If you’re a Brit planning to spend a couple of months of the year in France then the good news is Brexit will not stand in your way. But what if you plan to move to France permanently, can you still make this dream a reality?
The answer is yes, you can.
UK citizens can still move to France after Brexit. It just isn’t as easy (or cheap) and there’s a few more hoops to jump through…
From now on, if you plan to spend more than 90 days in France you will need to apply for a visa as would any non-EU national (gosh we took that special treatment for granted didn’t we…). If you’re not sure which visa you need, the French visa site has a handy ‘visa wizard’ to help you choose.
If you want to stay for less than 12 months then you can apply for either a long stay visitor visa or a temporary long stay visa both of which cost about €99. Once you have this visa, then you are able to apply for a Residency Permit (known as the Carte de Sejour or Titre de Sejour). Prior to Brexit, the minimum income requirement for this was around €650 per month (for a single person) but has increased to around €1250 per month. You now also need to have a minimum level of French equivalent to about A2 level. Not sure what your current level is? Book a call with us to find out.
France is not currently issuing visas due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, so if you are planning to apply it’s best to wait a little while.
Can I still buy a house in France after Brexit?
Yes, you can. Property purchases are not affected by Brexit. Unless, of course, you plan to spend more than 90 days there in which case you would still need to apply for one of the visas above.
Can I still go on holiday to France after Brexit?
Yes, absolutely. Once travel is permitted we can resume our Paris city breaks and wine tasting trips once again! You can spend 90 out of every 180 days in France visa-free. Bear in mind, however, that this is 90 days out of 180 in the whole EU. So you can’t spend 90 days in France then pop down to Italy for another 90 (tant pis).
Also bear in mind that in the next couple of years, the Schengen area will introduce the ETIAS scheme – the European Travel Information and Authorisation System which is a light-weight visa entry system (similar to the ESTA in US). For now though, things continue pretty much as they were…
It’s still early days so no doubt changes will be introduced but hopefully this has cleared up where you stand on moving to France after Brexit.
If you are planning to make the move to France one day, why not check out our C’est la vie or Bon voyage learning packages. Book a free 15 minute consultation call with us today to find out more.