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Brexit: The unanswered questions that remain for Brits in France

We're just over two weeks away from the current Brexit date of October 31st and there is still no deal - so what has been settled for British people living, working or travelling to France and what remains unanswered?

Published: 15 October 2019 16:47 CEST

Brexit: The unanswered questions that remain for Brits in France

Borders will be getting less porous for Britons. Photo: AFP

The political game continues, but British people living in France, those working here or those who have a second home here are still largely in limbo over what happens after October 31st.

With still no certainty over whether there will be a no-deal Brexit, a Brexit with a deal or another postponement, there are many unanswered questions. Here's a look at what we do and don't know.

Residency

This is obviously the biggie for people living in France – will they be allowed to remain in the country.

The new online application system is now live. Photo: AFP

What we know

In April French authorities published their no-deal decree, laying out the ground rules by which people who are already resident in France on Brexit day can stay here if Britain leaves without a deal.

There are different rules for different types of people – find out more here – but the no-deal decree also gives a one-year grace period for everyone to get their residency status sorted out, so there is no need to panic.

They then followed this up earlier this month by launching a special website for British residents in France to register their residency applications. Although the applications will only start to be processed after Britain leaves the EU (which is currently scheduled for October 31st, but another extension is not impossible) the website is now up and running so people can lodge their applications now.

What we don't know

How long is the grace period?

This depends on whether there is a deal or not. Leaving with a deal means a transition period until December 2020 during which all current rights for British people in France remain unchanged. If there is a no-deal, the French are offering a one-year grace period on residency, but all applications will have to be submitted within six months of Brexit day.

What are the conditions for remaining in France?

Again, these vary depending if it is a deal or no-deal, but broadly you will need to prove that you can support yourself – either through a salary, self-employed income or a pension.

How long will it take for applications to be processed?

It's hard to say. Because British people in France have never had to register for residency before, no-one even knows exactly how many of them are in the country. There are 150,000 registered British residents, but it is estimated that the true figure could be up to 300,000.

All of them will have to use the new government website (unless you don't have internet in which case you can apply at the préfecture), either to swap their carte de séjour permenant for a new card or to make a new application if they do not have a current, 10-year card.

That means that in the event of a no-deal Brexit even those people who already have one or five year EU residency cards still have to go through the process of applying for a new card. One or five year EU cartes de séjour cannot just be swapped like the carte de séjour permanent.

After any no-deal on October 31st applications will then be processed by the préfectures where they live, so it is expected that there will be big variations in processing times between areas where lots of Brits live and places where the population is more sparse. Some places where there is a large British population, such as Dordogne, are getting new temporary staff to help deal with the applications, but whether this will be enough to help them cope with the tidal wave of residency requests remains to be seen.

What we also don't know is if there's a deal and the Withdrawal Agreement is passed by parliament, is what kind of residency card will be issued to Britons.

Campaigner Kalba Meadows from France Rights suggests the French are planning to deal with this question once they know there's a deal, but suggests the card will have to be a specific one that identifies Britons as being protected under the Withdrawal Agreement.

Healthcare

The other major concern for British people in France, particularly pensioners, is whether their healthcare will continue to be covered. Of huge concern to anyone undergoing treatment – who are therefore unlikely to be covered by private medical insurance – this is an issue that has driven many to despair.

What we know

For employed or self-employed people this is relatively simple and will remain largely unchanged. Anyone paying in to the French system through taxes is already entitled to a carte vitale health card, which means the majority of treatment costs are reimbursed by the state health insurance.

Most people also have a mutuelle which provides top-up insurance and takes care of the outstanding costs of doctor's appointments, prescriptions and treatments.

After Brexit the British-issued European health cards EHIC will cease to work, so if you are living in France but planning on travelling to other parts of Europe you need to apply through your local CPAM for a French issued EHIC.

Since Britain will no longer be in the EU, however, these cards will not cover you for the cost of any treatment needed during trips back to the UK. For that you will need to get private health or travel insurance.

If there's a deal then the Citizens' Rights part of the Withdrawal Agreement guarantees Britons in France the continued right to reciprocal healthcare. So those pensioners who have cover under the S1 scheme or will be eligible for one when they retire will continue to have their healthcare funded by the UK. For British workers in EU countries who pay into the national health scheme then, the rules will remain as they are now.

What we don't know

What happens to pensioners, students and posted workers in a no-deal Brexit. These people are all currently covered under the S1 scheme, which means that they have a carte vitale, but instead of their healthcare costs being covered by the French government, they are covered by the British government instead, because the UK is their “competent state”.

The UK government has written to all people across the EU on the S1 scheme telling them that will be covered for at least six months after a no-deal Brexit, while France and the UK attempt to come to a bilateral agreement.

But as part of its no deal decree the French government has said it will cover their health costs of pensioners for two years.

