ll the leaves are brown (all the leaves are brown)
And the sky is grey (and the sky is grey)
I’ve been for a walk (I’ve been for a walk)
On a winter’s day (on a winter’s day)
I’d be safe and warm (I’d be safe and warm)
If I was in L.A. (if I was in L.A.)
California dreamin’ (California dreamin’)
On such a winter’s day
Stopped into a church
I passed along the way
Well, I got down on my knees (got down on my knees)
And I pretend to pray (I pretend to pray)
You know the preacher like the cold (preacher like the cold)
He knows I’m gonna stay (knows I’m gonna stay)
California dreamin’ (California dreamin’)
On such a winter’s day
All the leaves are brown (all the leaves are brown)
And the sky is grey (and the sky is grey)
I’ve been for a walk (I’ve been for a walk)
On a winter’s day (on a winter’s day)
If I didn’t tell her (if I didn’t tell her)
I could leave today (I could leave today)
California dreamin’ (California dreamin’)
On such a winter’s day (California dreamin’)
On such a winter’s day (California dreamin’)
On such a winter’s day

The song “California Dreamin’,” by John and Michelle Phillips, was first recorded by Barry McGuire in 1965, with backup vocals by the Phillips’ quartet, the Mamas & the Papas. They released their own version as a single the same year, and it became by far the bigger hit.

Among French people, especially those who have dreamed of moving to the USA, California has an iconic status, that sets this state aside from the rest of the USA. It has always been the land one dreams about. In May 1970, the French singer Julien Clerc released “La Californie,” which became a long-lasting hit. It is safe to say that as far back as one can remember, the state of California has nourished dreams of an unattainable better life for much of the world. This separation of the state and the nation in the popular imagination of the rest of the world, is something many Americans themselves have a hard time understanding.

The results of the midterm elections in a lot of the country were favorable to the Democratic Party. It is interesting to note that the state of California is heavily Democratic. So, for some people the election results were reason to rejoice, enabling them to dream that a better future is possible. California has also long been a magnet for people living in other states – and still is, for political reasons as well as well-paid job opportunities. California dreaming, dreaming California is still today, a real thing.

As I write these words, however, wildfires are destroying homes and killing people, and California is weeping over these deaths and other losses. This is a time of mourning. One could hope that such destructive fires will not happen again, but climate change is going to make it more difficult. In much of the USA, it has been really cold. It feels like winter already when one celebrates Thanksgiving with thick snow on the ground. What makes the fires even scarier is that they should not happen when it is that cold.

I could dwell upon the leaves being not only brown but burned to ashes, about the sky being grey and people suffocating from the heavy smoke. But rather than twirling with these lyrics, I pay my respects to the victims of the blazes, especially people who lost their homes, their businesses, a loved one. We should pay attention to them, helping them rebuild their lives and giving them a reason to dream of a better future.

As long as I can remember, I have loved “California Dreamin’,” and still often listen to the albums of The Mamas & the Papas.

HOW CAN THERE BE A FRENCH BLACK FRIDAY?
I already wrote about this last year, and this year is even worse in terms of the advertisements we are being bombarded with about huge sales only on Black Friday. It reassures me a little (but not much) that many French outlets promote Black Friday week, which indicates to me they have a poor understanding of what Black Friday normally means. I also find recent developments regarding the Thanksgiving celebration to be interesting. I cannot imagine the USA going through the season of fall without celebrating it. At the same time, I look with great interest at the fact that the narrative of Native Americans is being heard more and more, and that this celebration is unsettling, to say the least, for them.

FROM MY DECEMBER 2017 ISSUE:
“I was feeling completely exasperated at seeing ‘Black Friday’ advertised everywhere in France (in English!). I wondered how many of people would even know what it referred to. How can you have a ‘Black Friday’ if you do not celebrate Thanksgiving on Thursday? The adoption of this term is totally insane and I believe it illustrates 100% bad taste consumerism. In the USA, many consider ‘Black Friday’ offensive for various reasons, a tendency that has grown with every passing year. Some believe this is insanity in consumerism, citing the craziness when crowds – I would call them hordes sometimes – enter the shops. Others focus more on the idea that family life should take precedence over consumerism, as the day after Thanksgiving is usually a de facto national holiday. There are other criticisms, but I see particular merit in those two.

“France does not celebrate Thanksgiving, and this holiday, unlike some others, cannot be easily exported, as it is part and parcel of the iconic history of the birth of the USA and the infancy of an early settlement in the New World.”

RETENUE À LA SOURCE – INCOME TAX WITHHOLDING STARTS ON JANUARY 1st 2019
I attended a seminar on this topic given by my French accounting firm, as it is now certain that it will go ahead. I would like to explain in a basic way how it will happen.

We could have feared the worst from the French administration, since the deal was locked, sealed and delivered this past September after countless months of indecision.

First, the good news, which shows there have been some significant improvements.

The provision that employees feared most was that their family information would need to be shared with the employer. This is not happening: only the tax office will be informed. It used to happen once a year, when the declaration was submitted. But now, since this information immediately affects the bracket used to calculate the amount of tax owed, the individual must inform the tax inspector as soon as possible. This is a huge relief. It is interesting to see that in France, the tax inspector is more trusted and seen as less of a threat than the employer – a situation that is impossible to explain in only a few words. Just remember that the tax inspector is a free adviser when tax season comes, and an impartial helper.

The other good news is that independents will pay monthly by automated withdrawal, and the amount will be based on what was owed the previous year. The administration has promised that any reported change will be taken into account, and the amount of the payment changed, as quickly as possible. It remains to be seen how quickly that will actually be.

The same rule applies for rental income and other types of revenue that an authority cannot withhold directly.

A NEW IMMIGRATION LAW HAS BEEN PASSED – SOME GOOD NEWS
To obtain employee immigration status, one must be awarded the right to work as an employee. A new law grants this right to all of the foreigner’s potential employers, rather than to just one specific current employer. Previously there was a risk of losing this right when the foreigner changed employers within three years.

Another good thing is that the travailleur temporaire status and designation mentioned on the carte de séjour has been done away with. The evolution was such that it was issued when the foreigner had a contrat à durée déterminée, a short-term contract with a beginning and ending date. Now both labor contracts, the CDD and the CDI, grant the right to obtain the “salarié carte de séjour”. We will see if DIRECCTE issues the same number of authorizations and implements the law with the right intent, or if some short-term contract holders will be refused, when they would have been accepted under the previous law.

A further good thing is the disappearance of the autorisation provisoire de séjour for recent graduates transitioning to work either as an employee or a self-employed person. It has been replaced by a true immigration status called titre de séjour temporaire « recherche d’emploi ou création ». This should reassure employers and facilitate the job search.

Now almost all the remaining bad news concerning immigration is about refugee procedures.

CRIMINAL FAKE MARRIAGE – ULTERIOR MOTIVE MARRIAGE
I never try to guess which couple will last and which will not. There is no way to be sure, and we have all known what appeared to be the perfect couple who ended up getting the nastiest divorce. Because of my work, I often deal with couples where one is an undocumented alien seeking to obtain a legal stay through marriage. That puts a huge strain on the couple if it is not properly handled. It gives one spouse considerable power over the other, as the couple must stay married three years before the foreigner can retain legal residence in France. I have often seen the foreign spouse effectively blackmailed. The other distortion is that the foreign spouse may disappear once the immigration status is achieved for good, giving the impression that there was no love and it was just a scam to stay in France.

Completely aside from the immigration issue, multicultural couples have a much harder time staying together, as it is harder for them to establish the common ground needed for a long-lasting relationship. At the same time, the traditional view of marriage lasting forever is shared by fewer and fewer people these days. In major cities of Western countries, half of all marriages end in divorce, with multicultural couples representing only a tiny minority.

The video linked below is ten years old, and I know the administration has strengthened its controls and now does more investigation to uncover what French officialdom considers fake marriages. It is not just a matter of foreigners paying a large sum of money to get married and obtain a legal stay; that is a felony, for which people go to jail. But there are also couples where clearly the foreigner is not involved in the relationship as someone in love, when the other one seems to be. I liked the comment the policewoman made about the Moroccan woman and the Frenchman wanting to get married. She understood the motivations of each of them, and she seemed to care about both of them, but at the same time she had to apply the law and definitively block the wedding, leaving the Moroccan woman in a precarious situation.

FRENCH CONSULATES WILL NO LONGER OFFER NOTAIRE SERVICE
Starting in 2019, French consulates are dropping the notaire service they used to provide. This might not seem like a huge loss to most of us, but it is for countries in which such a service is not offered privately. It is a big deal in countries where there is no other way to verify the signing of an official document. In such countries, it was a real service that was badly needed: the consular notarization enabled, for instance, real estate transactions to occur in France without the person having to go to France. Throughout my career I have seen more and more transactions done this way. Since the clients are almost always Americans and French notaires often accept notarization by an American notary public, this is a reasonable alternative. Yet even today, I think many rural notaires would not accept such notarizations, as they are not done according to French procedure.

https://frenchmorning.com/notariat-consulaire-supprime-a-partir-de-2019/

FRENCH BAILIFFS SEIZED A RYANAIR JET OVER AN UNPAID DEBT
Here is an excerpt of an article I found on the website www.thelocal.fr:
“French authorities said on Friday they seized a Ryanair plane, forcing 149 London-bound passengers off the aircraft, to get the Irish low-cost airline to repay illegal public aid, the latest in a string of troubles for the carrier.

“Claiming that Ryanair owed them 525,000 euros ($595,000) in subsidies wrongfully paid out to the airline, the authorities sent in a bailiff under police protection on Thursday to seize the plane on the tarmac of Bordeaux airport as it was readying to take off for London Stansted.

“Just under 24 hours later, the no-frills airline relented and paid up, authorities said Friday, allowing it to reclaim its aircraft.”

The French word for bailiff is huissier and when you see a document from them or when they knock on your door, you need to pay attention. Sometimes it is empty threats, but other times they have the power to confiscate things and sell them at auction when a debt has not been paid. Grounding an airplane to get a debt paid is rare, which is why it made the news.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-46152849

I would like to remind everyone that there is no January issue.

I would like to wish you all
A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR
I am looking forward to the year to come, 2019.
Like many, I feel that 2018 was a very hard year, and
I lost a lot of sleep trying to follow everything that was going on.

Best regards,

QUESTION

REGISTERING A SMALL BUSINESS – AUTO-ENTREPRENEUR

I wanted to ask you some more about auto-entrepreneur status. I have found that there are many different methods for obtaining auto-entrepreneur status (micro-enterprise, etc.). I’m not quite sure why I would get caught, since this status is completely legal. Any information you can give would be greatly appreciated as I’m finding mixed opinions.

QUESTION

WHO PAYS THE PREMIUM FOR PUMA COVERAGE?

Is an American resident of France who receives US Social Security retirement benefits required to pay the cotisation supplementaire maladie under PUMA?

The link between this title and the various topics addressed in this issue is probably not obvious for many. I consider both the 1946 and 1981 film versions of The Postman Always Rings Twice to be absolute masterpieces. It is rare that I am this enthusiastic about a remake. Each in its own way, these movies portray the bleakness of the Great Depression, and tell the bitter-sweet story of a Greek immigrant who marries a younger woman, and is murdered by her and her lover.

The book The Postman Always Rings Twice is a 1934 crime novel by James M. Cain. Fast-moving and only about 100 pages long, this novel mixes sexuality and violence. The action takes place in a desolate place in California.

The Postman Always Rings Twice is a 1946 movie directed by Tay Garnett, featuring Lana Turner, John Garfield, and Cecil Kellaway.

The 1981 remake is the fourth movie version. It stars Jessica Lang and Jack Nicholson, and was directed by Bob Rafelson.

The parallel between poor Americans of those days and today is obvious. An immigrant is featured, one who has successfully integrated into American society and who then is murdered. Repetition is an important device within the plot, as the first attempted murder fails and the wife and lover have to go though the steps twice before succeeding in killing the husband.

Maybe it is just because I am a fan of Lana Turner, Jessica Lang and Jack Nicholson. The truth is that I find life tainted with violence, with confrontation; this is true in France as well as in the USA and other western countries. In recent weeks, people have been shot in both countries, reactions to these shootings have been passionate, and there have been demonstrations with marchers taking over the streets.

Closer to the topics I chose this month, there is also the idea that first impressions can be misleading. I believe that there is always a need to look twice at situations and sometimes more. Foreigners are often faced with painful and incomprehensible situations. I also want to take a closer look at these foreigners, whether refugees or not, who are gathering and sleeping in the streets of most European cities.

Nothing big in life can be done without passion. Passion can also blind people to catastrophic consequences.

WHAT DO REFUGEES LOOK LIKE?
The immediate, common sense response should be “How can this be even a question?” It happens that several discussions I have had recently made me reflect on the refugee topic and wrestle with this question. Behind it are two very poignant questions to me: “Who is a refugee?” and “How does one define refugee status?” The UN has issued a definition, and its High Commissioner for Refugees handles people who seek refuge, and it is very good that their guidelines are there to help countries pass legislation that translates them into their own domestic laws.

The reality is that most countries make welcoming refugees more difficult as the number of refugees trying to get in increases. So, whether this is the right decision or not for the country, refugee procedures let in the least number of people when the need is the greatest. On TV news shows, we see images of “hordes” of people. Because the media shows these images that are scary and unsettling, people have a negative idea of who refugees are. The main difference between what is happening in the USA and in Europe is that refugees come to Europe by their own means, landing on our shores. Given the geography, refugees entering the USA from Africa or Asia have gone through a very strict screening process and therefore are handpicked, unlike refugees entering Europe. The boat ride to reach Greece or Italy is about the same distance as that between Cuba and Florida. Many Cubans fled their country that way.

