No-deal residency cards expected to cost €269

An Interior Ministry source told us it is planned the cards would be charged for at the usual rates for third-country (non-EU) citizen's cards (unlike the UK’s ‘settled status’ application, which was originally to cost £65 but is now going to be free).

This is also confirmed in the text of the no-deal law on Britons' rights which says the cards would be ordinary ones for non-EU citizens and would be charged for according to the rules in the French immigration code. The latter gives the standard price of the relevant non-EU citizen cards as being between €150-280 and then as specified by decree, which currently means a price of €269.

The law published today says Britons with permanent stay EU cartes de séjour or able to provide the same evidence required for one (five years’ stable, legal residency) would have to obtain the carte de séjour longue durée – UE, valid 10 years, whereas those resident in France for less time would have to apply for one of several other third-country citizens' cards (depending on their situation) lasting one to four years before being renewable.

Note that the new law only relates to the no-deal scenario. In the case of a deal, the draft withdrawal agreement says formalising rights under the deal must be free or no more than the cost for a national of the country applying for a similar document – we take this to be a French identity card, which is free.

The UK settled status process is less costly than the French 'no-deal' cards because the UK has based it essentially on the withdrawal agreement ('deal'), whether or not the deal is in fact signed, whereas the French plans are, at least with regards to residency rights, more closely aligned with how other non-EU citizens are already dealt with in France (but minus some additional complications like the need for a visa).

The optional residency cards for EU citizens, which many Connexion readers have now obtained, are free, however they would have to be replaced after Brexit.

We will be looking at the new no-deal law in detail in the March edition of The Connexion newspaper. You can subscribe for this here (deadline midnight February 12).