They are French, so risks are much smaller - a fine, a slapped wrist, that sort of thing. It’s easy to think they can do it, so why can’t I? Well foreigners can lose their carte de séjour for illegal working - one of the few reasons for a carte de séjour to be cancelled. Or find difficulty come renewal time.
And of course it’s extremely easy for disgruntled French people who have lost a job to a foreigner to complain, or who are paying high cotisations and don’t like people who don’t.
The longer term impact is also should one wish to apply for nationality then any negative mark will be a reason for rejection.
It’s a choice, but one that can have big consequences.
(I actually think there’s much more working under the table in anglophone countries).
Good points. Keep thinking about doing the markets with our goat products - soap and cheese - but the legalities are so off putting. It’s a different world here. And as you say the consequences for foreigners could be serious
Thanks for reminding me. But I just did try, and a google search for “musiciansdansmaville” didn’t seem to produce a lot of useful results. Google even wanted to correct me. What I am doing wrong?
Mike, you are mixing up two different things. Brits (apart from the wealthy) are anal and slavish about following the rules, even stupid ones, as are the Germans (and we all know what that gave us) and maybe the Scandinavians.
The French and more southern nations take a more flexible view, that is not corruption, it is keeping a balance.
heh. I know what you mean but not sure I agree. Politically, I’m a libertarian - ie minimum govt - and the only way that can work is everyone agrees to follow the rules. So I’m biased I suppose. I’m in favour of agreeing to rules and then following them
No Jane, I think it’s more ingrained than that. It’s not a fear of repercussions because this slavish adherence to the letter of the law existed way before Brexit. It’s that Brits just don’t understand.
So am I, it’s much simpler But when one lives in a Country where the law says one thing and nobody pays any attention to to it, one would be a fool not to follow the local custom.
Planning permission (as opposed to post facto forgiveness), fosse septics, etc. etc. The locals have ways of getting around these issues. One is better off availing of local advice than slavish following the legislation. Which may have been enacted for who knows what reason.
BTW, I should say I am fully compliant from my Impots to my fosse But am I going to worry about paying my electrician in cash for installing my new charger next Saturday
Even the French authorites recognise the issue. There are programmes to facilitate home help, gardening and bricolage, some of which we do avail of.
We don’t approve either. Quite apart from anything else if someone works for you au noir you have no redress whatsoever should they do a bad job or have an accident.
Thing is that the French seem to know instinctively which rules they can bend and how far they can safely bend them. There is an art to it and it takes time for foreigners to learn it.
France is quite joined up in some ways, such that some things can come back and bite you in the bum some time later.
Why would you. There is nothing illegal about paying a registered artisan in cash.
If your electrician is not registered and insured it is another story and I woukd worry about using the charger.
I meant sans facture, though I think he declares all his stuff anyway.
On the other hand I wouldn’t deal with cowboys on anything, no matter how cheap. This guy installed our first charger and he’s meticulous, The charger had a problem even before we used it and the Wallbox service technician, (all the way from Aix I think) replaced the box made a point of saying the installation (with a load balancer) was excellent.
I lived in Valencia city for 5 years after visiting regularly for 15 years, sometimes for a month at a time and twice for six months. I found the Spanish in general and the Valencianos in particular warm, friendly, welcoming, outgoing.
It may be different in Catalonia. They do have a thing about not being Spanish, including the language.
Books I read about moving to Spain often referred to the unwillingness of the Spanish to invite you to ther homes. When the mother of a Spansh guy who lived in my UK house for some months had her 60th b/d I was the only non-family guest.
If you have a basis in Spanish but no French at all, go to Spain. Language is the key to making a success of wherever you go. The considerable difference between my ability in Spanish and French was one of the reasons I decided to move to FR.
But when one lives in a Country where the law says one thing and nobody pays any attention to to it, one would be a fool not to follow the local custom.
and am partly Scottish.
but