When militants or professionals work with refugees, they meet people, just people. Should a militant accept the narrow definition? Should a solution be found now that refugees are here sleeping on our sidewalks? Clearly the system of welcoming refugees is not working – handling their claims, offering the bare necessities of life. I am describing issues raised in France about immigration, refugees and so on. A new law has been proposed and is expected to be passed shortly and implemented right away. That being said, from what we know about it, it decreases the chances that any given refugee will obtain the legal status sought.

As far as I am concerned, a refugee looks like anyone else, like other people I help as either a professional or a volunteer. All the success stories I know regarding refugees have the same element: the refugee is helped individually and is taken care of. It is a person-to-person relationship.

There is another aspect of how this situation is being viewed and accepted (or not) in France and in the USA. Since the Civil War, the USA has not had battlefields on its soil or vast numbers of people fleeing war zones.

For France, on the other hand, with its thousands of years of history, 80 years or so feels like yesterday. In May and June 1940, about two million French people fled their homes as German troops swept through northern France. They became refugees in their own country. Most grabbed a few of the essentials of life, pushing a stroller or pulling a wagon with their bare hands. The same thing happened in most of Europe as the German troops advanced. This came just after half a million Spanish refugees arrived in France in 1939.

So, what do refugees look like? They look like any of us. They were my grandparents during the war, and my dad, who was quickly sent to a boarding school in the south of France. Like them, the refugees now congregating in France and elsewhere in Europe had jobs and families, and had to leave everything, sometimes in a matter of an hour or less.

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exode_de_1940_en_France

THE PUMA BILLING SYSTEM IS STILL INSANE BUT THINGS MAY BE IMPROVING
For about six weeks, from mid-December to late January, many of us were helping people who received a bill from URSSAF for the premium to be paid for 2016 health coverage. This is so wrong on so many levels, I cannot go through all of them. (Last month I detailed why it was wrong for many people.)

The situation is far from fixed but we are getting a glimpse of good news. About three months after the appeal was sent, people are getting URSSAF’s answer. The letter states that the person does not owe the money and the related account has being closed. It also mentions that they should contact their local CPAM if they wish to be covered by PUMA.

It is way too early to claim victory, as many appeals have not been answered yet. Still, the initial answers are reassuring.

NEW PROCEDURE TO REGISTER A PACS
I was so focused on the changes in immigration procedures brought about by the legislation implemented on November 1st 2017 that I overlooked another change. This one comes from the same law that gave notaires the power to grant a divorce to a couple in the case of an uncontested split (requête conjointe).

A civil union (pacte civil de solidarité, or PACS) is no longer registered in court (tribunal d’instance) but instead at the family office of the local mairie.

Both changes stem from the same motivation: relieving pressure on the courts, which are overcrowded by procedures that are contentious by nature. But the two procedures are totally different. The very existence of a divorce procedure implies disagreement, though a couple may come up with a sound deal on issues that needed a resolution in order for a divorce to happen.

The nature of a PACS registration, on the other hand, is to make a couple official, with the associated rights and obligations.

PACS has always been an oddity according to French legal logic, but a fantastic solution to fix what used to be a painful situation, as it made it possible for same-sex couples to have a legal existence and rights. Today, over 80% of PACSed couples are heterosexual.

Originally, to keep the PACS registration from looking like a wedding, the choice was made to have it resemble the formation of a corporation, with the contract registered by the parties in court. Corporations have their by-laws registered in a business court, and a similar procedure was the best way officials could imagine to prevent the appearance of a PACS being a marriage.

The PACS was created on November 15th 1999. Some 18 years later, with same sex marriage have become a fact of life, there is no need to keep this procedure in court. The fact that PACS registrations and weddings both occur at city hall no longer bothers many people, if any.

I have been very critical of the divorce procedure being removed from the court system. The reason is that the foreigner, then the less informed spouse, can be taken advantage of much more easily this way than when the judge rules. I believe that today marriage and PACS are so close in so many ways that it makes sense for them to be handled by the same office. But they should still involve different procedures, to show that there is a difference in the nature of the union.

A wedding is performed by an authority, and a similar authority accepts its dissolution. A PACS is the acknowledgement of the existence of a couple, and the same couple can inform the authorities of its dissolution.

La loi de modernisation de la justice du XXIe siècle, publiée au Journal officiel du 19 novembre 2016 (Art. 48):
http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/eli/loi/2016/11/18/JUSX1515639L/jo

Best regards,

QUESTION

IS THE AUTO-ENTREPRENEUR STATUS COMPATIBLE WITH THE CARTE DE SEJOUR ETUDIANT

In your Q/A about student vs auto-entrepreneur I was surprised by your answer, because the two statuses are not mutually exclusive. You can be a student AND have the auto-entrepreneur status at the same time – all without changing your visa status (student or otherwise). I know people who have had the student visa and then have also signed up as an auto-entrepreneur. This has zero impact on the student visa. I was just at URSSAF last week when I asked about this specifically. I’m about to become a student again (on a visa vie privée) and I want to keep my auto-entrepreneur status. The URSSAF agent said I can have both statuses at the same time. I hope you can update your answer to include these details.

QUESTION

IS THE CARTE DE SEJOUR PASSEPORT TALENT THE BEST ONE FOR STARTING A BUSINESS IN FRANCE?

My wife and I are Americans, currently in Boston, but are interested in moving to France to start our own business. We’ve been looking into the visa options lately, and are a bit stuck trying to decipher the difference between “talent passport – new business” and “entrepreneur/profession libérale”. I’ve read many of the blog posts about the profession libérale visa, but would appreciate any clarification between the two, specifically: 

1 – Does anyone feel like one of these visas is easier to get or better to have than the other? For the passeport talent you must “prove that you have a real and serious business creation project” as well as hold a master’s degree or have five years’ experience. To get the profession libérale visa you need to “demonstrate the economic viability of your project.” I’m having a hard time determining what meets the latter requirement. Does the idea need to be much more unique to qualify for this versus the talent passport? 

2 – My wife and I are going to run our business together. With the talent passport, family members are issued a multi-year residence permit. How would this work with the profession libérale visa? Do we both have to apply for separate visas? can we apply jointly? can one of us apply and the other then get a spouse’s visa? or is there something else? 

3 – Assuming we get approved for one of these visas, after we move to France and start creating and running our business, are there any differences or restrictions for talent passport holders versus entrepreneur/profession libérale visa holders?

QUESTION

DOES A SIX MONTH VISA GRANT IMMIGRATION STATUS?

At the French consulate in Chicago, I got a six month visa instead of a twelve month one. Do I still need to present my forms to the OFII and have the medical exam/validate the visa long sejour? Or only if I am staying longer than six months? Everybody is telling that I cannot stay past six months. Did the French consulate screw me over?

Back in Black was the seventh album by the Australian band AC/DC, released on July 25th, 1980. Malcolm Young, its co-founder, rhythm guitarist, backing vocalist and songwriter, died in November, although that did not motivate my choice of title. AC/DC fans are well acquainted with the brutal and unflattering lyrics this band is known for, associated with a heavy metal sound. The title song from this album is about disillusionment and having to come back to an unfriendly environment. How many Americans will feel this way traveling back to the USA for the holiday season? And how many Americans living in France will feel this way on their way back to France after the holidays?

HOW CAN A FRENCH BLACK FRIDAY EXIST?
The title of this column actually came to me when I was feeling completely exasperated at seeing “Black Friday” advertised everywhere in France (in English!). I wondered how many of people would even know what it referred to. How can you have a “Black Friday” if you do not celebrate Thanksgiving on Thursday? The adoption of this term is totally insane and I believe it illustrates 100% bad taste consumerism. In the USA, many consider “Black Friday” offensive for various reasons, a tendency that has grown with every passing year. Some believe this is insanity in consumerism, citing the craziness when crowds – I would call them hordes sometimes – enter the shops. Others focus more on the idea that family life should take precedence over consumerism, as the day after Thanksgiving is usually a de facto national holiday. There are other criticisms, but I see particular merit in those two.

France does not celebrate Thanksgiving, and this holiday, unlike some others, cannot be easily exported, as it is part and parcel of the iconic history of the birth of the USA and the infancy of an early settlement in the New World.

So my choice of title can be understood in many ways. The very point of calling the day after Thanksgiving “Black Friday” is that it is the starting point of the Christmas shopping season, when many stores truly break even and get into “the black,” which means having money in the bank instead of being in the red! One can hope that small businesses will also go “Back in Black” and that they too will benefit from the seasonal improvement of the economy, at least in France.

I would like to wish you all
A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR
I am looking forward to the year to come, 2018.
Like many, I feel that 2017 was a very hard year in which to stay focused on the issues that matter.

AARO HAS INVITED ME TO DO A PRESENTATION ON DECEMBER 18th 
The Association of Americans Resident Overseas (AARO) has asked me to speak about “Coping with French Administration” on Monday, December 18th, from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM.

The event is open to the public. It will be held at Reid Hall, 4 rue de Chevreuse, 75006 Paris. For more information and to reserve a seat (€10 – seating limited, registration required), see.

https://aaro.org/events/upcoming-events/event/102-coping-with-french-administration

This is their text presenting the event:
“Join us to hear Jean Taquet, a legal consultant, talk about the ins and outs of French Administration regarding living in France temporarily or indefinitely. Topics will include how to get, retain, change or upgrade your residency status; become covered by French health insurance; open a bank account; be an employee, an entrepreneur, a retiree; and how to surmount the paperwork and the bureaucracy.”

HOW EMAIL AND SOCIAL MEDIA HAVE CHANGED THE WAY I WORK
I started my business in July 1997 when telephone and fax were the backbones of communication with clients, as they were in those days, for me and many others, the only immediate means of communication. I remember how we had a phone message notebook to make sure we called people back, and were judged by how quickly we managed to return calls. We needed a dedicated line for the fax machine; documents were sent this way.

Then there was the postal mail. Even today in France, a lot of things are still done by postal mail. Twenty years ago it was the normal way to send anything the least bit official. How often did we hear “The check is in the mail!”? It was the common way to send a payment, as wire transfers were complicated and expensive.

Today, corresponding by fax is an oddity, but it is still the only thing some divisions of the French administration accept, making them a laughing stock, and not just to Americans living in France. Postal mail is still important even though, as in all western countries, the volume of mail has considerably decreased. Even traditional Christmas letters are now rarely sent by mail, but go by email as an attachment and often with a lot more pictures! I still make sure I check the mailbox at the office every day, though the home one is more often forgotten.

I remember an American and a good friend of mine who used to live in Paris complaining about ten years ago that people dared to call her cell phone before trying the landline. The latter was the important one, and some of us can remember when many American homes where a teenager was living had two phone lines. Today I am rarely called on my landline; and the cell phone has replaced it. We have reached the point where calling is no longer our first reflex. Actual voice calls are now a lot less common than text messages and social media messages.

I freely admit that I have followed this trend, as I like writing. Professionally I favor emails by far, at least for now. I consider text messages and social media, in my case Facebook, as personal tools – non-billable ways of communicating. I have replaced phone calls with Skype or FaceTime. So do not be surprised if I do not return calls as quickly as I answer emails!

THE PUMA BILLING SYSTEM IS STILL NOT READY 
On January 1st, 2016, a form of insurance called protection universelle maladie (PUMA) replaced thecouverture maladie universelle (CMU), which had worked very well for foreigners who chose to sign on to the public healthcare program.

Since then, for many people, it has been a situation of URSSAF saying, “Your account has been closed; please refer to CPAM if your account is still open”; then their caisse primaire d’assurance maladie (CPAM) would reply, “Your account works well, you are covered, and we know nothing about billing – we are not involved with that.”

In other words, the answers people have been getting from CPAM and URSSAF have been murky at best, and “We do not know anything” when they were being honest!

As I have already noted, many of my American clients freaked out more than once upon hearing such statements. For them, their coverage was at great risk, since it had been months (now almost two years) since they made their last payment into the system. I fully respect their concerns, knowing how easily insurers drop those who do not pay their premiums.

In early October 2017, the people concerned received a letter from CPAM stating that finally things were falling into place and that billing would resume later that month. It went on to explain the calculation of the premium: 8% would be based on the 2016 income declared to the French tax office. Then in late November, many received another letter but from URSSAF stating that bills would be issued by the end of the month. As usual, they are not capable of meeting their own deadline, even though the French administration is moving, slowly but surely. URSSAF’s latest answer is that the first invoice (appel de cotisation) should be sent in mid-December. So I anticipate that at the latest they will be issued in January. The payments are expected to be made within one month. Always keep in mind that you can ask for a schedule of payments, even though these premiums are paid quarterly.

There is also the issue of foreigners holding a carte de séjour mention visiteur who do not declare income in France since they do not stay more than six months a year. I intend to investigate this situation, which covers several of my clients. If people are in France less than six months a year, they are not considered residents of France, even if they have a French address and a French bank account, and have held a carte de séjour for several years. For a while, the CPAM guidelines stated that even carte de séjour visiteur holders who declared income in France were not allowed to register. That nonsense has since stopped, but clearly they are still worried about proving French residence in terms of physical presence. Current applicants must send updated utility bills, internet bills and so on, three or sometimes four times, just to convince CPAM that they are indeed resident in France.

So this creates serious concern for people who are to renew their carte de séjour visiteur in the near future –in December and, most likely, in January. All they can show is a letter stating that they will receive a bill shortly, plus their claim that they have received nothing. As any junior lawyer knows, it is basically impossible to prove that something has not happened. So I hope we find a way out of this situation, knowing that both URSSAF and CPAM have been unwilling to help in any way. I think it will be hard to get a statement out of either of them explaining the situation.

I will keep my readers informed as things unfold, since finally, after almost two years, they are in fact unfolding!

