I had a very trying day yesterday. Apart from 35C under a roasting sun, it was the climax to a process of several weeks of anxiety, research, much digging, sorting and photocopying, all the result of an ill-advised vote in June 2016.

In the wake of the Brexit vote, I have the impression from talking to friends and colleagues in the UK in particular that little is understood about the impact on ordinary UK nationals living mundane lives in France.

1. We don’t all sit round the pool sipping infinite quantities of wine – sorry to disillusion you.

2. Some people live either in rented property or on fixed (pension) income; often both.

3. Some have bought the stereotypical old wreck and have done it up (à la property shows).

4. Most people live in normal houses, some with a bigger garden that they had in the UK, but not always.

5. Healthcare is reimbursed 65-70% from the social security as for French nationals. The patient makes up the rest from a top-up insurance or out of their own pocket. UK pensioners’ social security portion is reimbursed by the UK government to France. In the UK 100% would be covered, so we are a ‘cheap date’ for the British government and taxpayers.

6. The vast majority are not retirees although a lot are, especially in my area.

7. Ordinary people retire away from their previous home, be it to France, the Cotswolds, Scotland, Ireland or Cyprus because they want a gentle, cheaper retirement.

We researched our move here in 2010 to death; you have never seen so many spreadsheets, bookshelves brimming with ‘how to’ books, a whole page of bookmarks on Protopage, plus I had experience of living and studying in France and could speak fluent French. I’d worked on several EU commissioned projects and knew my way round the systems and websites. One bright spark recently asked why we hadn’t sorted out residency cards before our move. Er, because of freedom of movement under the EU treaties, they were obsolete for EU citizens including us. Duh!

Pre-Brexit vote
As such, UK nationals have been able to move to France since 2004 with no restrictions and no special paperwork. You sort out your housing beforehand, book the removal van, get the cat a pet passport and off you go through the Tunnel. Once in France, it’s advisable, and friendly, but not in any way obligatory to say hello to the mairie (town hall) and that’s it. (Obviously, there’s a lot more to it, but I’m talking legal niceties here.)

I remember as a student in France in the early 1970s having to apply for a residence card (carte de séjour) months ahead of my visit, trog up to the French consulate in London several times for interviews, letters, forms, etc., arrange a monthly transfer facility with the Bank of England and the Banque de France (exchange control was in force). Once over in France, I had to have my carte de séjour validated at the local gendarmérie (intimidating for an 19 year old who’d never been in a military barracks before), then report back every month. As I was staying beyond the tourist maximum, I had to re-register my little Mini, then when I got back trog over to Maidstone to re-re-register it back to my UK number. Now, I had a fab time in France – don’t get me wrong – but all this ‘paperasse’ was a royal pain in the bottom. I don’t want to go back to that ‘glorious’ time.

Post-Brexit vote
I admit as a passionate Remainer, I went through the classic of shock, disbelief, anger, despair, grieving. No, wait, I’m still at stage three. My husband and I, as they say, have been angry for two years. However, we saw the UK government machine grind into action and hoped they would organise an orderly exit. Well, we’ve all seen what’s been happening, but that’s not the subject of this post.

What are the consequences for the ordinary UK citizens living in France?
I can only speak for people I know in our little part of rural France. YMMV. Basically, if you’ve been in France for 5 years or more living in a ‘regular and stable manner’, you have acquired residency rights. That’s well and good. As EU citizens, you don’t have to do anything else – no registration, no ID card, etc. Workers pay social security like any other French citizens and receive benefits for themselves and their children (schooling, local services, etc.) at the same level as French citizens. Retired people and non-workers should have adequate income and health cover either from the UK or as a dependent. All their rights are guaranteed including voting in local and European elections.

However, post-Brexit, you revert to a Third Country National (TCN), with no European rights, no voting rights and obligation to have your life examined in forensic detail with the possible instruction to leave France permanently, i.e. deportation. The UK government has negotiated citizens’ rights protection in the Withdrawal Agreement but the possibility of a hard Brexit in March 2019 has caused no little consternation as that agreement will fall without any safeguards for UK nationals lliving in the EU. And local UK nationals have the distinct feeling that the EU is more concerned about them than the UK government is. Local French people are totally bewildered at the referendum result and have been universally sympathetic and kind to us.

The French Ministry of the Interior and the departmental prefectures were, like many European government bodies, caught completely off guard in June 2016. ‘Expect the unexpected’ had happened. Due to lack of clarity and, to be honest, a lot of ‘headless chicken syndrome’ in the UK, protecting the interests of UK nationals faded from the headlines. The EU, at least, insisted on dealing with this as a first line measure but until/unless the Withdrawal Agreement is signed, there is no protection.

