Falling In Love With Paris

We've been here more than two months and I think I might have finally have fallen in love with the city. It's been so grey and miserable and I haven't even had the motivation to go out and explore or do anything adventurous. I've pretty much been working non-stop this month so it's not like I've had the opportunity even If I could be arsed. 

In terms of Vs Carte de Sejour application we have managed to secure an appointment next month to make the official application. I didn't think that's how it would go down, I was fully expecting to do everything at the centre de réception des étrangers in the 17e, but after waiting about 45 mins we spent an hour and a half with a fonctionnaire as she asked for a couple of the documents from the list. V was given a récépissé for the carte de sejour which means he can (finally) work and has the right to stay in France even when his visa is no longer valid. I was more than a bit annoyed that they didn't ask to see my birth certificate that I'd just paid €50 to translate though. I'm assuming they will actually want everything off the list at the interview.

Because my social security number still hasn't come through I can't affiliate myself with the French healthcare system, which means V can't be either soooo I will probably have to pay for some private cover before the interview in order to tick all the boxes. 

After having stayed in a total of 4 different apartments we have finally found a place to stay until September in the Marais. The area is lovely, which is how I'm trying to justify the cost of this poky studio, but the famous falafel restos are literally within spitting (ew) distance which won't be good for my (expanding) waistline.

I'm going to attempt to blog more often now that I'm in a proper routine and I've got fewer things to stress about. I get really annoyed with myself everytime I see something interesting or do something super touristy and don't photograph/review it. 

K

EU Rights of Free Movement

I thought I should explain in a little bit more detail for anyone who is interested how I am able to move to Paris and take my husband with me.

Most of us take the ability to travel to France for granted, If you're from the EU or your country has a visa-waiver agreement with France you can spend up to 3 months in France. If you are an EU citizen you will even be allowed to work, study or retire there. If you do need a visa to enter France (or the Schengen area as a whole) that makes things a lot harder for you- unless you are married to an EU citizen.

EU directive 2004/38/EC basically outlines the rights of EU citizens for moving freely within the member states. For example if you're Spanish, you can move to the UK or if you are Estonian you can go and retire in France. Freedom of movement is one of the fundamental principles of the EU and personally the most important. It's also probably the one that has impacted most of us.

These rights are extended to family members, which usually means the spouse/partner but can go as far an an aunt or sibling. For more info about the particulars here are some useful links:

European Commission
Freedom of Movement in the EU blog
Europa Guide to Free Movement

My husband is subject to the entry visa requirement as he is a Kosovan citizen which has delayed our move to Paris quite significantly but everything should go smoothly once we are there- as smooth as any bureaucratic in France can be at least!

The visa he was issued was issued free of charge, and legally should have been processed at an accelerated rate. It wasn't and the staff at the embassy we visited hadn't even heard of the EU regulation that has existed for nearly a decade. We found Solvit very helpful so they are definitely worth contacting if you have any trouble. The consular staff wouldn't listen to reason and the appeals process is lengthly and Solvit had it sorted in less than 3 months- All it took was a phone call, gently reminding the embassy of the rules.

We were given conflicting advice by several different officials but YourAdvice Europe answered all the questions we had about which visa he should have applied for. You only need a short stay visa to enter France legally, not a long-stay. If you don't normally require a visa to enter France you won't need one if you are planning on moving there as the non-EU spouse of an EU citizen either- There is a fairly short list of countries who's citizens require a visa just to get in. He was issued with a 3 month Schengen Visa that states he is a family member of an EU citizen.

They are not allowed to request any of the usual documents required for a Schengen visa; no insurance documents, proof of means of support, invitation letter etc. Just proof of your family tie and id! The only legal grounds for refusal are if you constitute a genuine and present threat to the security of the member state (basically unless you are an evil criminal/terrorist they have to let you in).

Sadly for Frenchies, it's actually easier for me to take my spouse to France than for a French citizen to do the same. My husband won't be subject to intrusive medical examinations or french language/citizenship lessons. I'm not sympathetic to any whinging about this because it's even more difficult for a British person to take their husband/wife to the UK. The best thing about the rights of free movement is that you are not expected to pay for anything- residency cards are free, visas are free and there are no financial requirements either. Its currently about £800 to apply for a spouse visa for the UK and you don't get that back if they say no. The UK is one of the worst offenders for not correctly implementing EU immigration law in my books. Spain is also pretty sneaky and there are plenty of instances where the Kingdom of Spain has lost an immigration case against the European Commission.

