From Wikipedia:

Once Were Warriors is a 1994 New Zealand tragedy film based on New Zealand author Alan Duff’s bestselling 1990 first novel. The film tells the story of the Heke family, an urban Māori whānau living in South Auckland, and their problems with poverty, tobacco, gambling, drugs, alcoholism, and domestic violence, mostly brought on by the patriarch, Jake. It explores the detrimental effects of the colonisation of New Zealand suffered by Māori, and the survival of Māori culture against all odds.

I have been deeply interested for years in the Māori culture, from its distant origins in a tribal group from South-East Asia, today China, which used long outrigger canoes to go from island to island and populate from Hawaii to New Zealand.

This movie is very well done. The Polynesian culture that Māori is part of has been making men warriors for 6,000 years. That is the aspect that interests me today. The father, Jake, is constantly looking for a fight to demonstrate how strong he is. His two sons are crushed by such a father. Each of them dives in his own way into the ancestral culture to become a warrior able to stand up to the father and be respected. Most rugby fans, at least once in their life, have seen the New Zealand team play internationally. The majority of the players are Māori. They prepare themselves on the field by performing a haka.

From Wikipedia:

Haka (/ˈhɑːkə/; singular and plural haka, in both Māori and New Zealand English) are a variety of ceremonial dances in Māori culture. A performance art, haka is often performed by a group, with vigorous movements and stamping of the feet with rhythmically shouted accompaniment. Haka have been traditionally performed by both men and women for a variety of social functions within Māori culture. They are performed to welcome distinguished guests, or to acknowledge great achievements, occasions, or funerals.

Originally, it was a warrior song asking the gods for victory. Members of opposing teams say that it is scary to witness and gives the NZ team a significant psychological advantage.

This leads me to question how one defines a warrior. Is a soldier a warrior? Does military training produce a warrior or just a skilled soldier? Each nation is different, but some have a long tradition promoting a fighting spirit, often mixed with duty to protect the clan, ethnicity, or group. Such a country could be considered a nation of warriors.

Persia, now Iran, has been a great nation for some three millennia and is mentioned in the Old Testament. In recent times, there was an Iran-Iraq war from September 22, 1980, to August 20, 1988. Iraq was heavily supported by the monarchies of the Middle East, the USA, and others, while Iran was more isolated. The invasion was stopped right away, and Iran ended up not giving up any of its territory. Persia, now Iran, is a nation of warriors. I do not doubt that the best American forces on the ground are capable of overcoming the Iranian military forces, but the American casualties would be huge.

IMMIGRATION IDs ARE BECOMING MORE EXPENSIVE
Immigrants rarely strike or demonstrate about their living and working conditions. So, for France, increasing the cost of immigration documentation is politically safe. Immigrants who have not been naturalized do not vote and thus have no leverage even at the ballot box. But since the vast majority of immigrants have lower-salaried jobs with lower pay, an increase in renewal costs of 50€ or 100€ can put a serious strain on their budget.

Here is the information on the increases as conveyed by the government.

The standard fee for initial issuance of temporary residence permits (CST), multi-year residence permits (CSP), and resident cards (CR), previously 200 euros, has been increased to 300 euros.

The reduced fee for initial issuance of CSTs, CSPs, and CRs to certain categories of foreign nationals increased from 50 euros to 100 euros. As before, this rate applies to students and similar categories (interns, au pairs, job seekers), recipients of accident and health insurance benefits, beneficiaries of family reunification, and seasonal workers.

The stamp duty for the issuance, renewal, replacement, or modification of residence permits and resident cards has doubled, from €25 to €50.

The fee for a long-stay visa serving as a residence permit or exempting the holder from the requirement for a residence permit increased from €200 to €300 (or from €50 to €100 for the reduced rate).

The fee for a regularization visa, applicable to foreigners who have entered or are residing in the country illegally, increased from €200 to €300 (including a non-refundable portion due upon filing the regularization application, which rose from €50 to €100).

A new fee of €100 has been introduced for the issuance and renewal of a provisional residence permit (APS), with two exceptions (APS for those exiting prostitution and APS for beneficiaries of temporary protection).

The stamp duty applicable to applications for naturalization, applications for reinstatement of French nationality, and declarations of acquisition of nationality increased from €55 to €255.

SCANDINAVIAN ROYAL FAMILY MEMBERS SERVE IN THE MILITARY AND CAN BE ON ACTIVE DUTY
As I drafted this issue, the war in the Middle East was escalating daily with no apparent end in sight. In my Facebook feed, I get a lot of posts about the Scandinavian royals, as I have expressed interest in the Danish royal family and especially Queen Margrethe II when she stepped down. I attended the New Year’s Eve royal concert in Copenhagen with my wife and my cousin’s family. At midnight, the queen gave a speech, shown on a screen in the concert hall, informing the country that she was stepping down. I always liked her, and not just because she married a Frenchman, Prince Henrik of Denmark, Count of Monpezat, born Henri Marie Jean André de Laborde de Monpezat. I greatly admire what she is doing for her country now that she is free of the major official duties of being queen.

I loosely followed 19-year-old Danish Crown Prince Christian’s military service as he completed training and qualified for the Guards Hussar in 2025. He joined the regiment in full capacity in February 2026. Intrigued, I checked the other Scandinavian royal families and saw similar things happening.

Wikipedia
Prince Carl Philip, Duke of Värmland (Sweden)
He completed his military service at the Amphibious Battalion at Vaxholm Coastal Artillery Regiment as a combat boat commander (Combat Boat 90) in the autumn of 2000. In December 2002, Carl Philip was promoted to second lieutenant, and in 2004 to the rank of lieutenant in the Swedish Amphibious Corps. In 2007 and 2008 he went to the Swedish Defence University. … After that course, he was appointed captain. On 1 October 2014, Carl Philip achieved the rank of major.

Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway
In September 2024, the Norwegian Royal Court announced that Ingrid Alexandra served as a gunner on a CV-90 infantry fighting vehicle. The Court also announced that she extended her military service to 15 months. She completed her military service on 4 April 2025.

A well-known example outside of Scandinavia concerns Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex. He completed officer training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and was commissioned as a cornet in the Blues and Royals. He served briefly alongside his elder brother, William, Prince of Wales. He was deployed twice on active service in Afghanistan: for ten weeks in Helmand Province in 2007–08, and for twenty weeks with the Army Air Corps in 2012–13. His grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, served during WWII in the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) as an ambulance driver.

Too often, we think of princes and princesses living lavishly in castles, having the easiest possible time in life. In recent generations, though, princes and princesses serve in uniform, are trained for combat, and are ready to be deployed when needed.

