Plans blocked for Brits to be able to stay in France without 90-day visa

Top court stops plans to help Brits live in France
Holiday homes in Devon - which might now be a preferable option for the British
PA Archive
William Mata29 January 2024

France has blocked plans that could have allowed British expats to stay in France for longer than 90 days without a visa.

The country’s constitutional court has stopped the progression of an immigration amendment that would have bypassed Brexit legislation. The post-EU law means that even Brits who own homes in France would need a visa. 

The new rule has seen British nationals also require the paperwork to stay for 90 days in Spain and Italy. But while those countries could introduce their own law to help Brits out, the French court is so senior that its decision cannot be appealed. 

Politico reported that the court judges decided that 32 of the bill's 86 articles were unconstitutional. The bill had initially been passed through by Emmanuel Macron’s centrist government in December with support from right-wing parties. 

Former British home secretary Suella Braverman with French interior minister Gerald Darmanin
PA

Interior minister Gérald Darmanin tweeted: “The Constitutional Court has green-lit the government's original bill. Never has a law provided so many means for expelling delinquents and so many obligations to integrate newcomers."

However, the constitutional court contains members who are former politicians - including those on the left of the spectrum, who considered the bill as favouring the rich.

It means that Brits looking to stay longer in France will need to apply for longer-term visas on an ad-hoc basis. 

Evelyne Heeley, a former school improvement adviser and headteacher, moved to France in 2004 and lives in Occitanie for around 140 days per year. 

She told the i: "It’s crazy. And so we decided in the end that it was too much hassle and we sold, and it sold on the day we put it up for sale."

One wrote on Twitter: “That's exactly how it should be. It is an EU rule that applies to third countries. The UK chose to become a third country and knowingly imposed the removal of our own freedom of movement.”

Also on Twitter, Adrian McManus added: “Why on earth would they have believed that their immigration status was any different to those of other third-country nationals?”

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