General advice on French residency

[OLDDORMOUSE]

Hi there, 1st post so be gentle with me please.

I dare say there'll be lengthy lists of questions to follow but for now some simple straightforward advice on a small number of topics would be very welcome.

My partner and I have bought a rural property in the Charante which needs lots of attention. I'm getting on reasonably well with local tradesmen but am totally ignorant of French Burocracy.

What is a Carte de Sejour and do we need one if we plan to spend say 9 months of each year in France. ( My partner will keep a small property in England which could be either a principal or secondary residence whichever is more suitable)

My health hasn't been great lately (although it's stabilised !) and I'd like to retire in April on my 60th birthday. If I do that will I be entitled to any form of income support from the French Government and what hoops will I have to go through to get it ? If I have no gainful employment what health cover can I expect if any ? Cost of prescriptions etc.

I'd like to drive a LHD French car but the prices are really high. Is it feasible to bring a UK registered car over and use it in France as we've been doing so far or will we need to eventually get a UK sourced car registered in France. I've heard this can be difficult. Is it easier/cheaper to source a LHD drive car from say Germany or will that still present problems.

And a strange but topical, for us at least, question. Is it OK to bring UK supplied plumbing stuff over the France, are the pipes etc compatible or can they be made to fit cost effectively. Once again prices for bathroom suites, central heating radiators etc seem to be a lot cheaper here and I have a van that swallows small towns.

From what we've seen so far we are still in love with the notion of living the good life in tranquil sunshine and we're happy to spend whatever time it takes to
fit in with all the French paperwork, it's just more than a little baffling to a novice so any advice is very welcome.

[Bevdeforges]

Hi and welcome to the forum!

Carte de séjour - this is a residence permit, required of those who need visas to enter France. As long as you are an EU national, you don't need one (and indeed, in most prefectures they won't give you one, either). If you're planning on spending 9 months a year in France, you'll need to establish your "primary residence" in France rather than the UK.

As far as the health insurance goes - you need to get a form from the UK establishing your UK health insurance rights (the Brits here on the forum know the form number). I'm told that once you are retired, you can receive reciprocal French health care benefits, but it can be a bit of a process to get that set up. I would check with the appropriate UK health agency, and then with the CPAM once you're established here in France. (Someone - perhaps Giant Panda - should have more details on this and should be along soon.)

One thing to note - France has a reimbursement system. You pay the doctor and lab for services rendered, then you are reimbursed through your bank account. Fees are regulated, and actually quite reasonable, and reimbursement is fairly prompt. If you aren't 100% covered by the sécu (the normal situation, actually) you subscribe to a top-up insurance to pick up the rest. That may change, though, once you're considered a retiree.

If you are resident in France, your car will have to be registered here. The main hurdle to registering your car in France is the inspection it is subject to. (Same thing for bringing in a car from Germany.) The inspection is not cheap and it is pretty thorough. All cars are then subject to inspection every two years - about 50€ plus any repairs needed to bring the car up to code. In the long run it's probably easier to find a used car here in France - though at the moment it may be difficult to find many for less than 1000€ as that is the value placed on trading in an old car in the current government "stimulus" program.

I'm not sure about the plumbing stuff, but I suspect it should work. When I lived in the UK, my landlord had the house decked out with various appliances he had purchased in the Netherlands and elsewhere, and seemed to have had no difficulty hooking things up to the UK plumbing.

I'm not sure we anglo-saxons ever completely get used to the paperwork here in France, but after a while you kind of know what to expect.
Cheers,
Bev

[parsnips]

Hi,
Re health cover(the most important subject), if you have been working and paying UK NI you should be entitled to a form E106 which will get you french cover for up to a maximum of 2 yrs (ask dept of Work and Pensions),from the end of the E106 cover till you (or possibly your partner) reach UK retirement age , and qualify for health cover under form E121, you are required to provide a full cover private health insurance for all members of your household.
As far as I know, at your age you would not qualify for any benefits in France; in fact you should be wary of asking for them, as lack of sufficient resources is ,in principle, a reason to refuse residency.

[OLDDORMOUSE]

Originally Posted by parsnips

Hi,
Re health cover(the most important subject), if you have been working and paying UK NI you should be entitled to a form E106 which will get you french cover for up to a maximum of 2 yrs (ask dept of Work and Pensions),from the end of the E106 cover till you (or possibly your partner) reach UK retirement age , and qualify for health cover under form E121, you are required to provide a full cover private health insurance for all members of your household.
As far as I know, at your age you would not qualify for any benefits in France; in fact you should be wary of asking for them, as lack of sufficient resources is ,in principle, a reason to refuse residency.

