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LIVING IN FRANCE

Wine bargains, property tax rises and cheap flights: 6 essential articles for life in France

This week’s must-reads include tips for finding bargains on high quality wine, the locations in France where property taxes are to rise, how to get a French address before moving, and why cheap flights might be axed.

Published: 3 September 2023 08:03 CEST
Wine bargains, property tax rises and cheap flights: 6 essential articles for life in France
French wine lined up for the Foire aux Vins (Photo by PATRICK HERTZOG / AFP)

Summer is drawing to an end, which means children return to school, adults head back to work and French supermarkets begin offering bargains on wine.

September and October are a great time of the year to stock up on nice wine thanks to the wine sales known as foire aux vins. Previous surveys have shown that the majority of French people participate in the foire aux vins, and many recommend buying for Christmas in advance.

You can find out what to expect as well as the schedule for both online and in-person stores this autumn.

Foire aux vins: How to find bargains on high quality wine in France

Property owners in France might have an interest in saving a few euro on wine this year, seeing as property taxes are rising.

Some areas will see more significant increases than others – like Paris, whose year-on-year increase is set to be 59 percent. 

Where in France are property taxes increasing the most?

For those who do not yet have a permanent address in France, bureaucratic matters (including applying for the initial visa to come here) can be complicated. 

The catch-22 of needing an address before arriving, while simultaneously being unable to acquire said address because you are outside of the country can feel impossible. The Local has put together some options for how to remedy this problem. 

Reader question: How can I get a French address before arriving in France?

French ministers are back at work after their summer holidays, and the new education minister, Gabriel Attal, has made one piece of clothing his priority: the abaya.

This loose-fitting robe-like dress – worn by women in parts of the Muslim world including North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and most of the Middle East – is now in the middle of a new controversy surrounding secular attire in French schools, as people disagree whether the abaya is a cultural garment or one that signifies affiliation with the Muslim faith.

Why the abaya is at the centre of France’s latest secularism row

Cheap flights are another topic that have been part of the public discussion in France recently.

France’s transport minister, Clément Beaune, has caused a stir by calling for minimum flight prices, saying that €10 flights are ‘no longer possible’ during a climate crisis.

Despite Beaune’s statements, this does not necessarily mean that the country will ban cheap flights tomorrow. 

Factcheck: Is France really banning cheap flights?

And finally, you might be curious why French media have already begun guessing at possible frontrunners for the 2027 Presidential election, even though Emmanuel Macron is just one year into his second term. 

Here’s why many of the French have their eyes fixed in the future.

Why France is already talking about 2027

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TRAVEL NEWS

What’s the deal with passport stamping in France?

There are clear guidelines in place about who should have their passport stamped when they enter or leave France - but the letter of the law doesn't always seem to be applied on the ground. Here's what you need to know.

Published: 17 May 2024 14:24 CEST
What's the deal with passport stamping in France?

When you pass through a French border control post, officers will check your passport and – in some cases – stamp the date of your entry or exit of the country onto one of the blank pages in the booklet.

Although the system should be clear and simple, it becomes complicated when conflicting information is given on the ground.

Here’s what the rules say, and whether it’s really a problem if your passport is incorrectly stamped.

Who should be stamped?

The purpose of the date stamps for entry and exit is to calculate how long you have been in France, and therefore whether you have overstayed your allowed time – whether that is the time allowed by a short-stay Schengen visa or the visa-free 90-day allowance that certain non-EU nationals benefit from. 

Those people who are exempt from 90-day restrictions should therefore not have their passports stamped.

EU passport – people who have an EU passport should not have it stamped, because they have the right to unlimited stays due to EU freedom of movement.

Dual nationals – people who have passports of both EU and non-EU countries should not be stamped when they are travelling on their EU passport. However, because the passports of dual nationals are not ‘linked’, those travelling on their non-EU passports will be stamped, unless they have other proof of residency.

READ ALSO What are the rules for dual-nationals travelling in France?

French residents – the passports of non-EU citizens who have a residency permit in France (carte de séjour) should not be stamped, because they have the right to stay in France for as long as their permit is valid.

Visa holders – people who have a long-stay visa or a short-stay visitor visa should not be stamped, because they have the right to stay in France for as long as their visa is valid. 

Tourists/visitors – people making short visits to France who do not have a visa should be stamped, with the stamps keeping track of their 90-day allowance. Visitors from nationalities who do not benefit from the 90-day rule (eg Indians) are also stamped.

Travel practicalities

When crossing a French border, you should present your passport along with other documents – visa or carte de séjour – if relevant. Don’t wait for border guards to ask whether you are a resident.

It should be noted that the carte de séjour is not a travel document and cannot be used to cross borders, not even internal Schengen zone borders. The only valid travel documents for entering France are a passport or national ID card. Any other forms of ID – driving licence, residency card etc – cannot be used for travel purposes.

Border problems

While the rules on stamping are simple in theory, many readers of The Local have reported having their passports incorrectly stamped at the border, and this seems to be a particular problem for non-EU nationals who are resident in France.

Travellers are also often given incorrect information by border guards – for example being told that only holders of the post-Brexit Article 50 TUE carte de séjour are exempt from stamping, that all non-EU nationals must have their passports stamped or that only being married to a French national exempts you from stamping.

None of these are correct.

It’s also sometimes the case that people whose passports should be stamped – tourists, visitors and second-home owners who don’t have a visa – do not receive the stamp. For frequent visitors this can be a problem because it looks as though they have had a long stay in France, due to their exit not being recorded.

The system of stamping itself is also a bit haphazard with stamps scattered throughout the passport book in random order, so border guards sometimes make mistakes and miss an entry or exit stamp and therefore think that people have overstayed when they haven’t.

So how much of a problem actually is it if your passport is wrongly stamped?

It’s one thing to know the rules yourself, it’s quite another to have an argument with a border guard, in French, when a long queue is building behind you. Numerous Local readers have reported feeling that they had no choice but to accept a stamp when an implacable guard insisted upon it.

But is this really a problem?

One thing is clear – if you are a resident of France then you have the right to re-enter, and your proof of residency (visa or carte de séjour) takes precedence over any passport stamps. So it’s not a question of being barred from the country – it can, however, be inconvenient as it might lead to delays at the border while your passport record is queried.

Meanwhile people who did not receive correct exit stamps can be incorrectly told that they have over-stayed and even be liable for a fine. 

Will the new EES passport control system improve this?

Theoretically, the EU’s new Entry & Exit System – which does away with the manual stamping of passports – should get rid of these problems.

However, as we have seen, theory and what actually happens on the ground are two different things.

The EES system, due to come into effect later this year, brings in two main changes – it makes passport checks more secure by adding diometric data such as fingerprints and facial scans and it does away with manual stamping of passports and replaces it with scans which automatically calculate how long people have been in France.

You can read full details of how it works HERE. 

So that should eliminate the problems of unclear stamps, stamps being read wrongly or passports not getting the stamps they need.

Residents in France – carte de séjour and visa holders – are not required to complete EES checks and should have a separate system at ports, airports and railway terminals.

However, at present it’s pretty common for border guards to give incorrect information to non-EU residents who are resident in the EU – let’s hope that they are properly briefed before EES is deployed.

Have you had problems with passports being incorrectly stamped? Please share your experiences in the comments section below

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