May 2023
“Backlash” is the first track on Notorious, the eighth studio album by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, and was the label’s first choice for a single. The album was released in 1991.
I had it made, I never strayed
From a course that somebody else laid
I clenched my fists, I never miss
One nite (one nite) you find that ya can’t turn back
So it’s goodbye to the past
Here it comes, here it comes, feel it comin’
Backlash backlash backlash
Oh yea, it’s too bad now it’s a backlash
Your time ain’t long you don’t belong
Maybe so but you hope that they’re wrong
Thin skin gets thick it happens quick
Like a baby turn her very first trick
Hold tight (hold tight) hold tight for the ride of your life
And the lovers go by so fast
Here it comes, here it comes, feel it comin’
Backlash backlash backlash
Used to love me used to care (do you care?) used to want me
Here it comes, here it comes, I guess that’s fair
Now, do you love me, do you care, do you want me
One nite (one nite) we find we’re outta, outta time
Here it comes, here it comes, here it comes a c’mon
Backlash backlash backlash
I have been seeing backlashes in many parts of the world for quite a while now. Just to mention the most obvious, several demonstrations took place in the 11th district (arrondissement). It is hard to say what events are the most striking, with the longest-lasting effect or the most diplomatic impact. There are many issues which I carefully follow to stay abreast of what is happening in France, the USA, China and Nigeria. I did not feel like commenting on any of them.
Right now, I just want to enjoy spring, family and friends, as we have visitors for the first time since COVID. I also want to make sure everything is ready for my tenant, who is coming in early May, so that this adventure can really take off.
Recently at church I heard a sermon titled “The Bridge Test” about how to reach out to people. I was quite touched by it. I chose a long time ago to build bridges between people, hoping to avoid violent and too common backlashes as much as possible. How many bridges do we need to build to make a difference?
50 STATES & 95 FRENCH DÉPARTEMENTS
In explaining the French immigration procedure anchored at the prefecture, I often tell clients that mainland France has 95 states. I know this is a terribly imperfect comparison, but the American states and Frenchdépartements share quite similar duties, including vehicle registration, professional licensing and building permits. Each also has a local government with an executive, a legislative and a judicial authority. In France these are the préfet, the Conseil Général now called the conseil départemental, and what used to be theTribunal de Grande Instance, now it is the tribunal judiciaire.
Some historical perspective helps in understanding how France came up with this setup. In France, the number of départements is not linked to the addition of new territory, as France’s borders have not radically changed for the last 400 years. The main reason for the creation of this level of local government after the French Revolution of 1789 was that the historical provinces (corresponding roughly to today’s regions until recently) had been ruled by powerful aristocrats. Administratively erasing the provinces took that power from those enemies of the Revolution. When the revolutionary government established 83 départements on February 26th, 1790, the guideline was that it should take no more than one day on horseback to reach the prefecture from anywhere in the département . The revolution also determined that the new divisions should be numbered in alphabetical order starting with 01 for the Aindépartement . The system was more or less stable with 89 départements until France lost the Franco-Prussian War in 1871.
A new département called Territoire de Belfort was added in 1871 since the city of Belfort had resisted the Prussian army. On July 10th, 1964, a law was approved to split the Seine (75) and Seine-et-Oise (78) into six départements , a transformation that took full effect on January 1st, 1968.
The Paris département kept the old Seine postal code (75), with the capital city getting its own governmental status, which is not the case with Washington, D.C., the capital city and federal district of the United States. Yvelines kept the Seine-et-Oise postal code (78). This measure altered the numerical-alphabetical order, with the new départements being Essonne (91), Hauts de Seine (92), Seine Saint-Denis (93), Val de Marne (94), and Val d’Oise (95).
After the 1981 election of President François Mitterrand, the policy of centralizing everything in Paris was abolished. Laws passed on March 2nd, 1982; January 7th, 1983; and July 22nd, 1983 created 22 régions whose borders pretty much mirrored the provinces that existed when France was a kingdom. The best-known of these, because of their weight in French history, are Brittany, Corsica, Burgundy, Aquitaine and Alsace-Lorraine. The January 16th, 2015 law reduced down to 13 through consolidation, although many of the traditional names, such as Auvergne-Rhone Alpes, were retained.
Among the many reasons for decentralization, the one most mentioned at the time was that it was becoming impossible to handle all decisions in Paris, although that was where the national authorities and central administration offices were located. Spreading the administrative decision-making centers throughout France was a win both for Paris and the cities in which those centers were relocated. Also, everybody agreed that local authorities, being closer to the issues, could make faster, more pertinent decisions.
There was another reason that is seldom mentioned. Although France was no longer a kingdom with powerful nobility, the regional council président is a civil servant and therefore obeys the central state. While the regions got a lot of authority over important issues, the cornerstone of the French administration has always been the préfet, who represents the central state at the département level. I cannot see this ever changing, even if it would be better to make the region the center of authority, with the département becoming a more local authority answerable to the region.
