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EXPLAINED: What does the delay in launching the carte de séjour website mean for British residents in France?

The French government announced suddenly on Friday that its new online portal for residency applications for British citizens - scheduled to go live in July - would be delayed for three months. So what does this mean for British people living here?

Published: 30 June 2020 15:40 CEST
EXPLAINED: What does the delay in launching the carte de séjour website mean for British residents in France?
Photo: AFP

Since the UK first voted to leave the EU four years ago, there has been much uncertainty for British people living in France – or those planning to move here – about their status.

And an announcement on Friday that online residency applications for Brits would be postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic has caused further confusion and worry – but what does this delay actually mean and what do we know about the process?

READ ALSO What do we know so far about the new carte de séjour website?

What's new?

The French government previously announced that all carte de séjour (residency permit) applications for British people would be made via a special online portal. This is still the case, but instead of opening up in July as planned, the portal will now not go live until October.

The goverment says this is because authorities are still dealing with a backlog of residency permit applications from people of other nationalities which built up during the lockdown when government offices were closed. They say delaying the opening of the site until October will give them time to clear this backlog and ensure that British applicants don't wait too long.

How does this delay affect the deadline?

It doesn't. There are in effect two 'deadlines' for British residents and neither are affected by the site delay.

The first deadline is December 31st, 2020 and this is the date by which you must be legally resident in France to be covered by the Withdrawal Agreement. So anyone planning a move to France needs to do so by this date in order to benefit from the more generous residency provisions of the Withdrawal Agreement. This date marks the end of the transition period, assuming it is not extended.

READ ALSO Brexit Withdrawal Agreement – what is it and does it cover me?

By that date you need to be legally resident in France – this is not quite the same as simply being on French soil, check out the qualifications for legal residency here.

The second deadline is June 30th, 2021 and by this date all British people living in France need to have made their application for a carte de séjour.

Crucially this deadline is for you to have made your application, not for you to have received the card.

So if you do get stuck in an administrative backlog (and we all know that French bureaucracy is not always the fastest) there is no need to panic if your card does not arrive before July 2021, as long as you have got your application in then you are covered.

How does the delay affect the process?

Again, the actual process of applying for the card does not change, it just means that you can't now start until October.

Every British person in France needs to use the online portal to get a new residency card, although if you already have a carte de séjour permenant the process is more straightforward and is largely just a swap of the old card for a new one.

Everyone else needs to make a new application and you can find out more about how to do that here.

Everyone makes their application on the site, and applications are then passed to the préfecture where you live for processing.

Anyone who successfully made their application on the no-deal website that was briefly live in October last year should have received an email earlier this year informing them that their application will be transferred to the new system – so those people do not need to make a fresh application.

How long will it take to get the card?

This is a good question, but unfortunately not one that we can answer at this stage. Many people who applied for residency cards shortly after the initial Brexit vote experienced long delays, which is the reason a lot of people were concerned about a delay in opening the website.

Although we have not seen the new site yet, it is modelled on the online application process for a no-deal Brexit that was briefly online in October last year. People who used that site noticed that it was considerably more straightforward than the local procedures and asked for a lot less in the way of supporting paperwork – meaning that in theory it should be quicker to process. 

However the actual application will be processed by individual préfectures, so there may well be wide variations in processing times depending on the workload of the préfectures involved. Some préfectures – including Dordogne – that have a high number of British residents have received funding for extra staff to process applications but many others have not, so officials will be processing these applications in addition to their normal workload.

But as outlined above, the July 2021 deadline is the deadline to have submitted the application, not to have received the card. So if you find yourself caught in a administrative backlog you will not be penalised for this.

Should you be worried?

The uncertainty surrounding the process has made this a stressful past four years for British residents in France, and of course another delay is not ideal.

However citizens' rights expert Kalba Meadows of the group France Rights says there is no need to panic.

“We completely understand that people are worried by the delay,” she told The Local.

“But just to put things into context: less than a handful of countries have so far begun implementing the citizens' rights part of the Withdrawal Agreement. Some don't intend to begin until January 2021 while others still haven't set a date. So even with a start date of October 1st France will still be one of the earliest to begin implementation, and we will have nine months to make our applications.

“There is no reason why even 200,000 people – which we believe is the upper end guesstimate of the British population figure in France – should not be able to apply within a nine month period.

“The other thing to note is that three months has been taken off the application time, NOT the time available for processing. There is no deadline within which préfectures must process applications – the date of June 30th 2021 is the date by which you must apply, NOT the period during which applications must be decided. We will be deemed to have the right of residence until our applications are processed – whenever that is, and we will have a certificate of application which will prove this.” 

For more information on residency, citizenship, healthcare and driving after Brexit, head to our Preparing for Brexit section.

 

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LIVING IN FRANCE

5 things Brits in France need to know about swapping driving licences

Now that the dust has settled from the somewhat chaotic post-Brexit period, the system for swapping a UK driving licence for a French one seems to be running fairly smoothly. There are, however, some things that UK licence holders need to know.