Maybe it is time to rewrite the fairy tales we read to our children to reflect this change in the world. Maybe the executives of some countries I have in mind should not deploy military personnel so readily.

FACTURES ELECTRONIQUES: GOVERNMENT COMMUNICATION & REALITY
Many clients have asked me about messages they are getting from the French tax offices as well as several organizations. Everybody is talking about September 2026 as the deadline to adopt the new electronic billing procedure. Consultants working alone without employees – who make up most of my clientele – have an extra year, until September 2027, to comply.

Considering what is at stake and how much disruption this change will create, it is worth describing and warning people about what is coming.

The goal is simple. French law heavily regulates business invoices. Most small businesses and maybe some mid-size businesses do not comply with the law. Thus, the idea is that forcing everybody to use the same software to create invoices will fix the problem. But organizing this new system is leading to a long list of problems for which, as far as I have heard, there are not yet any solutions.

The most common issue is that the electronic invoice must be issued in French, as the companies issuing them are French businesses. Some of my clients have nearly 100% of their clientele in the USA and so must be able to invoice in English, or in both languages in some cases. Will the software allow a second language?

Another problem is that many consultants are required to use clients’ software so their invoices comply with the clients’ systems. Will the French administration accept that there are two sets of invoices? I doubt it.

Consultants serving private individuals are accustomed to clients sometimes paying a few cents less than the amount due because of exchange-rate fluctuations, loss of focus, simply getting the amount wrong, routing it to the wrong bank account, and so on. Currently, it is easy to destroy an invoice and generate a new one matching the reality.

The new official software, however, does not allow for changing anything. Any discrepancy will lead to a problematic accounting situation, multiplying what one’s accountant must record and hence increasing the fee owed. Additionally, the software itself is quite expensive, which could deter anyone crazy enough to want to master it and retain some control over their accounting.

What I consider to be the worst consequence linked to the complexity of the new software is that all micro enterprises will need to hire an accountant.

The government’s official reason for the change is to help businesses achieve legal and clean accounting. I see an obvious desire to control the auto-entrepreneur type of business, based on an assumption that they cheat and hide some income.

I am optimistic that the lobbies protecting tiny businesses will be fighting this legislation at full strength in an effort to exclude businesses that have no employees or are exempt from paying TVA, for example.

We will see. My advice is that even though the deadline is September 2027, it’s a good idea to get to know what the new system is and what it means in terms of change for most people.

MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS WERE HELD ON MARCH 15 AND 22
There has been a lot of talk about which parties are the real winners in the last elections. Without wanting to be provocative, I would say instead that all parties involved in the elections lost in terms of what their objectives were. I wrote the following about these elections in my December 2025 column.

“As of today, the identity of the (progressive) candidate is still unknown, and the different factions are incapable of agreeing on who should lead the campaign and become the next mayor. The conservative side seems to have made its choice: Ms. Rachida Dati, the current mayor of the 7th arrondissement. So, depending on the polls, her chances of victory would appear to lie between possible and probable. This having been said, she is under criminal investigation for some serious felonies, and could be stripped of her right to be elected.”

The Socialist Party’s candidate, in the end, was Emmanuel Grégoire, a previously obscure politician at the national level. As the progressive candidate, he went on to win the election. Adding the far left candidate’s result, that side got 58.48% of the vote, while Dati received only 41.52%.

Objectively, the Parisian population is not that leftist. But many specialists believe that, in the second round, conservative voters preferred the socialist candidate over the conservative one, explaining the wide gap. I believe one reason is that Dati’s trial is scheduled for September 16–28 at the Paris Criminal Court. If she is convicted, the principal sentence she faces is ten years in prison for passive corruption and a fine of 450,000 euros (half of the amount in dispute) for receiving stolen property. She is also subject to an additional penalty of a five-year ban on holding public office. In short, why vote for a candidate who may be barred from being the mayor a year or so later? The office does not come with absolute immunity.

A good friend asked me to expand on my idea that all the parties lost, as it sounds odd at best, if not insane. I admit that some further explanation is required.

For centuries, starting with the early days of the 1789 French Revolution, the French political spectrum has been made up of four factions:

The nationalistic Conservatives focus on the interests of France and the French. Today, it is represented by the Le Pen party, the Rassemblement national (RN), and those with similar views. The traditional leaders of this faction have pretty much all disappeared, so the extremist RN party has taken their place.

The internationalist Conservatives consider treaties, alliances, and domestic policy to be the best way to take care of people living in France. They include most of the conservative French presidents of the Fifth Republic. Of course, they believe that helping businesses helps the people later on. Today, the most visible member of this faction is Edouard Phillipe and his party, Horizons.

The internationalist Liberals have employee interests in mind, and their domestic policy is mixed with international treaties. The Socialist Party has upheld this platform for 70 years. The new Parisian mayor, Emmanuel Grégoire, has today become probably the best-known leader of this faction.

The nationalistic Leftists used to be represented by the Communist Party, and the majority of its leaders also led France’s largest union in those days, the CGT, so they fought for their members. Today, this faction has changed almost beyond recognition. It is represented by La France Insoumise (France Unbowed), led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, but there is wide agreement that LFI is too extreme to fit into the traditional spectrum.

President Emmanuel Macron’s political party was meant to hold a kind of middle ground on this spectrum, but it has now shrunk to virtually nothing. So in a way, we are back to the traditional four factions. The two traditional “internationalist” parties remain prominent but are losing ground. The extreme far right and far left received a lot of votes in the recent elections, but did not win most large cities. They are still on the fringe. After that explanation, I hope my comment – that all parties involved in the elections lost in terms of what their objectives were – makes a lot more sense.

WHEN HEALTH INSURANCE POLICIES ARE SCHENGEN-COMPLIANT
Health insurance classified as “Schengen compliant” may not offer coverage as good as I had thought. Some policies seem to be “comprehensive” only until you look at the fine print.

Below are three situations people face when they ask for an immigration visa, for which a health insurance policy is a key document. The strategies needed will depend on the applicant’s needs, age, and plans.

1 – The applicant is going to France to work
The public insurance kicks in almost immediately, so one can choose minimal coverage for the couple of weeks or so that it will take for the public coverage to begin.

2 – The applicant has excellent international coverage from the USA
The policy required to comply with the Schengen visa can once again be minimal, since it is unlikely ever to be used.