It is interesting that the French administration designates département 99 as the code to use in filling out numerous forms when the person is foreign or born in a foreign country.
A recent reform is radically changing the French administration, and this is becoming more obvious every day. Online procedures completely disrupt the way the administration traditionally worked. There used to be two absolute fundamentals of administrative procedures, dating back to Napoléon:
1 – providing original documents and
2 – showing up in person.
This helped the civil servants in their mission to work for the best interest of the state, notably concerning the need to prevent attempted fraud. The COVID pandemic made both of these prerequisites impossible. The administration had to switch to digital quickly to continue operating. There had been a trend toward online procedures, but it was mostly peripheral to the old-fashioned routine. Now, in just three years, so much administrative work has gone totally digital that there have been court decisions against the government on grounds of discrimination related to lack of access to online procedures.
This development ended the old requirement of showing up in person with original documents and a set of photocopies that the administration keeps. Now, increasingly, decisions are being made without the public knowing who decided, where the office is and which administrative division it belongs to. I believe this makes the mild rivalry between département and région outdated, for the most part.
France still faces several challenges in this regard. Just to mention the most obvious ones:
1 – Having 100% of the population on board with the digital procedures, either by themselves or with help and support from civil servants,
2 – Ensuring that the websites work properly and reliably all the time,
3 – Making information and explanations readily available in paper form at designated locations.
I believe this is a hidden revolution. It has led to huge changes that have been happening for at least two years, without the extensive media coverage they deserve.
CORRECTED DATES FOR THE INCOME DECLARATION
In last month’s column, the item about declaring French income was wrong because the tax authorities changed the schedule at the last minute. Here is the item again with the correct information.
FRENCH INCOME TAX DECLARATION TIME IS LOOMING
On a more mundane topic, I would like to remind everybody that the paper version of the 2022 income declaration must be filed in France by midnight on May 22nd, 2023. The declaration forms will be available at www.impots.gouv.fr on April 6th. You can start filing your declaration on April 13th on the same website. To do so, you need your tax ID number (numéro fiscal) and a password.
If you are making your first income declaration to the French tax office, you should do so using the paper form and checking the “first-time” box on the form (CERFA #2042) where it says Vous déposez une déclaration pour la première fois cochez (“Check here if this is your first declaration”). It is possible to get the tax office to give you the information needed to declare for the first time electronically, but I tend to advise against it because using paper documents makes it much easier to see and understand how the system works.
Note that the deadline for online declarations is later than that for paper declarations. The schedule depends on your postal code:
• Départements 01 to 19 must file by midnight on May 25th.
• Départements 20 to 54 by June 1st.
• Départements 55 and up by June 8th.
PARIS PREFECTURE ALLOWS RENEWAL OF THE RÉCÉPISSÉ
Ordinarily I would not go into a lot of detail about such a procedure, but I need to now for two reasons:
1 – The récépissé and especially its renewal can be critical to foreigners who hold low-paying jobs. The employers are often strict and require employees to hold a document at all times proving that they are in France legally. But because of the sloppy job often done by the prefecture, the delays frequently exceed the documents’ three-month validity. Some appointments at the prefecture are scheduled two months or more late, so some foreigners do not have the meeting until after their current immigration status expires.
2 – The prefecture has repeatedly had to change its online procedures and many are still severely dysfunctional. It has reached such a point that I seriously wonder if the remaining pitfalls have been put in place to make it even more difficult to maintain legal status. The procedure for renewing the récépissé illustrates this magnificently. Right after choosing “foreigner” (étranger), one has to choose “COVID information”. That’s right: the process for renewing the récépissé is hidden in the information the prefecture gives about COVID! To be very clear, on the cover page, one must choose “Information Covid” after having chosen “Ressortissants étrangers” icon on the Paris prefecture website. However, the question of having apass sanitaire or a pass vaccinal has no bearing on récépissé renewal.
In retrospect I understand what happened, but the situation is now so insane that I believe someone must have decided to keep it that way intentionally. During the COVID crisis, especially when the prefecture was closed, the website had diverse and useful information regarding the consequences of COVID when it came to retaining a legal stay in France. A new use of the autorisation provisoire de séjour (APS) appeared for tourists who were not allowed to fly home. Such unfortunate souls were stuck in France and needed some kind of French ID. The APS was emailed as a PDF! For a short time, the récépissé was sent the same way. So it originally made sense to have the information listed under COVID.
However, the pandemic is over when it comes to the prefecture. I have not seen a civil servant wearing a mask in a long time. Now the procedure involves filling out a simple form asking for renewal, but the récépissé is sent by registered mail. The latter is much more complicated for both the prefecture and the foreigner, and registered mail only stays at the post office for two weeks. I cannot believe that whoever puts together these policies and procedures is purposefully mean. At the same time, the prefecture follows its peculiar logic and established procedures. A registered letter can only be picked up if the person signs for it and shows a valid ID at the post-office. That makes the prefecture happy because it has proof that the foreigner who needs the document is the one who picked it up. The in-person rule is a cardinal one for the prefecture. In this case, it means signing at the post office in front of a postal employee who has checked the person’s ID first.
