Surveys to help officials with Britons' Brexit needs
British people who live in France are being invited to take part in several anonymous surveys this summer to help the British Embassy and French Interior Ministry understand the community’s needs as Brexit approaches.
Campaign group for the rights of Britons in France RIFT (Remain in France Together) and the British Embassy both have short surveys to fill in online.
RIFT’s are open to the start of next month and there are five on different aspects of carte de séjour (residency card) applications, each taking ‘a couple of minutes’ and aimed at those who have applied for a card this year. RIFT says it will collate the results and pass on information to the embassy and ministry to highlight problems and press for a standardised and simple procedure for issue of cards.
The surveys (see this link) include ones on: requests for translations as part of applications, waiting times for appointments, refusal to process applications, issue of temporary cards (eg. five years) to those legally entitled to a permanent one, and refusals on grounds of eligibility.
Meanwhile the embassy has launched a survey at this link to gather “feedback to help us ensure the government communicates effectively about Brexit to UK nationals in [the] EU”.
This comes as the French Interior Ministry told Connexion in August’s edition of the paper it will respect the rights after Brexit of British people with (currently optional) residency cards and after Brexit those without them will have to undertake similar applications to officialise their right to stay (though it is not yet clear what kind of card will be available to Britons at that point).
It is advisable to apply sooner rather than later as there are reports of difficulties at some prefectures linked to the level of demand.