3 – The applicant is getting a visiteur immigration visa
It is crucial to be aware of differences in the coverage and in the willingness of the insurance company to provide the needed insurance. There are two subcategories here:
a – The applicant will sign up with CPAM to obtain public coverage as soon as possible. There is a double delay, both in the start of public coverage (three months after landing in France) and in the issuance of proof that the file is being worked on. Since a carte vitale is not issued until one has a definitive French social security number, the process can take months or even a year or more. There is a common misconception on social media that everything is settled after a three-month presence in France. But that period is just the time it takes to have the right to send in the file; it is the beginning of the procedure, not the end. I strongly advise people in this situation to choose good comprehensive coverage. French medical procedures are cheaper than in the USA, but a day in the emergency room still costs about 1,370 euros.

b – The applicant chooses to retain private health coverage, in which case the policy chosen must be truly comprehensive, and the company chosen must have an excellent reputation for providing coverage right away without an out-of-pocket even if it reimburses later.

Recently, one of my clients needed a serious operation. It took about four months between the discovery of the condition and the date of the operation, as nothing could be scheduled during the summer vacation. The insurance company informed my client the day before the surgery that it would not cover the operation. Tiny print in the policy stated that coverage only existed if the surgery occurred two days, 48h, after discovery of the condition. The entire cost ended up being nearly 20,000 euros. This is a scam, not a comprehensive policy. The company proudly stated in its condescending answer to my letter that the policy was fully Schengen compliant and that they did absolutely nothing wrong. The insured had signed and was aware of the terms and conditions of the policy. French private insurance companies can be just as bad as American ones.

FRENCH INCOME TAX DECLARATION TIME HAS STARTED
I always send revised information on the tax schedule, as the dates change every year.

The paper version of the 2025 income declaration must be filed in France by midnight on May 20, 2026. The declaration forms will be available at www.impots.gouv.fr starting on April 9. That is also the day you can start filing your declaration on the same website. To do so, you need a 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 check 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”). You can get the tax office to give you the information needed to declare for the first time electronically, but I advise against it because using paper documents makes it easier to see and understand how the system works.

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 Thursday, May 22.
• Départements 20 to 54 by May 28.
• Départements 55 and up by June 5.

Reminder: if you are self-employed in France, the quarterly declarations sent to URSSAF do not constitute income tax declarations, which must be sent to the tax office. Many foreigners are under the mistaken impression that the quarterly declarations are their only fiscal obligation.

You are a French fiscal resident if you:
• stay in France 183 days in a calendar year, whether you have legal immigration status or not
• have immediate family members (spouse and/or minor children) who live in France and therefore are French fiscal residents
• have a French employer
• run a French business, even something like tutoring schoolchildren in English.

Occasionally, you may have a year with no tax owed to France, either because you only had foreign income not taxed in France or because your taxable income was too low. Make sure you continue to declare. Otherwise, this can cause a problem, such as the prefecture wanting to see your income tax bill (avis d’imposition sur le revenue), as can happen with many types of immigration status.

Unlike in the USA, filing is a two-step process. The income declaration is sent in, with no payment attached. Then, starting in August, the tax office issues the avis d’imposition sur le revenu based on the declaration, and the deadline to pay the income tax is September 15.

Many organizations in France, in both the public and private sectors, may require you to furnish an avis d’imposition. For example, the Caisse d’allocations familiale (family subsidy bureau) uses this document, among others, to decide if applicants deserve aid and, if so, how much.

MY FEES WILL INCREASE ON SEPTEMBER 1st, 2026
I will be increasing my fees by 20% at the beginning of the next scholastic year, after the 2026 summer vacation. Here are the new rates:
1st meeting/1st work: 420€ euros for 2 hours
Extra hour(s): 180 euros per hour
Handling mail at my office: 50 euros per month
Surcharge for out-of-office meetings: 90 euros, assuming less than 30 minutes’ transportation
Surcharge for meetings and phone calls at the client’s request after 7PM weekdays, all weekend, on national French holidays, and during vacations: 30%
Clients paying by wire to an American account must add $20 to the fee to cover the bank charge for processing a wire transfer.
Bounced checks incur a charge of $20 or 20 euros.

THE SHIP STUDIO IS AVAILABLE FOR RENTAL IN JUNE 2026
The SHIP studio is currently available on June 1st if the current tenant does not extend the lease. I am finally getting a lot more requests and have had to refuse a few lately, as it was already rented. When people contact me about renting it, I send them to the website. I hope it shows how cozy the accommodations are. The monthly rent of 1,400€ is all-inclusive. While I continue to favor rentals lasting between two and six months, under certain conditions, I have accepted one-month rentals.
https://www.jeantaquet.com/home-in-paris

OFFICE CLOSED FOR SUMMER VACATION
The office will be closed for seven weeks over the summer, from the evening of Friday, July 3rd, to the morning of Monday, August 24th. 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, and Sarah or I will honor prefecture meetings already scheduled, as well as a few other engagements. Like last year, I should be away from the office for most of the time, but I will stay in France, specifically in Burgundy.

Best regards,

QUESTION

CHANGING IMMIGRATION STATUS FROM SALARIÉ DÉTACHÉ ICT TO VISITEUR

My American employer managed to get me a carte de séjour pluriannuelle as a salarié détaché ICT. That carte de sejour will expire on May 16, 2026. My employer told me it is no longer valid because I retired as of July 31 last year.How should I proceed to obtain a new permit that will allow me to continue living legally in France? I have been living in Paris for a long time, since before I was hired. All this time, I have been living with my French partner at her place in Paris. The HR of my employer last summer told me that I should have left France the day I retired. They told me that I needed to apply for a new visa at the French consulate in the U.S. Clearly, I want to change my status even to visiteur if this is all I can get with the Paris prefecture. Let me know if this can be done, even though I am not married or PACSed to her.

QUESTION

RENEWING SELF-EMPLOYED PROFESSION LIBERALE STATUS

I have been living in France for several years. I am trying to renew a four-year carte de séjour as an independent. It expired at the end of July 2025, and I have not heard much from the prefecture.
My first question is, can I ask for the carte de résident while I wait for their answer, as I will have been a resident for way over five years?
Is it possible to be denied? My annual sales have been about €30,000 for the last three years.
I have sent all my URSSAF declarations since 2020, as I entered with the self-employed visa. This is all the income declarations I need to do. Can I apply for another type of visa if this one fails, knowing that I am single?By the way, I do my billing in the USA, and I get paid into my American account.

Below is a quote from my March 2020 issue.

From Wikipedia:

“(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” is a song by American rock band Blue Öyster Cult from the band’s 1976 album Agents of Fortune.

Also from Wikipedia:
Death is frequently imagined as a personified force. In some mythologies, a character known as the Grim Reaper causes the victim’s death by coming to collect that person’s soul. Other beliefs hold that the Spectre of Death is only a psychopomp, serving to sever the last ties between the soul and the body, and to guide the deceased to the afterlife, without having any control over when or how the victim dies.

