Latest message about CdS since Brexit

[NormanH]

I was sent this today from the Préfecture:

Dans le cadre de la sortie du Royaume-Uni de l’Union Européenne, vous avez déposé une demande de titre de séjour en ligne sur le site « Procédure en ligne de demande de titre de séjour pour les ressortissants britanniques résidant en France avant la date de retrait du Royaume-Uni de l’Union Européenne, en cas de Brexit sans accord ». Ce site avait été mis en ligne pour préparer l’hypothèse, désormais écartée, d’un Brexit sans accord.

Le Ministère de l’Intérieur procède actuellement à la mise à jour de ce site afin de s’inscrire dans le cadre des dispositions de l’accord de retrait du Royaume-Uni de l’Union Européenne qui a finalement été conclu et ratifié de part et d’autre.

Nous vous informons que votre demande de titre de séjour avait bien été enregistrée et qu’elle sera bien traitée par la préfecture dans les mois à venir.

L’accord de retrait prévoit que vous n’aurez d’obligation de détenir le titre de séjour que vous avez sollicité qu’à compter du 1er juillet 2021.

Dans l’attente de l’instruction de votre demande, vous n’avez aucune démarche supplémentaire à effectuer. Vous n’avez pas besoin de refaire une nouvelle demande en ligne. De même, il n’est pas nécessaire de vous déplacer à la préfecture pour le moment.

[mint]

Just sit tight and wait then?

Suits me as I don't feel ready for all the inevitable faff........I feel that I need time to adjust my thinking before I can make any proper decision.

[NickP]

Norman I'm sure that you had a residency card for France for many years, is that not correct? A friend of mine English who has lived in Toulon and been married to a French lady for over twenty years and indeed has a 10-year card, decided this morning to go to the Marie to register for the forthcoming municipal elections, I must add he speaks fluent French. When he asked for the registration form he was told because he is English and the withdrawal agreement has come into operation he is not allowed to vote. Have you come across of this situation?

[woolybanana]

I had to tell my mayor this when he asked for my vote in the next municipals. He had no idea in line, I suspect, with most mayors of small communes.

[Kong]

Nickp

He is totally wrong Nothing changes until the end of this year.

[woolybanana]

Oi think youm wrong, Kong.

Eg https://la1ere.francetvinfo.fr/guyane/municipales-ressortissants-britanniques-ne-peuvent-plus-voter-france-compter-du-1er-fevrier-795797.html

[mint]

I saw a puzzling incident on "New Life in the Sun".  Puzzling because a couple new to France had bought a house in Quillan and wanted to convert part of it into a gite and managed to sort out their CdS as simply as falling off a log!

The couple (only been in France a matter of weeks) were shown going to their préfecture with the wife carrying a bagful of files.  Then they emerged waving their CdS.  I believe that the programme was made in 2019.

So, how come they could swan in and swan out within the hour with their cartes?  Do they not have to show Avis d'impots for 5 years, 6-monthly bank statements for 5 years, etc etc etc?

Are they really such a pushover in Quillan préfecture?

PS for Norman and those who do not know the programme, it's a step up from buying houses in the sun type of thing;  they show couples in France and Spain setting up businesses with great success, having overcome ALL obstacles; the theme being just look at these plucky Brits! Nobody actually fails and goes off back to Blighty.

[Gardian]

We have received a formal letter from our Maire informing us that our voting rights were terminated on 1st Feb.

It wasn’t a snotty letter, nor was it a surprise, but very clear.

[NormanH]

Wb is correct.

Since the 31st January Brits can no longer vote in local  elections in France, nor for European ones either. Those who  were previously on their local councils are no longer entitled to be there either.

This means that I and other like me no longer have a vote in any elections here or in France.

mint that programme sounds very fishy to me.

Apart from the issues you highlight it takes a few weeks for the CdS to be printed. Even if you are simply renewing you have to hand in your dossier then go back a few days or weeks later to collect it. It is simply not possible to go in and walk out with it an hour later....

[idun]

[quote user="mint"]

I saw a puzzling incident on "New Life in the Sun".  Puzzling because a couple new to France had bought a house in Quillan and wanted to convert part of it into a gite and managed to sort out their CdS as simply as falling off a log!

The couple (only been in France a matter of weeks) were shown going to their préfecture with the wife carrying a bagful of files.  Then they emerged waving their CdS.  I believe that the programme was made in 2019.

So, how come they could swan in and swan out within the hour with their cartes?  Do they not have to show Avis d'impots for 5 years, 6-monthly bank statements for 5 years, etc etc etc?

Are they really such a pushover in Quillan préfecture?

PS for Norman and those who do not know the programme, it's a step up from buying houses in the sun type of thing;  they show couples in France and Spain setting up businesses with great success, having overcome ALL obstacles; the theme being just look at these plucky Brits! Nobody actually fails and goes off back to Blighty.

[/quote]

We have been watching A New Life in the Sun, but haven't seen them all, so please mint, when was this episode.

Trouble with these programs is that they 'do' stuff that isn't actually right, so will watch that episode if I do it on catchup. EG weddings etc at their castles or where ever and how can they be a legal french wedding?  Now paperwork, is it the wonder of tv and the french wanting to look super efficient?

[idun]

I have sent you a PM mint about this.

What can a say, a program using smoke and mirrors as that portion was obviously filmed some time ago, well years actually, which poses the question, why were they saying that they HAD TO HAVE THEIR CARTE DE SEJOURS all those years ago.

I despair of some of the stuff on tv.

[Cathar Tours]

My dad lived very close to Quillan and I helped him get his CDS about 2 years ago.

