Second-home owners: French MPs and senators relaunch efforts for visa concessions

French MPs and senators have told The Connexion how they are continuing to push for easier visits to France for second home owners and especially Britons who bought before Brexit.

Many readers still report frustration with the temporary long-stay visa process for stays in France for up to six months – but there are signs of improvements compared to previous years.

Some 86,000 French second homes are owned by UK residents according to official French estimates – with many owners in the habit, before Brexit, of coming for up to half of the year, which has been made difficult by post-Brexit rules.

Read more: Senator makes new easier visa pledge for second-home owners in France

Since Brexit, Britons, like others such as Americans, are subject to a basic Schengen area rule of staying no more than 90 days in any 180-day period. Their only other option is applying each time for a six-month temporary long-stay visa (VLS-T), which involves similar paperwork to moving to France.

French lawmakers last year voted to allow ‘automatic’ long-stay visa rights to Britons with French second homes, so that they could come for more than three months with no, or minimal, formalities. 

However, this was removed from the 2024 immigration law by the Conseil constitutionnel as, along with some other articles, it was deemed insufficiently related to the bill’s original aims.

Since then, the Interior Ministry has been under pressure to simplify visits, in particular with regard to the VLS-Ts, which involve compulsory visits to hand in supporting documents and have fingerprints taken. 

In the UK, there are only three visa centres where this can be done, run by contractors for the French consulate, TLScontact.

Current procedure is a "little revenge" 

Philippe Lottiaux (Rassemblement National, Var) has re-tabled a written question he put to the government last year before the dissolution of the Barnier government. 

In it, he said many second-home owners consider the 90/180 days rule to be unfair in view of their contributions to the “vitality of the communes in which they temporarily reside”.

“At a time when simplification is the order of the day, the current procedure is unnecessarily cumbersome and complex,” he stated.

He told The Connexion: “I think we can make things simpler and that at the root of this is a little ‘revenge’ on the part of the French government after Brexit.

“This is what was provided for in last year's immigration law, but it was not retained.

“This is the third time I've asked the question, with no clear answer, and it is rather annoying. 

Especially as there are two possible solutions: either abolish certain procedures, as was proposed in the immigration law, or make technical improvements that depend on the ministry. Unfortunately, French officials never do things simply.

“I know that technical improvements have been made to the system in recent months, but that's not enough.”

Philippe Fait (Horizons, Pas-de-Calais) said he had also “several times called on the Interior Ministry to obtain clarifications on the current systems and possibilities for more flexibility”.

He said the ministry, in its responses, repeated that the issues stem from Brexit and that Britons may apply for a VLS-T, or a full VLS-TS visa, valid up to 12 months for longer stays.

The ministry added that using TLScontact to collect applications aims at “absorbing the increase in the volume of applications, reducing waiting queues and centring the consulate’s work on actually processing the files”. 

Fingerprints, meanwhile, are a legal obligation which is required of all visa applicants for security and anti-fraud reasons.

Mr Fait said he hoped in future it may be possible to put the whole process online, which is currently the aim for short-stay tourist visas (for nationals without a visa waiver for 90/180 days).

He will also be “attentive” to relevant debates in parliament, including “possible opportunities” if a new bill is proposed on immigration and border control, he said.

Current application process is "overwhelmingly complex"

The Connexion has also heard from Hélène Laporte (Rassemblement National, Lot-et-Garonne), who is asking the government if it intends to bring back the ‘automatic visa’, and from senator Martine Berthet (Les Républicains, Savoie), who recently wrote to the interior minister, saying many Britons “describe the application process as frustrating and stressful, often feeling overwhelmed by its complexity”.

Ms Berthet passed on to him suggestions from a British homeowner in her area, who had collected feedback from other Britons. 

This included requests to reduce the obligatory six-month period between the end of one VLS-T visa and the start of another, to provide clearer information on supporting documents, and make it easier for families of three or more people to take an appointment together, which was reported to often be difficult.

Several recent reader emails to The Connexion raised similar concerns, asking why, for example, it is necessary to renew the fingerprinting process every year. 

Several also referred to the costs and lengthy travel as well as to worry that minor errors can result in rejections.

One reader stated that he and his partner attended TLScontact in Manchester, only to be told that his partner’s application was invalid due to her middle name having been left off when they applied for the appointment. “The process cost me €134, a wasted basketful of paper and a day of our lives,” he said. 

Read more: Letters: New French visa plan may remove the worry of overstaying

There was, however, more positive news from a reader who stated that “we have applied every year since Brexit, and our experience [in London] in February was overall much better than previously”.

We note that prior to Brexit, no Britons required visas for France, but the consulate dealt rather with such people as American or Indian nationals living in the UK with a French second home or moving to France. It is unclear what staff increases were made with regard to the added workload post-Brexit. 

One reader with a home in Nord pointed out that France’s system of temporary long-stay visas for leisure/tourism is not common internationally (visas are more commonly geared either towards short-stay tourists or people coming to work).

Two American readers with second homes pointed out that much the same process exists for US residents (where France uses a contractor called VFS Global). “I hope a more inclusive strategy for all second-home owners could prove better for all of us,” one said.