DOES FRENCH GRAMMAR HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH SEX EQUALITY?
As far back as I can remember, since I was a very young boy, this issue has always come up one way or another. I was in elementary school when my mother stopped going to her gym class. There had been only women and so the teacher addressed them as “Mesdames,” but then one man joined and from then on the teacher called them all “Messieurs” even though the ratio was probably 30 to 1. My mother could not stand it and quit the class. Right now there is a very serious debate in France on whether French grammar should be changed so that it enhances equality between the sexes, mainly so as to address situations like the one I have described.

I want to stay away from this debate, as I feel totally incompetent as a grammarian, whether in French or in English. I would just point out that English as it is spoken all over the world stigmatizes gender differences a lot less. And yet Anglophone countries are facing sexual harassment issues as much as France, and many other countries, for that matter.

Women in many countries, including France, the USA and the UK, have been revealing sexual harassment and even criminal offences, by prominent men. Have Western societies at last reached such a turning point that there will be no going back? Perhaps, but it is too soon to be sure.

In the 1970s I saw the Scandinavian countries address gender equality in a definitive way. From education to the surrounding culture and the media, it felt like everything needed to change, pretty much overnight. These countries now face their own issues, mostly related to immigration and integrating the refugees who have arrived in recent decades. Nevertheless they remain steadfast on gender equality, in a way that is somewhat mindboggling for the rest of the world. I saw what it took for these countries to turn things around on this issue.

Clearly education – in the broad sense, not just in schools – has something to do with changing behaviors and expectations. The way language and grammar deal with gender affects people nearly as much as the way people speak and the words they use. But I am not sure that changing grammatical rules is the top priority in this matter. I might go so far as to say that significant improvement could be made without changing French grammar, which might be the right fight at the wrong time, when more urgent and effective measures should be taken.

On a totally different and much lighter note, I would point out that French is already quite complicated when it comes to mastering masculine and feminine. Adding another layer of complication will not make it any easier to learn.

For more info (in French), see http://abonnes.lemonde.fr/education/article/2017/11/08/apres-l-ecriture-la-grammaire-inclusive_5211949_1473685.html?xtmc=inclusive&xtcr=8

HOW TO FIND OUT WHERE A FRENCH WILL IS HELD 
Someone recently asked me, “How do I know if my deceased French resident client has a French will?” The American answer would be, “Who is their lawyer? Where is their safety deposit box?”

It is quite common in the USA for an individual to have a private lawyer, and many more keep valuable stuff in a safe at home or safety deposit box at the bank. This is mainly because most wills in the USA are drafted by lawyers and are witnessed, and thus in many ways are more public than French wills.

By contrast, the typical French will is handwritten on a completely blank sheet of paper by a person who is totally alone in the room. A French will is generally one page long, rarely more than two. So it is hardly an excruciating physical exercise, even now when few people write by hand anymore. One reason French wills are so short is that it is impossible to disinherit your children or, more recently, your spouse or to favor one child over another. In fact, there used to be so many limits that many thought it was not worth writing a will. The most common will, in my experience, pretty much just states, in this order:
1 – I bequeath everything to my surviving spouse.
2 – I bequeath the rest of my estate in equal shares to my children.

A notaire then takes this document and registers it, for a cost of about 30€, at the central database in Aix-en-Provence.

At the time of a loved one’s death, sometimes even before contacting a notaire, it is possible for a member of the family who is considered to be “the public” by the notaire profession, to check whether the deceased left a French will. However, it is only possible to see if the will exists and which notaire registered it. So it helps to know whom to contact to handle the estate.

Here is the site to check. One needs to know the details of the deceased and the closeness of the relationship to the deceased in order to get access to this information. A third party cannot get it.
http://www.adsn.notaires.fr/fcddvPublic/profileChoice.htm

THE FRENCH ADMINISTRATION WANTS TO REVIEW HLM LEASES EVERY SIX YEARS
HLM stands for habitation à loyer modéré, or low-income housing project. Most American or British people think of public housing as rundown, poorly maintained and dangerous. That is true in some cases in France, but the vast majority of HLMs are in much better standing. I know a few in Paris that look like quite desirable places to live, and there are HLMs in some of the most expensive districts of Paris. So people should look at French housing projects very differently from American or British ones.

However, it is true that there are problems with the HLM program. To start with, obtaining an apartment takes ages. There was a time when it took ten years except in a dire emergency. Another problem, linked to waves of immigration, is the lowest income families had top priority, which reduced social mixing and resulted in ethic enclaves about twenty years ago, which still exist today. At the other extreme, some Parisian HLMs lost tenants when the family income rose to the point that they were no longer eligible to live there.

In early 2011, an experiment started modeling the amount of rent paid compared to the income earned by the family so as to allow a much wider range of people to live in the same building. One positive financial effect of this experiment is that higher rent is being paid. It also helps keep the buildings in good condition, as people with higher means often have higher expectations.

Meanwhile, the solidarity and urban renewal law (SRU), passed on December 13, 2000, specifically article 55, obliged all major French cities to have a minimum of 20% social housing or be fined. The fines have risen with the passing years so that now only a handful of cities are not compliant. The most notorious one is Neuilly-sur-Seine, whose mayor has full support from the voters to pay the ever increasing fines, no matter how high. But this is a true oddity compared to the rest of France.

A new housing bill, into which the strategy is to be incorporated, is expected to be discussed by the cabinet by the end of the year. It would allow the HLM program to check their tenants’ situations every six years. It is meant to address a particular dysfunction in the system. Say that a young family with two small children gets a three-bedroom apartment. Twenty years later, the parents move out but one of the children stays in the apartment as a newlywed and starts a new family. The old parents still pay the rent and are considered on paper to be the tenants. This shows how much people cling to such housing, knowing how difficult it is to come by. Such situations are not being addressed because they do not create any incidents that would force the management to review who was living there. The biggest problem for HLM authorities is fluidity: People moving out should leave the place for people who deserve to move in. The system would be a lot less clogged if this happened. The proposed housing bill, to be discussed soon in the cabinet, targets exactly that.

It will be a long time before France restores safety and order in all neighborhoods, including those with high concentrations of the worst HLM projects. But I believe these kinds of actions, taken one after another, go in the right direction, although it will be hard to change the true ethic enclaves.

For more info (in French), see
http://www.lemonde.fr/logement/article/2017/09/18/locataires-hlm-le-maintien-dans-les-lieux-sera-reexamine-tous-les-six-ans_5187202_1653445.html

OFFICE CLOSED FOR CHRISTMAS
The office will close for three weeks for the Christmas holidays, starting on Friday December 15th, reopening on Monday January 8th. 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. I did not take much of a summer vacation so I have decided to take some time off, close to the normal length of my vacation. Of course, I will honor the prefecture meetings already scheduled, as well as a couple of other engagements.

Best regards,

QUESTION

OWNING FRENCH REAL ESTATE THROUGH A CORPORATION

I am a partner in an American LLC, which purchased a village house in France in 2006 through the establishment of an SCI. For a while now, we have been receiving requests from the tax inspector for information about the value of the property, the identity and addresses of the partners in the SCI, and the financial conditions under which a transfer of shares would take place. We have provided this information but the requests keep coming. Also, we have no idea what the current market value is. Since the LLC is owner of the SCI, to what extent are the individual partners subject to taxation if/when they decide to sell a share?

QUESTION

CHOOSING FRENCH HEALTH COVERAGE BY WORKING IN FRANCE

My wife and I are American retirees who permanently moved to France this past summer. Our primary income comes from our pensions and my Social Security. We would like to sign up for French national healthcare but are concerned about how much it will cost us. We have health insurance coverage from our retirement and, although it is annoyingly difficult to obtain pre-authorization for medications – we have to pay first and file a claim, and French doctors and pharmacies are baffled by it all – the amount we pay for the insurance is far less than 8% of our gross income. And that’s factoring in the additional premium we have to pay for the “Schengen” insurance that is necessary for the visitor visa (even though our retirement health insurance covers up to 90% of our health insurance costs).

My wife has dual American and Hungarian citizenship and I am American only. Although I have no plans of becoming self-employed in France, my wife does. She has her master’s degree in English and plans to start a business teaching English as a second language.

From the internet, it appears that she could become a micro-entrepreneur and, in that capacity, obtain French national healthcare. What is not entirely clear is, assuming she could do this, whether I could also be covered as a family member. Also, if she pursues this course, we are not sure if our US pension and Social Security income would be factored into the amount we would pay in social charges. Another issue is the effect on the healthcare coverage if she either does not earn enough money to sustain the business or terminates the business.

A cherry bomb is a spherically shaped firework. It is also a 1976 song by The Runaways. The all-female teen band did not last very long (1975-1978) but their rhythm/lead guitar player, Joan Jett, has managed to have a very long career.

Watching the demonstrations on January 21st all over the USA, I wondered if President Trump had not activated one too many cherry bombs.It would be unfair to former President Obama to state that it felt as though during his two terms things did not move. History will tell what his real achievements and failures were. But based on what I saw, aside from his inaugurations,his two terms did not bring massive demonstrations such as those seen on January 21st. The Black Lives Matter movement tried, and succeeded up to a point in getting people out in the streets marching. But, from what I could see, most of the country did not get involved. One could make the point that on January 21st it was mainly women marching; it felt like the women of mainstream America were demonstrating. One demonstration, even as massive as it was, does not at all indicate what the next four or maybe eight years will bring.

The Runaways were known for their forceful opposition to many views expressed in their time, especially about women. Time will tell if their spirit will continue to sweep the streets of American cities.

AUTO-ENTREPRENEUR “AND THE ISSUANCE OF THE” CARTE DE SÉJOUR
Laws and regulations should change as little as possible in order for the populace to have stability and reliability. Therefore, reforms and changes should occur infrequently and only in due time. They must be done sufficiently well so that they can last a long time. I believe this is true everywhere.

However, regarding the” auto-entrepreneur “fiscal status, the French administration has been caught between two opposite desires, which make it very difficult to form consistent policy. On the one hand, the status is very popular and growing numbers of people are signing up for it. On the other hand, employers and businesses abuse the status by outsourcing to these independent workers tasks that employees previously did. This means they escape the very protected status of the French employee. Uber is the perfect example of this, with drivers going on strikes as if they were normal employees and the government getting involved.

The latest change is that” auto-entrepreneur “status has been merged into a new one called” micro-entreprise. “It might sound like nothing more than a cosmetic name change with not much more to it. But for the French self-employed” carte de séjour “holder it makes a big difference, and for the better. To make it simple, as the French administration states, the” “micro-social” “aspect can be separated from the” “micro-fiscal.””

This demands an explanation: I had to ask three times in early January to make sure I understood the scope of this change.

The” micro-social “element is one of the best things about” auto-entrepreneur “status: the ability to declare the amount of sales monthly or quarterly and the associated social charges (which must be paid with every declaration), and, for those who choose to do so, the possibility to pay the income tax at the same time. For those who prefer the traditional way, income taxes can continue to be paid three times a year. This also means that the declaration requires just one payment, which is allocated to various taxes including health coverage and retirement by the French administration.

The” micro-fiscal “aspect means the law defines how much profit you have made based on recorded sales. This is another of the best parts of” auto-entrepreneur “status, mainly because even though you cannot claim business expenses, you can run your business with virtually no accounting, since all that counts is the money made.

Now, keep in mind that the prefecture takes a dim view of requests for a” carte de séjour “based on” auto-entrepreneur “status. The worst situation is to ask for professional self-employed status, or” profession libérale, “in which case the prefecture asks for documents that are impossible to obtain.

This latest change, however, means it is once again possible to benefit from the “micro-fiscal “aspect while turning down the” micro-social, “which was the stigma that” auto-entrepreneur “status had in the eyes of the prefecture. In short, by separating the two, it is once again possible to easily obtain a” carte de séjour “while being self-employed under the fiscal status of” MICRO BNC.”

MINORS IN FRANCE TRAVELING ABROAD
In an earlier column, I talked about the possibility of having a procedure for traveling minors reinstated sooner than later. French children will now once again have to have special permission, the” autorisation de sortie du territoire “or AST, to leave France without their parents. This had been terminated in 2012, since traveling in Europe had become increasingly easy, especially since the creation of the Schengen Area. Field trips outside France became very common, and children of parents from different European countries could also travel for vacations by themselves.

In about the past two years or so, though, the situation has changed and another priority has arisen: fighting terrorism and radicalization. Reinstating the obligation to ask the administration’s authorization for a minor to leave France is meant to prevent young people from going to the Middle East and joining ISIS. I understand and respect this decision, issued on November 2nd 2016, as it makes it a lot more difficult for such troubled teenagers to leave France.

At the end of October, some 1,860 minors in France had been identified as having been radicalized, 400 had left France to join ISIS and 19 had been identified as fighters.

The document needed for French minors to travel outside France is exactly the same as the one for traveling non-French children, whether alone or with their parents, have always needed to prove they are French residents.

The fact that this rule is now enforced for French children as well shows that if there was some leniency in the past for children traveling with their parents in and out of France, those days are now gone.

For more information (in French), see www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2017/01/15/les-mineurs-devront-avoir-une-autorisation-de-sortie-du-territoire-pour-voyager_5062994_3224.html

FRENCH GIFTS TO CHILDREN
France, like many countries, allows parents to pass assets on to their children and sometimes grandchildren during their lifetime and pay little or no tax on the gift. But this right can conflict with the French rule of absolute equality between children of a given parent.

An initial tax waiver is allowed on a gift to a child of up to 100,000 euros every 15 years. The giver must be less than 80 years old to benefit from the exemption. For a gift to a grandchild, the maximum is 31,865 euros every 15 years.

This kind of gift is completely different from what is called in French a” don manuel “– roughly, a gift given “by hand.” This is the customary gift given for a birthday, Christmas or some other special occasion, such as a wedding, graduation or birth. Even a gift of money can fall into this category. The main distinction between gifts of assets and customary gifts is the value of the gift compared to the net worth and income of the giver; the relationship or ties between the two people are also considered.

