How to be an illegal immigrant in France and avoid deportation
April 25th, 2007 | 
Author: One wonders whether that title will attract the attention of the French authorities but it probably won’t.
We’ve been living here for over three years now with no residence permit (Carte de Séjour) for Wendy and now pretty much accept that she’ll almost certainly never get one. Now, in every other country that would be something of a problem in that Wendy would be deported indeed she would already have been deported. Not in France though.
How come we can do that?
Well, what we did was apply for her Carte de Séjour within 90 days of us arriving here. Actually, we applied for the European version of that ie the Carte de Séjour Europeenne but that wouldn’t really have mattered as it turns out.
The CdS is something of an unusual beast in that the only documents that the authorities are legally allowed to ask for are a passport and a proof of relationship. This being France, they actually asked for around 30 separate documents which we refused to provide and there things stopped. We received no further contact from the Prefecture (who are responsible for issuing it) but did enquire a few times and they said they were awaiting for documentation from us (ie the documents that we had refused to supply).
About a year later, we thought we’d have another go. Different staff this time, and we managed to get somewhat further, eventually ending up with a letter from OMI (the immigration department) asking for EUR 220. As noted above the only things that they can legally ask for are a passport and proof of relationship, there’s no mention of money in the European law because they’re not allowed to ask for any. So, I sent off a letter pointing this out. No response.
Late last year, we made a start yet again. Turns out that they had lost the file (although, funnily enough, they seemed able to refer to some information that it contained!). Anyway, different staff again and we were assured that the permit was on its way. The temporary permit arrived in due course and, as it’s about to expire, we enquired. That in turn triggered off the letter from OMI with a bill this time of EUR 275 so I must dig out my own letter again.
So, if you fancy being an illegal alien in France, it’s really very easy. Once you get here, apply for your Carte de Séjour but leave out a few documents that they’re asking for. This totally throws the system apparently as we were told several times that our file had been put to the one side awaiting the documents which, of course, were never going to arrive. Eventually, your file is put away and nobody is ever likely to follow up on it after that happens.
This relies on one aspect that seems innately French: they obey authority and said authority assumes that it will be obeyed ie if they demand some document, then obviously it will arrive. Step outside that framework and it totally throws the system.
So, if you fancy being an illegal immigrant in Europe, don’t bother with the UK as they’ll deport you for sure. Head for France, apply for your Carte de Séjour but omit at least one document asked for and then just settle into life here.
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The thing is, if you need the carte de sejour to work then you can’t really be stuffing around quoting European law. You just have to get the documents and be done with.
Plus I couldn’t get a carte vitale without the carte de sejour so it’s not so great being without health cover. I think you said Wendy does have health cover though so I don’t know how you managed that. It seems like the regulations vary quite a bit between the different regions.
Having said that, if I was to do it all again I wouldn’t bother with all the documents and just stay in the black. The hassle is just not worth it and seeing I work for myself and don’t need permission to work here then it was all pointless.
The problem is that we couldn’t (and still can’t) supply all of the documents that they were originally asking for because a number of them simply don’t exist. Even now, I still can’t provide the proof of income that they were insisting was one of the “absolutely essential” documents (a number of others they were asking for only because they could ask for them, not because they actually required them).
Wendy is covered by my Carte Vitale so that’s OK.
If I were starting from scratch again, I’d have set up Mas Camps Ltd in the UK and just employed myself which considerably simplifies things vs the self-employed hassles.
What really gets me though is that they definitely should have done something about deporting her by now if they followed their own rules. On the other hand, I think they also know that they can’t deport her under European law. I just love one of the quotes from the Prefecture here “European law doesn’t apply in France”. Definitely a classic!
European law doesn’t apply in France’
LOL – what a great country we live in!
Info filed. Thanks… always wanted to live awhile in France. 😉
Angela.
Wendy covered by your Carte Vitale? You might have heard on TV or read in the newspaper that a new Carte Vitale is about to be launched, the purpose of this new card is to avoid people using someone eslses card ! (but then, my carte vitale often goes crazy and I use my parents one or my sister’s so I wont blame you for giving your card to Wendy).
As for the deporting question, you’ll notice that in our “beautifull country” the laws seem to be different if you are an australian living here illegaly, or if you are an african with less money…
I love the “European law doesn’t apply in France’… a consequent number of the french laws are past by the european parlement 🙂 !!!
Covered by my account would be more accurate; she has her own Carte Vitale but it uses my social security number.
Ah, ’tis always the same… if you look more or less like the native population, then minimal hassle on the immigration front. Having said that, South Africans of any colour have endless problems getting into France, even if it’s only for a holiday.
I think that the problem with the law is that France tends to pass laws which are inheritantly anti-citizen for the most part whereas European laws are almost always framed in favour of the citizen. Therefore, there are large numbers of European laws which are in direct conflict with the matching French law.
Outside the area of immigration I think the best example of this is the way that French car insurance renewals work. To cancel, under French law, you need to send a recorded delivery letter at least two months before the insurance is due for renewal as otherwise they will take you to court for non-payment. However, under European law they must tell you the cost of the insurance before you purchase it therefore you can cancel when the renewal notice arrives because that’s when they tell you the cost.
