A woman has told Connexion how she has received an official letter ordering her to leave France within 30 days despite owning a home and living in France since 2004.
Monica Miller, 52, who lives in Normandy, said the letter received in June also told her she had to visit the gendarmerie weekly to inform them of her progress organising plans to leave.
The letter included a refusal for her application for a permanent residency carte de séjour which she had applied for last September.
Rejection was based on her being deemed likely to be a burden to the state due to living on French benefits and having had only short recent periods of work.
Mrs Miller said she has struggled to work due to illness.
She plans to appeal with help from the British Embassy in Paris and an avocat (French barrister).
She said she is stressing her strong links with France, which she fears may not have been clear in her original application.
The application instead focused on proving her stable residency in the last five years, often asked for in applications for a carte de séjour - séjour permanent (however technically any five years of stable, legal residency in another EU country establishes this EU right, not just the five most recent ones).
The refusal letter suggests that the prefecture believed she had come in 2013, and officials may also not have been aware of her family ties in France.
It said “there is no element to suggest she cannot pursue her private and family life in her country of origin where she spent most of her life”.
Ms Miller said after making her application, which she handed in in person at the prefecture, she was asked in writing for further information, which she sent by recorded delivery.
“On June 6 I received another recorded delivery letter telling me to get out of the country by July 6. It listed reasons why, saying I was a burden on the state, but the authorities are obviously not aware that I have been here since 2004, that my daughter grew up here and is working. My parents and cousin live here; my friends are here.
“They’re not aware of my health issues. They only asked for proof of being here five years, if they’d asked I would have volunteered other information.”
She said she found employment in 2017 however she then fell seriously ill and has since suffered ongoing health issues.
The refusal and notice to leave letter said after 30 days she may be taken to the border and made to leave. It offered a meeting with the organisation OFII (concerned with immigration and integration) for assistance with moving back to the UK.
She said: “My lawyer said they’ve not looked at the full picture. My life is here; I’ve only been back to England once.
“I don’t own a house there, I own my home here, and have nothing to go back for. I’m originally from London but wouldn’t want to be there now, I love it here.”
Ms Miller’s case is the third that Connexion has been made aware of.
The Interior Ministry previously told us such orders to leave are rare and usually concern people involved in aggressive begging or who have no resources at all and are deemed to be taking advantage of welfare.
Now we can get on with our lives....
A British couple with two children who in April were issued with a letter telling them to leave France in 30 days after being turned down for cartes de séjour have now received five-year cartes.
It comes after they were invited by their prefecture to present more documents to bolster their application and the demand to leave was dropped.
The Interior Ministry had told Connexion it investigated after we flagged up the case to them and the couple had also sought help from the British Embassy.
Emma Lawrence, an IT expert with a small business, said she is now hoping to focus on building up her business and becoming a homeowner.
“Luckily for us, we’re able to carry on and so we’re picking up where we left off,” she said. “We’re trying to get the house built and the money coming in.”
The section of the ministry dealing with residency procedures for foreigners in France, told Connexion the couple had been asked to leave in error.
It also asked their prefecture to review their request for cards.
Mrs Lawrence had applied on the basis of self-employment and her husband as an ‘inactive’ person with substantial savings.
They had been in France for two years. Mrs Lawrence said: “I think in our case it was a mistake – it was all about money, and because we could prove that we met their criteria, we were OK.
“For anyone that doesn’t meet them, it’s a horrible situation.”
She added that their area is low-income and many people get by on incomes lower than the figures originally mentioned by the prefecture. “It’s quite hard in these rural parts to have a reliable solid income, but people are managing.”
She added: “What about reciprocity? The British aren’t means-testing anyone.”
See more:
British family told to leave France 'set to stay'
'Carte' hopes for UK family ‘told to leave’ France
'This is Brexit' - family gets 30 days to leave France
