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Carte de séjour: France launches website for British citizens to apply for residency

The new French government website that allows British people to apply online for residency has launched. Here's what we know about it.

Published: 9 October 2019 18:10 CEST

Carte de séjour: France launches website for British citizens to apply for residency

You could apply online for residency in France. Photo: fbxx/Depositphotos

UPDATE: This was the site for use in a no-deal Brexit. There is now a different system in place, click here for the latest information.

The French government on Wednesday launched its new online portal that allows British citizens who are already living in France to begin the process of applying for their residency status.

The site allows British people to apply online for the residency papers they will need once Britain leaves the EU, and is only available to people are are already legally resident in France.

Launched with little fanfare, the site is now live on the French government portal here.

The website was launched as part of France's preparations for a no-deal Brexit. The Local understands the website is in a test phase and changes may be made if problems are reported.

The opening page of the platform, which is in both English and French, contains a message that explains what Britons need to do and presumes Britain's exit date from the EU will be October 31st and they it will be a no-deal Brexit. It makes no mention of what happens if there is a Brexit extension.

“Having a residence permit will be mandatory as of October 31st, 2020 for all people over the age of 18. Until October 31st, 2020, your rights in terms of residency, employment as well as all of your social rights will continue,” it reads.

“You will have a six-month period as of the United Kingdom’s withdrawal date (i.e. until 04/30/2020) in order to request a residence permit.”

Under a no-deal Brexit France will give British citizens a year to obtain a residency permit but they must apply within six months.

Applicants are instructed they need to scan and upload a copy of their passport as well as several documents and then they will receive a confirmation email.

They will then be sent an email to make an appointment at their local prefecture to arrange “fingerprinting, photo and proof of fee payment”. The residence permit will then be sent out to home addresses in France.

The Local understands that the British Embassy, who have been working closely with the Interior Minister on issues around residency, were taken aback by Wednesday's launch.

A spokesperson for the embassy in Paris told The Local on Wednesday that officials were working with their French counterparts at the Interior Ministry to help prepare the best guidance for how Brits in France can use the online platform.

“We urge people not to panic because there will still be six months after Brexit to apply for a residency permit,” the spokesman told The Local.

In the case of a no-deal Brexit, British people will have a grace period of a year, but must get their applications in within six months. If there is a deal there will be a transition period that lasts until December 2020.

Citizens rights groups in France were also left confused by the sudden launch.

Justine Wallington from Remain in France Together (RIFT) said: “Frankly, I think it's premature. I'm not entirely sure what purpose it serves to release it already when we don't yet know if there will be a deal or not.

“There could also be an extension to the Brexit deadline. We have approached the embassy and requested clarification.”

The website was announced last month by French prime minister Edouard Philippe and is intended to take some of the pressure off the local préfectures who until earlier this year had been processing residency applications from British people.

Many had become completely swamped with applications as it is estimated that there are more than 150,000 British people living in France, the vast majority of whom do not have a settled residential status.

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While the initial application will be made online under the new system, each application will still be passed on to local authorities where the applicant lives for it to be evaluated.

People who have been living here for more than five years and already have a carte de séjour permenant can simply swap it for the new card, everyone else – including people who have no card and people who have the short-term 5-year card – has to make a completely new application using this site.

“The residence permits obtained before the United Kingdom’s withdrawal date from the EU will remain valid for one year. They will need to be exchanged during this period, including permanent residence permits,” the website says.

Part of the confusion around the site is what exactly people will be applying for, as there are different residency deals depending on whether Britain leaves the EU with or without a deal.

There are also fears that the sheer number of people trying to access the site will lead to it crashing.

But the most important thing to remember is that there is no tearing hurry and no need to panic if all your documents are not to hand right this second.

If Britain leaves the EU with no deal then Brits get a one-year grace period to sort out their residency status – although applications must be made within six months of Brexit day. If the UK leaves with a deal there will be a transition period that will last until at least December 2020.

So although it's good to get things ready, there really is no need to panic.

If you have used the site, please share your experiences here.

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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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