To avoid trouble during the giver’s lifetime as well as when his or her estate is handled, The first kind of gift should be recorded with the tax office and, just as important, documented by a” notaire.” This brings us to the specifically French concept of absolute equality between siblings born of the same parent.

If all large donations are recorded, and customary giving is reasonably equal, handling the giver’s estate is quite simple. How much is the estate worth at the time of death? How much did each child receive? Any discrepancies are accounted for in the apportioning of the estate among the children.

Now, if gifts to children are not recorded and it is difficult to trace or even just obtain an estimate of the value at the time of giving, it may be virtually impossible to settle the estate because the” notaire “will never be able to ascertain if the split is fair and legal.

This is a recipe for a long and awful lawsuit between siblings if some are certain that there has been significant favoritism that cannot be quantified and therefore there is a strong belief that everything is unfair. This feeling can fuel endless court battles.

For foreigners, the simplest thing to do is make a French will stating that the applicable law is that of the country citizenship. This alleviates the impact of French law, though it does not guarantee an absence of lawsuits. Note that for those who have renounced their American citizenship and retain only French nationality, this solution is not possible.

For more information (in French), see www.lemonde.fr/argent/article/2016/07/02/comment-donner-sans-passer-par-la-case-impot_4962493_1657007.html
and www.lemonde.fr/famille/article/2015/11/30/le-don-non-declare-un-cadeau-empoisonne_4820652_1764986.html

IS HELPING UNDOCUMENTED ALIENS LEGAL IN FRANCE?
It can be very difficult for foreigners living in France to understand that undocumented aliens have rights conferred by the French state and enforced by the administration.

In the USA, the status of undocumented aliens was the topic of heated debates long before the last presidential election, and it is certainly an even hotter topic now.

I remember the first time my American wife watched undocumented aliens demonstrating in the streets of Paris with uniformed police protecting them during their march through the city. Her comment, as pertinent now as it was then, was, “Why are the police not arresting those people and deporting them, since they are in France illegally?”

A more recent example of this situation was the so-called jungle outside Calais. For years, the police were instructed to crack down on foreigners there and on the people helping them – but at the same time, the Ministry of Social Services was negotiating with the major nonprofits working there on how to make sure decent living conditions were provided.

Even more recent is the situation on the Italian-French border. The main roads on the Riviera are now closed to migrants, who therefore are going farther north seeking ways to enter France. This takes them into steep mountains similar to the Rockies, where the winter weather is brutal. In the Roya Valley, local people are getting organized to help immigrants stay alive, finding shelters and driving them on the difficult roads. They are not paid to do this; on the contrary, they spend their own money to help these people.

Since the beginning of the year, the police have been arresting people helping migrants and charging them with a felony, namely” aide à l’entrée, au séjour et à la circulation d’étrangers en situation irrégulière “(helping undocumented aliens enter, stay and travel in France). The charge is normally brought against criminal rings profiting from migrants.

At the same time, French law states that there is an obligation of aid, and failure to meet it is also a felony:”le fait pour quiconque s’abstient volontairement de porter à une personne en péril l’assistance que, sans risque pour lui ou pour les tiers, il pouvait lui prêter soit par son action personnelle, soit en provoquant un secours.” (willful refusal to help a person in danger when, at no risk to oneself or others, one could have helped personally or by calling for emergency assistance).

The police argue that if no help were being provided, migrants would go elsewhere so as to avoid certain death. The nonprofits and activists reply that the migrants are there and will die without help.

So far, in the few rulings issued by the Nice Criminal Court, those involved were found not guilty. But that is not the end of the story, as police continue to arrest and prosecute the Good Samaritans.

This situation has been on my mind: can I get in trouble by giving advice to undocumented aliens? When does someone become an undocumented alien? What about a person who lacks French ID for six months while an appeal is reviewed before getting the appointment to obtain the ID? Is such a person complying with the requirements to obtain legal status in France while waiting for documents to submit?

I am sure we will hear more about legal and illegal immigrants in France as the current French presidential campaign cranks into full gear.

REDESIGNING MY WEBSITE
Since my Christmas vacation starts soon and there is no January issue, during this time I plan on having my website redesigned, mainly so as to use more recent software to update and manage it. This means there may be a couple of days when the site will not be online, and I may have difficulty accessing my email. I am sorry for the inconvenience, but we will do everything we can to keep this outage as short as possible.

Best regards,

QUESTION

HOW TO PROVE FRENCH NATIONALITY?

I am a dual French-US citizen, born in the USA of a French father and an American mother. My father was born in France, and he and his parents were naturalized there in the 1920s. My wife and I have lived in the US and Costa Rica, and we will retire in France soon. I have my carte nationale d’identité and our livret de famille as proof of our marriage.  My question is whether, for a normal existence in France, I need to apply for the certificat de nationalité française. If so, does submitting the request for verification entail a risk that I might lose my citizenship altogether? 
I am concerned because the citizenship criteria have changed many times since the 1920s.

QUESTION

RECEIVING FRENCH AND AMERICAN PENSIONS AT THE SAME TIME

I approach my retirement at the tender age of 69. After working in the USA for approximately ten years, I have been working in France ever since. I decided to start receiving my US Social Security at the age of 66. I receive approximately 500 euros a month. I recently checked with CNAV about how much I could expect for my French retirement benefits. Although I won’t ever have all my semesters, I was pleased to find out that combined with my US benefits, I would be able to survive, after a fashion.I was, however, shocked to find out from the US Social Security advisers at the US Embassy that once I begin receiving my French retirement benefits, my US benefits will be cut by 40% to 50% unless “vous est attribué dans le cadre de l’accord entre la France et les Etats-Unis” is written on my French benefit statement. They sent me a copy of the Windfall Elimination Provision, which seems to say that the only way I could continue to receive the entire 500 euros from the US is if my French employers had deducted not only the French taxes but also US taxes from my French income. If I understand this correctly it seems to be quite unjust. I would assume that the 500 euros I receive from the US is based on the contributions that were deducted from my income when I worked there. I don’t understand why that would change if I hadn’t also been “double taxed” when I work in France. I hope that you will find this to be an interesting topic because I would love to hear what you think about it.

Who the fool is depends on which side of the issue one is standing. It happens that in France and in the USA in very different ways, there is an ever-growing portion of the population that is looking for new ideas, new solutions, and aspires to radically change the society. At the same time, there is probably about the same number of people who fear those changes and express the desire to at least keep things the way they are and even to go back to some better situations that existed in the past. In the USA, this is illustrated in the presidential race by Bernie Sanders for the first group and Donald Trump for the second. Interestingly enough, in France the first group could be represented by Emmanuel Macron, the finance minister, and the second group, by those in professions who have been violently demonstrating these last months. It is interesting to see that Bernie Sanders and Emmanuel Macron have opposing views on many topics, to start with, their opinions concerning whether big business should be favored or opposed. One evolution everybody agrees on is the fact that the Internet delivers a gargantuan amount of information to absolutely everybody and for the most part absolutely free of charge. I see the consequences in France of this worldwide evolution linked to the Internet. Not all segments of society have yet been able to use it to their advantage. This said, the traditional French society was not equipped to deal with modern-day expections of customer satisfaction. France has considerably improved the quality of its service and this started even before the Internet was created. Today the French population accepts a much wider range of culture and tradition, and pays more and more attention to what people want. Most of the issues I address this month show how a profession, an administration and some people are disconnected from today’s reality in France. More and more often the individual is informed and therefore makes an educated choice, and the professional discovers too late that the client was not captive, and that he has lost his client. Old-fashioned restaurants, cafés, taxis and landlords are feeling the pressure. One illustration of this trend is shown by a recent study – regarding the decline of the traditional cafés in France. The main two reasons were the poor service and the unwillingness to offer soft drinks people wanted, especially the so-called diet ones. It is also interesting to see that even the French administration is being forced to adapt to people’s expectations – very slowly, as expected, but still moving in the right direction.

So who is the fool, the French taxi driver hoping he can keep his job and sell his license for a reasonable price when he retires, or the Uber driver who thinks he has a promising future in France? Rather than answer this question as well as the one of this month’s title, I will let readers decide for themselves.

CHANGE IN MY BUSINESS
I have carried out my work as an employee of the company Alliage for more than fifteen years. I had many reasons to choose this set-up, the most obvious being that employee status, even though quite expensive in terms of taxes, offers substantial peace of mind since France favors the employee status. Now, after significant improvements in the self-employed status in France, I am envisioning doing business through my own set-up. At the same time, Isabelle Russo, Alliage senior manager, has decided to dedicate most of her time to her career in the entertainment industry. A few years ago, she qualified as a show producer and has since built a business.

As the situation evolves I will keep my readers and clients informed.

MORE READER TESTIMONY ON PROBLEMS WITH AMERICAN AIRLINES
I wrote an article in the AAWE news publication on my daughter’s and my experiences with the Open Skies program of AA, British Airways, Iberia, Qatar Airways, etc., in Newark last July. Several other AAWE members had similar experience with this program at that time and I would bet it was the same situation that your reader described. I do believe that attention should be directed to abuses by this consortium, often chosen because of price. Having worked for Pan Am in Africa, I was appalled by their inconsideration for their passengers’ welfare. I would like to describe what happened to us this past summer, which is now common American airline behavior, leaving passengers stranded.

“In July, our travel agent here arranged a three-week trip from France to the U.S. for us. All went well until we checked in at 3:30 p.m. to board our return flight for Paris, scheduled to leave at 6:45 p.m., a flight confirmed by American Airlines four months previously. The British Airways service manager informed us that our flight had been canceled but that he had chartered a plane from another company and that we would be boarding about 8 p.m. The plane and an Iberian crew arrived and we boarded. There was a long wait before we taxied to the take-off runway. Once there, there was another long wait before one of the crew announced that they had “heard” something and that we needed to return to the terminal. At the terminal, the captain announced a fifteen minute wait for a mechanic and, after another wait, we were told to disembark. The British Airways staff avoided our questions about a future departure, instructed us to pick up our luggage and, if necessary, line up for hotel vouchers or for taxis to return home, for those living in the area. For the large number of us returning home to France, they offered the phone number of British Airways and told us to call for onward reservations. Faced with protests, the station manager commented that he had no facilities for making reservations and a staff member added that, if the staff were to do this, they would be at the airport all night! It was up to each passenger to make his own onward reservations.”

FOOD WASTE RECYCLING IS NOW MANDATORY IN FRANCE FOR SOME RESTAURANTS – DOGGY BAGS ARE BECOMING COMMON IN FRANCE
Bringing doggy bags home could be seen as a non-issue but since it happened in France, it indicates a significant change in French culture. For a long time, the main reason French restaurants would not agree to prepare doggy bags for their customers was that leftovers would not taste as good as freshly prepared food so there was a risk of damage to their reputation.

The truth is that the vast majority of French restaurants are not so exquisite that eating their leftovers would be an insult to their cooking.

Another reason brought forward was that in modern cuisine the portions are so small that there is nothing left over, since servings are supposedly just the right quantity to allow one to fully appreciate the meal. It is true that modern cuisine in France is often characterized by a very large plate with a small quantity on it. But it is always possible to make a mistake and order too much. So this is not sufficient to refuse to pack leftovers in a doggy bag.

What I truly find interesting with this issue is that a law had to be passed before restaurants would agree to box up leftovers: the clients did not have enough power to change the professionals’ attitude about this. This says a lot about how professionals resist change and customers are left with hardly any power to bring about change themselves.

Even more interesting is the motivation for this law. It has nothing to do with customers’ rights. The French parliament is determined to reduce waste, especially food waste, for environmental and fairness reasons. The new legislation approaches the issue by obliging businesses to decrease the amount of waste they generate, ideally to zero. An initial law in 2012 has forced businesses producing more than ten metric tons of waste per year to diminish this volume.

On January 1st 2016, another step in this effort went into effect, requiring restaurants with capacities of around 150 to 200 people to find ways to diminish their waste. As one aspect of this campaign, it is suggested (although not obligatory) that large restaurants give out doggy bags (or, as the government has suggested calling them, “gourmet bags”). On the other hand, the reduction of waste is mandatory, and the doggy bag is the simplest way to do so.

During the COP21 climate conference held in Paris in December, the city of Paris launched its own campaign by making free deliveries of special boxes, meant to keep leftovers safely, to 100 Parisian restaurants. This and other incentives could bring about the charge faster.

Culturally speaking this is a revolution in France and it will be interesting to see how fast French society can change on this issue. Perhaps one day all French restaurants will offer doggy bags, not because of waste reduction laws but because French people expect it. We shall see, but it is worth paying attention to this development.

UPDATE REGARDING NOVEMBER 2015 Q/A: FRENCH LAW DOES NOT EASILY ACCEPT NAME CHANGES
The November issue presented the situation of an American woman whose first name on her passport did not match that on her birth certificate so the city hall in her French town refused to marry her using her passport name and would only issue a marriage license under her birth name.

Now we have some good news: when the prefecture got the French marriage license, which had a different name from the passport and the woman’s oldcarte de séjour, it chose to ignore the discrepancy and issued her a newcarte de séjour, based on her marriage to a Frenchman, using the name on her passport and previouscarte de séjour.

One might have worried that the discrepancy would create some problems. The French administration is very picky regarding this matter. French law pretty much forbids use of a name, whether first or last name, that differs from the birth certificate or marriage license name, unless it has been approved.

The prefecture’s decision illustrates quite well what I called “French law and its blind eye” in the July-August 2009 issue, trying to explain the French understanding of what is legal, illegal, and “tolerated.” 
A reader asked a question to which the answer was much more complicated than it might have seemed. The usual understanding in many countries is that what is not clearly defined as illegal is considered to be legal. This is as black and white as it gets, but it does not apply in France.

