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BREXIT

Reader question: How seriously does France enforce the 90-day rule?

Non-EU visitors to France - which since Brexit includes Brits - are restricted to stays of less than 90 days in every 180, unless they have a visa. But just how seriously does France enforce this rule?

Reader question: How seriously does France enforce the 90-day rule?
Photo by Martin BUREAU / AFP

Question: I’ve read a lot about how the 90-day rule works for Brits since Brexit, but just how seriously does France enforce these rules? Is it worth taking the risk if you’re only a couple of days over?

The 90-day rule states that visitors who are not citizens of an EU country can only spend 90 days out of every 180 within the EU or Schengen zone. If they want to spend longer than that, they will need a visa.

Some non-EU citizens need a visa for a visit of any length, but Brits, Americans, Canadians, Australians and New-Zealanders all benefit from the 90 days of visa-free travel.

Find a full explanation on how the rules work  HERE.

The 90-day rule is an EU rule, with sanctions including fines, passport stamps and deportation for people who overstay their 90-day limit.

However, enforcement of the rule is left to each individual country, and there is some variation between countries on the sanctions they impose and how strict enforcement is.

READ ALSO Your questions answered on the 90-day rule

Here’s a look at the situation in France:

Refused entry

The latest data available via Eurostat shows that, in 2022, some 19,290 people were refused entry at a Schengen zone border due to having over-stayed their 90-day limit on a previous trip.

Just 170 of these were at the French border – Poland and Hungary between them accounted for the vast majority of refused entries. This refers to all non-EU nationalities. 

Fined or warned

However, this data refers to people who had already over-stayed and then tried to re-enter the EU/Schengen zone.

The more common scenario in France is that over-stays are spotted when people leave the country – passports are stamped on entry and exit and people who have been in the country for more than 90 days are often spotted by border guards as they leave.

Depending on the length of the over-stay, they can be fined, have their passports stamped as an over-stayer, or given a warning not to re-enter the country for at least the next 90 days. 

The Local has received numerous reports of people – mostly Britons – who were warned as they left the country that they were at or over their 90-day limit. 

We have also received information that some UK nationals were wrongly fined or warned because their passports had been stamped in error.

It seems likely that people who were warned took this seriously – the Eurostat data shows that only 195 British citizens were refused entry into European countries in 2022 because of the 90-day rule. Of these, just five were refused at the French border.

Eurostat does not have data on people fined or warned as they left the EU/Schengen zone. 

Changing attitudes

Pre-Brexit, France had earned itself a reputation for not being particularly strict on over-stayers, provided the over-stay wasn’t for very long and the person hadn’t been either working or claiming benefits while in France.

However, there have been numerous reports of border guards being more attentive to 90-day overstays since Brexit.

This can probably be accounted for by two things; volume of travel and type of visit.

Around 12million British visitors come to France each year, vastly out-numbering other non-EU visitors such as Americans, Canadians or Australians. Until Brexit, Britons were EU citizens so were not limited to 90 days, but now tighter enforcement procedures are in place for visitors from the UK.

The other difference is the type of visit. Typically people who are travelling a long way such as Americans or Australians pay fewer visits to France, but for a longer period. Therefore, an American tourist who had been doing a tour of Europe might end up over-staying their 90 days by a couple of days, but would then be leaving the country and would be unlikely to return that year (or ever) so French authorities saw it as less of a problem.

Brits, on the other hand, are more likely to do multiple short trips to France each year – and this is especially true for second-home owners who may pay several visits to their French property each year. 

For them overstaying is a more serious matter, since they will likely want to return to France. While outright re-entry bans of more than 90 days are rare – especially for people who have not been working illegally – having an overstay stamp in your passport is likely to cause delays and extra questions next time you want to cross a border. 

New technology 

One thing to be aware of is the EU’s new EES system, which introduces passport scans at the border for non-EU visitors and will automatically flag up overstayers.

While border guards will still have discretion over any penalties imposed, the new system will make it much easier to spot anyone over their 90-day limit.

The implementation of EES has been delayed several times but is currently scheduled for 2024, likely in the autumn or winter. 

