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Residence - What regulations are there in France?

If you are a national of any state of the European Union (or the EEE), you are also a citizen of the Union. Union citizenship does not replace national citizenship, merely complements it. This right of citizenship is set out in a directive of the European Parliament, and is conferred by EU Treaty.

From its inception, workers from any member state of the Union have had the right to reside and work in any other. Successive pieces of legislation developed that basis of rights to extend them to family members, etc. Directive 2004/38/EC is the culmination of that series of steps towards freedom of movement and residence within the Union, and now confers on every Union citizen a personal right to move freely around the Union and settle anywhere within its territory.

This right is set out by the European Parliament in its Directive 2004/38/EC dated 29th April 2004, and has been transposed into French law by Décret n° 2007-371 of 21 March 2007.

The Directive 2004/38/EC

This directive replaces numerous previous directives and brings their contents into one single text, clarifies the definition of ‘family members’ and their rights and, for the first time, gives automatic right of residence to economically inactive persons such as students, retirees, etc., provided that they will not become a burden on the state by having sufficient financial resources to support themselves and their dependents and have comprehensive sickness insurance cover.

The main objectives of the directive are:

• To replace all the previous EC legislation in this field, which comprised Regulation (EEC) n°1612/68 and the Directives 64/221/EEC, 68/360/EEC, 72/194/EEC, 73/148/EEC, 75/34/EEC, 75/35/EEC, 90/364/EEC, 90/365/EEC et 93/96/EEC; by a single text.
  
  
• to give the rights to move and to reside to EU citizens as such and not only to specific categories of people identified as workers, students, self-employed and so on.
  
  
• To simplify the conditions and administrative formalities associated with the exercise of the right of free movement and residence in the Member States.
  
  
• To introduce the right of permanent residence for EU citizens after five years of continuous residence. They will no longer be subject to any conditions on the exercise of their right of residence, with virtually complete equality of treatment with nationals.
  
  For residence of less than three months, the only requirement is the possession of a valid identity document.
  
  For residence of more than three months, the need to hold a residence card for citizens of the Union is abolished and replaced by registration in the population register of the place of residence validated by a certificate issued immediately on presentation of proof that the conditions attached to the right of residence are complied with. EU citizens must be either workers or self-employed persons or else dispose of sufficient resources not to become a burden on the social assistance system of the host Member State and a comprehensive sickness insurance. Members of the family must provide proof of identity and of the family link to an EU citizen.
  
  
• To facilitate the movement of family members irrespective of whether they are EU nationals or not. The definition of 'family members' covers for the first time registered partners under the legislation of a Member State, if the legislation of the host Member State treats registered partners as equivalent to marriage.
  
  Other partners of EU citizens will not have an automatic right to entry and residence in the host Member State. However, the host Member State will have to "facilitate" the entry and residence of the partners with whom the EU citizen has a "durable relationship duly attested", taking into consideration their relationship with the EU citizen. Family members who are nationals of third countries also enjoy greater legal protection, for example in the event of death of the EU citizen on whom they depend, or the dissolution of the marriage under certain circumstances.
  
  
• To clarify the limitations to the right of residence on grounds of public policy, public security and public health in order to ensure that citizens of the European Union enjoy better administrative and legal protection in the context of measures restricting their right of residence, and to guarantee strong protection against expulsion for minors and persons who have resided in the host Member State for a long period of time.

Décret n° 2007-371 of 21 March 2007

This decree is the legislative instrument by which the EU directive is transposed into French law.

These national laws present the framework within which the relevant government departments must formulate their rules and regulations in order put these laws into effect. The laws themselves are clear: but the manner in which these laws will be implemented is not yet clearly established.

Implementation of these laws is the responsibility of the Interior Ministry, which acts through the Préfectures which represent the national government at the local level and as such exercise the powers that are constitutionally attributed to the national government. There is a Préfecture for each département.

Service-Public.fr is the internet portal to the French civil service website, which contains several pages of information relating to different circumstances of residence, i.e., workers, retirees, students, etc. The pages of that website generally conform to the Decree as far as they go, but at this time do little more than present in easily readable form what the law requires, but say little on how the law will be applied. For example,

• it does not state who decides if a private health insurance policy has been sufficiently comprehensive, and few if any policies will not contain some caveats on the part of the insurer.
  
  
• The Service-Public.fr statement that “The continuity of stay can be proved by any means” is not at all the same thing as the text of the directive which states “continuity of residence may be attested by any means of proof in use in the host Member State”. The latter will be likely to apply, but no information is available as to the “means of proof in use” in France.
  
  
• The required level of proof of the date of taking up residency is also unclear, which may become a problem for those who were refused issue of a Carte de Séjour after these became unnecessary in 2004 and before implementation of the three-month registration system imposed by the Décret on arrivals after November 2007.

The law follows closely the requirements of the directive. It is not yet known if its implementation will be carried out in the same spirit of benefit to the citizen as is the clear intention stated in the directive. The possibility exists that the rights of residency will be subject to political influences which would seek to curtail these benefits for ‘inactifs’, as has already been demonstrated by withholding access to the French sickness insurance programme for certain categories of existing residents, thereby automatically rendering their residence ‘not legal”.

The notes within this section are therefore offered to the reader in good faith, but with the caution that the information given is likely change as events progress. It is intended to update this section as and when more information is available, and FHI will welcome news of any advances on this subject.