Having been a reader of all the Brexit posts and how informative they are, I now find myself needing some help…
I’ve been living and working in France for the past 6 years and have been able to obtain my 10 Year perm residency permit under the Brexit withdrawal agreement. I have now been offered a job back home in the UK, however wish to keep my apartment here in France to still use during the year as a second residence.
Does anyone have some more in depth information regarding my carte du sejour, as in I won’t technically be a resident of France anymore – but can I still use my permit to enter the country etc? Do I need to inform the prefecture that I will be no longer a resident, and will that begin to affect the 5 year out of the country ruling?
FYI I’ll be planning to still spend a few months of the year in France – but will register tax, healthcare etc all back home in the UK…
Hi Jane,
Thanks for your response – maybe there was a confusion regarding my question. Totally understand this part!
My questions were more around how should it work with the carte de jour? Can I still use this upon entering France or not? Do I need to inform the prefecture that I will keep a registered address here in France but will no longer be a ‘resident’? And will this contribute to the 5 continuous years ruling that i’ll be able to be out of the country or as i’ll be coming and going from France still this won’t actually matter (hope that makes sense!)
Do you mean in addition to presenting your passport, in order to stay longer than 90 in 180 days? I don’t think you have to relinquish your CdS upon moving back to UK, as you are permitted to leave for up to 5 years, so I think you’ll be fine until 2027.
I don’t own property here so don’t know whether it’s in your interest to tell your local Mairie that it’s now going to be your second home (taxe d’habitation may be different?). But, even if you do, I’m not sure the customs agents at the airport / port would ever be aware. I’d imagine they’d just look if your CdS is still valid.
Of course, it might be different if they ask you why you’re travelling… I’m not sure I’d recommend lying and saying you live here when you don’t, if you are ever asked
Well people have their own situations and no one knows what the future will bring.
But who wants to eat in a restaurant where the food is cheap but has no nutrition if they can choose a perhaps slightly more expensive restaurant that actually delivers quality and nutrition?
PS if you leave France I think I saw somewhere that you have to inform the fisc when you leave and that you still need to fill in your French tax return for another 3 years (and presumably pay relevant tax). I may have got it wrong, as I wasn’t paying attention.
Hi Gareth,
Thanks for your reply. Yes exactly I mean when entering back to France at passport control…I wouldn’t stay longer than 90 days as I’ll be traveling for work it was more of just is it ok to do this etc…?
I will email my local prefecture and see what information they can provide.
Technically, I am a frontalier (frontalière) though I’m not currently working. I had this status when I applied for my Withdrawal Agreement CDS and it was fine. It’s an accepted case that you can be resident here and work somewhere else. Though these days fewer people can do it between the UK and France as a work permit would be needed for most due to Brexit now. There’s at least one other regular poster on here who is a frontalier too and I am sure there are others. Typically they would expect a weekly commute but Covid relaxed that, I am not sure what the patterns can be now as work patterns are changing. You’d need to maintain everything that proves this is your home and you travel for work, not to live, elsewhere. Things like owning in France vs renting in UK, can help avoid ambiguity about this.
Incidentally, if you work even remotely in France more than a tolerated % of your time, and if it’s more than incidental, then you and, more significantly your employer, are liable to all French taxes and social security contributions. RIFT Facebook Group is a good source on this.
If you are resident in France then if employed ongoing in the UK, I believe it’s either immediately or within 30 days of starting work, you will get charged UK tax on earnings but you will invoke the UK-France double taxation agreement (fill out an HMRC form and go see the Impôts here as well) and theoretically across the 2 countries you will end up paying everything you should in each but not twice to each country. You might have to allow reclaim time for anything needing to be reclaimed from HMRC though.
As a French resident employed by a UK company I am eligible for an S1 issued by the Uk government and accepted by CPAM to cover my healthcare. Otherwise it seems only pensioners get it (and it exempts from some French social security contributions accordingly). However I have not been employed in France previously so if you have,then I am guessing you’d not be eligible for an S1 so would make up French social security contributions fron your salary earned in Britain and any other income on your French tax return. But do you want to eat in " MT Burgers " or in your neighbourhood restaurant that serves a proper meal? Your Impôts will readily advise you.
Also count up how many years of social security contribs you need to qualify for pension in each country. I think UK is now a minimum of 10 years to qualify for anything at all -and UK retirement age is now 66-67 and heading North.
I am not an expert but now that I live here I’m not moving, I will absolutely take up work in the UK if it arises, on a frontalier basis and it will not cause a problem to my ongoing French residence.
Surely you are a permanent resident so you can come and go as you please until the end of the validity of your card? At that point you either have to prove that you have not been “out” of France for 5 years (usually by showing avis d’impôt) or hand your card back.
interesting one really… I’ve been reading and rereading… and this is what I have gleaned…
As holder of a 10 year CDSWA, you are leaving France to become Resident in UK.
You will go into the NHS and you will be taxed etc by UK. You can tell France you’re leaving. CPAM will close the file and you won’t make Income declarations to France Tax folk.
In time… should you wish to stop being Resident in UK… your CDSWA entitles you to demand Residency in France and, provided you’ve not been Non-resident for more than 5 years… your request for French Residency cannot be refused… and you will be issued with a new CDSWA.
Back into CPAM and back into the FrenchTax system.
While you are Resident in UK, you can visit France under the arrangements for all other Brit UK Residents… 90/180… with your British Passport…
now, someone might well have more details… but this is how I think it works…
Hi Jane – I think that is what is confusing me. Totally agree tax and residency are different criterias…
So yes maybe it is just a simple case of being able to live between France and the UK for the duration of the 5 year period starts when I give up ‘full’ resident status if I can say it that way.
Thanks Stella, that seems really clear. So I will assume when I travel back into France to stay for a couple of weeks I should not show my CDSWA to the passport officers and have my passport stamped as a ‘normal’ non EU citizen right?