I have been listening to Blue Öyster Cult since my first year in high school, and I probably have most of their albums. I find their music a lot more eclectic than the vast majority of hard-rock bands.

The world is now looking with great fear at the rapid spread of the coronavirus from one country to the next. Those who have some historical perspective might think of the Black Plague, the terrifying bubonic plague pandemic that swept through Asia, Europe, and Africa in the 14th century, killing an estimated 50 million people. The term la Grande Faucheuse, French for the Grim Reaper, dates from that time. It has been over a century since the last major pandemic: the Spanish flu at the end of World War I, which lasted from January 1918 to December 1920.

The above is what I published in my March 2020 issue as I was catching the worldwide fear of COVID and the silent death going through the neighborhood. At that time, I focused on “The Reaper.” For over 30 years, I have had a policy not to use the same title twice. This is only the second time I have done it. This time, I am focusing on “Don’t Fear.”

Some people are so immersed in faith that they take Psalm 23 literally: The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want, and especially verse 4: Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

But other people are subject to fear and need ways to handle it. Fear is a real emotion with huge effects and sometimes devastating consequences. The lavish decades that followed WWII are now gone for good. Parents fear that their children will never enjoy the careers and the good lives they had. Entering the job market is a challenge; good jobs are scarce, and working conditions for employees are poor. Meanwhile, in the news, we hear about war in many countries and a high level of violence in our communities. In some places, people even die because of their political ideas.

In France, poll after poll, including those done by Amnesty International, has shown that the number of people willing to demonstrate has been shrinking for the last ten years or so. This trend has become a lot more visible with the rise of the “Gilets Jaunes” grassroots opposition to the government and the extreme violence on both sides, with the use of excessive police force being well documented. A majority of French people (61%) feared that violent protests would erupt following the results of the early legislative elections in 2024, according to a CSA Institute poll for CNEWS, Europe 1, and the Journal du Dimanche published on June 27, 2024. France used to be known for putting together demonstrations blocking the boulevards of eastern Paris in no time, with bands, food vendors, and complete families attending. Those days are gone.

The American situation is different and always has been. No parallel can be made. Even so, American political violence has skyrocketed in the last few years, and I do not need to go into detail on this situation. Some fear sending their children to school, going to work in construction, or going shopping in certain neighborhoods when large policing forces are present in town.

There is no point in discussing whether the current level of fear is reasonable. In both France and the USA, we are dealing mostly with fear of the policing forces dedicated to maintaining law and order. The media talks about other Western countries facing similar circumstances, but I do not know enough about them. The situation in the USA and France raises the question of how the current case came about, since the mission of these police forces is to enforce law and order, to protect, to secure premises, and therefore to offer people a safe public place.

There is also a deepening distrust of the government and its various administrative divisions. Again, their mission is to serve the public, offering help and support. They should be popular. But as time goes on and suspicion of fraud has grown, the scrutiny embedded in administrative procedures has made people feel as if they are treated like criminals.

There are commonly three types of response to fear. The first is obedience, excessive caution, and focusing on staying safe. The second is panic, incoherent behavior, and survival mode, which often leads to a far worse situation. The third one is overcoming fear, refusing to bend in the face of violence, and confronting the powers that nourish fear. Many observers have pointed out how large crowds in Minneapolis have overcome their fear and expressed their views, knowing the danger they faced.

THE POLICY OF FEAR USED BY AUTOCRATIC REGIMES
WIKIPEDIA
A dictatorship is a form of government that is characterized by a leader who holds absolute or near-absolute political power. Politics in a dictatorship are controlled by a dictator, and they are facilitated through an inner circle of elites that includes advisers, generals, and other high-ranking officials. The dictator maintains control by influencing and appeasing the inner circle and repressing any opposition, which may include rival political parties, armed resistance, or disloyal members of the dictator’s inner circle. Dictatorships can be formed by a military coup that overthrows the previous government through force, or they can be formed by a self-coup in which elected leaders make their rule permanent. Dictatorships are authoritarian or totalitarian, and they can be classified as military dictatorships, one-party dictatorships, and personalist dictatorships.

One thing that all such governments do as soon as possible is to spy on citizens to detect, then identify, voices of dissent to keep these people under surveillance and perhaps eventually arrested, usually with no court hearing or public sentencing. Under Stalin and Hitler, or today, Putin in Russia and Xi in China, surveillance is total, so no dissenters talk openly or take known risks. The sophistication of current means of control increases the capacity for surveillance. There is no need to tap phones. Those in control have access to text messages and emails, and posts on social media, so they know exactly what each individual says. In China, everybody knows that all these media are totally controlled.

The situation in the USA is different. Many people question how far police surveillance of social media, emails, and messages goes. In some cases, for instance, where lawsuits have been brought against people for flimsy reasons, it is clear that there has been serious digging to come up with minor illegal acts and prosecute people on those grounds. When I lived in the USA, people felt safe because they knew that neither the public nor the private sector could spy on them, thanks to strict limits of the law and the Department of Justice enforcing the law. When people owned firearms, it was more about feeling safe. Many feared losing their job or needing to go to the hospital, as they were uninsured. In addition, there was profiling of minorities, which exposed them to higher risks – that was true then and is still true today.

The current situation in the USA is the result of an acknowledged political choice. As I suggested above, the current French government follows the same kind of policy, albeit on a much smaller scale. In contrast, Spain, for example, has today chosen a different political orientation.

SPANISH GOVERNMENT PLANS TO REGULARIZE 500,000 ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS
BBC, January 27th, 2026
The Spanish government has announced a plan to legalize the status of undocumented migrants, a measure expected to benefit at least half a million people. Regularization will be available to foreign nationals who do not have a criminal record and can prove they lived in Spain for at least five months prior to 31 December 2025. “This is a historic day for our country,” said Elma Saiz, Spain’s minister of inclusion, social security, and migration. The measure will provide beneficiaries with an initial one-year residence permit, which can then be extended. Requests for legalization are expected to begin in April, and the process will remain open until the end of June.

“We are reinforcing a migratory model based on human rights, integration, co-existence, and which is compatible with economic growth and social cohesion,” Saiz said. Spain has seen a large influx of migrants in recent years, mainly from Latin America. The conservative think-tank Funcas found that the number of undocumented migrants in Spain had risen from 107,409 in 2017 to 837,938 in 2025 – an eight-fold increase.The highest number of undocumented arrivals currently living in Spain is believed to be from Colombia, Peru, and Honduras. Spain’s socialist-led coalition government has been an outlier on this issue among the larger European nations, underlining the importance of migrants for the economy. The country has been outperforming the other main EU economies in recent years, posting expected growth of close to 3% in 2025. Unemployment, a longstanding weakness of the Spanish economy, has dipped below 10% for the first time since 2008, according to figures released on Tuesday.