The difference in the two offers has caused huge confusion, but at a recent British embassy outreach meeting an official told members of the audience to ignore the letter from the NHS offering six months cover, because they would be entitled for two years cover under the French decree.

Whether it's six months or two years, it will still be just a stopgap while the UK and France come to an arrangement that will guarantee future cover for British pensioners in France and their French counterparts in the UK.

Detailed talks on this have not even started so it's impossible to say what any finalised deal might involve.

Pensions

What we know

Under a deal pensions will continue to be uprated each year as they are now. That means British pensioners in France will still see their pensions increase each year.

But if there's a no-deal Brexit the UK government has committed to uprating pensions for three years so until the end of the 2022 tax year which is in March 2023.

What we don't know

What will happen after three years? Once again it all depends on future negotiations.

The new three-year, no-deal guarantee is to give the UK government the time to negotiate either EU-wide or bilateral agreements with member states in order for uprating to be continued.

While pensions have been uprated for British pensioners living in the EU they are not for others living in certain countries like Canada or Australia, so there's no guarantee uprating will continue forever if there's no deal.

Travel

Most British people who live in France do like to go back to the UK and visit friends and relatives from time for time, while for people who work between the two countries or travel to a second home this is a regular necessity.

What we know

Aeroplanes, trains, ferries etc will still be running after Brexit. There will be more border checks, but possible long delays at the border are far more likely to involve freight rather than people. British people may have to join the non EU passport queue at any international border and these are generally slower but it is not anticipated there will be any other problems for Brits at the border.

However, it's not all plain sailing (even if you have your own yacht). If there's a divorce from the EU without a deal then unlike the current regime of freedom of movement there will be restrictions on how often you can enter a country and how long you can stay there.

If there's a no-deal Brexit, Britons will be classed as Third Country Nationals and, in the absence of any subsequent bilateral deals, will be subjected to the same rules as Americans and Australians, for example, already have to abide by on trips to Europe.

This means that if you are resident in the UK, you can only spend 90 days out of every 180 in the Schengen zone. So if you've been used to spending the summers in France and the winters in the UK, that will no longer be possible. The 90 day restriction covers the whole of the Schengen zone, not just France.

Anyone who wishes to stay for longer will have to apply in advance for a long stay visa, for example a student visa for anyone coming to study in France.

Britons will need to make sure their passports are valid for at least six months before they travel.

What we don't know

If there's no deal it's not clear exactly how rigorously these rules will be enforced in France, particularly in the first year when many people will still be sorting out their residency status.

Anyone who does not have a carte de séjour will have no official way of proving that they are a resident of France and therefore could find themselves inadvertently subject to tourist rules.

This issue has been raised urgently with the French government, but there has been no official response yet, although there have been indications that there will be no 'wet stamping' of passports during the first year. However, under the strict letter of the rules, anyone who is classified as a tourist visitor at the border and does not leave within 90 days risks being classed as an 'overstayer' which will make any subsequent attempts or enter the country or applications for residency much more difficult.

In the absence of official guidance, anyone without a carte de séjour is advised to take an extensive dossier of documents proving their residency in France if they plan on travelling after Brexit. (Or just staying put in France until the situation is resolved).

And that's just for humans – there are also some specific problems for pets who wish to travel.

Moving to France after Brexit

Special deals are in place (depending on the type of Brexit) for people who are already in the country – but what about people who might have plans to move here in the future?

With freedom of movement set to go, there will likely be much stricter rules in place in the future for British people who fancy la belle vie in France.

What we know

Under the Withdrawal Agreement Britons can still move to France freely until the end of the transition period in December 2020. Although in that time they will make to make sure they are legally resident, in other words they can support themselves.

If there's a no-deal Brexit, Britons will immediately become Third Country Nationals, which means they must abide by the full immigration rules if they wish to move to France, subject to any bilateral agreement that may be made later.

This involves obtaining a long-stay visa before you leave the UK, then once in France beginning the application process for a carte de séjour within three months of arrival.

There are different rules for employees, self-employed and pensioners, but the bottom line is that you must be able to prove that you have enough money or earning power to support yourself.

Things are also set to get more complicated for businesses in France who wish to employ Brits not currently resident in France, as they will have to request official authorisation to do so.

As well as becoming more complex, the process is also set to become significantly more expensive, with visas and TCN carte de séjour applications running to several hundred euro each, as well as the necessity of proving sufficient funds.

What we don't know

There could well be a subsequent deal after Brexit allowing a more relaxed set of criteria for people moving to France

In fact that's true of all of the above. The Withdrawal Agreement that has been agreed by the EU but not (yet) ratified by the British parliament provides a transition period for this exact purpose – so that negotiations can begin on the above and a whole host of other topics (trade, customs, border controls etc).

But international treaties are not famed for their speed, so even if there are deals eventually they could take years to put in place.

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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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