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Will having a French or EU spouse help me in case of a no-deal Brexit?

There's a widespread belief that being married to a French person or other EU citizen is some sort of 'golden ticket' to being allowed to stay in the country, but in reality it's not as simple at that.

Published: 3 September 2019 16:21 CEST

Will having a French or EU spouse help me in case of a no-deal Brexit?

Wedded bliss might not also mean residency bliss. Photo: AFP

We're asking readers of The Local to send us their questions about what will happen to Britons in France in the case of a no-deal Brexit, and the issue of marriage to a French or other EU spouse is one that has come up a lot.

And there seems to be some confusion about what rights this gives. While an EU spouse gives you some advantages in staying in France after Brexit, it's by no means a blank cheque and doesn't mean that you get to avoid the dreaded paperwork.

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Citizenship or residency?

There are two ways you can stay in France after Brexit as a British person – applying for French citizenship or applying for French residency and (of course, this is France) both of them involve a fairly hefty amount of paperwork.

So which is best? Well citizenship gives you the right to stay indefinitely not to mention vote in elections here, while residency has some time limits. However applying for citizenship is a more complex and lengthy process (even if you are married to a French person).

It generally takes 18 months to two years, while residency is quicker, usually about six months (but often quicker) although it varies widely from place to place.

So if you haven't started an application yet, there is no guarantee that your citizenship will be confirmed by the time the grace period following a no-deal Brexit runs out. Once you have residency in place, you can then apply for citizenship provided you meet the criteria.

What does residency involve?

The French residency card, the carte de séjour, gives you the right to stay in France and work here (depending on the type of card you have) for either five years or longer, depending on how long you have lived here.

People applying for residency alone need to make a appointment at their local préfecture (except in Paris, where applications are dealt with by the Préfecture de Police) and supply documentation proving their ID, how long they have lived in France, their work status and evidence of resources for people who aren't working.

More details can be found here.

How does being married help?

If you're married to an EU national you still need to go down to the préfecture and make the application, but the criteria you are applying on are slightly different.

If your spouse is not French but from another EU country they would need to demonstrate that they meet the conditions for legal residence in France, you could then apply for a carte de séjour as an EU family member. This doesn't have to be a spouse, it can also be a parent or a child.

When applying as an EU family member, you need to provide a passport, three ID photos, proof of your relationship to the EU person (marriage certificate or birth certificates, which will need to be translated into French by a certified translator) and proof of your partner's right to be in France (if they are French this just needs to be their passport).

After Brexit, you must make sure your application is submitted within three months of arrival, if you are late in applying you will need a 'regularisation visa' which costs €340. The first card will be valid for between one and five years depending on your circumstances and can then be renewed.

It's possible for French local officials to reject your application if they believe your marriage is one of convenience only.

It's worth noting that Ireland and Denmark have not signed up the EU directive on family reunification, so being married to an Irish person or a Dane will not help you here.

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What does citizenship involve?

Citizenship gives you a lot more rights, including the right to vote, and is consequently harder to obtain.

There are broadly two ways to get citizenship, through residency or through marriage. (Or through service in the French Foreign Legion or indeed demonstrating exceptional service to France).

How does being married help?

The first thing to note is that you can only start your citizenship application as a spouse after you've been married for four years. So if you're thinking a quickie marriage to your local barman might solve all your problems, then unfortunately it won't.

But if you've already put in the requisite number of years in your marriage you can get started straight away.

The process is the same as applying through residency but has the major advantage that you don't need to prove length of residency in France.

Depending on your age and other circumstances you may or may not have to provide a formal certificate of language proficiency (usually to B1 level) but there is still an interview in French, so your language skills will need to be at a reasonable level.

You apply through your local préfecture and need to send in a fairly lengthy list of documents.

Once the application is processed, you will then be called for an interview where you will be asked some questions about France and French culture and must explain (in French) why you want to become a citizen. This needs to be a genuine explanation of why you love France and deserve citizenship and officials will not be impressed with the answer 'to get a passport'.

You will also be rejected for citizenship if you have ever been deported from France or have been convicted of certain types of crime. As with residency, officials can turn you down if they don't believe that your marriage is genuine.

Generally the whole process from start to finish takes between 18 months and two years.

Another thing to note is that if you get divorced within 12 months of getting French citizenship it could be invalidated.

If you're not living in France, you can still apply for citizenship based on having a French spouse, but you need to do the application process and interview at the French consulate in the country where you are living.

What about citizenship of another country?

If you are married to a citizen of another EU country you can apply for citizenship there and then, as an EU national, you will have the right to stay in France. Different countries all have their own requirements for citizenship, but France is relatively generous so there aren't many places that will be substantially easier, although they might involve slightly less bureaucracy. Check out each country's requirements here.

So although being married does help, it doesn't solve all your problems. But at least you'll have some who is contractually obliged to listen to you complaining about French forms.

Do you have a question about your rights after Brexit? Tell us here and we'll do our best to answer it.

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INTERVIEW: 'A lot of people think Brexit is done, but it's not for Brits in Europe'

In the early days of 2021, after the United Kingdom had left the EU and completed the final stage of Brexit, many British citizens returned to their home countries in Europe only to face a grilling at the border.

Though the Withdrawal Agreement (WA) technically guaranteed their right to live and work in the countries they’d settled in before Brexit, there was widespread confusion about these fundamental rights and many were treated like new arrivals.

Over time, the chaos at the airports subsided as border officials and airlines were given clearer guidance on the treatment of Brits. But three years later, a number of Brits who live on the continent still face problems when it comes to proving their post-Brexit rights.