Thanks for the replies, I appreciate the input. Can I clarify regarding health cover. My partner is already 65 and retired, does that mean that at the end of the 2 years under E121 cover I wouldn't need any private health cover as by then Anne will be 67 ? Also can I clarify the lack of benefit situation. At present I would be entitled to Jobseekers allowance while I "look for work" in the UK, but is there no similar French equivalent ? We do have some resources but the plan is to spend most of that "fighting fund" on the house not on food, water, heat and light etc.

[Bevdeforges]

I'd be careful about that "jobseekers allowance." When I went on unemployment in Germany, I was told that the moment I changed my residence to France, my benefits would end. I have since heard that there is some EU program that will allow you to collect unemployment for a short period of time (I think it was 3 months) when you move from one country to another - but in essence, you're collecting your UK unemployment through the French agency. And you do have to show that you are actively looking for work in France.
Cheers,
Bev

[parsnips]

Originally Posted by OLDDORMOUSE

Thanks for the replies, I appreciate the input. Can I clarify regarding health cover. My partner is already 65 and retired, does that mean that at the end of the 2 years under E121 cover I wouldn't need any private health cover as by then Anne will be 67 ? Also can I clarify the lack of benefit situation. At present I would be entitled to Jobseekers allowance while I "look for work" in the UK, but is there no similar French equivalent ? We do have some resources but the plan is to spend most of that "fighting fund" on the house not on food, water, heat and light etc.

Hi again,
As your partner is already over UK retirement age she is presumably in receipt of a UK state pension; she should therefore ask the DWP for a form E121 for when you come to France. If you are married , you will be able to apply for health cover under her E121. If not married you may still be able to persuade the UK to issue you a dependent's E121.
In yourcase you should ask at the job centre about the scheme whereby you can transfer your jobseekers allowance to France (for up to 3 months only), and also whether you qualify for a form E106 in respect of your NI contributions.
In order to qualify for french unemployment allowance you have to have been employed and contributing in France for a minimum period of (I think 6 mths-others may correct me on this ).
As I have said, you are unlikely to qualify for benefits here, and the job situation is probably worse than the UK. Everybody who sets out to renovate old french property underestimates the final costs. You should think very carefully before commiting yourselves, if you have a UK home you should hold on to it , at least until your situation here settles down and you can judge whether or not you can survive longterm.
I don't like to sound like a wet blanket, but I personally know people in a similar situation who have recently ended up in a desperate state, with almost no income(200€ p.mth.) ,and a house they cannot afford to work on,cannot sell, and have nowhere to return to in the UK.

[OLDDORMOUSE]

Originally Posted by parsnips

Hi again,
As your partner is already over UK retirement age she is presumably in receipt of a UK state pension; she should therefore ask the DWP for a form E121 for when you come to France. If you are married , you will be able to apply for health cover under her E121. If not married you may still be able to persuade the UK to issue you a dependent's E121.
In yourcase you should ask at the job centre about the scheme whereby you can transfer your jobseekers allowance to France (for up to 3 months only), and also whether you qualify for a form E106 in respect of your NI contributions.
In order to qualify for french unemployment allowance you have to have been employed and contributing in France for a minimum period of (I think 6 mths-others may correct me on this ).
As I have said, you are unlikely to qualify for benefits here, and the job situation is probably worse than the UK. Everybody who sets out to renovate old french property underestimates the final costs. You should think very carefully before commiting yourselves, if you have a UK home you should hold on to it , at least until your situation here settles down and you can judge whether or not you can survive longterm.
I don't like to sound like a wet blanket, but I personally know people in a similar situation who have recently ended up in a desperate state, with almost no income(200€ p.mth.) ,and a house they cannot afford to work on,cannot sell, and have nowhere to return to in the UK.

Yes, thanks for the advice, my partner is indeed in receipt of State Pension here in the UK so that helps a little and I'll check out the options for dependancy and see if that can be done or not.

I appreciate the comon sense advice too. It's tough sometimes to guage between "Burn your bridges" and "Look before you leap". In our case we've done the leaping but haven't set fire to our bridges. We fully intedn to keep a comfortable but small place in the UK...just in case. I'd like to think we have the reserves to at least make a sensible part of the house habitable but time will tell and perhaps I may end up working in France after all, perhaps the retirement will have to wait a bit but we still think it's a price worth paying....but then doesn't everyone who makes the move across the channel ?...no-one makes the move expecting it to be tough / dull / impossible financially.