******************

I wanted to start this section with a quote from a respected media outlet so that no one would think this is fake news, which can happen more often than we would like. Viewed in the context of the immigration policies of the current American and French administrations, the Spanish one may seem at best insane, and at worst, suicidal for the country. Yet France, Italy, and Spain, among countries in Europe, have fairly regularly opened the way to grant illegal immigrants a legal stay. The two main reasons to do so may appear very different, but I believe they can be seen as pretty much the same.

The first is that the economy is doing well, and there is a need for new workers. Thus, the labor market can absorb these new legal immigrants without harming businesses. The new workers need to pay taxes, comply with legal limitations on hours worked, and so on. This is the motivation explained above.

The second reason is that the government deems the stable illegal population to be so large that there is an imbalance that must be addressed. Giving these people a legal stay diminishes the risk associated with having illegal immigrants in the workforce. This, in turn, improves their job security and health coverage, thus ending the main abuses illegal immigrants endure.

Interestingly enough, the Italian and French governments are currently making it more difficult to get a legal stay through regularization.

France’s Ministry of the Interior announced on January 27th that the country had issued 384,230 initial residence permits last year, a year-on-year increase of 11.2%, but that the number of regularizations had fallen by 10.1%. The decision to make it more difficult to regularize one’s immigration status is totally political. It is based on making illegal immigrants look like bad people who do not deserve legal status. The French government is unpopular, as is President Macron, and stirring up fear on various issues is seen as a possible way to reduce their unpopularity.

Clearly, it is always a political choice to have policies based on fear. This brings up another topic. The current American administration depicts almost all immigrants as criminals, dangerous people who destroy the well-being of their neighbors. For several weeks, people in Minneapolis have overcome their fear of the massive policing forces’ presence on the city streets. They rejected the government’s position and flooded the media, especially social media, with videos of what was being done to non-American citizens, some of whom had legal stays, as well as American citizens. Some American citizens were killed, but it did not dampen the protests, which only grew. These people overcame their fear of what could happen to them if they took action.

AMERICAN CITIZENS DEALING WITH DUAL NATIONALITY
My family has experienced dual nationality for over four generations. The youngest are my children. My paternal grandmother was born Spanish in Morocco and naturalized French. When my daughter was born in 1991, my wife went to the American Embassy to register her birth as an American citizen. She was warned against her becoming French through naturalization. Even though the regulation had changed in 1986, decreasing the risk of losing American citizenship upon naturalization, she met women telling horrid stories about what happened to them. Before the 1986 change, an American citizen had to testify in court that if they became French, they would not renounce their American citizenship. To win such a court case, the person had to prove that they never took advantage of the prerogatives of being French, thus in many ways defeating the purpose of being naturalized. The US federal administration later shifted the burden of proof away from the individual. This made it much safer, as the guidelines for challenging such people in court were based on whether obtaining the new citizenship meant automatically losing the previous one, or whether the adopted country was considered an enemy of the USA.

Now, there is proposed legislation in Congress that would take the rights of the American people backward, to a situation worse than what existed prior to 1986. I see two different issues with the proposed change.

1 – The vast majority of Western countries do not mind dual nationality. They view dual nationals as if they only held that country’s nationality. If complications arise from being a dual national, most countries let these people deal with them. By contrast, countries that monitor the obtaining of a second nationality are afraid of losing control of their population; they idealize their own nationality to keep the country homogeneous. Such governments show insecurity about their country’s future and its possible transformation. The current American administration sanctifies American nationality when it deals with well-off children on American soil, hoping such children will become “good” grown-ups sharing pre-Civil Rights Movement values.

2 – In Western Europe, most countries allow multiple nationalities with little if any oversight as to what the other nationalities are. Nationality may be acquired through marrying a national, by establishing a long enough residency, or by being born in the country. Most countries, like the USA, have requirements other than just bona fide five-year residency. Even Germany, which for a long time only recognized blood affiliation, now accepts dual nationality linked to the birthright of the soil (the legal term – ius soli). Historical reasons explain why, and I am happy that they are moving away from the old policy.

The bottom line is this. When a country believes it can integrate and assimilate an immigration flow, the path to citizenship is simpler, and dual nationality is a given. When the country is afraid of the consequences of an immigration flow, it tightens the naturalization requirements to preserve what it considers its traditional values. Over the last few decades, the naturalization procedure in the USA has become increasingly difficult, with more and more requirements. Lately, some ceremonies have been cancelled, preventing people from becoming Americans. Disputing American citizenship by birth in the USA follows the same logic.

George Clooney and his family became French. He openly admits that his level of French is insufficient to meet the minimum required for naturalization. I believed he submitted two files with his spouse, a native French speaker (she was born Lebanese), and their children also speak French well. On the screen, he is the boss. In this situation, he is the weak link. Administrative logic would insist that the rest of his family could be naturalized, but not him. Therefore, he needed and got preferential treatment. I do not see this as a big deal. The important thing to me is that he will undoubtedly be at the forefront of the fight against automatic loss of American citizenship, as in the proposal mentioned above. This issue will now be personal; it will affect him right away. Can anyone imagine George Clooney not being an American icon?

THE REVEREND JESSE JACKSON’S DEATH
The Rev. Jesse Jackson died on Tuesday, February 17th, 2026. I remember his two presidential campaigns. On March 12, 1995, he preached at the American Church in Paris, and I was there. I have a vivid memory of his sermon, which lasted for a long time; my recollection is that it was close to an hour. He was passionate and engaged. What I remember most was that his sermon was almost a political speech, well structured, and that he went back to his main theme on a regular basis, and made sure the congregation was following what he said. He was a fantastic speaker in that regard.

He came to preach a second time on August 9th, 2009. The ACP monthly magazine, the Spire, which was still published at that time, said: “What a privilege this morning to shake hands with Jesse Jackson. He preached at the American Church in Paris, on his way from Chicago to the Ivory Coast. He made an impassioned call for peace in the world, calling himself a ‘troublemaker for peace.’ He says he is asked sometimes whether, with all his political speeches, he ever preaches much anymore. His answer: ‘I preach the gospel every day – and I use words if I have to!’” He also visited in August 2021, but did not preach that time.

THE FRENCH TAX OFFICE IS BANNING PAYMENT BY CHECK
When I started my career in 1997, checks were the most common means of payment. I remember depositing them twice a month, up to 20 at a time. I would send a check to pay utilities, in the special envelopes provided. Today, hardly anyone uses a checkbook anymore. One client tells me she writes one check per year to pay my fees. It is a fact that checks have just about completely faded away. For one thing, processing checks is expensive, as it requires manpower at both banks.

