Local: “I cannot see this [UK] government using time or negotiating capital on these issues, I think that the rights of expats are not a priority for either the UK government or EU governments. The agreements that are in place now are the high water mark.”

But he went on: “I don’t believe that the generation that has grown up with Easyjet, Eurostar and Erasmus will be satisfied with a distant relationship with the EU, I think they will want to move closer when they take power in 10 or 15 years.

“That’s when the relationship will reset.”

Member comments

  1. The real problem with the 90–day rule and Schengen is that , for example, a day spent in Spain counts against the number of days you can spend in France or any other of the 26 Schengen countries. It seems the 26 are a single country called Schengen when it comes to inward travel from abroad but are 26 separate nation states when their citizens want to travel elsewhere in the world.

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BREXIT

OPINION: Pre-Brexit Brits in Europe should be given EU long-term residency

The EU has drawn up plans to make it easier for non-EU citizens to gain longterm EU residency so they can move more easily around the bloc, but Italy-based citizens' rights campaigner Clarissa Killwick says Brits who moved to the EU before Brexit are already losing out.

OPINION: Pre-Brexit Brits in Europe should be given EU long-term residency

With all the talk about the EU long-term residency permit and the proposed improvements there is no mention that UK citizens who are Withdrawal Agreement “beneficiaries” are currently being left out in the cold.

The European Commission has stated that we can hold multiple statuses including the EU long-term permit (Under a little-known EU law, third-country nationals can in theory acquire EU-wide long-term resident status if they have lived ‘legally’ in an EU country for at least five years) but in reality it is just not happening.

This effectively leaves Brits locked into their host countries while other third country nationals can enjoy some mobility rights. As yet, in Italy, it is literally a question of the computer saying no if someone tries to apply.

The lack of access to the EU long-term permit to pre-Brexit Brits is an EU-wide issue and has been flagged up to the European Commission but progress is very slow.

READ ALSO: EU government settle on rules for how non-EU citizens could move around Europe

My guess is that few UK nationals who already have permanent residency status under the Withdrawal Agreement are even aware of the extra mobility rights they could have with the EU long-term residency permit – or do not even realise they are two different things.

Perhaps there won’t be very large numbers clamouring for it but it is nothing short of discrimination not to make it accessible to British people who’ve built their lives in the EU.

They may have lost their status as EU citizens but nothing has changed concerning the contributions they make, both economically and socially.

An example of how Withdrawal Agreement Brits in Italy are losing out

My son, who has lived almost his whole life here, wanted to study in the Netherlands to improve his employment prospects.

Dutch universities grant home fees rather than international fees to holders of an EU long-term permit. The difference in fees for a Master’s, for example, is an eye-watering €18,000. He went through the application process, collecting the requisite documents, making the payments and waited many months for an appointment at the “questura”, (local immigration office).

On the day, it took some persuading before they agreed he should be able to apply but then the whole thing was stymied because the national computer system would not accept a UK national. I am in no doubt, incidentally, that had he been successful he would have had to hand in his WA  “carta di soggiorno”.

This was back in February 2022 and nothing has budged since then. In the meantime, it is a question of pay up or give up for any students in the same boat as my son. There is, in fact, a very high take up of the EU long-term permit in Italy so my son’s non-EU contemporaries do not face this barrier.

Long-term permit: The EU’s plan to make freedom of movement easier for non- EU nationals 

Completing his studies was stalled by a year until finally his Italian citizenship came through after waiting over 5 years.  I also meet working adults in Italy with the EU long-term permit who use it for work purposes, such as in Belgium and Germany, and for family reunification.  

Withdrawal agreement card should double up as EU long-term residency permit

A statement that Withdrawal Agreement beneficiaries should be able to hold multiple statuses is not that easy to find. You have to scroll quite far down the page on the European Commission’s website to find a link to an explanatory document. It has been languishing there since March 2022 but so far not proved very useful.

It has been pointed out to the Commission that the document needs to be multilingual not just in English and “branded” as an official communication from the Commission so it can be used as a stand-alone. But having an official document you can wave at the immigration authorities is going to get you nowhere if Member State governments haven’t acknowledged that WA beneficiaries can hold multiple statuses and issue clear guidance and make sure systems are modified accordingly.

I can appreciate this is no mean feat in countries where they do not usually allow multiple statuses or, even if they do, issue more than one residency card. Of course, other statuses we should be able to hold are not confined to EU long-term residency, they should include the EU Blue Card, dual nationality, family member of an EU citizen…

Personally, I do think people should be up in arms about this. The UK and EU negotiated an agreement which not only removed our freedom of movement as EU citizens, it also failed to automatically give us equal mobility rights to other third country nationals. We are now neither one thing nor the other.

It would seem the only favour the Withdrawal Agreement did us was we didn’t have to go out and come back in again! Brits who follow us, fortunate enough to get a visa, may well pip us at the post being able to apply for EU long-term residency as clearly defined non-EU citizens.

I have been bringing this issue to the attention of the embassy in Rome, FCDO and the European Commission for three years now. I hope we will see some movement soon.

Finally, there should be no dragging of heels assuming we will all take citizenship of our host countries. Actually, we shouldn’t have to, my son was fortunate, even though it took a long time. Others may not meet the requirements or wish to give up their UK citizenship in countries which do not permit dual nationality.  

Bureaucratic challenges may seem almost insurmountable but why not simply allow our Withdrawal Agreement permanent card to double up as the EU long-term residency permit.

Clarissa Killwick,

Since 2016, Clarissa has been a citizens’ rights campaigner and advocate with the pan-European group, Brexpats – Hear Our Voice.
She is co-founder and co-admin of the FB group in Italy, Beyond Brexit – UK citizens in Italy.

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