For those who need this service, you can either go to:
www.prefecturedepolice.interieur.gouv.fr/demarches-et-services-en-ligne/accueil-demarchesand click on “COVID information” or use www.prefecturedepolice.interieur.gouv.fr/demarches/informations-covid.
You must establish your right to stay while waiting for your appointment to renew your permit or the decision on your application. This means showing that you have a receipt for your application for a residence permit (first application or renewal) that has expired or will expire within 15 days.
While waiting for a response to your application, you can request the renewal of your receipt online athttps://contacts-demarches.interieur.gouv.fr/etrangers/renouvellement-recepisse.
NEW ROADBLOCKS IN ASKING FOR THE RIGHT TO WORK
The process of obtaining the right to work is evolving and it is difficult to keep up with it. There is before COVID and after COVID.
Before 2020, each Direction Régionale des Entreprises, de la Concurrence, de la Consommation, du Travail et de l’Emploi (DIRECCTE) had a branch in every département that issued papers conveying the right to work for employees (salariés) while the prefecture issued the related carte de séjour.
On April 1st, 2021, a huge government reform created the Directions régionales de l’économie, de l’emploi, du travail et des solidarités (DREETS) as well as Direction régionale et interdépartementale de l’économie, de l’emploi, du travail et des solidarités (DRIEETS). The latter now issues working papers. I am not certain what the logic was or exactly what other responsibilities each one has.
At first this change did not affect the passeport talent carte de séjour whether it was based on an employee position or the creation or operation of a French business. Now, however, DRIEETS evaluates the business project for an artisan-commerçant carte de séjour and even the following sub-categories of the passeport talent carte de séjour need its approval:
– Passeport talent carte de séjour Nº5 mentioning “business creation”:
Request for a certificate recognizing the real and serious nature of a business creation project
– Passeport talent carte de séjour Nº1 “Employee of an innovative company”:
Request for a certificate recognizing the innovative nature of your company (the request must be made by the employer)
– passeport talent carte de séjour Nº7 mentioning “Economic investment”:
Request for a letter of recognition of an investment project, which must be valued at a minimum of 300,000€.
The goal is to ensure that the prefecture continues to issue cartes de séjour and review applications in what are considered to be sensitive applications, such as requests for regularization (giving a legal stay to foreigners who are illegal immigrants), those involving a sole proprietor of a French business, or a specific family status, etc. My perception is that the civil servants working on files sent through the DRIEETS website are like machines and their responses give no indication why they refuse documents. With in-person meetings, no matter how unpleasant the civil servant reviewing your file might be, when someone is sitting in front of you at the prefecture there is at least a possibility of dialogue, getting an explanation, explaining your situation.
Whether it is DRIEETS or the Agence Nationale des Titres Sécurisés (ANTS) on its Étrangers en France website, this dialogue does not exist. Furthermore, the prefecture rarely answers emails. Since people’s lives rarely make it possible to perfectly fit their standards, it is increasingly difficult to secure immigration status so the carte de séjour can be issued.
Furthermore, ANTS-Étrangers en France requires the “proper documents” to be submitted within one month, and DRIEETS expects them within 15 days. In short, there is hardly any time to fix the situation once the initial request is submitted.
I find it both ironic and sad that the ANTS Étrangers en France office does answer its phone number (08 06 001 620), so it should be able to help. But not really, because the people answering cannot do much more than look at the computer screen and tell you if the file is open or closed.
OFFICE CLOSED FOR SUMMER VACATION
The office will be closed for six weeks over the summer holidays, starting on Friday, July 7th, in the evening and reopening on the morning of Monday, August 21st. As always, I will be reachable by email for emergencies and important matters. The service I offer of receiving mail for clients will continue while the office is closed. Of course, Sarah or I will honor prefecture meetings already scheduled, as well as a couple of other engagements.
Best regards,
https://www.impots.gouv.fr/residents-france[English]
https://www.impots.gouv.fr/resident-de-france[French]
These are based on the French tax code: https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/codes/article_lc/LEGIARTI000041464195/
- What these say is that if your household is here, you are resident here. But you will also be resident here if your “lieu de séjour principal” is here: “where you live most of the time” or “your main residence”. There is no 183-day rule, though as a matter of convenience the French administration may use this test additionally to show you are resident (that your “lieu de séjour principal” is here) – but quite certainly they do not say that if you’re here for less than 183 days then you are not resident.
- The tax laws don’t contain further definitions, beyond saying that if you have a substantial professional job in France (paid or unpaid, and no matter where you live) you can also be treated as resident.