Brexit and Britons in France - 08/2019 updates
Latest updates on Brexit: legal action for rights of Britons in France, prefecture error solved and more...
A British woman from Normandy who got a letter telling her to leave France in 30 days after applying for a carte de séjour is to receive a “permanent stay” card.
Monica Miller, 52, told of her relief after her prefecture wrote that the order was in error as her application had been treated as if she was a non-EU citizen.
Ms Miller, who told her story in July’s Connexion and was assisted by the embassy, was invited to give her fingerprints and told to expect her card within a few weeks.
A member of the New Europeans pro-EU group is set to arrive in Santiago de Compostela in Spain shortly, after a 2,000km bike ride raising awareness of the EU Green Card scheme proposed to help safeguard post-Brexit rights.
For more about the ride by Rafal Skarbek, a UK resident of Polish origin, see tinyurl.com/y2c95gtg and facebook.com/greencardcamino.
Campaigners for rights of Britons in France will not pursue legal action for those who were unable to vote in the recent European elections.
British in Europe (BiE) had hoped to hold UK authorities to account over many Britons receiving postal ballots too late to take part, or not at all. Lawyers advised that claims would need to be brought against a number of separate public authorities and would be legally difficult to win.
The3million group, for EU citizens living abroad in the UK, which ran a joint crowdfunder with BiE to cover advice costs, will pursue action against the British government after complications led to many of them being unable to vote in the UK.
France's Brexit information site brexit.gouv.fr is shortly to be translated into English, the British Embassy has said.
In the meantime, Connexion and the embassy have passed on to the French government concerns that some of its content is misleading.
It implies that the protections given in the negotiated Brexit deal to Britons’ rights over matters such as healthcare, pensions and social security may only last during the proposed transition period, as opposed to (as is the case in the deal) being for life for those living in France before the end of the period.
At present, however, a Brexit with the deal is in question, meaning Britons could have to fall back on French no-deal laws and future bilateral deals between the UK and France.
