Questions: second-home owners and moving back to the UK

Can you live in the UK but still hold a WA card and, if you do this, do you risk penalties?

For residency purposes where you live is often defined as where you live ‘habitually’, often the same place your spouse or dependent children live.

To apply for a WA card, you had to be living in France before December 31, 2020 and provide a date of arrival.

Second-home owners should not have applied, but some reportedly did. France required relatively little documentation.

There was speculation that misuse might be uncovered through tax checks, especially where no French income is declared.

A tax office spokeswoman said they use data mining to detect fraud, including domicile issues, but did not confirm if residency cards are cross-checked with tax records.

Making false statements to obtain residency cards is a criminal offence.

It is possible to have obtained a permanent WA card and have then moved away from France while retaining the right to move back later on if you wish.

What if you have a WA card but move back to the UK?

For people issued with a five-year card the WA rules state that the holder risks losing the right to later convert this to a permanent card if they are away from France for more than six months in any 12-month period from the start of their residency unless for exceptional reasons.

This refers to 365-day periods.

If you have a permanent card, the WA says the right to reside in France is only lost after five consecutive years of absence.

An Interior Ministry spokeswoman said: “The person should keep their card and ensure they come back at least once in five years. They should, however, stay in France for a sufficiently long period for it to be considered that their absence from French territory has ended.”

We queried what counts as ‘sufficiently long’ but did not receive a reply.

A European Commission source previously told The Connexion that, in EU law, ‘absence’ would be taken literally (absence from French soil).

The ministry said there is no need to notify a change of address if a WA holder moves away from France.