In France, checks now account for less than 2% of non-cash payments across all sectors, compared with more than a third in the early 2000s. For years, the tax office has had a center in Rennes specialized in processing checks, speeding tickets, and other types of payments. It is due to be closed sometime in 2027.

Every time some procedure goes totally digital, members of the population who have no internet connection, or a very poor one, are penalized, as are those incapable of using the internet properly.

MY FEES WILL INCREASE ON SEPTEMBER 1st, 2026
I will be increasing my fees by 20% at the beginning of the next scholastic year, after the 2026 summer vacation. Here are the new rates:
1st meeting/1st work: 420€ euros for 2 hours
Extra hour(s): 180 euros per hour
Handling mail at my office: 50 euros per month
Surcharge for out-of-office meetings: 90 euros, assuming less than 30 minutes’ transportation
Surcharge for meetings and phone calls at the client’s request after 7PM weekdays, all weekend, on national French holidays, and during vacations: 30%
Clients paying by wire to an American account must add $20 to the fee to cover the bank charge for processing a wire transfer.
Bounced checks incur a charge of $20 or 20 euros.

THE SHIP STUDIO IS AVAILABLE FOR RENTAL IN APRIL 2026
The SHIP studio is currently available on April 1st. I am finally getting a lot more requests and have had to refuse a few lately, as it was already rented. When people contact me about renting it, I send them to the website. I hope it shows how cozy the accommodations are. The monthly rent of 1,400€ is all-inclusive. While I continue to favor rentals lasting between two and six months, under certain conditions, I have accepted one-month rentals.
https://www.jeantaquet.com/home-in-paris

OFFICE CLOSED FOR SUMMER VACATION
The office will be closed for seven weeks over the summer, from the evening of Friday, July 3rd, to the morning of Monday, August 24th. 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, and Sarah or I will honor prefecture meetings already scheduled, as well as a few other engagements. Like last year, I should be away from the office for most of the time, but I will stay in France, specifically in Burgundy.

Best regards,

QUESTION

HOW TO PROVE FINANCIAL MEANS WHILE RENEWING THE VISITEUR STATUS?

I renew my visa every year. I am always asked to show bank statements. It feels like a never-ending quest. So I never got a clear answer: when it comes to showing my funds/money during my visa renewal, can I show mutual funds and stock accounts I own with some investment statement? Or does it need to be ready-to-spend liquid cash in a checking/savings account? If I show my mutual fund account, I have a large amount there, and I do not feel comfortable sharing this with the French immigration police. On the other hand, I don’t think there’s a point in showing my retirement account (401k) as it will be many, many years before I have access to this money, but it has a much smaller balance. The reason I have always shown my American checking and savings accounts is that cash seemed a lot less risky than a mutual fund or stock account. In my mind, the stock market could plummet suddenly, and my stock accounts and mutual funds could end up at $0 tomorrow, so I was thinking they were not very “safe” in the eyes of the French government. Can you clarify this point so that I can submit once and for all with peace of mind that it is well done?

QUESTION

RENEWING SELF-EMPLOYED PROFESSION LIBERALE STATUS

I have been living in France for several years. I am trying to renew a four-year carte de séjour as an independent. It expired at the end of July 2025, and I have not heard much from the prefecture.
My first question is, can I ask for the carte de résident while I wait for their answer, as I will have been a resident for way over five years?
Is it possible to be denied? My annual sales have been about €30,000 for the last three years.
I have sent all my URSSAF declarations since 2020, as I entered with the self-employed visa. This is all the income declarations I need to do. Can I apply for another type of visa if this one fails, knowing that I am single?By the way, I do my billing in the USA, and I get paid into my American account.

As January ends in a few hours, I would like once again to wish you all happy holidays. We can hope that 2026 will bring what we wish for, even though 2025 did not do so for probably more than half of the American population. I hope we all can find a way to sincerely exchange best wishes with each other, even though in some instances this might take a near miracle. There will always be worries and looming dangers. In some cases, the dangers are at people’s doorsteps, whether at home or at work. The 2026 mid-term elections can instill hope and fear simultaneously in the same person, leading to a wide range of emotions and a lot of uncertainty about the future. Nevertheless, I wish you all.

A HAPPY NEW YEAR

WIKIPEDIA

The Dictator is a 2012 political satire black comedy film directed by Larry Charles and written by Sacha Baron Cohen, Alec Berg, David Mandel, and Jeff Schaffer. Baron Cohen, in the role of Admiral General Aladeen, the dictator of the fictional Republic of Wadiya, visiting the United States, stars alongside Anna Faris and Ben Kingsley.

So many books and movies are used to refer to the current situation in the USA. The novel 1984 is mentioned very frequently.

WIKIPEDIA

Nineteen Eighty-Four (also published as 1984) is a dystopian speculative fiction novel by the English writer George Orwell. It was published on 8 June 1949 by Secker & Warburg as Orwell’s ninth and final completed book. Thematically, it centers on totalitarianism, mass surveillance, and repressive regimentation of people and behaviors.

Not as often, the Charlie Chaplin movie The Great Dictator is mentioned or referred to, as some compare the current situation to the Nazi rise in the early 1930s in Germany.

WIKIPEDIA

The Great Dictator is a 1940 American political satire black comedy film written, directed, produced by, and starring Charlie Chaplin. Having been the only major Hollywood filmmaker to continue to make silent films well into the period of sound films, Chaplin made this his first true sound film.

Chaplin’s film advanced a stirring condemnation of the German and Italian dictators Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, as well as fascism, antisemitism, and Nazism. At the time of its first release, the United States was still at peace with Nazi Germany and neutral during what were the early days of World War II. Chaplin plays both leading roles: a ruthless fascist dictator and a persecuted Jewish barber.

The Great Dictator is a masterpiece. It would not take much to make it a documentary. But it depicts so closely what happened in Germany during the Nazi regime that I am afraid it looks too foreign for the younger generations. It is not easy to transpose what happens in the movie to any country in the world today.

I would hope that the 2012 movie set in the USA was easier to relate to, with viewers seeing it as contemporary. Various publications have been reporting on a trend to elect conservative, sometimes far-right governments in Europe and in Central and South America. Several countries in Asia have also become more authoritarian. Each country has its own history and characteristics, and each can explain how it ended up that way. As I look at the global picture, I wonder if such a trend can be explained at the world level. American private groups and the American federal government are helping European far-right political parties. It is known that Russia, China, and maybe a few other countries are also influencing elections held in Europe, the USA, and probably in some other countries as well. It is reasonable to believe that such an intervention has an impact and can tip an election in a given direction. Strongmen prefer dealing with other strongmen.

