Foreign Perspectives

We covered the very simplest case last week ie that of Europeans from established European countries intending to work. This case is almost as simple but does involve some paperwork.

If your spouse is from a country that’s been in Europe for less than four years then transitional arrangements may apply and will almost certainly be applied if there are any as France really loves documentation.

As before if you have “sufficient resources” (generally 1000‚€ a month or more) you are treated as though you were intending to work.

If you are from a country which requires a visa to enter France, then you still need to get it from the country in which you are living. However, they aren’t allowed to charge you for it and they can’t refuse it either. Once you reach France, you should go along to the mayor’s office (mairie) in your commun and apply for a Carte de Séjour Européenne. You’ll need to bring along your passport, that of your European spouse and proof of relationship (eg marriage certificate) plus two passport photos of you (none are required for the European citizen). Within 90 days, you should receive the Carte de Séjour (residence permit). These are the only documents that they are allowed to ask for but in practice they will often ask for considerably more; if this is the case you aren’t required to provide them but will probably need to quote the European law. You can get the same permit for the parents, grandparents, children or grandchildren of either you or your spouse regardless of their nationality. Before you bother to go down this path, bear in mind that if you have parents or grandparents who were Irish or born in Ireland pre-1922 or the Republic of Ireland after that then you are Irish and can therefore apply for an Irish passport which in turn means that you come under the simple case covered last week.

This section is one that doesn’t apply if you are French (unless you have dual/multiple nationalities) as the European law being used only applies if you are moving countries. Actually, in theory you could apply if you had lived in a European country other than France: there are always exceptions in immigration law.

Next week we’ll venture out into the more complex circumstances that can arise.

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