Here the prefecture chooses to ignore the law in favor of the individual, preferring common sense and avoiding making waves over the normal application of the law. This type of bending is critical for France, which has way too many laws and would be even more crippled by them if what I have called this “grey” system did not exist. Sometimes there are provisions that institutionalize personal evaluation of a situation, such as theopportunité des poursuites and therequalification des faits. The first, in criminal law, allows the state not to prosecute a proven criminal deed. The other is an attempt to fight a loophole in the law.

STATISTICS ON THE NUMBER OF FOREIGNERS LIVING IN FRANCE AND ON FRENCH NATURALIZATION
In December 2015 I addressed the issue of making it easier to obtain French nationality. Since then I have come across some data on which it is interesting to comment.

In January 2016, the Direction Générale des étrangers en France published data regarding foreigners living in France. Last year, 2,734,413 held an immigration ID granting a legal stay in France, i.e., atitre de séjour.This included EU citizens. Overall, the estimated number of all foreigners in France was 4 million. And 212,365 foreigners immigrated legally in France in 2015, a 0.7% increase from 2014. Also, 86,608 foreigners became French.

A little bit of background is needed to understand what happened. During the Sarkozy presidency, from May 2007 to May 2012, the policy was to restrict naturalization. In 2009 and 2010, 90,000 naturalizations occurred (the procedure takes about two years). But in 2013, the worst year, there were fewer than 70,000. Since then things have improved, almost reaching the level prior to the restrictive policy.

In 2015, 28,529 undocumented aliens in France obtained residency permits, down from 32,244 in 2014. And 26,700 people obtained political refugee status, up 22%. Most were Syrian or Sudanese, with 5,000 requests each. The approval rate increased by 33.3 % from 2014. However, the rate of success, including requests on appeal, was less than 32% in 2015, at 26,700 approvals for 79,130 requests. This is still very low, so refugees should decide early what they will do in the case of a definitive refusal.

For more information (in French), see www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2016/01/15/regularisations-demandes-d-asile-visas-les-chiffres-de-l-immigration-en-2015_4848157_3224.html

SHORT-TERM RENTAL AND THE PARIS CITY HALL RAIDS
On January 12th the Paris city hall launched another major raid in the 1st and 6th arrondissements to find short-term rental apartments.

Last May, 80 buildings were checked in three days in the Marais. On average, the city checks 400 to 500 apartments a year. In 2014, 20 owners were sentenced in court and the total fines for the year came to 560,000 €. The average fine is 10,000 € and the maximum is 25,000 €.

City hall claims the fines are way too low compared to the rent, which it says averages 1,000 € a week. It is asking the government to quadruple the fines so as to fight this problem more efficiently. Furthermore, the city plans to increase its team of inspectors from 20 to 25 people in the near future.

Currently the law allows an owner to rent out a primary residence no more than four months per year and the city clearly is not going after such people. Instead it is targeting people who rent out apartments all year round and in effect run a business this way. Paris has become the top destination for clients of Airbnb, which has about 50,000 apartments in the city advertised on its website. At the current rate of inspection it would take 100 years to check them all, so clearly the odds are still in favor of the short-term rental industry.

But if the maximum fine eventually reaches 100,000 € per sentencing, is it worth it to take the risk? Many owners would not have this kind of money.

For more information (in French), see www.lemonde.fr/immobilier/article/2016/01/12/a-paris-une-nouvelle-operation-coup-de-poing-contre-les-meubles-touristiques_4846091_1306281.html

CONSEQUENCES OF A TAX AUDIT FOR AUTO-ENTREPRENEURS AND, MORE IMPORTANT, TO THEIR SO-CALLED CLIENTS
Despite years of articles in the French media detailing the horrid consequences ofauto-entrepreneur status, it continues to be seen by the public as a wonderful solution. The tax authorities, URSSAF and labor inspectors are all working toward the same goal: determining whether eachauto-entrepreneur is really an independent worker. This means checking that each one has established a legitimate business with several clients and a real range of services, and a related fee policy.

Under the French legal concept called thelien de subordination, employees are defined as subordinates. If anauto-entrepreneur is not free to offer his/her services on his/her own terms, the inspectors have the right to requalify the person as an employee. The main consequence is a significant financial burden for the employer in terms of social charges. The newly defined employee is reimbursed for the social charges paid and the employer is charged the related taxes, since the amount paid is now considered net salary. As the sums were not paid on time, the inspectors add the usual late fees and interest. This can be lethal for the business and the employee is almost certain to be out of a job right away.

As I have explained several times, catching the companies that abuse the system is quite difficult. On the other hand, systematically checking theauto-entrepreneurs themselves is very easy and fast. One looks at their invoices: if the same name appears several times and constitutes the majority or sole source of income, the inspector knows that corporation can be nailed for fraud. There is no more need to search for a needle in a haystack.

• These are the points the inspector checks to evaluate the situation:
• How many clients: just one or several?
• Is theauto-entrepreneur a former employee of the company?
• Is the work organized by theauto-entrepreneur or by the so-called client?
• Is theauto-entrepreneur in a position to take initiatives and change the way the work is done?
• Does theauto-entrepreneur use his own material and equipment or that of the client?
• Does theauto-entrepreneur choose the schedule and location of his work?
• Does theauto-entrepreneur must report frequently to the client?

All this enables the inspector to determine how much the freedom theauto-entrepreneur has to perform the work. If there is not enough freedom, subordination is proved and the consequence isrequalification with its dreadful financial consequences for the employer. If the fraud is considered blatant, it becomes a felony, travail dissimulé (Article L. 8221-5 of the Code du Travail). The employer then faces three years in jail and a maximum fine of 45,000 €, above and beyond the tax bill explained above.

Now a new scam has appeared, just as horrid but harder to catch. Almost all employers, when hiring a new employee, require a trial period ranging from one to six months, during which the employer can dismiss the employee without giving any reason, although the employee is covered by French law in all other respects. But a growing number of employers, once the right candidate is chosen, require the relationship to start withauto-entrepreneur status instead of the regular trial period. The registration is quick and easy, and the person wants the job, so they register for the status. The employer can then ask for insane working hours without having to pay overtime and can keep theauto-entrepreneur on his/her toes the entire time. At the end of the contract, there may be no more need for theauto-entrepreneur who is dismissed after having been used and abused.

For more information (in French), see www.lemonde.fr/emploi/article/2016/01/20/travailler-avec-des-auto-entrepreneurs-attention-au-salariat-deguise_4850689_1698637.html

THE MOST COMMON SCAMS FRENCH LANDLORDS PULL ON TENANTS
Here are the most common scams of French landlords, according to data published in Le Monde. The link to the article is at the end of this section.

Some 2,500 emails received by the Confédération Générale du Logement in 2014 have been classified by topic.

• 1 – The most common complaint is the poor condition of the lodging, with factors such as severe dampness, water leaks, defective electrical systems and unsanitary living conditions. This represents 13% of the complaints and the share is growing, which shows that landlords are unwilling to do the minimum repairs needed.
• 2 – The second commonest complaint is failure to reimburse the security deposit, which accounted for 12% of the emails. In 95% of the cases, the landlord claimed repairs were needed as justification for keeping the security deposit.
• 3 -In third place is a sudden increase in condo charges that the tenant must pay. It is almost always accompanied by a demand to pay the past balance, which can go back several years. This represented 8.5% of the complaints. The bad news is that the money is owed since the tenant uses the services of the condominium.

For more information (in French), see www.lemonde.fr/argent/article/2016/01/07/locataires-contre-proprietaires-les-litiges-les-plus-courants_4843172_1657007.html

Best regards,

QUESTION

WHAT TO DO WHEN THE PREFECTURE ISSUES A WRONG DECISION

I live in Paris and am interested in buying self-defense articles like a lipstick stun gun and/or pepper spray (mobile phone, key chain or other form). I would like to know whether these are legal (at least for women) in France and where I could buy such items. Could I order online or do I need to find a store and buy with my ID? Some friends advised me to get them from the police. Also, are there professional training courses for self-defense in Paris for foreigners? 
If you could refer me to particular locations it would be greatly appreciated.

As I sit in my office on a Saturday evening, sending out this issue on the very day of Halloween and deciding on its title, I can only think of all the people celebrating tonight in disguise or costumes. “Master of Disguise” is a tune on Just Testing, the tenth studio album by the British rock band Wishbone Ash, released in 1980. I have been a fan of this lesser known British band since I was 19; it has often been seen as a precursor of metal rock  opening the way to Black Sabbath, for example.

Here are the lyrics:

I’m a master of disguise,
Mystery in your eyes,
Travelling the backroads of your country.
Well, you think you’ve got my number
And then again, you wonder
Will you ever get to find the real me.

Things are not always
As they first may seem
It’s like living in a dream.

So you’d like me to reveal
All that I know and feel
At the risk of causing panic and destruction.
Well, there’s a method to this madness.
I don’t mean to cause you sadness
My course is strictly governed by instruction.

Things are not always
As they first may seem
It’s like living in a dream.

I’m a master of disguise
Not about to compromise
My position in this scheme of worldly values.
Ah, they’re calling out my name.
I’ve promised to remain
Ever faithful to the memory of what is true.

Things are not always
As they first may seem
It’s like living in a dream.

Oh, I’m living in a dream,
I’m high, I’m high.
In the cold, cold night, I’m high.

www.lyricsfreak.com/w/wishbone+ash/master+of+disguise_20147191.html

Living as an expatriate, one can develop a cautious attitude, a fear that yet another bad thing will happen soon. It can reach the point on occasion where it feels like there is some kind of demonic figure plotting a series of adverse experiences, ruining one’s life.

One reason I chose this song is the poetic way the lyrics describe the rather unreal figure of the master of disguise. The unpleasant events that many expats experience can be explained one by one in a reasonable and rational way. When someone lives in his or her own country, such events are often explained with Murphy’s Law, the idea that if something can go wrong, it will go wrong. For an expat, however, it often feels very personal, causing anger that he/she wants to direct towards someone  if only a shadowy”master of disguise” or chief conspirator, among many other possible epithets. Most of the topics addressed in this issue deal with this fear or impression of duplicity.

CAP ON RESIDENTIAL RENT CHARGED IN PARIS
I have been hearing a lot of criticism of the latest legislation establishing rent control in some major French cities. But I would remind my readers that several American cities have strict rent control, which has existed for decades in some cases.

As Wikipedia explains (as of October 20, 2015): -Between 1919 and 1924, a number of cities and states adopted rent and eviction control laws. Modern rent controls were first adopted in response to WWII-era shortages, or following Richard Nixon’s 1971 wage and price controls. They remain in effect or have been reintroduced in some cities with large tenant populations, such as New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and Oakland, California. Many smaller communities also have rent control, notably the California cities of Santa Monica, Berkeley and West Hollywood, along with many small towns in New Jersey. In recent years, rent control in some cities, such as Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts, has been ended.-

I feel that I needed to start with this because I have often heard French people complaining that rent control is a liberal measure, a stupid regulation, out of touch with the reality of the real estate market and something that would never exist in the USA.

I would also remind my readers that the only time previously that France had a similar regulation was in 1948, when the country was just coming out of the war and there was not much lodging available. So whether this kind of policy is a good thing or not, let’s be clear about the record: parts of the USA have had rent control legislation longer than France has and that affect a much larger portion of the population.

As is often the case, the attempt to make sure that legislation is fair results in French law being difficult to understand and even harder to implement. But, to keep it short and simple, here is what the law amounts to: a landlord cannot charge more than 20% above what the government considers to be the normal market price, although I will not attempt to explain how this amount is calculated nor who is supposed to do the calculation.

That being said, one rule of thumb is especially true regarding Paris: the smaller the apartment, the higher the rent in terms of euros per square meter. One reason for this is supply and demand: The trend is for families to move to the suburbs when they have children  sometimes even with the birth of the first one. Thus, in the market for family-size apartments with four or five bedrooms  which are large apartments by Paris standards  there is less imbalance between supply and demand. In contrast, maid’s rooms, studios and one-bedroom apartments are in high demand because there are always a lot more candidates wanting to rent than there are apartments of that size available.

• There were a couple of other changes in favor of tenants in the law:
• The notice period to leave the rental place is now one month for all leases, even those signed before the law began to be enforced.

The security deposit must now be reimbursed within one month. This is to help the mobility of the tenant when it is time to move.

The upshot is that the market is such that it is now even more difficult to rent in the affected cities, especially Paris, where landlords and agencies are demanding guarantees that most people cannot meet. A tenant’s take-home pay is expected to be, ideally, four times the amount of rent plus charges. But it is very difficult to find a decent 30-square-meter apartment for less than 1,000 euros a month, which means a net salary of 4,000 euros a month. But the average French monthly salary is 2,128 euros.

For further details (in French), see http://www.lemonde.fr/argent/article/2015/09/21/les-droits-des-locataires-renforces-au-compte-gouttes_4765423_1657007.html

AUTO-ENTREPRENEUR – THE FRENCH ADMINISTRATION IS FIGHTING BACK
There are still several issues with this fiscal status. Most people perceive it as a legal status for people working as independent contractors, but in fact the legal statuses for such contractors are:
Merchant = commerçant
Craftsperson = artisan
Professional = profession libérale

I would like to focus on just one issue, which results from a very typical French approach. It starts with the state checking for compliance with the law and assumes that the authorities need to check on people, that they cannot be assumed to take care of themselves. One needs to follow this logic to understand what is at stake here.

Everybody now agrees that the auto-entrepreneur status does not at all do what it was intended to do; for years, various governments have wanted to change it so it better reflects reality.

