September 2011

A TIME TO REMEMBER

 

 

9/11/2001
...a time to remember; it was ten years ago.    ...a time to remember; so much has happened in these last ten years. Like many people, I can remember where I was and what I was doing when I learned of the attack on the twin towers.

I wish to pay my respects to the families of the victims of this attack as well as to all those who died saving lives - among others, the firefighters and the police forces.

…a time to remember the religious service held a couple of days later at the American Church in Paris. It was celebrated by our senior pastor, the Catholic archbishop of Paris, the grand mufti of the Paris mosque and the chief rabbi of Paris. Most of the members of the French government were there, led by President Chirac sitting next to members of the American Embassy staff led by the American ambassador. Such unity!

Standing there on duty as an usher of the American Church, which had been completely taken over by the French intelligence service, I felt like I was part of a small page of history in the big spectrum of things.

Ten years later, I am writing this while in the USA, looking out at the Atlantic Ocean in Chincoteague, Virginia. The media talks about the coming elections, the deficit, the shortage of jobs. This country has drastically changed.

These have been ten bleak years for the USA. American soldiers have been killed on duty, and a recession has hit the country very hard.

I always try to include a message of hope in my answers, in my comments. Today, I truly wish I could. President Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize, and he created an enormous atmosphere of expectation and hope. Now the economy is worsening for the underprivileged part of the American population, and the next presidential election is coming up soon. President Obama could be re-elected, since often the incumbent president wins a second term. I am NOT sure that the majority of Americans see this as a message of hope. Please understand that I am not attempting to say that the U.S.A. would be in better or worse shape under a different president.

My issue is mainly with the current deadlock in Washington D.C. about what solutions to apply and which policy to follow. I would like to discuss what could be seen as just a detail, but for me it says a lot because it can illustrate a very complex issue. The Social Security Disability Insurance program is expected to run out of money by 2017. This is the most endangered federal program. The number of claims has increased by 50% in ten years. This year, about 3.3 million people are expected to apply for federal disability benefits. That is 700,000 more than last year. People with disabilities are usually the first to lose their jobs and they often cannot find new ones in an economy in which nearly 7 million jobs have disappeared. Furthermore, legitimate applicants often have to wait two years or more to get benefits since the application process is often a nightmare. Indeed, two-thirds of all initial applications are rejected, even though the chances are good that those who appeal the decision will ultimately get benefits. The people concerned once contributed to the system, but now because of the crisis they have become a drain on the system they paid into in order to receive the benefits they now get. The USA needs jobs, so it needs a substantial amount of money to start flowing in the domestic economy.

Given the recent deadlock, I do not see anything happening anytime soon. I am nonpartisan so I do not care if it is a question of public or private money, if it comes from creating more debt or from cutting taxes and social programs. Working-class and middle-class Americans want to work and have decent jobs. For the vast majority of handicapped people, claiming disability status feels like a deeply shameful thing to do. To me, this makes the above numbers seem straight out of a horror movie.

I love history, including American history. No crisis has ever broken the fighting spirit of the American people in their drive to give their fellow citizens prosperity and a bright future. So, despite those bleak moments, I see a brighter future for the USA, based on its past performance. Sometimes there is a need to act on faith instead of reason.

 

 

CELEBRATION AT THE AMERICAN CHURCH IN PARIS
10 years later
Becoming a blessing
How Jews, Christians and Muslims can work together for harmony in a world seemingly divided along religion lines.

4:30-5pm
Commemorative service Where: Statue of Liberty, Île aux Cygnes, Pont de Grenelle, Métro Javel-André Citröen A service remembering those who died in New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania, in the presence of the US Ambassador to France.

6-7:30pm
Colloquium
Where: American Church in Paris, 65 Quai d'Orsay, Métro Alma-Marceau Moderated discussion featuring Jewish, Christian and Muslim leaders of Paris on the theme "How are we, the descendants of Abraham, living into the promise that 'in you all of the families of the earth shall be blessed'?" (Genesis 12:3). This will be followed by a question and answer session facilitated by students from the American University in Paris.

 

 

MORE BAD NEWS REGARDING FRENCH IMMIGRATION
Throughout the Western world, one of the most consistent recent changes has been much stricter immigration laws.

DECREASE THE NUMBER OF LEGAL IMMIGRANT COMING TO FRANCE
France's Interior Minister, Claude Guéant, aims to decrease the number of foreigners coming to France with immigration visas from 200,000 to 180,000 a year. He maintains that there are already too many foreigners in the country, that French values are increasingly at risk and that the immigrants already here should blend in first before there is another wave of immigration.

People who are seeking visas now can probably feel the difference, with requirements being more strictly interpreted and the procedure becoming more complicated. For once, these changes also affect American citizens, although to a significantly lesser degree.

INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF FOREIGNERS DEPORTED TO THEIR COUNTRY OF ORIGIN
The minister has said that if he reaches his 2011 goal of deporting 30,000 undocumented aliens from France, it will be an unprecedented outcome, since his predecessor had considered it a challenge to meet a goal of deporting 28,000 foreigners. Since the beginning of the year, 17,500 foreigners have been sent back, which is a 4 % increase from the same period last year. Bear in mind that I do not know of any American nationals being deported just for overextending their stays by a few months or even years. The only two cases of deportation of Americans that I am aware of concerned people who had been sentenced by American juries for major crimes.

A lot of things could be said about this, but I am just quoting the figures. They speak for themselves.

 

 

TAXES OWED FOR THE YEAR ARE DUE SEPTEMBER 15
In France, back to school, la rentrée, also means paying the last portion of income tax owed. The schedule of income tax payments in France has three notable dates: February 15, May 15 and September 15. On these dates, people pay a portion of the amount of taxes due, usually in approximately equal installments. The first two payments are equal to one-third of the taxes owed the previous year, since the tax collection agency, the Trésor Public, does not know the amount for the current year until after being notified by the Centre des Impôts, which receives the income declaration of the previous year by May 31.

The French government has been working for several years to implement the president's decision to merge the Centre des Impôts, which calculates the amount of taxes owed, with the Trésor Public, which collects not only taxes but also other money owed to the government. The original plan was to complete the merger by the end of 2010. Clearly, however, the process is still under way; the new goal is the end of 2011, which may also prove to be wishful thinking! Regardless of whether the administration is successful, be ready for a chaotic time at the tax office for the rest of this year and most of 2012.

 

 

NEW ADDRESS FOR THE NORTHERN URSSAF BRANCH
To explain URSSAF, I would almost need to write a book, so diverse are its tasks and missions. For foreigners moving to France, or those wishing to work here, this division of the French administration delivers the tax ID number called the numéro SIRET, which is issued for all businesses and corporations, including self-employed people. Its northern branch moved in early August to:

11 rue de Cambrai
Bat Nº 29, rez-de-chaussée [ground floor]
75019 Paris .

Always keep in mind that becoming a self-employed professional is the simplest way for non-EU citizens to obtain the right to work in France from the préfecture, and this status is also the cheapest when it comes to taxes and social charges. That said, it has some drawbacks, and I would not advise this status for everybody. It takes a special personality to be a successful self-employed person.

 

Best regards,

 

Jean TaquetJean

 

Q & A

HOMEOWNER INSURANCE IN FRANCE

QUESTION
I am a Brit and have been here over three years and have understood many things along the way, mainly by struggling with the help of my ex-boyfriend (that was useful!) as well as asking friends. I find myself in a pickle now, though. As a freelance foreigner, getting accommodation is hard work. For the last three years, I have had a casual arrangement with a friend of a friend of a friend. I have no contract and pay the owner directly. After some problems with a burst pipe, he now wants me to get homeowner insurance. In the UK, the tenant would insure only his or her own property in the flat, not the flat itself. I am told that it is in fact commonplace for tenants to insure in case of accident, or fault of their own, in France. I get conflicting advice from friends. One said it would be pointless because I do not have a contract and do not pay the electricity myself, so I would be insuring a place that I have no proof of living in. I do not know which way to turn.


ANSWER
The answer is crystal clear but it will require some explanation. Everyone must have their domicile, their home, insured in France, including tenants. I would like to explain why your landlord wants this, taking into account the fact that French logic is very different from what British and American people may be used to, and focusing on the notion of domicile rather than ownership. Hopefully this will help you address issues that could arise in the future related to rentals.

Under French law, the landlord does not simply rent you a place to sleep, he enables you to secure a domicile. This concept is a complex one in French law, and is much wider than just having lodgings. The domicile is legally protected, since an individual in France who does not have an address does not have certain rights. In effect, the domicile is one element of a person's identity and as such is mentioned on the carte nationale d'identité.

This is one reason it takes a good two years to expel a non-paying tenant, and why a utility bill is needed in France to do many things.

In the French logic, any rental of a home is assumed to be for your domicile unless it is specifically stated that it is a vacation rental, secondary rental, etc. When you get the keys, the responsibility for what happens in the place shifts from landlord to tenant. From that minute on, you are assumed to be responsible for everything that happens while you are renting unless you can prove otherwise.

To help with this, insurance companies issue a policy called multirisques habitation to tenants, rather than a homeowner insurance policy.

The bottom line is that your landlord is asking you to change the legal nature of your stay so that you become a resident rather than a kind of long-term tourist. Given the legal protection afforded to tenants in France, and the liability that exists once you are staying in a place, I would advise you to accept and buy a multirisques habitation policy, which can be found for a reasonable price.