READ ALSO What you need to know about the EU’s new EES and ETIAS systems

Member comments

  1. Lets not begin to talk about this
    How about French border guards asking for the following
    a return ticket
    evidence of enough money for the length of their stay
    proof of where they are staying

    the whole thing is a mess – either they have rules or they don’t
    this half and half thing just adds to the confusion

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For members

FRENCH CITIZENSHIP

Can I fast-track my French citizenship application?

Studying in France, serving the country, being very good at sport or running a business could potentially see you on the fast-track to French citizenship.

Can I fast-track my French citizenship application?

Every year, thousands of foreigners in France submit an application for French citizenship and for most people the process is a lengthy one.

But there are some shortcuts to becoming French.

Normal timeline

The exact timeline depends on how you are applying for citizenship and where you apply.

If you’re applying through residency, you must have five consecutive years of residency in France. If you’re applying through marriage to a French person you don’t have to live in France, but you must have been married for four years.

And if you’re applying through ancestry (ie having a French parent), then there is no specific time limit.

Once you have applied, exactly how fast your application is dealt with depends largely on where you live, since applications are dealt with by the local préfecture or consulate.

The average time between first submitting your dossier and becoming French is between 18 months and two years, but there are wide regional variations. Paris is one of the faster préfectures with some people getting their citizenship in less than a year, while the Paris suburb of Seine-Saint-Denis and the département of Alpes-Maritime (which contains Nice) are notoriously slow. 

In short, if you want to become French, then you are going to need some patience (as well as a hefty dossier full of documents).

Dossier

When it comes to getting your paperwork processed, it will be faster if you submit a complete dossier in the first place, since if the préfecture has to query your application or request more documents that will slow the process down.

Take careful note of the list of required documents and make sure that you submit exactly what is required, in exactly the format that it is requested (ie a certified or appostilled copy of birth certificates, with a certified translation for documents not in French). 

Shortcuts

In most cases, the people who have the longest wait will be those applying through residency, as they have to live in France for a minimum of five years before they can even apply. 

But can you apply sooner than five years?

Students

The most-used exception to the five-year rule is the one for people who have studied in France. If you have completed higher education in France (a masters programme or above), then you can apply after just two years of residency.

This is intended to help France recruit and retain talent – by offering highly qualified individuals a fast-track to citizenship.

Apart from the shorter qualification period, the application process is the same as for a standard residency application with the same paperwork requirements. As such, you would still need to show three years worth of tax declarations, and it is possible your application could be adjourned if you cannot demonstrate financial stability. 

The other fast-track methods are less common, and are at the discretion of the Interior Ministry (or president).

Do something exceptional

The president has the power to grant citizenship in exceptional cases, although you will need to do something pretty special for this.

For example, in 2017 a Malian immigrant named Mamoudou Gassama was filmed climbing four storeys up a Paris building in order to save the life of a young child.

His incredible courage earned him an audience with president Emmanuel Macron, who promised him French citizenship – he was naturalised in a ceremony at his local préfecture of Seine-Saint-Denis four months later. 

Be outstanding in your field

Most people are unlikely to be as outstanding as Mamoudou Gassama, but there is a provision to gain French citizenship by “contributing through outstanding work to the influence of France and the prosperity of its international economic relations”.

The Interior Ministry suggests that this could include “a well-known personality or a company director whose work in this field is recognised”.

You need to be nominated to the Interior Ministry for this, it’s not something that you can apply for yourself, and its granting is entirely at the ministry’s discretion so you cannot appeal if it is refused (although you can wait and apply under the normal procedure). Only a handful of people per year receive citizenship this way. 

Importantly, the Ministry specifies that this path is for “francophones”, so you will need to demonstrate a good grasp of French.

It does happen though – sports stars sometimes become eligible to play for France in this way after a period of residency and playing for a French club. 

During the Covid pandemic, the Interior Ministry shortened to two years the qualifying period for citizenship for any foreigners who had worked on the front line during the health crisis (eg nurses, security staff, public transport drivers) but this was a one-off scheme that has now closed.

Be wounded on active service

If you are wounded on active military service then you are eligible for French citizenship after two years of residency – in practice this mostly includes recruits in the French Foreign Legion, since most branches of the military require you to be a French citizen.

Legionnaires are also eligible for French citizenship after five years of service.

The Legion’s training is notoriously brutal and Legionnaires are often on the front line of war zones, so we would hesitate to describe this as an ‘easy option’ for citizenship. 

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