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BREXIT

UK announces €3.3m grant to help Brits living in EU prepare for Brexit

The British government has announced a new measure to help UK nationals living in the EU prepare for Brexit.

Published: 2 September 2019 17:41 CEST
UK announces €3.3m grant to help Brits living in EU prepare for Brexit
Photos: AFP

Grant funding of up to £3 million (€3.3 million) will be made available for voluntary organisations to help inform people about the need to register or apply for residency, as well as supporting them in completing their applications.

“The UK will be leaving the EU on October 31st and we want to help UK nationals living across the EU to be fully ready for Brexit, whatever the circumstances. This funding will ensure people get the support they need to apply to protect their residency rights and access to services,” said Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab announcing the measure on Friday.

 
British embassy and consular staff have consistently emphasized the need for Brits to ensure they are registered properly ahead of Brexit and they hope this funding will help reach those who are struggling with the process.

The government said it wants to support those who may find it harder to complete all the paperwork for Brexit, focusing in particular on pensioners or disabled people, those living in remote areas or with mobility difficulties, and those needing assistance with language translation or interpretation.

Sarah-Jane Morris, the British consul in Spain, explained: “The UK will be leaving the EU on 31 October and we want to help UK nationals living in Spain to be fully ready for Brexit, whatever the circumstances. This funding will ensure people get the support they need to protect their residency rights and access to services.”

The move was welcomed by campaigners fighting for the rights of EU residents affected by Brexit.

‘It’s welcome that the UK Government has recognised that 1.3 million British people on the continent – 60 percent of whom could not vote in the 2016 Referendum on their direct future – need and deserve practical support to regularise their residency status after Brexit,”  said Jane Golding, Co-Chair of British in Europe, in a statement.

“We look forward to hearing more details in due course.”

Spain has made contingency plans for a no-deal Brexit – brought into law last March in a Royal Decree – pledging to protect the existing rights of British residents in Spain, providing they have the legal paperwork. 

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RESIDENCY PERMITS

Protests at French préfecture over slow carte de séjour renewals

Foreigners protested outside their local French préfecture, complaining that long delays in getting and renewing the carte de séjour residency permit were 'creating undocuemnted immigrants'.

Published: 31 May 2024 12:19 CEST
Protests at French préfecture over slow carte de séjour renewals

Non-EU nationals living in France are required to have either a visa or a residency permit (known as a carte de séjour) and the regular renewals of the card is the most important admin task for French residents.

But the process can be a painful one, with certain préfectures notoriously slow when it comes to completing the procedures to renew residency permits in time.

On Wednesday, fed-up foreigners in the Val-de-Marne département – in the outer suburbs of Paris – held a protest demanding that the préfecture speed up the process to ensure that people don’t become sans papiers (undocumented immigrants) while waiting for their cards to be renewed.

“Some people wait months, or even years, to get an appointment at the préfecture, to get a response to a submitted application, or to be summoned to collect their card before it expires,” Pablo Krasnopolsky, of the charity Réseau éducation sans frontières, told Le Parisien.

“We’re creating new undocumented migrants here.”

After the protest finished, Val-de-Marne authorities said that they “remain mobilised to process applications”.

But the problem is far from being limited to a single préfecture, with many foreigners in France reporting long waits with applications or renewals – in some cases leading to the old card expiring while they are still waiting for the new one to be issued.

READ ALSO What to do if you can’t get an appointment at the préfecture

In other préfectures – especially Paris – it can be extremely difficult to book an appointment to go and drop off documents or pick up the new card, with available appointment slots vanishing within hours of being made available.

People whose card expires while they are still waiting for the new one are advised to get a récépissé – which acts of proof of your legal right to remain in France.

Have you had problems getting or renewing a carte de séjour? Please share your experiences in the comments below or by filling out this questionnaire. Please ensure that you include the name of the préfecture you are dealing with.

 

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