France

[marm1te]

Wow what a lot of info on this site. I've learned much but still manage to have a question for some kind soul who might have had the experience or has the knowledge with specific regard to France

I am a British Citizen and UK resident, always have been. I recently married my beautiful wife in North Africa and I want us to join my french family in France and live and work part of the year there (about six months). I am mostly in North Africa with my wife (we never applied to reside in the UK and don't plan to). As I understand it the good part is the Directive 2004/38/EC etc. which I think is the reason we had the free schengen visa when we made a brief trip to France recently. I didn't realise (again as I now understand it) that we could have just stayed in France and taken it from there - to reside - however the visa is still valid and multiple entry so we will go back. These forums seem to suggest the process is quite straightforward - I must become fiscally active in France, register and get a suitable place to live - and my wife has the right to a five year resident's visa as long as we remain married, later becoming permanent.

What is less clear to me is when one (me) is more of an independent worker. I currently derive my income from the UK even though I can work on the go, the rest is UK based investment. I'm not wealthy, in fact the sums are very modest. I would be prepared, initially for formalities sake until I get settled, to take on any local work in France but I cannot find info on what I must show and over what period. Does anyone have any experience on this or recommendations?

What concerns me is the talk of all the ways the european countries make things difficult or are not respecting or implementing the Directive; France is often mentioned. Separately I read the official site from France which talks about regroupement familial but dictates that the EU national must have been resident for at least one year, which seems to be in direct contravention of what the Directive allows. I accept that maybe I missed something or that site is general....
http://www.ofii.fr/faire_venir_sa_famil ... er_26.html

Help?

[86ti]

I do not speak French but I think you can find some info here
http://vosdroits.service-public.fr/part ... 0&l=N20305

[flyboy]

Marm1te, the link you provided does not apply to EU / EEA / Swiss nationals and their family members.

If you have a read through the link 86ti provided, all your wife will need to produce to apply for a residence card is:

a) passport
b)marriage certificate
c)evidence that you are exercising a treaty right such as a work contract if you are employed, or evidence of you being self employed, or you being economically self sufficient showing sufficient means of subsistence and health insurance (minimum amount for 2 people being 681,95 EUR per month).
You'll find the amounts on the link below on the right;

http://vosdroits.service-public.fr/part ... e&l=N13510
.

[marm1te]

I cannot thank you enough for such quick and relevant replies. I understand french well but have not yet adapted to efficient web searches on this subject, in french. You both seem to be very aware of the laws and facts and I thank you for your generosity in sharing that knowledge. These forum topics obviously live on for the benefit of others so I also ask anyone with personal experiences of the process in France, good or not so good, please add them here. Thanks again.

[86ti]

Search for author 'pierre75' in this forum. He also advertises the French forum http://multinational.leforum.eu

[marm1te]

Indeed. That led me to the post on the report on how Directive 2004/38/EC is being implemented. Interesting reading - like 3.4.1 states that Estonia and Spain do not even require proofs of accommodation and sustainability, just proof of citizenship, wow, there's me thinking spain was difficult.

Link to post: http://www.immigrationboards.com/viewto ... highlight=
Link to pdf: http://ec.europa.eu/justice_home/news/i ... 840_en.pdf