This was the reason campaign group British in Europe decided to set up their new EU-funded ICE project. Starting this year in March, it aims to build valuable connections between UK citizens abroad and mentor the next generation of civil rights advocates around the continent. The acronym stands for ‘Inform, Empower, Connect’ and the project’s organisers describe it as “the first project of its kind”.

“It’s a completely innovative project – especially the fact that it’s across so many countries,” Jane Golding, chair of British in Europe and one of the project’s founders, told The Local.

Bringing together groups from 11 EU member states, the project aims to train up volunteers to understand both the Withdrawal Agreement and EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, as well as learning skills like advocacy and communication, using real-life civil rights cases that are referred to British in Europe.

“The ultimate goal is to amplify the messages across the wider group,” said Golding. “You start with the volunteers, they go back to their groups, then the people that we train, they go back and train people. Then they pass on that knowledge to the wider groups, on their Facebook accounts and through social media, and hopefully it all snowballs, not just in their countries but across the EU.”

‘Far-reaching repercussions’

So many years after Brexit, it’s hard to believe that there’s still a need for a project like ICE that empowers Brits to protect their rights. Indeed, the future of groups like British in Europe and regional groups like British in Germany and British in Spain felt uncertain just a year or two ago.

But Golding says there are still serious issues cropping up for Brits in several countries around Europe – they just have a different quality to the problems that arose at the start.

“In some ways it’s needed even more because as we predicted right at the beginning, at the first stage of implementation, you’ve got the more routine cases,” she explained.

“What we’re seeing now is not as many cases, but when the cases come up, they’re complex. They can have such far-reaching repercussions on people’s lives. And of course, memories start to fade. A lot of people think Brexit is already done, but it’s not.”

Volunteers in British in Europe ICE project

The volunteers of the British in Europe ICE project pose for a photo at the kick-off meeting in Brussels on May 21st, 2024. Photo courtesy of Jane Golding

Though the rights set out in the Withdrawal Agreement apply across the continent, different countries have taken different approaches to implementing them.

That means that while in Germany, for example, UK citizens simply had to declare that they lived in the country, people in neighbouring Denmark had to apply for their rights.

This led to a notorious situation in Denmark in which as many as 2,000 Brits were threatened with deportation after not applying in time or completing the right application process. According to Golding, this had a lot to do with the fact that people who arrived in 2020 weren’t given the same information as other UK migrants who arrived before.

In Sweden, meanwhile, the situation is still difficult for many Brits who lived there prior to Brexit.

“There have been issues with an anomalously high numbers of refusals compared to other countries, and they seem to be taking a very strict approach on late applications,” Golding explained.

Portugal has been another difficult case. Although the country opted for a declaratory system where Brits could simply exchange old residence documents for a new ID card after Brexit, reports suggest that the authorities have taken years to issue these cards, leaving many of the some 34,000 Brits in the country in limbo.

“While people are still waiting to have their status confirmed and have their card in their hand, it’s difficult to access a whole range of services, like health services, or applying for jobs or dealing with the authorities, or even going to the bank,” Golding said. “All of these problems just affect people’s lives.”

A French border guard checks a passport at the border

A French border guard checks a passport at the border. Photo by DENIS CHARLET / AFP

There are also concerns about the EU’s new exit and entry system (EES), due to come into force in October, which is based on biometric documentation.

“We still do not have clear data on how many people in declaratory countries like Germany, where it wasn’t compulsory to apply for the card, don’t actually have a card,” Golding said. “How is that going to play out if it’s a document-based digitalised system?”

A lack of support

In the immediate aftermath of Brexit, funding from the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) was still available to support NGOs in Europe helping Brits with their migration and civil rights issues. But that temporary funding soon expired, leaving groups like British in Europe largely on their own.

“The whole point is people’s lives change at very different paces,” Golding said. “And now this project is really going to start to pick up some of those cases and report on those issues, which is really crucial and exciting for the precedent that it sets, and it’s very clearly necessary still, because people don’t just sort their lives in the 18 months that the FCDO chose to supply that funding.”

This feeling of being left alone and increasingly isolated from the UK is one that many Brits in Europe have felt in the aftermath of Brexit. But the upcoming UK election on July 4th could be a game-changer.

This time, following a change in the law, Brits who have lived abroad for more than 15 years will be able to vote for the first time.

Polling station in the UK

A polling station in the UK. Photo by Elliott Stallion on Unsplash

When it comes to the election, the message from British in Europe is clear: “Make your voice count now, make your vote count, make sure you use it,” Golding said.

With the June 18th registration deadline fast approaching, BiE is advising UK citizens abroad to apply for a proxy vote as soon as possible, rather than relying on a postal vote from abroad. Since the 15-year rule was abolished on January 16th, more than 100,000 British citizens have registered to vote, according to official statistics. It is unclear how many were registered before the change in the law.

With an estimated 5.5 million Brits currently living abroad – 1.3 million of whom are in the EU – this could have a significant impact on the electoral landscape, Golding says. But most significantly, the change is creating a feeling of connection and belonging that wasn’t there before.

Nurturing this sense of belonging is one of the main goals of ICE.

With these bridges being built, British in Europe hopes to create a network of support that spans across borders.

“Now we’ve met. We’re going to meet,” said Golding. “We know we’re going to meet again in Berlin in October and then we’ll meet again in the new year in 2025 as well. It means a huge amount because even British in Europe, our steering team, we’ve only met physically three times.”

This opens up the possibility of people sharing their knowledge from country to country, Golding explained.

“There is crossover and the reassurance of having that EU wide view and knowing that you’re not alone and knowing that in this country, we managed to get this solution,” she said. “And then you can go back and say to the authorities in your country, well, in that country they did that – all of that helps. It’s really good.”

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