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BREXIT

British citizens’ rights group lodges EU complaint over French residency system

The citizens' rights group RIFT has lodged a formal complaint with the European Commission over outstanding issues with residency rights for Brits in France.

British citizens' rights group lodges EU complaint over French residency system
The citizens' rights group RIFT has lodged a formal complaint with the European Commission over outstanding issues with residency rights for Brits in France.Photo: AFP

Brits who were living in France before December 31st 2020 – and are therefore covered by the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement – face a major deadline on January 1st 2022.

From then, they will be legally obliged to hold a carte de séjour residency card, and those without it can be denied employment, housing, benefits and healthcare and can be deported from France.

French authorities have issued more than 150,000 of the special post-Brexit residency cards, but with just days to go until the deadline, citizens’ rights group Remain in France Together (RIFT) says that many people are still waiting for their card.

READ ALSO What changes for Brits in France in 2022

The group, together with EU Rights Clinic, has now lodged a formal complaint with the European Commission, accusing French authorities of failing to comply with the Withdrawal Agreement.

The Agreement states that UK nationals who lived in the EU (and EU nationals in the UK) before the end of the Brexit transition period have the right to remain there, although countries are entitled to ask them to register for a new residency card or permit.

RIFT said that they had found the following issues raised by UK nationals in France, and had been unable to obtain answers from French authorities on the subject:

  • Not receiving a Withdrawal Agreement Residency Permit after an appointment (long delays)

  • Some Withdrawal Agreement beneficiaries have not yet been offered an appointment.

  • Ongoing unresolved questions with applications being “examined” (instruites) with no clear reason why and no consideration of the length of time in France or family finances.

  • Applications “classé sans suite” (closed/discontinued without being processed) or “classé sans avis favorable” with no appeals process indicated.

  • Lack of help with applications from the préfecture even for the vulnerable.

  • Children experiencing travel issues and parents being charged for DCEMs, old-style documents without the same biometrics as a WARP and therefore not offering children the level of protection from exploitation they could enjoy with a WARP.

  • No working system to change address or have a lost/stolen card replaced

  • Unreasonable requests for extra information

  • No adequate system for reunifying family with some being told to return to the UK to apply for a visa, or other family reunification application issues.

  • Removal from the CPAM medical system and issues with CAF, or other government institutions.

  • Denied and difficult access to France.

  • Errors on WARP cards (name, address, photo, etc.) along with incorrect rights shown (not permanent).

  • Wrong cards issued – such as a carte de frontalier, rather than a residence permit.

A RIFT spokesman said: “The EU Rights Clinic and RIFT have demanded that the European Commission take robust enforcement action against France to ensure it complies fully with its binding legal obligations under the Withdrawal Agreement. A petition will also be lodged in parallel before the European Parliament.”

French authorities have issued several extensions to the deadlines for Brits to have made their applications for a carte de séjour, and also extended the deadline to be in possession of the card until January 1st 2022.

The most recent official data comes from September – shortly before the deadline for applications to be received – and showed that of the 162,000 applications received by French authorities, 151,300 applications had been concluded by September 6th – leaving more than 10,000 people still waiting.

Applications were made centrally on a specially-created online portal, and then passed to local préfectures for processing. Readers of The Local have reported big variations in waiting time between areas.

Find more on the admin for Brits in France in our Dealing with Brexit section.

Member comments

  1. Its a shame they have not included excessive delays trying to exchange British Driving Licences for French ones, and even Ants not following their own well published rules when rejecting applications.

  2. Richard: I have to say that the process was for us remarkably simple and efficient even our brief appointment at the prefecture was on time and our cards issued swiftly.

  3. I guess it’s unsurprising that the process is a lot more efficient in some places than in others. For what it’s worth, my experience in Paris was excellent. I received a carte de sejour with ease. Simple online application procedure (surprisingly little information requested) and a brief interview at the prefecture de police. Card arrived earlier than indicated. Perhaps the key factor was that I applied early. If there has been a rush of last minute applications it might not be a surprise that the process has slowed.

    1. Same here in the Aveyron … delightful people saw us through this at the Rodez préfècture wishing us well and sympathies about Brexit.

  4. I’m one of those still waiting, since attending a rendezvous in Montpellier prefecture back in May. Subsequent enquiries made by email to the ministry and the prefecture in November and December have elicited nothing but automated responses, none of them at all informative.