One thing you must take into account, is that European law is supposed to be ABOVE the french law. Therefore, if you have trouble with the french lawand disagree with it saying it goes against European regulations, you always have the possibility to appeal to the European Court in Luxembourg city.
I recall one of my former history teachers, a swiss citizen living in France, winning a disaproval he had with the French tax system. The french justice can be overtaken by Luxembourg in some specific cases 🙂 !
I’m quite sure one could even fight against the car insurance system… but it would be a long fight and cost a lot of money in going to Luxembourg and back many times, plus the justice expenses !!!
Ah, but it is VERY easy to beat the car insurance scam as operated by the insurance companies here. The key thing is that they know that they are operating illegally and cannot afford to risk any case going to court.
For example, when we bought our car here, we got a quote from the insurance company of something like EUR 450 to insure it. That was on the basis that, although I had 23 years of no claims, I could only prove 4 years. I agreed to that quote on July 1st. About 6 weeks later, the documentation arrived quoting EUR 900. I called in and after some discussion (“you didn’t provide documentation for 23 years”, “I said that I couldn’t”, etc.), said that I was going elsewhere and that they should cancel the insurance. Of course, under French law, you can’t do that.
Early September, and I’d already got the car insured elsewhere. The first legal letter arrived demanding the EUR 900. Then the second letter stating that they’d be taking me to court if I didn’t pay up.
I went in again and reminded them that under European law they could not legally change the price after the quote was agreed (and legally I could have enforced the EUR 450 on them). I still got one more letter from them but it stopped dead after that.
There would be no court costs if anyone were to take them to Luxembourg over this because they are absolutely certain to lose the case and therefore would end up having to pay your costs too. Except, it would be even more expensive for them because they’d lose massive amounts of renewals in France as people would be able to shop around for insurance as easily as they do everywhere else in the world. Net effect would be quite a drop in insurance costs in France I suspect.
Hi Arnold,,
Pity those that must confront the French administration but take heed. If you are legally married, they can’t touch her if you yourself are a citizen of member state of the European Union.
She can use your health care without too much problem and she can get a job without the proper documents.
France is a drag when it comes to that part of the administration.
The question is are you legally married
Under the European law as it’s quoted, you don’t actually need to be married as such. That is the interpretation applied in the UK where we received a European Residence Permit with no problem at all.
As far as the EU permit goes, my understanding is that if you move countries, the new country are required to renew it for you in that strictly speaking you aren’t immigrating as such but moving which is a significant difference. The French authorities quite simply refused to do this yet, on the other hand, they appear to recognise that they can’t deport Wendy either.
In fact they have let things go for so long now that Wendy is now the parent of a French child (our little guy was born here so is British, Irish, Australian and French!). That in turn changes the situation considerably of course in that I’d have thought they’d have severe constitutional problems deporting someone who was the parent of a French minor not to mention various European laws that would have something to say about that too.
@ZeMoua…
You think that…
“As for the deporting question, you’ll notice that in our “beautifull country†the laws seem to be different if you are an australian living here illegaly, or if you are an african with less money…”
Let me tell you from personal experience – you can be an Australian with a million dollars in your account, but you will still be booted.
I spent almost three weeks in the Centre de Detention Administratif at Lyon St Exupery in Nov 2007, then was bunged on a plane for Australia (and accompanied by FOUR police – two in seats next to me, two others hidden among the passengers).
I admit that everyone – from the gendarmes right through to my fellow inmates in the concentration camp – was bemused to see a middle class Strayan in their midst.
the most bizarre thing – during our period n garde avue, the gendarmes informed us that we had been granted a carte de sejour – but we had never collected it, and it had expired two months beforehand. (In fact we were never notified that it ha been granted).. We just thought we were overstaying, pure and simple.
Even the judge said “There is no interdiction du territoire – you can come back straight away”. So I did, of course.
Perhaps the lack of interdiction du territoire is a back-handed way of saying a historical ‘thanks’ for all the dead 21 year old Australian men buried at Verdun, Ypres, the Somme and the other places – those where our country donated 15% of its male population in 1914-18 when the Frogs had capitulated (comme d’habitude). Unlike the Yanks, we turned up at first call (not in late 1917).
Anyhow – the process continues; our latest lot of paperwork goes in this week.
I don’t want you to get the wrong idea – I love France (the country and the people) despite a deep and abiding hatred for its nascent police state under the Little Pharoah. As I mentioned, mmy country shed the lives of almost one young man in five, in order to prevent France from remaining under an autocratic regime. We did it again in 1939-45 (again for the Americans reading this… WWII started three years before you showed up in the European theatre) in order to prevent a particularly odious for of police state… but you wouldn’t know it under le petit nabot mechant…
Cheerio
GT
Auvergne
PS… it’s true that Maghrebain and African people are treated malevolently by SOME in the gendarmerie. Give a jerk a gun and a badge and you see the means by which the Gestapo and the Stasi arise.
Cheerio again…