Concern over Christmas travel for those renewing Brexit cards in France

Britons travelling at the end of the year could face issues if simpler procedures for Brexit card upgrades are not put in place, the co-chair of the British in Europe (BiE) campaign group has warned.

It comes as some of the 42,000 five-year Withdrawal Agreement (WA) cards issued in 2020-2021 to UK nationals who had been living in France less than five years are set to expire. 

And even where this is not yet the case (eg. cards issued in 2021), many holders now hope to upgrade them for 10-year ‘permanent residency’ cards, which is their right after five years living in France.

BiE’s Jane Golding and Fiona Godfrey were in Brussels this summer, with the3million (representing EU citizens in the UK) to speak to the UK-EU committee on citizens’ rights, a body set up to monitor respect of Withdrawal Agreement rules. 

They also met with the European Commission officials and with the European Parliament’s foreign affairs chairman.

Ms Golding said: “The most important point we raised was about upgrades to permanent residency. 

“We pointed out that for initial applications, France had a very good centralised system but upgrades are decentralised and are dealt with by prefectures, which is not always clear to WA beneficiaries in France.

“And there is still a problem of a lack of centrally-available information. We raised the fact that article 37 creates a continuing obligation to put out information and communicate about WA rights.

“We also raised problems with obtaining timely appointments at prefectures and we told them some people report difficulty upgrading before their current card expires.”

Only limited help available for Brexit renewals

Limited information can be found on the Service public website, but, so far, hopes of a new centralised online application process have not materialised. 

“It would be great, but it remains vague for now,” Ms Golding said. 

“The service-public information is better than nothing, but firstly, people have to find it and secondly, there needs to be sensible information on their prefecture’s site, which is often not the case.”

Some have information on renewals and in some cases their own online application process (eg. Calvados) while others have no information on the topic.

Another issue relates to travel: if a person has an expired WA card, or has only a récépissé to say they have applied to renew (also, usually, with a limited validity period), this may cause difficulties when the EU’s new digital borders scheme, EES begins.

“They won’t be able to travel with just a récépissé as the European Commission says people will need a biometric card,” she said. 

“There’s nothing in the Schengen border guards’ handbook to say they can accept other forms of proof.

“Hopefully, people will be able to hold on to existing cards until they have the new one, but if the card has expired, that’s not helpful either. 

Perhaps they could travel with the card as well as a récépissé. I will raise that with the EU.”

She added: “We also know loads of people across the EU will be upgrading just at the same time as EES is coming – and then Christmas and New Year will be here.

“It could be like the 2020-2021 when our BiE teams were all working flat-out to deal with issues [as the end of the Brexit transition period approached]. 

“Some people had big problems. It’s a flashpoint for non-EU citizens travelling into and out of the Schengen area. 

"The worst situations were when people were coming home via another country of the EU, at big transit points like Amsterdam Schipol.”

• If a centralised process is created for upgrades, it is likely to be via the Interior Ministry’s Anef site, which is also now used for changes of address, lost cards etc. If you do not have one, it is therefore likely to be useful to create an account on the site. We also recommend keeping a copy/scan of both sides of your WA residency card.