Confirmed: Britons in France will need carte de séjour

All Britons living in France will need a carte de séjour after Brexit (or any transition period), the Interior Ministry has confirmed.

However, it is planned that people who already hold an ‘EU citizen’ card will not have to change it for another card.

The clarifications came in email responses and an interview which we have translated in full here.

The ministry says that residents who do not have a card after Brexit will have to apply for one (according to the draft exit deal this could be by July 2021 at the latest) though it will not, at that stage, be an ‘EU citizen’ one.

It is not yet clear what it will say on it. Applicants will have to provide the same proofs as those applying now and will obtain the same rights if they meet the rules.

Rights and procedures for Britons coming after a transition period are still to be defined.

While there is no obligation to apply now, a press spokesman for the ministry’s foreigners’ section said in his opinion it is advisable so as to avoid any rush later on when prefectures may face greater difficulties than now.

Readers already report problems in obtaining application appointments at some prefectures with one offering them more than a year away.

The EU meanwhile has been stepping up preparations for all Brexit scenarios, including explicitly for the possibility of a ‘no-deal or cliff-edge scenario’ in which ‘there would be no specific arrangements in place for EU citizens in the UK or for UK citizens in the EU’.

Time is short to meet a deadline of October 18 for a completed deal. With this in mind, the ministry’s answers offer some reassurances.