In liaison with British community groups in France, the French Ministry of the Interior started developing processes to deal with this, but were hampered by the lack of decision from the UK/EU negotiations. It took the initiative and issued guidelines to the departmental prefectures (county councils) for processing applications from UK nationals for cartes de séjour. Going through the carte process would mean residency rights were proven, whenever the Brexit date came. Agnès Fontana, the chief civil servant at the Ministry of the Interior, confirmed in the National Assembly that whatever happened at Brexit, France would respect as an acquired right of residence of people who had obtained a permanent residency card (carte de séjour permanent)

But here are the two main problems …
1. Many Brits don’t have the paperwork. Who but a filing nerd keeps years and years of invoices? Many don’t have the information or skills to put their case together. Many are anxious or frightened of ‘government’, especially as they may not speak the language to a sufficient degree. And there is a lot of opinion rather than factual information out there on social media which disturbs people even more. And those poo-pooing the panic to get cartes are hiding their anxiety behind bluster.

Yes, of course there have been the free-riders, the wilful dodgers of the system, the refusers to learn the language. ‘Chickens’ and ‘coming home to roost’ occurs to me. But most people are not them.

2. Many prefectures don’t have the staff to process thousands of Brits. Here in the Deux-Sèvres, they only process about 500 applications annually from French-speaking former colonies and TCNs. Since the Brexit referendum that figure has doubled to include this peculiar new category of UK nationals. We applied in May (2018) for our interview and went yesterday (2 August 2018). If you apply today, you can’t get an appointment until February 2020 (as at time of writing). Apparently, there are urgent meetings going on to address this.

But why should the French authorities/taxpayer have to pay for new staff, new buildings, new storage when it’s not a problem of their making? As with many government services in France, there is no charge to the applicant (ISBNs included – bite me!).

What are the options?
1. Apply for a carte de séjour as a priority (But see update at the end of this article)

2. Put up with a tourist status (or visa system like the proposed ETIAS) which gives you 90 days’ residence out of any 180 day period but under which you can’t return to France within the 90 days after your 90 days residence in France (No quickie Ryanair weekends in that period).

3. Sell up and return to the UK

4. Do nothing and hope you will not get caught. But good luck with travel back to France, work, banking, government services, etc. in France

The Morton experience
UK nationals including us moved their lives to France never dreaming a thing such as Brexit was possible. Now, angry as I am, I have the language and admin skills to go through the bureaucratic rigmarole of applying to verify residency with a carte de séjour (hitherto unnecessary for UK citizens and often refused as an obsolete measure). Even as chief paper shuffler in our household I’ve found it an anxiety-inducing process.

Once we had decided to follow the British Embassy in France and the French Ministry of the Interior’s strong advice to obtain the residents’ permanent cartes de séjour, we booked our appointment and then started collating our paperwork. Had we got it back far enough? Could we satisfy every requirement of proof? We joined Remain in France Together, a Facebook group disseminating and sharing information which also had a local group for the Poitou-Charentes. We shared information on our local Deux-Sèvres Facebook group. But I was in mid conference season, plus we took a week’s holiday, so we were dashing about Europe, and then I was struck by a vicious virus. Time became shorter.

But filing nerd that I am, I was relieved to find that we had everything. Then followed a mammoth photocopying session: passport, birth and marriage certificates (translations not requested, but we had them anyway), photos to the official passport standard, current certificate of health cover, taxe foncière and d’habitation (council tax) for the past 5 years, avis d’impostion (tax statements) for previous 5 years, notaire’s certification of house purchase, my most recent DWP pension update letter showing weekly amount, my private pension P60 for 2018, my French pension statements, Steve’s private pension advice starting early 2019, most recent bills (electricity, water and mobile phone). We set out the annual and monthly income amounts in the list, converting pounds to euros and weekly or annual amount to monthly amounts which are more French-friendly! Plus we took loads of other stuff, just in case. If we fluffed this interview, we didn’t want to have to go to the back of the queue and start again.

No glasses, no earrings, no fringe and above all, no smiling

Tough and grim, or just fed up with it all

The interviewer at the Bureau des Étrangers was extremely friendly and efficient, but scrutinised everything. The blissful part was that the office was air conditioned! Our fingerprints were taken by green glowing scanning machine – all ink-free! Afterwards we went and had lunch and wine. Driving back, I felt exhausted and dozed. Once at home and a cup of tea in hand, I sat down and cried. I swore at the fly buzzing round my head.

I think we’ll be safe once those little pink cards are in our hot hands, but it was the end of a dream. Now, in the place where we live and expect to die, we have become mere guests.

Update 10 August 2018: The prefecture at Niort has stopped giving interview appointments. Their list had reached March 2020. They are now asking applicants to send in a letter with contact details only (no documents) and the prefecture will contact them in March 2019. (Because nobody knows at this time of writing what is going to happen…)

Update 5 October 2018: People are reporting in a Facebook support group that applicants who had long interview dates at the Niort préfecture, i.e. in 2019 or 2020, are being contacted and their interview date brought forward to the following week. This is good news, but I wonder if it’s linked with the enabling legislation scheduled to go through the French National Assembly in November.

Watch this space!

Alison Morton is the author of Roma Nova thrillers –  INCEPTIO,  PERFIDITAS,  SUCCESSIO,  AURELIA,  INSURRECTIO  and RETALIO.  CARINA, a novella, and ROMA NOVA EXTRA, a collection of short stories, are now available.  Audiobooks are available for four of the series. NEXUS, an Aurelia Mitela novella, will be out on 12 September 2019.

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