The initial auto-entrepreneur concept stemmed from Nicolas Sarkozy’s promise during the 2007 presidential campaign that people would be able to “work more to make more money”. The idea was that employees should have the right to work legally on the side on their own behalf as self-employed people.

But people registering for auto-entrepreneur status have never been asked whether they are employed, so from the beginning a lot of unemployed people signed on to the program, hoping to get some small jobs this way. Unfortunately, even today French society is somewhat negative about independent workers, so few people are ever taught business skills, unlike in the USA and some other countries.

URSSAF is now convinced, and rightfully so, that a large number of people registered as auto-entrepreneur should in reality be employees of their clients, even though there may be more than one employer. What defines employee status under French law is the subordination of the employee to the employer (le lien de subordination du salarié envers l’employeur).

In a first case of its type (but I doubt it will be the last one), the Brittany branch of URSSAF is openly stating that it is auditing all auto-entrepreneur to determine whether in fact they should be employees. What the office is discovering is that city halls are among those abusing the system  even the local French administration is cheating on this issue.

If you run a legitimate business and you choose this fiscal status, rather than a more traditional one, for all the benefits it offers, then you should know it is quite probable that you will be audited. Therefore, you must keep your records totally clean. Even though there is no obligation to keep detailed accounting, there is a legal obligation to document your sales with a receipt or an invoice, as well as your professional spending, in case you go above the limit. You should also keep any contracts (which is obvious) or exchange of emails showing the terms of the business agreement. This is the most important, since it is what the inspectors are after.

Now, interestingly enough, this audit campaign has created such an uproar and has so disorganized activities held in schools (which is what most towns were hiring auto-entrepreneur for) that the government may decide to stop the auditing and let the corrupted system continue, as it helps local governments function despite insufficient funding of extra-curricular activities. I will keep you posted.

For more on this issue (in French), see http://business.lesechos.fr/entrepreneurs/auto-entrepreneur/auto-entrepreneurs-betes-noires-de-l-urssaf-202723.php?UO3TPuVDQdbbJuE1.99#xtor=CS1-60

THE REFUGEE CRISIS AND ITS CONSEQUENCES IN FRANCE
Since my work includes helping foreigners who lack immigration status in France to obtain the right to be here legally, I meet people who have been refused asylum but have stayed in France, and some who are still undergoing refugee proceedings. Consequently many people have asked me recently about my position on the current crisis and its consequences for France.

My first comment is that, just in the last century or so, France has had many waves of immigration and absorbed them all, sooner rather than later; with each new wave previous immigrants were seen as integrated in French society:

• 1. The first wave in modern times came from Poland and started in the late 19th century. By the time it ended in 1931, some 500,000 people had immigrated to France.
• 2. The second one came during the winter of 1938-39, when in just a few weeks about 500,000 Spanish people came to France at the end of the Spanish Civil War.
• 3. The third wave occurred right after WWII; between 1945 and 1970, 1.8 million Italians came to France. It was the third wave of Italian immigration and the biggest by far.
• 4. The fourth one lasted about fifteen years, from 1958 to 1975, when 730,000 Portuguese came to France.

5. The fifth wave was from Algeria. Since 1830, when France colonized much of North Africa, the Algerian population had been French and there had always been some emigration to metropolitan France; in fact, the Great Mosque in Paris was built in 1926 for the Algerian community. But a massive wave started when Algerian independence was declared in 1962. By the time it ended in 1982, the Algerian population of France had grown from 350,000 to 800,000.

I could continue with more recent ones, but today’s world is such that immigration to France now has several origins and tends to be more ongoing.

The arrival of 24,000 Syrians in France may be a wave, but only a small one compared to what I have just described. Those who say the French economy is bad and cannot handle that many should recall the half-million Spanish people arriving during the French Great Depression.

I do not underestimate the difficulties generated by this latest wave, nor its immediate consequences for both the people who already live in France and the newcomers themselves. For one thing, some offices at the Paris Prefecture already have a backlog, and the part of the prefecture dealing with foreigners could be quite clogged in two years or even sooner. The current ratio of success for those seeking refugee status is about 20% initially and 38% after appeal to the Cour nationale du droit d’asile. While the French government has stated that people will be much better treated in the current crisis, I strongly doubt they will all obtain legal status in France. I am pretty sure that less than half will be successful  but this would nevertheless be a significant improvement. That is why I expect a serious surge in the prefecture’s workload once these people complete the refugee procedure and start to comply with the regularization guidelines.

In short, I do not see major problems caused by integrating the latest groups over a reasonable period, about five years, though there will be complications for a lot of people along the way.

I NOW HAVE A PAYPAL ACCOUNT
I have finally gotten into the swing of things, and I now have a functioning paypal account. As it is becoming increasingly difficult to wire money both from American and French banks through their websites when you are out of the country, PayPal will be a reasonable alternative.

My ID with them is my email address: qa@jeantaquet.com

Best regards,

QUESTION

IS A COPY OF MY ID CARD ENOUGH TO COMPLY WITH THE LAW?

I am an American living in Paris and was robbed recently of my wallet containing my carte vitale, Visa debit card and carte de résident. After going through a long and painful process of replacing everything, mainly with the prefecture, I would like to know if I can simply carry around a photocopy of my carte de résident and leave the real card safe at home. It was very difficult to get it replaced.

QUESTION

FRENCH LAW DOES NOT EASILY ACCEPT NAME CHANGES

I am American and I have been living in France for six years. Last week I submitted my request for a wedding ceremony at our local city hall. The first time I came to France I was 20. Hoping that I would be moving here, I thought about changing my first name to one that sounded good pronounced in French because I didn’t like how my birth name was pronounced with a French accent and changing it would make it easier living in France. When back in California, while renewing my CA driver’s license, I decided to change my first name to the name I had in mind. After that, all my legal documents were made using my new French first name, including my US passport, my Social Security card, my university diplomas, etc.

Needless to say the French local city hall was not happy with the discrepancy between the first name on my birth certificate and the one on my passport. They told me that the file was incomplete. They wanted me to bring them a document from the American Embassy in Paris. So I had a sworn statement notarized declaring that these two names represent the same person.

That document was enough for the local city hall to accept that the two names refer to the same person, but little did I know that they would say they would only marry me under the name on my birth certificate and not my legal name that I have been using in the USA and in France for over 25 years.

To avoid having to go to the US for a formal court-ordered name change only to rectify my birth certificate, we were hoping there was some law that would give priority to the name that is on all my legal documents (including US passport) and that the local city hall would have to let me get married in what has been considered my legal name for years.

It seemed like they were just being stubborn without a real LAW behind their conviction that I would have to use the birth name. I will be going to ask the prefecture in person this week to ask about what to do regarding the renewal of my immigration ID card if my livret de famille does not bear the same name as my carte de séjour.

Have you ever heard of a situation like this one? I am a Paris resident so even getting my name changed in CA might not be possible since CA law requires you to be a CA resident to do a name change there but I do not think I can get a name change in Paris.

Close to You is the second album by The Carpenters, released in August 1970. The song named “(They Long to Be) Close to You” is a popular song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. It was first recorded by Richard Chamberlain and released as a single in 1963. The version performed by the Carpenters is the best known one.

Clearly there is a feeling of love for France and all things French when a foreigner decides to sell everything to move to Paris. Sometimes this powerful feeling blurs the reality of living in a foreign country and disappointments come shortly thereafter. At times, the scrutiny of the French administration feels very intrusive to Americans who live in France; such Americans frequently have a typical knee-jerk reaction and want to protect their rights to privacy. The fact is, in many ways, France guarantees less privacy than does the USA, although it can be debated whether this is still true in today’s world.

On a much lighter note, people who have lived in France for the last 30 years can see the evolution of the French administration, which has become more accessible and, most of the time, more understanding in its dealings with the common man. I am not sure that recent immigrants would agree with this evaluation, as they generally are very intimidated when confronted with officials at the préfecture, the CPAM branch, or the tax office.

MS. HARRIET “HAT” STERSTEIN HAS DIED EARLY DECEMBER, OWNER OF MON BON CHIEN, THE BAKERY FOR DOGS IN PARIS
In my meetings at the office and my ministry at the church, I have helped people with so many different projects that I often feel each new client brings an opportunity to discover something totally original.

I remember the first meeting with Hat in my office. Her project of opening the first bakery for dogs in Europe sounded challenging to say the least, but it fascinated me, too, since I could see all the obstacles that needed to be overcome to open the shop and create a viable business. Several years after our first meeting, she told me that I was the only professional who took her plan seriously and was willing to work with her, which was why she chose me. I learned early on in life, from a project in archaeological aviation, that what makes the difference is not how crazy an idea sounds but how sound the business model is. If the revenue exceeds the costs by a sufficient margin, then it is worth creating the business; the rest is irrelevant as long as the business itself is legal.

I spent some of the most challenging and exhilarating moments of my professional life with Hat. Even today I recall our appointment with the inspection vétérinaire – the authority that grants the health permit to sell prepared food in a given location – as one of the five most gripping meetings of my professional life. I also have countless fond memories of her years in Paris, especially some of the parties she hosted at her shop. Rest in peace, Hat you are missed.

IT IS NOW EASIER TO BECOME FRENCH
Manuel Valls, France’s prime minister and former interior minister, has often stated his intention of making it easier to adopt French nationality, not by changing the rules but by redefining the requirements so that more people qualify. I remind my readers that he was born Spanish (Catalan) and was naturalized later in life. Before informing my readers that he was as good as his word, I wanted solid data proving it. There were 77,335 new French people last year, an increase of about 10% across all categories. Thus the improvement is not striking, but it is there. Keep in mind that it still takes over a year from the time the file is submitted until the decision is made. And, depending on the préfecture, there can also be a rather long delay to get an appointment.
http://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2015/01/15/immigration-baisse-desregularisations-en-2014-hausse-des-naturalisations_4556914_3224.html#

PARIS CITY HALL IS BACK ON THE WARPATH AGAINST SHORT-TERM RENTALS
Without going into detail about the “war” on short-term rentals declared a few years ago by the previous mayor of Paris, Mr. Delanoë “rentals referred to in French as locations touristiques orlocations saisonnières ” I would like to remind readers that the legislation in effect until December 31st 2014 specified that the owner of an apartment used for such a purpose had to change the zoning to commercial so as to comply with zoning regulations, since this type of rental was treated like a tiny hotel made up of one suite. The standard procedure for changing zoning in Paris from residential to commercial involves turning a space of equivalent size from commercial to residential elsewhere in Paris. The limited experience I had with people trying to follow the law was that it was impossible. The procedure never went through, as there was always something missing.

Now a new law requires such trade-offs to be made within the same arrondissement. Paris is divided into 20 arrondissements, which correspond to the 20 postal codes in the city. Tourist rentals are concentrated in the first eight, that is, the central part, covering the Etoile and the Champs-Elysées, the Madeleine, the Opéra, the Place de la République, the Place de la Bastille, the Gare Montparnasse, Invalides and the Eiffel Tower. These are the priciest neighborhoods in Paris, which makes such swaps even more difficult and costly. There is also another new requirement  when turning a commercial space into a residential one, for every square meter of short-term rental apartment two square meters of commercial space must be turned into an apartment.

Meanwhile, the city is buying office spaces without business tenants, renovating them and turning them into modern apartments  which means the city is also collecting valuable real estate that could be used for additional vacation rentals. These can be sold: Le Monde says the market price ranges from 500€ per square meter to 2,000€ for premium locations where most short-term rentals are. The city can be expected to earn a fair amount of money this way, given the demand. Still, as I have often explained, the request to change these apartments into short-term rental units has close to no chance of success if city hall follows the same policy. The applicant must buy the real estate before submitting the request, so the money will be earned by city hall. Furthermore, if the request is successful, it will be difficult to sell the re-zoned spaces as lodgings, since they are zoned as hotel suites. Nevertheless, just as city hall is quite lenient when the change goes from commercial to residential, the same applies if the owner decides to live there permanently, for example.

My last comment may sound like it is motivated by pure cynicism, but it just reflects the reality of some aspects of French politics. A team of twenty civil servants was created, only five of whom have police clearance to enter lodgings. Yet city hall estimates that at least 20,000 apartments were being used for short-term rental in 2011 and about 3,000 new ones are added to the market yearly. I cannot see how a team of twenty people can tackle the job efficiently. At this point, official sanctions against the practice are more a calculated risk than a serious threat. I would estimate that each person on the team is responsible for at least 1,500 apartments, since the city’s figures are probably too low.
http://abonnes.lemonde.fr/logement/article/2014/12/24/paris-fait-la-chasse-aux-meubles-detourisme_4545803_1653445.html

Best regards,

QUESTION

HOW DOES THE PRÉFECTURE FIND OUT THE AUTO-ENTREPRENEUR STATUS?

I am an American working in France with a CDI with a salarié immigration status, which I renew every year. I recently registered for auto-entrepreneur status and I am looking for work this way. I am bound by an exclusivity clause (clause d’exclusivité) but when I check my contract it does not say anything about auto-entrepreneur . So I am not sure if I have the right to do this or not. My friend has been in a similar situation for a year, and he renewed his salarié visa with CDI and continues to work as auto-entrepreneur too. He has not faced any problems so far. Do I risk anything with my employer by having an activity on the side?

QUESTION

CAN ONE SPEED UP THE FRENCH ADMINISTRATION?

I received a French speeding ticket, then a second notice that I was late paying, at my home in the USA. Right now I am stuck at a point where I can’t pay the fine through the website dedicated for this (at the original or increased amount) and I am waiting for some sort of additional correspondence in the mail. I was doing some research online about the situation and cannot find how I can pay without waiting for the next step, which will be even more expensive. Do you have any suggestions on how to proceed?