Recently, a few personalities have stood out for implementing bold policies, such as Prime Ministers Mark Carney of Canada, Sanae Takaichi of Japan, Mette Frederiksen of Denmark, and Jonathan Motzfeldt of Greenland. They have all had to deal with striking changes in American foreign policy, although their countries and territories were, until recently, considered to be among the USA’s closest allies. In their own way, they are pushing back, and this does not always make headlines in the major Western media.

For several months, many in the media and on the internet have mentioned the fictional 1984 as a guidebook to how dictators and strongmen secure unlimited power over their citizens. It might appear to some that the 2012 movie The Dictator is now similarly used as a tutorial on how to bring about such regime change in the USA. The movie is, of course, totally fictional, and the main character is the dictator of a fictional country somewhere in the eastern Caucasus, part of the former Soviet Union.

THE NEW FRENCH EXAM REQUIRED FOR MULTIYEAR CARTES DE SEJOUR
A law approved on January 26th, 2024, on controlling immigration and improving societal integration, strengthens the requirements for proficiency in French and integration into the French Republic for foreigners wishing to remain in France for the long term.

In particular, the law specifies that as of January 1st, 2026, a civics exam is mandatory, and a certificate of success on the exam must be submitted by all first-time applicants for multiyear residence permits (cartes de séjour pluriannuelles and cartes de résident) who are nationals of countries outside the European Union.

A decree of July 15th, 2025, also made a civics exam mandatory for all naturalization applications as of January 1st, 2026. Information about the exam is available on the website of the Direction générale des étrangers en France (DGEF, Directorate-General for Foreign Nationals in France), part of the Ministry of the Interior.

To assist foreigners with the new procedures, they launched a website entirely dedicated to civics training. This training, which is part of the Contrat d’intégration républicaine (Republican Integration Contract) and provided by the OFII, helps participants understand the principles and values of the Republic, learn how institutions work, and understand the rights and duties associated with living in France.

The site brings together 222 thematic fact sheets and structured content to help foreigners in their training, deepen their understanding of essential concepts, and prepare for the civics exam. It also provides practical answers about the exam’s contents and procedures for taking it. Questions that are likely to be asked are also posted online.

The website also provides information on approved centers where the exam can be taken, located throughout the country.

This new platform will be regularly updated to offer foreigners comprehensive support in their integration process and in taking the civics exam. The requirements for naturalization applicants have been tightened as well.

For more information on this process, see the DGEF under the heading Integration et Accés à la Nationalité.
www.interieur.gouv.fr/actualites/communiques-de-presse/a-partir-du-1er-janvier-2026-reussite-a-lexamen-civique-sera-necessaire-pour-obtenir-carte-de-sejour

THE CIVICS TEST FOR THE NATURALIZATION PROCEDURE
To be naturalized as a French citizen, applicants must demonstrate their assimilation into French society, in particular through sufficient knowledge of French history, culture, and society.

The level of knowledge expected is assessed in a civics exam, which was introduced on January 1st, 2026, and consists of a multiple-choice test in French with 40 questions, including knowledge questions and scenario-based questions. The questions cover the following five themes:

Principles and values of the French Republic
Institutional and political system
Rights and duties
History, geography, and culture
Living in French society.

A minimum of 32 correct answers (i.e., 80%) is required to pass. The test is conducted digitally and lasts a maximum of 45 minutes.

To prepare for the exam, applicants can consult the citizens’ handbook, the charter of rights and duties of French citizens, and the list of knowledge questions (document available below). The scenario-based questions are not available. A certificate of success in the civics exam is one of the documents required for a naturalization application.

Applicants may be granted accommodations or exemptions from certain parts of the civics exam if they have a disability or health condition. To this end, they must provide a medical certificate attesting that accommodations are necessary, specifying the recommended accommodations, or indicating that their disability or health condition makes it impossible for them to take the civics exam.

Two organizations have been approved by the Ministry of the Interior to administer the civics exam:
(1) The Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
(2) France Éducation International.

Find approved centers and registration procedures at the following links:
Civics exam Naturalization external link.
https://formation-civique.interieur.gouv.fr

You will find the link to approved centers and registration procedures here very soon.
https://www.immigration.interieur.gouv.fr/Integration-et-Acces-a-la-nationalite/La-nationalite-francaise/Les-procedures-d-acces-a-la-nationalite-francaise

RUNNING THE BUSINESS IS NO LONGER THE ONLY FOCUS IN MY LIFE
In 2026, I will turn 67, and I will have been in practice for 29 years. Over the years, I have been more and more interested in volunteering for different causes.

I have been faithful to my church, the American Church in Paris (ACP), and I remain available to people there who seek my help and advice. I plan on continuing to be available.

A couple of years ago, my wife bought a house in the medieval city of Cluny, located about 500 kilometers from Paris. The house is close to what is left of the Cluny Abbey, which is now a museum. There were numerous reasons for this purchase, but the main one in her mind was that we would both retire there when I am done working in Paris. Another major reason was to get involved in classical music differently. Instead of singing soprano in a choir or being a soloist, she wanted to help young classical singers and other musicians. The ground floor of the house is somewhat like an extension of the abbey, with acoustical quality like that of an ancient church. We have created a non-profit organization that holds concerts and other musical events, and local musicians can rehearse there, even when we are absent. As the musical activity increases, so will our presence there.

The ACP has had an African Fellowship for about 20 years, and I have been involved in it pretty much from the beginning. This is how I learned about NGOs, projects helping people living in Africa, and so on. A Tanzanian woman, Rhobi Samwelly, founded an NGO called Hope for Girls and Women Tanzania in 2017 and established the Mugumu and Butiama safe houses to protect girls seeking to avoid female genital mutilation (FGM). Rhobi is herself an FGM survivor and Human Rights Defender winner of the Marianne Initiatives Award bestowed by President Emmanuel Macron.

Members of AAWE and ACP organized an early screening of a documentary about Rhobi’s actions, In the Name of Our Daughter. Then, in the fall of 2024, we established a French branch of her NGO. This association is registered out of my office, and I deal with the legal and administrative aspects. Members quickly organized several events and participated in others, such as the AAWE Christmas Bazaar held at ACP. When I was in my early twenties, I read a lot about sexual mutilation in Africa, and later read a series of articles in Le Monde on the issue, which ran for several weeks. So it was a topic I was familiar with, even 40 years later.

For years, I have made sure to keep my professional business and my involvement as a militant for projects and some causes separate. Now, I want to dedicate more time to the latter, and I believe I owe my clientele and my readership this information.