It actually specifies on my husbands visa that he cannot enter Spain (or Greece) because they have not accepted Kosovo's independence from Serbia despite the fact that more than 120 other countries have. Because they don't think Kosovo is a thing, his passport isn't considered valid. Technically, I can legally take him to Spain and Greece because they're in the EU but I don't know how that would actually work. It will probably take the European Commission taking them to court over the issue for them to follow the law though. I guess our Greek holiday will have to wait :(

Sorry for continually saying 'take him with me' but it's because of the law...He can only travel within the EU (without getting a tourist or other visa) if he is accompanying me. As my mother put it, he is my suitcase as far as France is concerned.

I'm happy to answer any questions you have about moving to somewhere new in the EU and your rights to do so.

Moving To France

If you're lucky enough to have European Union citizenship you can travel freely within EEA and have the right to reside and work almost anywhere in Europe. I'm British which means Europe is my oyster, at least for the moment because some ridiculous people would like to leave the EU...

I could have a bit of a rant about immigration and why the UK policy is so disgustingly racist but i'll refrain for the time being.

According to EU law, there are no legal restrictions on stays of up to 3 months in another member state and very few formalities to make your stay permanent. For example, I don't need a carte de sejour but I can have one if I want and after 5 years of residency I'm eligible for French citizenship which is snazzy.

France is the first proper EU country that I have lived in apart from the UK (3 years in Switzerland doesn't count, because it's technically not in the EU). I don't even have to apply for a residency card or register with anyone in order to be able to work- that would be the responsibility of my employer.

Sadly, just because I have the right to be in France, doesn't mean it's easy. Getting an apartment, opening a bank account and familiarising myself with the social security/tax system is an ongoing project. The fact that my Non-EU citizen husband is coming with me to France massively complicates things too- he's allowed to live in France by virtue of my UK citizenship but has to register and apply for a residency card, which he can only do once I prove my status (employed). It's been a massively stressful endeavour to get this far and it has taken nearly 5 months to organise. I will try and write about our experiences getting this sorted in France.

(Stupidly) It's lucky that he is "allowed" to live in France too, because its a hell of a lot harder for him to live in the UK. I say stupidly, because I have a massive problem with the notion that I deserve to be able to travel somewhere and live somewhere else just because I was born in Britain. It's incredibly unfair that just because of where you are born you are not allowed the same opportunities as others born in the same continent. In order to even be able to travel to France, he had to obtain a visa- which, by law, should have been very easy. Instead, it took 3 applications, 1 appeal, 4 complaints and a petition to the EU parliament.

We don't actually want to settle in France permanently, I'd like to be able to finish my degree in England and get on with real life. Since the new restrictions for UK Spouse Visas came into force last year, i'm required to have an annual salary of nearly £19,000 which is impossible as a full time undergrad. The only way around this rule is to live & work elsewhere in the EU for a while, which will allow me to be considered as an EU citizen by the UK instead of just British- meaning we can move to the UK using the same EU rights of free movement that are allowing us to move to Paris. It's a bit complicated and i'll eventually explain it in more detail in another post...

We are going to be spending the first month in the 18th Arrondissement of Paris- it's a culturally rich and diverse area which i'm really looking forward to exploring properly. Paris is such a teeny city in comparison to London and everything is really easily accessible by Velib or Metro so I'm not too fussed about being far away from the centre-centre. We'll have a view of Sacre Coeur from our bedroom window which hopefully will help my transition to Parisian. The last time I was in paris was a few years ago and i'm really excited about going back and really experiencing it as more than just a tourist.

Hi there...

I have decided to start writing this blog to give me somewhere to write about Paris and my experiences moving and living in the city.
I already blog over at Beauty is Perfection if you are interested in reading a UK & France based beauty blog written by two sisters.

I'll try and write about useful things for tourists and anyone who is brave (mental) enough to move to France. There will probably be a lot of tips (ranting) about bureaucratic procedures moving to Paris as both an EU and non-EU citizen- which I hope will be helpful to someone! Expect a load of random photos of pretty things in Paris too, because I can't help myself.