In my experience, insurance companies do not ask for proof of address to issue such a policy. In many cases, it would be difficult to prove that a rental agreement exists when the policy is purchased, as most leases require insurance to be obtained before you sign the contract and move in.

In a couple of months, after complying with his request regarding insurance, you will probably be in a position where you can put the utilities in your name.

Finally, I would just point out that your French bank offers insurance. It may not be the cheapest, but it is very simple to set up. Among other things, they know you and your address, as you cannot open a bank account without proving that you live at the address on the account form.

 

 

 

HOW TO DEAL WITH SILENCE FROM THE PREFECTURE

QUESTION
I am American and have had a couple of student cartes de séjour, issued when I lived in a suburb of Paris. Three years ago, I requested an employee cartes de séjour and did not received a response. Every three months, I got a récépissé issued and nothing else happened. Recently I moved to Paris and I went to the student part of the Parisian préfecture to get the récépissé renewed. It turned into a nightmare: the civil servant told me that my request for a change of status had been denied a long time ago and I was not allowed to get anything, so the best I could do would be to leave the country. I have not received anything official, but at the same time I do not have a legal status in France anymore. What should I do? I wish to be able to work and stay in France but my employer wants to fire me because I do not have a legal status anymore.


ANSWER
Your situation is quite unusual, since the préfectures rarely lose files. But the solution can apply to several situations that are a lot more common. The basic rule here is that the silent treatment legally means a negative decision. One can appeal it either in court or through an amicable procedure. The legal assumption goes into effect depending on the nature of the procedure after the request is submitted, and in your case it is two months, and the foreigner has two months to submit an appeal.

You submitted the original request several years ago in the suburbs, so that is not good grounds for an appeal. But since you have now asked for a change of préfecture and have submitted a complete file to do so, at the Parisian préfecture, it is pretty clear that you request was resubmitted to a different authority. Therefore you should wait two months after your meeting at the Parisian préfecture and then make your appeal. I strongly advise you to file for an amicable appeal.

There is a debate over how successful this kind of procedure is. My experience is that for certain nationalities, including American, it has a good rate of success, so it is worth trying. The reason, I believe, is that the préfecture tends to be lenient with some nationalities. Often a negative decision, whether sent in the mail or in the form of silence, as in your case, means that either the file was very poorly presented and documents were missing, or the applicant does not meet the requirements of the new status. If nothing else, this procedure gives you a chance to submit a good, solid file that has a much better chance of being accepted. It is possible then to ask for a different status.

If the file is really well documented, it is almost certain that you will get an answer. It may be an appointment for you to submit your newly documented request, or it may be a negative response. If you get the appointment, your chances of success are quite high; you have essentially been pre-approved. If you get a negative answer then you at least face a clear situation and know the precise grounds on which you have been denied, and you can choose to challenge them in court or not.

This is what I see as the solution for your situation. What I see a lot more often is a procedure that exceeds two months, mainly because the system is clogged. Right now one gets an appointment almost six months later with the relevant office of the Parisian préfecture. So then comes the agonizing decision: "If I move and appeal the decision, I destroy my chances of getting the carte de séjour this time, since this was nothing more than an ordinary delay. Now if I wait too long, I could lose my rights to appeal the decision."

Such situations are a lot more common with the regularization procedure when the préfecture does not want to take the time to answer all requests, or with some borderline cases to make filing an appeal more difficult because the silence, by definition, makes it impossible to know the grounds on which the request was refused.

Sometimes - and only with North Americans so far - we prepare a file for the headquarters of the Parisian préfecture to ask if the usual interpretation of the law can be waived. The expected answer is NO, and the client is clearly aware of it. So there is nothing to lose by asking. Sometimes it works and the foreigner gets an appointment. The last time I helped a client do this, we got an negative answer, which meant submitting the request for an immigration visa at the French consulate, along with a positive evaluation of the file itself. I am not sure that it is in the best interest of my client to show this letter to the French consulate to introduce the file. On the other hand, it definitely validates the work that has been done.

I have reached the point that when the préfecture or the Main d'Oeuvre Etrangère starts to stall on a request, I review the file and the procedure to find out what they are waiting for. They might have asked for it in a letter and no one has addressed the issue properly. There might be no letter, in which case the identification is more difficult. The bottom line is that, if the préfecture stays silent for too long, it is urgent to be proactive.

DISCLAIMER Please forward this message to all who would be interested in its contents. The information contained in this newsletter is intended as exclusively general information. Therefore, I strongly urge readers to seek professional guidance concerning the legal and tax matters mentioned. This newsletter is intended as a general guide and is not to be taken as professional advice.