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SECOND HOMES

Will France ever loosen post-Brexit visa rules for British second-home owners?

A Senate amendment that aimed to create a special exemption for Brits who own property in France has been defeated - but is there any possibility of France loosening visa rules for second-home owners?

Will France ever loosen post-Brexit visa rules for British second-home owners?
Photo by PHILIPPE HUGUEN / AFP

France’s Assemblée Nationale has rejected a Senate amendment to the upcoming Immigration Bill that aimed to “ease the conditions of entry into France for British citizens who own second homes in France.”

The short amendment was confusingly worded (the final version can be found here) – it appears that the goal was to create a visa exemption for British second-home owners. Essentially this would have restored pre-Brexit travel conditions, when Brits (as EU citizens) could come and go as they pleased without being limited to 90 days in every 180, or having to get a visa for longer stays.

However, its parliamentary journey is over after the amendment was struck out.

It did not even get as far as the full debates in the Assemblée nationale, being struck out at the committee stage by the Commision des lois (law committee), whose job it is to ensure that bills comply with existing French law.

The reasons for the refusal were as follows;

The application to cancel the amendment stated that: “The automatic granting of a long-stay visa based solely on property ownership could be perceived as favouring a category of people because of their financial situation, creating inequality in relation to other foreign nationals who have to follow a more rigorous procedure to obtain such a visa.”

It added that the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement already contains provisions for Brits to acquire either a visa or a residency card.

A second amendment on the same topic added: “Nothing justifies this exemption, British citizens made a sovereign choice to leave the European Union and renounce the advantages that come with it. The simple fact of owning a second property is not sufficient grounds to justify exemption from visa requirements.”

READ MORE: ‘We’ll give up our French house’ – users speak of their frustration with TLS visa site

What next?

This is the end of the road for this particular amendment – MPs in the lower house can toss out Senate amendments even if the Senate has agreed on them, and in fact this happens relatively often.

EXPLAINED How does the French Senate work?

The bill itself is still at committee stage and full debates are due to begin in the Assemblée on December 11th.

At that stage, MPs can add more amendments – and several have indicated that they may put forward new amendments relating to second-home exemptions.

However the reasons for the rejection of the first amendment – that there is no justification for an exemption for Brits – suggest that similar amendments would also fail.

The wording of this text – “The automatic granting of a long-stay visa based solely on property ownership could be perceived as favouring a category of people because of their financial situation, creating inequality in relation to other foreign nationals who have to follow a more rigorous procedure to obtain such a visa” – could also pose a problem for similar amendments.

Although several French visa types do have financial requirements, the basic principle is that a person must be able to support themselves and not be a burden to the French state.

The idea of giving a person special status because they can afford to buy two properties does seem, on the face of it, to fly in the face of the French ideal of égalité.

Alternatives

This is not the first time that relaxing rules for second-home owners has been proposed, so what are the other options for second-home owners if this bill fails?

Visas v 90 days

At present, people who are not citizens of an EU country and who own property in France have two choices; limit their visits to 90 days in every 180 or apply for a short-stay visitor visa.

EXPLAINED How does the 90-day rule work?

The visa allows unlimited stays for the duration of the visa (although people need to be aware that their tax status can change if they are out of their home country for a significant period of the year) but only lasts six months per year, so second-home owners need to reapply every year.

Many second-home owners have told us that the visa application process – especially dealing with TLS Contact centres – is time-consuming and stressful. 

The limits on visits affect all non-EU second-home owners, but the campaign for a special visa has picked up since Brexit, as thousands of British second-home owners suddenly found themselves limited in how long their can visit their properties – there have been several petitions and campaigns to both French and EU authorities on this issue.

The exact proposals vary, but most suggestions are for a long-term visa that allows people who own property in France to come and go as they wish during that period.

Others are pushing for a change to the 90-day rule to allow visits of up to 180 days. The 90-day rule allows people to visit without a visa for a maximum of 90 days in any 180-day period. This affects, for example, people who like to spend the winter in the UK and the summer in France, or vice versa, as once their 90-day limit is reached, they have to wait a while for it to build-up again.

The UK uses the 180 day rule – allowing visa free visits of up to 180 days per year, with no limits of how you arrange those days – and some people are calling for France to switch to this system. 

UK-France deal?

In the immediate aftermath of the Brexit referendum, big issues like trade took centre stage, while citizens’ rights was focused on allowing Brits in the EU (and EU citizens in the UK) to stay in the place they called home.

Then came the Boris Johnson years (and the Liz Truss weeks) when relations between France and the UK sunk to a historic low and it seemed that agreement on anything was virtually impossible.

However, since Rishi Sunak took over as UK prime minister relations have improved – at a spring summit in France he and Emmanuel Macron announced a special provision for school trips to the UK that would lift some of the administrative burden.

Exact details are still to be revealed, but UK newspapers reported this week that a deal was close to being announced. 

So with this new, more positive relationship, is a deal likely for second-home owners?

EU rules

Ultimately, the problem is that the 90-day rule is an EU rule, not a French one – so anything that France does potentially affects other countries in the EU by setting a precedent. 

We spoke to former British ambassador to the UK, and current member of the House of Lords, Lord Peter Ricketts for some expert opinion.

He told us: “I think the Macron-Sunak summit was a start, yes, the beginning of a bit of an easing up.

“But it’s the start of the UK and France trying to find limited areas where they can make improvements that will aid people’s lives, without setting a precedent for the rest of the EU.

“I think the French are walking a bit of a tightrope because they are equally aware that in some areas what they do will set a precedent for other EU countries and they are being careful not to make concessions to the UK, effectively, in areas that could then involve other EU countries having to do the same thing.

He added: “I think school trips was chosen [for an announcement at the Macron-Sunak summit] because it is a sector that was hit particularly hard by Brexit, but also because it’s something that only really affects France and the UK.

“The market is not entirely, but very largely between the UK and France – coach parties going back and forth – so that’s an area in which France can do a deal without getting across other EU countries.”

A deal specifically for British second-home owners could also create a precedent for other non-EU nations such as the USA, Canada and Australia to request similar deals for their citizens. 

For more information on how the current system works, and how to get a visa, head to our second-homes section or visa page.

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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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