  5. early appointments were done very quickly – I helped people who were having problems understanding computer applications and I must say after Mid February applications made after that time slowed considerably for getting final appointments with the prefectures – it was mainly due to the numbers of people that the prefectures could handle and Covid restrictions which of course also restricted numbers able to pass through the actual buildings used. Another point I noticed was the computer systems now being used seemed to be leaving some staff behind as new practices were learned on the job which I’m sure slowed the process. All my people were finished by October but the response from prefectures when questioned was normally a standard response of please wait we will get to you ( one phone call made did get a sort of timing it was made15th Oct and we were given the information that they were working on March applications and hoping to finish them soon and start April applications)

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BRITS IN FRANCE

Bad food but good culture: What the French really think of the UK

They might not love British cuisine but the UK remains a very popular destination for French people to visit, while thousands of them also want to make the move permanently.

Bad food but good culture: What the French really think of the UK

Almost three million French tourists travel to the UK every year with the country’s vibrant cities, history and culture given as the top reasons for their trip.

And a recent survey has revealed a surprisingly positive view of their neighbour from French people – with one exception.

The French participants in the study were asked to rank 60 different countries based on several different topics – tourism, culture, people, exports, governance, immigration and investment. 

So what did they say about the UK?

Bad food

French survey respondents placed British food at the very bottom of the list – in 60th place out of all 60 countries. 

This is far lower than the UK’s average, which was 18th amongst the other nationalities interviewed.

In an interview with The Guardian about how the French feel about British food, the British comedian, Tatty Macleod, who was raised in France said “English food to [the French] is essentially fish and chips (…) they think of Brits as beer louts with unhealthy diets”.

This has been a longstanding feeling amongst the French – in 2018, another comedian, Al Murray, went across the Channel with the documentary series ‘Why does everyone hate the English?’

In France, he teamed up with radio host Antoine de Caunes, and when launching the programme, they conducted a small survey of several hundred viewers to find out the top 20 things the French ‘hate’ about the English.

There were a couple of food-related comments: “Their inability to cook” came in fourth place, the “lack of variety in their diet” took 11th place and “the fact that they put ketchup on everything” came in 12th place, according to a round-up by Ouest France.

It’s been suggested that many French people have bad memories of food they were given on school trips to the UK, often decades ago, and certainly bad food is a recurring theme in French films and TV shows about trips to the UK.

Worth visiting

Despite not having a taste for British cuisine, the French did have a positive view of UK tourism, placing the country 5th for both “vibrant city life and urban attractions” and for being “rich in historic buildings and monuments” in the IPSOS study.

According to Visit Britain, the UK welcomed 2.8 million tourists from France in 2022.

In the culture category in general, the French ranked the UK in third place out of all 60 countries. 

One aspect of British culture that French people seem to really enjoy is the royal family.

In 2021, 6 million people in France watched the funeral of Prince Phillip, 4 million watched the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012 and the royal weddings of princes William and Harry attracted 9 and 8 million French viewers respectively.

Charles de Gaulle once remarked: “The French have a taste for princes, but they will always look abroad'”.

READ MORE: Why British royals are so popular in France

And in terms of visiting the UK, IPSOS’ findings are in line with previous data about where French people choose to go on holiday – the UK was the fourth most popular country among French people, as of 2019, according to Le Monde.

A 2021 study by Visit Britain also found that 10 percent of French people would pick the UK as their top global destination.

Moving to the UK

And there are plenty of French people who decide to make their stay a long-term or even permanent one.

The UK ranked in third place as of 2023 for French students to study abroad.

It also comes in third place – behind Switzerland and the US – for having the most French people living there.

After Brexit, over 240,000 French people applied for the EU settlement scheme in the UK from 2018 to 2021, and once applications were reviewed, approximately 130,000 received settled status and 93,100 received pre-settled status. 

Among the French, London is sometimes nicknamed ‘France’s sixth city’ due to the number of French people living there.

Polite, well-mannered and funny

The French ranked Brits in 21st place for the question “If visited, people would make me feel very welcome”. This is an increase of two spots from the 2022 results.

When scouring the internet, British politeness does come up often in French clichés about the UK.

Ouest France reported that over a third (36 percent) of French people interviewed for Al Murray’s show “appreciated the politeness and good manners of the English.”

Three out of every 10 people also thought Brits had a good sense of humour – and Brits felt this way about themselves too. 

In a 2009 survey exploring British views of the French, 71 percent of participants said that the French are ‘sexier’ than the British, but 80 percent said the British had a better sense of humour. 

READ MORE: Do the French really have no sense of humour?

Driving on the left-side

And finally, to get a better idea of French opinions about Brits, The Local turned to Google.

We searched both anglais (English) and britanniques (British) because the French do have a bit of a tendency to mix them up and refer to all inhabitants of the UK (and sometimes even the Irish) with the sweeping les anglais. 

The first suggested response had to do with driving on the left-side of the road, which also popped up in the survey by ‘Why does everyone hate the English?’ as the number 1 thing the French ‘hate’ about the British.

READ MORE: Tea and Dordogne: How do the French perceive the Brits?

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