French visas, EU citizenship case, pension contacts: Updates in brief

EU citizenship bid

French lawyers acting for Bri­tons living in France before Brexit are awaiting news of their last-ditch bid to regain their EU citizenship. 

After being turned down in French and EU courts, Alice Bouilliez and the EU Britizens association are appealing to the European Court of Human Rights.

The lawyers, acting pro bono, say they are hopeful, as, following submission in Septem­ber, the case has not been rejected as unacceptable, said lawyer Julien Fouchet. “We’ll go on to the end, out of European solidarity,” he said.

If it is formally accepted, the court will turn its attention to the arguments, which revolve around the claim that Britons should not have lost citizenship automatically.

“We are the first in Europe to take a case to the ECHR for Britons who have been deprived.

“Our fight is to keep EU citizenship for all Britons in the EU and, if it’s not possible, at least to allow them to continue voting in EU elections. The next steps will be for the appeal to be communicated to France, for it to present a defence of its position, our right of reply, then a hearing to get France condemned for not taking steps to preserve rights for Britons in France, and to obtain reparations.” For updates, see tinyurl.com/eubrit.

Inactive accounts

Some users of france-visas.gouv.fr report receiving emails saying their account will be deleted due to inactivity. 

This seems to be ‘housekeeping’, so as not to have many inactive accounts. If in doubt, you can update your details in your account to avoid deletion.

Pension centre

The Connexion also received a query about whether the UK’s International Pension Centre number is still active on 0044 (0)191 218 7777. 

There are no known technical issues, but there can be delays linked to high call volumes, especially first thing in the morning. See tinyurl.com/ukspinfo for details on claiming a UK pension abroad.