He got the details of how to get his from this forum. There used to be a sub prefecture at Limoux that dealt with CDS but that stopped years ago and all applications are dealt with in Carcassonne.

At the time it took exactly the length of time it said on their website and the procedure was exactly the same as others had described at the time.

It took about 6 weeks to get an appointment, took the documents required, got his fingerprints taken and was told to wait 90 days and he would get an SMS message to tell him it was ready for collection. No need for an appointment to pick it up and the SMS message came almost spot on 90 days.

There was absolutely, categorically no facility in Quillan to get a CDS at that time.

I believe you can get a 1 year CDS which you renew yearly until you get to the five years but you need to check that one. I know this because that's what some of his American friends who came to live in France had to do. During that time they cannot have a health card (they had American Medicare which covers Europe apparently) nor can they work.

I am just wondering having not seen this. Did they go to the mayors office to get a permit to take in guests and somebody got it mixed up (in the program) because that would take just a few minutes to get.

[mint]

Id, thank you for your PM and I have replied.

CT, come to think of it, they did say they were going to Carcassone to see about their CdS.

There is definitely some dishonesty about the programme or at least some very elastic stretching of the truth.  These programmes could actually cause harm to people who are genuinely thinking of earning a living like the people on the TV.  I just hope people seriously thinking of doing this kind of life change have the common sense to check everything out before they commit.

BTW, they definitely said it was their cartes de séjour and that the files they were carrying had virtually "all their lives" contained therein.

[Kong]

Mint we watched that episode. The couple emerged clutching a 'recepisse' which is simply a receipt indicating they had applied for the CdS and is a temporary permission to stay while the dossier is dealt with.

[mint]

That does explain, kong, why they were pieces of paper, albeit with their mugshots on them.  I knew that the CdS is actually in the form of a card rather like a credit card.

[idun]

and the date on the recipisse was not for last year, or the year before......... and they were not the same start date either, nor the same 'working' or not either, and there was me thinking that running a gite was a job as there was income.

[NormanH]

Apart from the fact that I can't easily watch UK TV in catch-up I wouldn't watch this sort of programme because the misinformation and half-truths are infuriating.

Further because it was 'on the tele' people  seem to think that it is correct and quote it at me to say I am wrong, just as happens with the Anglo sites and newspapers, run or written by folk who haven't experienced things at first-hand.

Almost all the information I give ( as opposed to my OPINIONS) is either  based on lived experience, or on French official sources to which I usually give links.

[nomoss]

[quote user="mint"]

I saw a puzzling incident on "New Life in the Sun".  Puzzling because a couple new to France had bought a house in Quillan and wanted to convert part of it into a gite and managed to sort out their CdS as simply as falling off a log!

The couple (only been in France a matter of weeks) were shown going to their préfecture with the wife carrying a bagful of files.  Then they emerged waving their CdS................[/quote]

Maybe the bag was full of used banknotes[;-)]

[mint]

LOL nomoss, perhaps I should have done that when the Périgueux préfecture closed their doors to all first time applications from about Oct 2018!

Maybe they'd even have accepted notes in sterling?

[idun]

Exactly NH always go by official information.

Sometimes though, the rumour mill has me checking on things officially, so I suppose they have their place for me at least, as they act as a prompt.

NH I have pm'd you.

[mint]

I watch mainly to see the places where they are buying and setting up their businesses.  As I know many parts of Spain and France, I like to see what I am missing!

Fortunately, I haven't seen anywhere else I'd rather be than my own village.  That is anywhere practical for us.  If I could move, I must admit I'd like to be somewhere with mountains.  Still our area is assez valloné and that suits me well enough as I don't think I have the confidence to climb mountains anymore.

[idun]

Ah that is the bliss of living in the Alpes, one can live on the flat, well pretty flat in the valleys and see the mountains all around. And then go up when the fancy takes one. Best views, as far as I am concerned are from the valley OR at the top when skiing and that is often breathtaking.

[alittlebitfrench]

LOL...reading the last couple of posts..

YOU ARE ALL 'TYPICAL' BRIT PLACE IN THE SUN's.

You just won't admit it. Come on...admit it.

Most Brits that move to France are 'place in the sun's'.

Come and live in suburbia like ALBF. Proper France.

[woolybanana]

Idiyacht! Gives Brits a bad name.

[idun]

Moi ' A place in the Sun' person......... you are kidding.

We

lived in a proper french city for over 2 years in an appartment with

other appts  surrounding us.......... and the bins collected

every single day...........and shops under the appts, rarely used the car, used public transport, and walked or cycled everywhere, as everyone else did. It was OK and it was what it was and I am glad we did it, but too noisy with the work schedule, and colleagues lived outside the city and suggested we did too. So then we moved

into a village in between two french cities. No other brits there, in fact I

would say about 99% french, although being where we were plenty of

families with italian anticendents.

And I

don't like the summer and the sun, and when we were considering an adventure somewhere one of the

things which had to be on offer was skiing.  If similar things were on offer elsewhere, what with

us being very regular skiers, we could just as easily of moved to

Austria, or Germany or Italy or even southern island New Zealand. As it happens, there was at least a job for OH and skiing... so off we went.

This way before it became normal to even think about a move to France, only odd people like us were doing it, and we had lots of 'whys' when we moved. Next to no one understood. Now it would seem that everyone knows someone  who has moved to France.... and do you know what, I still don't get it, at all and never will, especially retirees who don't speak french.

So no comparisons with any tv program, we moved, planned on moving back to England upon retirement and did.