Published: 3 May 2024 17:20 CEST
5 things Brits in France need to know about swapping driving licences

This article is aimed at holders of a UK or Northern Ireland driving licence who are living in France – tourists, visitors and second-home owners can continue to drive in France on a UK licence and do not need an international driving permit.

British students who are studying in France on a student visa can continue to drive on their UK licence during their studies – if however they settle in France afterwards, they need to follow the below process for swapping their licence. 

1 You’re special

Well, maybe special is over-stating it, but the system for holders of UK and NI licence holders is different to that of other non-EU nationals, and also different to the system for EU licence holders.

The reason for this is that a pragmatic post-Brexit agreement was (finally) reached between France and the UK, in order to avoid the chaos that was triggered when thousands of Brits in France all tried to swap their driving licences at once.

Unlike almost all other post-Brexit agreements, this one applies both to people who moved to France before the end of Brexit transition period in 2021 and those who have moved here since. 

The below terms apply to everyone who has a UK or NI licence, regardless of their nationality or when they moved to France. 

2 But you still have to swap

It was technically always the case that Brits who were living in France should have swapped their licence for a French one, just as other EU licence holders do now, but in reality many people lived here for years or decades without ever exchanging their licence and there was little or no enforcement of the rule.

That has now changed and you must swap according to the following timetable;

If your UK licence was issued after January 1st, 2021 – you must swap within one year of moving to France.

If your UK licence was issued before January 1st 2021 – you only swap when you meet one of the following conditions;

  • The licence itself or the photocard is within six months of its expiry date. For more people the photocard expiry will come around first, but UK licences also require renewal when the holder reaches the age of 70
  • Your licence has been lost or stolen
  • You have been ordered to exchange your licence by a gendarme after committing a driving offence

For people who are exchanging because the licence is about to expire, it is important that you don’t start the process until your licence is within six months of the expiry date – early applications will simply be rejected.

3 It might not be as much of a nightmare as you think 

Unlike the old days when licence swaps were done by préfectures, the whole process has now moved online and is run through a single, central system.

The online portal for requesting a swap is known as ANTS and you can find it HERE.

If you haven’t used it before you will need to create an online account, or if you already have online accounts for French government services such as Ameli or tax declarations you can login by clicking on the France Connect button.

Once logged in, select Je demande l’échange ou l’enregistrement de mon permis de conduire étranger (I request the exchange or registration of a foreign driving licence) and fill in the details requested on the form such as name, address etc.

You might be pleasantly surprised by the fact the form itself is relatively straightforward (as French admin forms go), asking basic questions such as your personal details and the details of your driving licence.

You will have to upload supporting documents, but these are likely to be things that you already have to hand including

  • Proof of ID (passport or carte de séjour)
  • Proof of address (a recent utility bill or attestation from your utility provider)
  • If your driver’s licence is in a different name to your passport, you will need to supply your full birth certificate

You will also need to supply a photo – you can either use the internet-enabled Photomaton booths – find your nearest here – to create a digital photo with the required security code, or you can use the normal photo booths to print out a physical photo and send it by post after you have made your application. 

Once completed, you can use the ANTS site to track the progress of your application and upload any other documents that are requested.

4 But don’t leave it too late 

If you’re applying because your licence is about to expire then you cannot apply until you are within six months of the expiry date.

But it’s a good idea not to leave it until the last minute as the whole process does take time – things have improved massively since the dark days of 2020 and 2021 when people were waiting for years and their licences expired while they waited.

But it still takes time – the current average for a straightforward application with no extra documents required seems to be between four and five months, although processing times can vary, especially over holiday periods.

It’s therefore a good idea to make the application fairly soon after you enter that magic six-month window.

Once you make the application you should get an automated response acknowledging receipt – this is usually sent by SMS and/or email, it’s a good idea to check your spam folder if you don’t get the email.

Don’t panic if you don’t then hear anything for the next few weeks or even months, this appears to be normal. If your application is complete and there are no outstanding queries or other documents required, the next step will be a request to send in your old UK licence.

You send this by post (recorded delivery with a signature is strongly recommended) and at the same time you can download an Attestation de Depot de Permis de Conduire (certificate of deposit of driving licence) – you can use this to prove your continued entitled to drive in the period between sending in your old licence and receiving your new one.

Your French licence is then sent by registered post, and the window between posting the old licence and receiving the new one is usually not more than a month, you 

5 Help is out there 

If your application runs into problems or you have an untypical situation or find the ANTS website hard to use, don’t panic – help is available.

The Facebook group Driving in France – French Licence Applications is a good place to start with comprehensive guides and knowledgeable admins who are quick to respond to questions.

You can also chat to others in your situation and get updates on how long processing times seem to be.

If you have problems using the online system, your local France Services office may be able to help.

You can also head to The Local’s reader questions section, or email us at [email protected] if you have questions.

Digital licences

You might have heard about France’s new digital driving licence – unfortunately this is only available to people who have French citizenship (including dual nationals).

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