THE VIKING ERIK THE RED DISCOVERED AND CLAIMED GREENLAND IN 982
The saga of the hot-headed Erik the Red, who was exiled first from Norway and later from Iceland, is very interesting. Furthermore, his son, Leif Erikson, was one of the first Vikings to discover North America in about the year 1000!

Swein Forkbeard, the first king of Denmark, which then included what is now Norway, died in 1014. Denmark has been a sovereign country since ancient times, and Greenland became a fully integrated territory of Denmark in 1721. Today, it is a semi-independent territory under the political authority of the Danish crown.

In the Middle Ages, the most feared Vikings – seafaring warriors from Scandinavia – came from what are now Denmark and Norway. Today, both countries maintain a vibrant patriotic feeling.

Greenland’s Inuit people, who have lived there for millennia, clearly prefer the Danish umbrella over any other. Ideally, they would like to be a totally independent country, but this idea is not sustainable, as half of their budget is financed by the Danish administration.

The current American administration should look beyond the Danish population of about six million. Though it is minuscule compared to the American population, there is still enough Viking fighting spirit for the Danes to stand tall and fearless. International tension regarding Greenland seems to have faded for now, and the US administration has mentioned other ways to obtain what it wants. The situation is still likely to have long-lasting effects on the Danish and Greenlandic populations, as well as somewhat less severe effects on other European nations.

JAPAN WANTS TO DEFEND TAIWAN
With everything that is happening in the USA, the ousting of the Venezuelan president, and the war in Ukraine, there has not been much attention to what is happening in East Asia. Only a few media outlets spent a couple of minutes on the fact that Japan’s new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, has declared that she is ready to send the Japanese military to defend Taiwan against Chinese aggression.

There are a few things to unpack here. Takaichi is Japan’s first woman to serve as prime minister. Also, for a good 20 years, Japan has been increasing its military spending and is now capable of taking the offense, though this is not allowed by the constitution imposed on Japan by the Americans after WWII. Neighboring countries have mixed feelings about Japan rearming. They have painful memories of atrocities committed during the war, though they have also witnessed Japan’s recent evolution with a focus on peace and staying safe.

Until recently, the USA was considered the only country standing strong in the military defense of Taiwan. But in President Trump’s current term, he has shown little interest in protecting Taiwan. This leaves the Taiwanese population essentially stranded, as Taipei lacks the military capacity to stand alone against mainland China.

Japan believes its military can face that of China, which says a lot about its confidence as well as how strong it has become, even if it does not yet really measure up to the Chinese military.

This development also shows that the USA is no longer considered a reliable and strong ally and cannot be trusted.

Who is planning to defend Taiwanese independence, and why does this matter to Western countries? Does it matter, in fact? The situation has echoes of WWII, when Japan was on the wrong side of history. The countries in this region still vividly recall Japanese atrocities and war crimes.

The Chinese propaganda machine has been raising the specter of Japanese wartime activities almost daily, stating that the massacres and war crimes Japan committed disqualify it from protecting Taiwan. This indicates that China has become more concerned about what the “small” Japanese military can do than about how US forces would react should China invade Taiwan. It also implies that a Japanese commitment can be trusted, while an American commitment must be taken with a grain of salt.

The last time I wrote about Taiwan, a reader told me to stop discussing issues nobody is interested in. I agree that few people care about this country or even where it is on the map, and most do not see how events there could have a direct impact on their lives. But remember this: the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd. (TSMC), a multinational manufacturing and design company, is one of the world’s most valuable semiconductor makers, largely on contract. It produces the most sophisticated microchips used in AI, as well as many other components. Western industries and people would immediately feel the consequences if TSMC factories stopped production because of war.

MY FEES WILL INCREASE ON SEPTEMBER 1st, 2026
I will be increasing my fees by 20% at the beginning of the next scholastic year, after the 2026 summer vacation. Here are the new rates:
1st meeting/1st work: 420€ euros for 2 hours
Extra hour(s): 180 euros per hour
Handling mail at my office: 50 euros per month
Surcharge for out-of-office meetings: 90 euros, assuming less than 30 minutes’ transportation
Surcharge for meetings and phone calls at the client’s request after 7PM weekdays, all weekend, on national French holidays, and during vacations: 30%
Clients paying by wire to an American account must add $20 to the fee to cover the bank charge for processing a wire transfer.
Bounced checks incur a charge of $20 or 20 euros.

THE SHIP STUDIO IS AVAILABLE FOR RENTAL IN MARCH 2026
The SHIP studio is currently available on March 1st. I am finally getting a lot more requests and have had to refuse a few lately, as it was already rented. When people contact me about renting it, I send them to the website. I hope it shows how cozy the accommodations are. The monthly rent of 1,400€ is all-inclusive. While I continue to favor rentals lasting between two and six months, under certain conditions, I have accepted one-month rentals.
https://www.jeantaquet.com/home-in-paris

OFFICE CLOSED FOR SUMMER VACATION
The office will be closed for seven weeks over the summer, from the evening of Friday, July 3rd, to the morning of Monday, August 24th. 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, and Sarah or I will honor prefecture meetings already scheduled, as well as a few other engagements. Like last year, I should be away from the office for most of the time, but I will stay in France, specifically in Burgundy.

Best regards,

QUESTION

PAYING HOUSEHOLD HELP LEGALLY WITH CHEQUE EMPLOI SERVICE UNIVERSEL

I recently retired from my French employer. A couple of years ago, I hired a housekeeper paid through the cheque emploi service universel. I just noticed that I am paying her salary, and at the same time, the government is taking money out of my account at the end of the month. Will I be getting this sum back as a reduction in taxes, or did I, in essence, pay my housekeeper double? Usually, I received a check from the CE to cover this, and now I don’t.

QUESTION

BEING APPROVED AND DENIED BY THE PREFECTURE

After holding a visiteur carte de séjour as an American retiree for a few years, I asked for the private life status a couple of months ago, as I had an appointment at the big prefecture. I PACSed with a French person, and she had moved in with me a couple of months before that ceremony. Since my old card was up for renewal, I chose to take advantage of this opportunity to change it. Uploading the documents took a long time, but it felt easy. I had all the documents ready; there were many of them! The meeting went great, I did not even need to show the file I sent out, even though I was asked to come with it. Yesterday, I got a postal letter from the prefecture stating that my request was denied. I was not told to leave the country in 30 days; there was no expulsion order. It just said that our cohabitation was too recent, and I did not comply with the one year of living together. The letter tells me to submit a new request when it happens.How come I was not denied right away if I did not qualify? They accepted my request twice! I have a récépissé that is still valid. Should I worry that I lost my French residency?