In 1972, the French singer-songwriter Michel Delpech wrote and performed the song « Que Marianne était jolie » (How beautiful Marianne was), imagining the female symbol of France as a woman appearing during the French Revolution and an allegory of what should France look like. As Wikipedia tells us, Marianne is a national symbol of the French Republic, an allegory of liberty and reason, and a portrayal of the Goddess of Liberty. Marianne is displayed in many places in France and holds a place of honor in town halls and law courts. She symbolizes the Triumph of the Republic, a bronze sculpture overlooking the Place de la Nation in Paris. Her profile stands out on the official government logo of the country, is engraved on French euro coins and appears on French postage stamps; it also was featured on the former franc currency. Marianne is one of the most prominent symbols of the French Republic, and is officially used on most government documents. Marianne is a significant republican symbol, as opposed to monarchy, and an icon of freedom and democracy against all forms of dictatorship. Other national symbols of France include the tricolor flag, the national motto Liberté, égalité, Fraternité, the national anthem La Marseillaise, as well as the coat of arms and the official Great Seal of France.

I would like to wish you all
A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR
I am looking forward to the year to come, 2015.

SOME REQUESTS FOR TITRE DE SÉJOUR REQUIRE SOME KNOWLEDGE OF FRENCH/FRANCE!
It is well known that when a foreigner requests French nationality, he or she must prove complete integration and therefore demonstrate an excellent level of French and a good knowledge of what is happening or has happened in France. But that is not the only case where such knowledge is required. The other, which is almost as well known, is when requesting the carte de résident, which lasts for ten years. Since the issuance of the circulaire de régularisation des sans-papiers by Manuel Valls, at that time the Minister of Interior, on November 28th 2012, some fluency in French has been required to obtain this status, and it is measured according to the length of time lived in France. Recently in the waiting room at the Nanterre prefecture, I witnessed French helpers acting like teachers, quizzing applicants on the names of the members of the current French government, the French motto, the names of the various symbols of the French republic, and so on. It felt more like waiting for an oral exam in high school than an administrative procedure. I can testify that the civil servants are not really testing a level of French conversation but knowledge of French politics in the large meaning of the word. My advice to applicants: read a newspaper every day and start having those conversations about politics that French people love so much!

FYI, the questions and their answers:
The motto of France: Liberté, égalité, fraternité
The Minister of Interior’s name: Mr. Cazeneuve
The name of the female symbol of France: Marianne

AUTO-ENTREPRENEUR: THE SEQUEL!
April 2011
AUTO-ENTREPRENEUR: STATUS IN LANGUAGE SCHOOLS
A reader sent me a very long message reporting on what has been happening in many language schools now that self-employed status has been made much simpler. To make the long story shorter, I have boiled down and paraphrased much of my reader’s report.

-I have seen all kinds of weird and wonderful stuff going on in relation to business English or ELT [English language teaching] and the status of « self-employed » [auto-entrepreneur]. Maybe some of your readers will not be surprised to hear that URSSAF at the national level has heeded certain calls, since it is now enforcing new, tougher guidelines and has introduced a stronger requirement (tougher obligation on reporting, etc.). So regarding the point you make in your March column, about determining who is really self-employed, I agree that there is a lot to be said on this matter. For my two cents, I will describe what I have seen (of course, I am only one person so it is difficult to draw any valid generalizations). But it looks obvious to me that it is going to become a free-for-all. Here are some of my observations.

-The March issue of your column states: « What happens to some of my clients is that someone, most often an URSSAF inspector, audits the individual and the company to find out if the relationship is truly an equal one and therefore the self-employed status is valid, or if the autoentrepreneur is actually a subordinate and therefore should be an employee. »

-Actually, I have worked as an employee (2007/2008) in a training center. What could be considered the lines of subordination were relatively easy to identify, i.e., a formal contract, guaranteeing a number of hours, with a convention collective underlining the contract, a manager (pedagogical), a totally NON-transparent system for allocating the clients or determining which teacher went with whom, etc.

-And then you have a situation today which is more akin to what you and I would consider to be « free market » goings on:
-I have received emails from training centers with numéro de formateur or registered by the DRTEFP [direction régionale du travail, de l’emploi et de la formation professionnelle regional department of labor, jobs and continuing education] that have acted under what I would consider false pretenses. In other words, send a résumé (but really this is just camouflage for putting you automatically on their external list and mailing me), with no consent on my part, and that constitutes an offer. This goes as far as saying nous prêtons les supports

-Usually on the « independent » job boards you begin to see the same pattern and the same « usual suspects » who will never give an indication of what the « hourly price » is for the « course » and of course there is never any indication of what line of subordination exists.

-Another laissez-faire attitude is that NO one compels an individual, whether self-employed or not, to respond to any of these adverts. What can one say about all this? The person who runs this site is VERY EXPLICIT about what he wishes to achieve on the site and that the individuals who register or « announce » MUST not do it under a corporate status, etc.

-So, there is everything and anything out there. Quite how an URSSAF inspector is expected to keep a watchful eye on all of this is completely beyond me, since you would need a planning/coordination apparatus that would dwarf anything that was put in place by the USSR!

FALSE INFORMATION ON A REPUTABLE WEBSITE REGARDING STUDENT IMMIGRATION AND AUTO-ENTREPRENEUR: STATUS
More recently, here is what another reader sent me:
-I read your November newsletter with great interest and I think I know where you might have gotten your inspiration for this month’s topic! I wanted to share with you the website where I originally got the idea that I could teach English as an auto-entrepreneur while in France on a student visa.

-Here is a extract from this website: You can work as a freelancer as well as be on a contract in France. Nowadays some language schools prefer their teachers to be registered as freelancers « auto-entrepreneurs » in French. We show you how to set up as a freelance English teacher, get plenty of freelance work and do well at interviews. Think about getting a website and business cards done (both can be virtually free these days).

– “Remember”  if you are American or do not have an EU passport, you will need an official « student » visa to be able to teach in France legally. Once you have one you can teach here for up to a year and are treated just like a EU citizen. To get this visa you need to follow a French course at an official organization. We can help you arrange your French course in Toulouse with our friends the Alliance Francaise en.alliance-toulouse.org/ just mention this on your application form or contact them and ask for M All this should be done several months in advance while you are still in your home country.

-After my meeting with you this week, I realize how misleading their website is and that the important phrase I overlooked was you can teach for up to one year. There is no mention on their website on how to renew or extend your student visa!

Not all such sites give bad information. One an agency placing teachers has this to say regarding visas on its website:
For non-European candidates, a visa allowing you to work in France is needed. We are not sponsoring Working Visas The jobs we have being only part time positions, unfortunately, it is impossible for us to sponsor your requests to obtain a working visa.
Which types of visa allow me to work with Speaking-agency? Several types of visa allow you to work with us. Here is a list of the main ones:
– student visa
– working holiday visa
– vie privée et familiale visa
– resident card
www.speaking-agency.com/recruitment/work-program-in-paris/french-courses

I would have preferred a more accurate description but considering the overall situation, I am very happy to read this.

OFFICE TO CLOSE FOR CHRISTMAS
The office will close for a week for Christmas starting on Friday, December 19th, and reopen on Monday, December 29th. 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.

Best regards,

QUESTION

SEVERAL GROUNDS FOR OBTAINING A CARTE DE SÉJOUR MENTION VIE PRIVÉE ET FAMILIALE

I would like to react to the following statement in your November issue:
You now have a family in France, with a spouse and a child. But you three have not been a family long enough to qualify for the carte de séjour mention vie privée et familiale. Ideally you should be married more than five years to qualify for this status. So this is not a viable solution right now. How is this possible? I have been told that I, as an American PACSed to a French citizen, can qualify for the carte de séjour mention vie privée et familiale after showing proof I have lived with him under the same roof and shared the same bills after only one year. I am quite surprised, still, that they cannot qualify for something like this since they have a child born on French territory. Is your reasoning because they are non-EU citizens?

QUESTION

IS IT EASIER NOW TO OBTAIN FRENCH NATIONALITY?

We know that under the previous French administration, the conservatives did all they could to tighten up on immigration and to make it more difficult to get French citizenship, including adding things like a written French literacy test even though I believe it was illegal to do so. Have things loosened up under the current administration, and is it a little less difficult to get French citizenship?
I am in the middle of my second ten-year residency card in France and thinking about finally applying for citizenship. Will the length of time I have lived as a resident speak in my favor in this process? What about financial status? I know that you have to provide proof that your taxes are paid up, but do the authorities do anything like running a credit check to see what your financial status is before granting citizenship? Are they less likely to grant citizenship if your income has not been very high? If you are nearing retirement age, when do you become eligible for a French pension?

The song “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” by the English rock band The Who, written by Pete Townshend, is found on the 1971 album Who’s Next. Many consider it an anthem for the 1970s generation protesting the Vietnam War and the establishment in general.

Decades later, many people, especially foreigners, may continually feel that people out there are waiting to take advantage of them. As I often say, this impression is far from always being true. A recent example: at a branch tax office, at 4:15 on a Friday afternoon (minutes before closing time), the branch manager asked one of my clients to come back on Monday, after delivering what appeared to be a lecture about Americans coming to France and working without any authorization. My client felt personally attacked and feared a complete audit, and so was very afraid of what could happen on Monday morning. But all the manager wanted to do was offer a compliment about the fact that the business had been duly registered and everything was in order; she just wanted to express her appreciation for what, after all, should be the norm, i.e., compliance with the law.

Knowing the IRS, I fully understand how such an encounter could be completely misunderstood, leaving the foreigner worried sick the entire week-end.

AUTO-ENTREPRENEUR STATUS AND HOLDING A STUDENT CARTE DE SEJOUR
Some situations, however, may be the exact opposite: the foreigner feels reassured by what appears to be caring guidance, when in reality he/she is being advised to do something criminal with severe adverse consequences. Here again is a recent example: an American student taking an intensive French course is offered work as an English teacher by a small school. Instead of proposing the normal employee position that would be compatible with student immigration status, which comes with the right to work as an employee for 60% of a full-time salary calculated on an annual basis, the employer advises my client to become an auto-entrepreneur. The main reason put forth is that it is supposed to be simpler and cheaper, which is true for the employer but not for the employee. The worst thing is what the foreigner is never told: this self-employed fiscal status is completely incompatible with student immigration status. So when it is time to renew the student status, the préfecture easily finds out about the situation and refuses the request to renew the student immigration status even though the foreigner complies with all the requirements to obtain the student carte de séjour.

This major violation of the law regarding working in France is a very good reason to refuse such a request.

It is astonishing how often I am asked about this same situation through emails and phone calls as well as my sessions at the church. I have the feeling that I am confronting an epidemic of this wrong decision turning disastrous every single time. If you are a foreign student who is considered to be enrolled full time at a university or community college registered with the Ministry of Education, you have the right to obtain a student immigration card.

The news should be spread as quickly and thoroughly as possible. Way too many people are being misled into a disastrous situation, feeling secure in their choice, since the employer is advising them to do it and even helping them register (URSSAF issues the appropriate documents upon receiving the registration request). The foreign student is being completely fooled by what feels like the right thing and everything goes smoothly and nicely, which is a change for once when dealing with the French administration.

I repeat: the student carte de séjour only allows one to work as an employee and nothing else; there cannot be any kind of registration of any kind done by the employee in France. And French law requires teachers in a school or agency to hold employee status. So requiring auto-entrepreneur status for a teaching job is the second major violation of the law in such situations.

It is very, very hard for foreigners to differentiate between people who are genuinely helping and those who are deceitful. The worst part is that the biases we too often bring with us from the home country can create a false sense of security or danger. In short, as a foreigner in France, do not trust your gut reactions: they can be wrong more often than right. You are most assuredly a fish out of water.

ATTESTATION URSSAF DE COMPTE À JOUR FOR CMU INSURED
The following situation may sound odd, but it illustrates a much bigger issue. The préfecture always prefers getting confirmation that an applicant for renewal of immigration status is up to date on all necessary payments. In one recent case, the applicant had registered with the French public health coverage as not working in France. This program, part of the Assurance Maladie, is called CMU, which stands for Couverture Médicale Universelle. The payments are made to URSSAF, even though CMU registration is for private individuals rather than self-employed people. This oddity creates some difficulties. The préfecture’s view is that because it is paid to URSSAF, the normal procedure for the self-employed should be followed and the applicant should have a special statement from URSSAF that there is no outstanding debt. URSSAF rightfully considers these people non-professionals and therefore is very reluctant to issue such a document since a private individual does not need to prove that no money is owed, especially since the coverage remains whether the money is paid or not. Thus, even though this health coverage is well accepted by the préfecture, obtaining the payment document has become an unpleasant task, as one often has to go to a nearby URSSAF branch and explain in order to obtain it (it is very rarely sent in the mail). This illustrates quite well the difficulties one has to deal with when two divisions of the administration ignore each other’s policies and requirements, leaving the individual too often stranded in the middle.

OFFICE TO CLOSE FOR THANKSGIVING
My office will be closed from the end of Thursday November 20th until 9AM on Wednesday December 3rd, instead of for the usual Christmas vacation. 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. I will let individual clients know how to receive or retrieve their mail during this period.

I will also close the office for one week over Christmas since I will be celebrating out of Paris with my family.

Best regards,

QUESTION

CARTE DE RÉSIDENT – ISSUE WITH CURRENT STATUS & LABOR CONTRACT

I need some advice regarding how to obtain the carte de résident, which has a ten-year validity. I have been living in France holding a carte de séjour called « scientifique, » and have had several ongoing CDDs, all for the same employer and in the same lab, for more than five years now. During that time I got married and my wife is an non-EU citizen who worked in IT for more than three years in France. We also have a one-year-old daughter born in France and my wife stopped working to take care of her.
My CDD contract is ending soon and I do not have a definite answer for another job right now. We would like to continue to live and work in France. So we thought of applying for a carte de résident on the grounds that I have lived in France for more than five years. I do not speak good French but my wife does and she has also taken language courses.
I want to know our chances of getting the ten-year card given the condition that we both are going to be jobless soon. Do you have any advice on how can we increase our chances?

QUESTION

TONTINE AND CHILDREN OF A PREVIOUS UNION

My husband, a British citizen, and I, an American citizen, have been legal and fiscal French residents for years. My husband has children from a prior marriage, and I have too. We purchased our home in July 2010 en tontine, having been told that should either of us die, the home would pass to the surviving spouse as if he/she were the sole purchaser at the time of sale. That surviving spouse would have the right to sell the house without any need for agreement by any children or could live in it until death and then it would pass to the surviving spouse’s children. Now we are told that this is not the case: that yes, the surviving spouse can live there until death; but no, the surviving spouse cannot sell the property and retain the proceeds as his/her property. Can you please clarify this for me? The house is paid for. I am feeling very vulnerable right now.

« I’m a Long Way from Home » was composed by Hank Cochran and sung by Waylon Jennings on his third album, Nashville Rebel, released in 1966.It was also sung by Shooter Jennings, his son, in Walk the Line, James Mangold’s 2005 film about Johnny Cash’s early career, with Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon. Everyone living in a foreign country, whether for a short or a very long time, deals with longing for home. First comes a craving for something very specific that is missed, often food. Over the years, such cravings often diminish but are replaced by memories and longing for the days when life felt simpler. The very notion of what is « home » can become very blurry, depending on the situation. Going back to work after a vacation means going back « home » to the « foreign » place, such as Paris, where one now lives. And the vacation itself may have meant going « back home » to where one grew up, which does not feel much like home anymore. The longing cannot be dismissed, since everyone needs to go back to their memories; immigrants just deal with an extra thick layer of it. Yet the successful immigrant must let go of all those sorts of cravings and get more involved in today’s life in the new country. This month’s column deals with what it is to be a successful immigrant: a poignant testimony, a statement of failure, a misconception of where home is, and the anguish of losing one’s new home and new life in France.

Walk the line while a long way from home – that could be every foreigner’s motto in life, especially in France while waiting in line!

« THE AMAZONS »: THE UNDOCUMENTED ALIENS WHO MAKE IT IN FRANCE
Over the years I have helped many undocumented aliens get legal status in France. There is always an element of shame because of the illegal status and the constant fear that goes with it. There is also a feeling of being degraded because of the gap between what they were in their home country and what they become here, doing menial or less well-paid work, as well as the outcast status of being illegal. There is also a desire to get out of this situation: for some it is a realistic goal and they work at it day and night, making it their top priority in life; for others it is an unreachable dream that can only be obtained after so many years that it does not feel reasonable to seriously hope that it will ever come true.

French immigration law currently offers the possibility of having one’s status regularized after being in France for three, five or seven years for work, or after five or ten years on grounds of private and family life.

The legal requirements explain the vast diversity of cases, ranging from those who arrive in France, soon meet the conditions to be regularized; they build their file accordingly, and those who take years to even learn about regularization and its requirements, then take many more years to get settled and comply with the requirements for a given status. There are people who after fifteen years in France still cannot qualify, usually because they lack sufficient proof of living or working in France – the préfecture currently demands at least one document per quarter for every quarter of every year, plus proof of employment for all those years in sufficient hours to constitute the equivalent of full-time work.

So, yes, it takes either a very long time or a considerable amount of energy and an iron will to secure the appropriate living conditions, both personal (proof of French residence in the form of utility bills, bank statements, tax documents, health coverage and so on) and professional (pay slips, for starters).

I would like to share with you a statement from someone who managed to get legal status in a relatively short time, about five years. Between the lines one can read the pain and anger this person felt, once it was all done, thinking of those years. It is extremely rare to get such an account expressing such personal feelings, and I feel very honored to have received it:

THE TESTIMONY
I read your July issue and it seems that the foreigners [you write about] are mainly nannies, cleaning ladies, cashiers, etc. Are they the only ones you have helped? I find it disturbing that you categorize people who do not have legal status in France. Not everyone who is caught in this situation (no legal status) planned or expected it for themselves, but yes, you are right, most of us tried very hard to obtain legal status. It could take either a few years or ages to get it, depending on the person, whether it is their priority to be legalized. The waiting (fight) is very tormenting but having legal status is worth the wait (fighting for).

Do not forget that not all who are working with your category are non-professionals. They are professionals back in their own country but because of the opportunity of higher income abroad, they choose to work as such. Why is it mostly women working abroad rather than men? Because it is easier for women to find any kind of job.

MY ANSWER
These few paragraphs touch on so many issues:

1 – Nurses, engineers, accountants and the like from Asia and Africa, for example, (a majority of the people I help come from there) prefer working as undocumented aliens in a foreign country to trying to have a career in their country. This says a lot about the huge economic gap between the developing regions and the industrialized world. Extreme poverty in developing countries fuels illegal immigration, with the second cause being various forms of persecution.

2 – Then there is the impossibility of getting equivalent qualifications in France, which would help them get a better job once their expertise is recognized. When regularization does come, after so many years, most of those involved have given up on their careers or on using their diploma even now that they have immigration status to do it. The alternative – going back to school in France to obtain a French diploma so as to avoid the sort of low-paying jobs that they have done before getting their papers – is rarely chosen. Who has the courage, past the age of 40, to stop working and go back to school?

3 – The realization «  and of course the disappointment that goes along with it «  of finding out that having legal immigration status does not change their daily life much (including work), so that all their dreams of being happy once they are regularized turn to a sour taste and a deep source of frustration.

4 – Concerning the trend in which most immigrants from poor countries are women, I disagree with the idea that it is easier for women to find jobs as undocumented aliens. Clearly the nanny and cleaning lady positions are mainly held by women, but restaurant and construction jobs are held mainly by men, while the sweatshops are about 50-50. But I would identify two factors that make women immigrants different. First, they are often mothers, ready to make more extreme sacrifices than men for the sake of their children. Second, they believe they will have a better life because Western societies are generally much less conservative and patriarchal than those they are leaving behind.

I believe the combination of these two factors explains why so many women choose what I have termed the « Amazon » lifestyle. Sadly, once they reach the goal of becoming legal immigrants and can settle with their children, often brought to France through family reunification procedures, they are drained and exhausted, sometimes lacking the courage and energy to take care of themselves. The downside of self-sacrifice is that there is always something that has higher priority than themselves.

At the end of the day, where does one find the energy, money and desire to go to nursing school, after a couple of years of being legal, when working two jobs (within the limits of French labor law) and with a child starting college in France? The prospect must be especially demoralizing when one already has a nursing degree obtained in the home country 20 years ago.

A READER GIVES HIS REASONS FOR LEAVING FRANCE
Hi, Jean. A comment on the new law requiring the notaire to examine the accounts of the condominium as supplied by the syndic .

-We are in the process of selling our apartment and unbeknown to us the condominium decided to change syndic . The old syndic refuses to supply the paperwork to the new syndic and therefore our notaire can’t get the paperwork required. Our purchaser has been very patient but it is now month three with no result. The old syndic is talking about taking the condominium to court. As I have witnessed over many years of property ownership in France, the foreigner suffers while two or more parties fight it out in court. No common sense, no damages and no feeling for assisting any party with completing the transaction. This is another reason why we’ve decided to sell all our properties in France. It just becomes too hard and there is never any compensation for all the inconvenience, pain and suffering.

-There comes a point where all the history, glamour, intrigue, beauty, etc., doesn’t [offset problems with] quality of life. Whether it’s Australia, the UK or America, it makes a huge difference when you can send a meal back, without fear, when it’s not up to standard or in the case of, say, purchasing clothing you can return it because you just changed your mind. No questions asked. Real life example: bought a zip-up fleece from Au Vieux Campeur. Got home to find the zip broken. Returned, with receipt, to have it replaced. Instead of here’s a new one or money returned it was « we’ll send it back to the manufacturer. » We’re talking 35 euro. How does an attitude like this make living in France a pleasant experience? I’ve loved the place for years but everyday happiness has a value and sadly most French people don’t even realize that there are many other places in the world where these simple but everyday battles simply don’t exist.

-By way of background, I’ve bought and restored a farmhouse in the Sarthe, a Paris apartment and a village house in Provence. For many, many years we’ve enjoyed the country culture, people and countless other aspects of France. I’m a long-distance trekker and still do at least one 100-km trek every year, in France along with Italy, Germany, England and many of the other beautiful countries that make up Europe. Perhaps, now that I am in my 60s, I’m looking for a simpler and less complicated life. It just appears to me (research sample one!) that a lot of the charm, especially in Paris, has departed over the last 10-12 years. For the last 3 years I’ve been spending more time in a village in SE England where I detect that community spirit is still very strong. After 3 visits to the local pub you become Tony the Aussie and you are literally welcomed into their community. I never achieved this in rural France. People were friendly enough but under the surface we heard stories of petty jealousies, criticisms because we didn’t conform to ancient rituals, etc. If you can detect a sense of disappointment you would be correct. I love France very much but I find that staring from my terrace at the Luberon Mountains, although they are amazingly beautiful, doesn’t make for a complete life.

MY ANSWER
In response, I must point out that France is made of French people as much as it is made of landscapes and cities that have been shaped by French people. There is a point where one cannot state, « I love France but I do not like the French, » because it is an irreconcilable contradiction. I will not dispute your description, because you point out something that is true. The question is, what do you do about it?

Do you accept being left out of the life of your town and complain about people’s unwelcoming attitude? Do you ignore their attitude and go about your business? Do you make a point of getting involved in the life of your town and a militant attitude that, no matter what, you will be a cornerstone of the community’s life in due time?

Each person is different. My experience indicates that those who take the first approach do not stay very long in France, because being left outside wears one out very quickly. You have very well described what goes through the person’s mind in reaching the decision to leave.

The people taking the second or, especially, the third approach usually stay in France and love it. While it is quite true that French people are not friendly to foreigners who are newcomers in rural France, this is also true for French people moving to the country from the big cities. It is not discrimination against foreigners. The newcomer must make all the efforts, for countless years, to create the needed living space in the community and be accepted as someone who, even as an outsider, is involved in the community. While the outsider label never wears off, there comes a point where it simply does not matter.

This is how rural France and, until recently, French cities as well functions. It comes with the territory, so to speak. It is also true that France is still terrible at customer service, by the standards of English-speaking countries, but it has hugely improved over the years, and French merchants increasingly take a different approach to this issue, so that once in a while more often that most foreigners think you get much, much better quality service in France. The thing is that you cannot count on getting it. Customers in France have to adopt a more humble attitude instead of standing on their rights.

Here is a little illustration of what it can take to fit in. When we moved to the Paris apartment that we bought before our oldest child was born, my American wife wanted to host a housewarming party and asked me to invite the other people living in the building. I told her two things:

– In those days, it was unthinkable that all the residents of a building would come to such an event, as it would mean the owners of the large apartments on the lower floors who have to mingle with the people living in the maids rooms on the top floor.

– Since I am French, the other people in the building would consider it an inexcusable faux-pas for me to make this ridiculous invitation, and would not even consider coming.
My advice to her was that, because she was American and a foreigner, she and only she could approach these people one by one to invite them for an afternoon coffee or an aperitif. That is what she did, with a strong and long-lasting determination, and after several years she had managed to get nearly all of the neighbors to come to our place.

In short, if you are going to live in France, you need to do it the French way if you want to enjoy it. Yes, it feels weird and unnatural because you are not used to it, but the bottom line is that you are the only one who can change the situation.

OFFICE TO CLOSE FOR THANKSGIVING
My office will be closed from the end of Friday November 21st until 9AM on Wednesday December 3rd instead of the usual Christmas vacation. 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. I will let individual clients know how to receive or retrieve their mail during this period.

TAX OWED ON 2013 INCOME IS DUE SEPTEMBER 15th
The income tax payment schedule in France has three notable dates each year: February 15th, May 15th and September 15th. The system is set up so that on each of these dates, people pay part of the total tax due, usually in three approximately equal installments. The first two payments are each 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 payment year until it is notified by the Centre des Impôts, which receives the income declaration of the previous calendar year in the spring. There is a special office in the Parisian suburb of Créteil for residents of Paris. Last but not least, the income tax declaration requires information about your primary residence; you must state whether you are the owner, a tenant or a guest. Then there is a section to be filled out if you moved during the previous year or the current year. The fact that half a page is dedicated to the address shows how important this matter is to the tax office. Among other things, it enables the tax officials to levy an appropriate taxe d’habitation (local tax) in the autumn.

Best regards,

QUESTION

AUTO-ENTREPRENEUR WITHOUT IMMIGRATION STATUS

Could you please tell me whether I can obtain auto-entrepreneur status as a non-resident of France? I am a Canadian resident who lived in France for many years and I will be back in Marseille for the whole summer, and would like to work for my old employer teaching English. I would like to go ahead with the process of getting set up as an auto-entrepreneur as soon as possible. Can you please clear up this question for me? Can I use a friend’s address?

QUESTION

AUTORISATION PROVISOIRE DE SEJOUR (A.P.S.) AND OBLIGATION DE QUITTER LE TERRITOIRE FRANÇAIS (O.Q.T.F.)

I am an American who has been living in France for five years. I completed my master’s degree here and was granted a one-year autorisation provisoire de séjour (APS) a couple of months ago. I am starting to worry that I will not be able to find a full-time job before it expires. How long would I have to wait after the end of my APS to come back to France (as a student, for example) if I do not find a job before it runs out? I have done some research and found some stuff on the obligation de quitter le territoire français (OQTF), but nothing about when I would be eligible to come back to France. I was also wondering if leaving before the end of my APS would help my chances of being able to come back sooner (because it would mean I would not get the OQTF).