I would like to wish you all you a great summer and a very nice vacation, enjoying the freedom of the moment. I will close my office on July 7th

“When I’m Sixty-Four”

When I get older, losing my hair
Many years from now
Will you still be sending me a Valentine
Birthday greetings, bottle of wine? 
If I’d been out till quarter to three
Would you lock the door? 
Will you still need me, will you still feed me
When I’m sixty-four?

You’ll be older too
And if you say the word
I could stay with you

I could be handy, mending a fuse
When your lights have gone
You can knit a sweater by the fireside
Sunday mornings go for a ride
Doing the garden, digging the weeds
Who could ask for more? 
Will you still need me, will you still feed me
When I’m sixty-four?

Every summer we can rent a cottage in the Isle of Wight
If it’s not too dear
We shall scrimp and save
Grandchildren on your knee
Vera, Chuck and Dave

Send me a postcard, drop me a line
Stating point of view
Indicate precisely what you mean to say
Yours sincerely, wasting away
Give me your answer, fill in a form
Mine forevermore
Will you still need me, will you still feed me
When I’m sixty-four? 
Ho!

Wikipedia
“When I’m Sixty-Four” is a song by the English rock band The Beatles, written by Paul McCartney (credited to Lennon-McCartney) and released on their 1967 album Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. McCartney wrote the song when he was about 14, probably in April or May 1956, and it was one of the first songs he ever wrote.

Yesterday I turned 64.

Each of us has our own way of handling getting old. In the 1950s, turning 64 meant one had turned really old. Today many sixty-somethings are still in good shape and one could argue that the equivalent of being 64 in 1967 is now experienced at 74. The notion of aging, of being old, being young, feeling young, or feeling old, is very personal and depends on so many things. On the other hand, once you add the kind of job you do to the picture, thoughts turn to retirement, of the time when one stops working before dying. Common sense should dictate that manual workers retire earlier than people working in offices. In France, when retirement programs were linked to certain industries, that was common practice. One of the numerous reasons so many people demonstrated against the latest French retirement reform, which added two years to the age at which workers have the right to full retirement benefits, was that the measure did not differentiate among all the different situations in the labor force.

Then there are economic immigrants, whose bodies are often abused from an early age. For many, retiring at 64 means having worked for 50 years. Once they arrive in a Western country like France, they usually start out working at horrid jobs. After several years, they obtain a legal stay and can settle a tad more comfortably, but they often still work as manual laborers. The saddest thing I have seen in this regard is that many of these people worked for so long under the table, a.k.a. undeclared, that their credit with the national retirement system is insufficient for them to live on. Thus, they must continue to work, even if they are retired. This has become common enough that the media in France, the USA and other countries are covering this evolution of society.

THE OTHER IMMIGRANTS
About ten years ago, I helped a Filipina woman facing several major challenges at once. She held a carte spéciale because her employer was a diplomat in France. Her health insurance policy covered only the absolute minimum required. When I met her for the first time, she was battling breast cancer. In a matter of nine months, she obtained a private-life carte de séjour, gained access to the French public health care system, and started treatment for her cancer. For close to two years, her situation was my focal point until everything was settled and her remission from cancer confirmed.

Once she was declared to be in remission, I asked her if she could help me once a month by putting my column into HTML so it could be uploaded to my website in addition to being sent by email. Since June 30th, 2015, she has helped me do this except when she is in the Philippines or on a pilgrimage. She also works as a nanny and a cleaning lady, with seven employers scattered throughout Paris and its suburbs, and this is hard on her body. Our monthly meetings have changed the way she sees both her work, including what she does for me, and her worth. She came to be really good at this job. During the COVID curfew restrictions, her face beamed when I gave her the professional authorization to be out late, mentioning on my letterhead that computer assistant was her position.

This is the quote from the June issue that sparked some reactions which I found to be very interesting and I would like to share them.
“For what it is worth! At one point, one has to say that it was worth it. It meant going after dreams, and personal goals. In the eyes of many, it might not look like much. For them, it was not worth the effort. ‘For what it is worth, it was worth it for me.’ This is what I like to hear. Immigrants often never regain the social status or comforts that they had in their home country, but many tell me nevertheless that it was worth it. Let’s leave it at that.”

Last month, as we worked on sending out the June issue, she was quite moved when she read it.

That gave me the idea to ask her and other Filipina women to express how they feel about the statement “It was worth it.” I have always seen the Filipino motto as:
“Keep a low profile and get the job done.”

When Filipinas live away from the Philippines, whether in France, the USA or another place, they are there to work, earn money and support the rest of their family. In 2018, financial transfers from expatriates accounted for over 9.8% of the Philippines’ GDP.

Here is what my computer assistant told me about her own experience:
“Five years! My plan of staying here in France? I just wanted to try and see what life I could have here and then I planned to go back to the Philippines. Others say I am one of the luckiest people because I got a chance to come here to France, so I am giving it a try. It is not easy to be away from my family, but my income is much higher than what I earned at my job in the Philippines, so I guess it is worth it for me to stay for that time period. I didn’t know that five years could pass so fast and I got used to staying here. Many more years went by before I got sick. That time was the lowest point of my life as I was battling with my illness, trying to get my immigration status (legal papers) and was separated from my family. I kept asking myself if it was worth it to stay, given my situation, and then I met someone with the help of my employer. He guided me and helped me to cope with and overcome all my fears and problems until everything went well again in my life. Now I receive all my health benefits for free while holding nice, proper jobs at the same time. Is it worth the life that I chose? Yes, it has been WORTH IT! It is my choice to be in France; it is not just by chance.”

The hardships such women experience is mostly unknown. It is very rare for them to express how hard their life is. Even so, they almost all end up affirming, “It was worth it.” I respect and admire them for coming up with this evaluation. It is their life.

A MESSAGE FROM URSSAF REGARDING INCOME TAX DECLARATIONS
People commonly use the term “auto-entrepreneur” for working as an independent and running one’s own business. But it really just refers to a choice regarding how to pay social charges to URSSAF. There is a choice between the classic way, which is the normal way URSSAF collects money, and the “auto-entrepreneur” way, which involves a quarterly declaration and the payment of the related social charges, usually amounting to about 23%, for services related work. This side of running a business has evolved a lot in recent years. Before President Macron was elected, the classic status required two income declarations to be done: one sent to the tax office to calculate the income tax owed and one to URSSAF to calculate the social charges based on the profit made the year before, with some catching up done in the fall.

Since the spring of 2021, however, there has been only one income declaration, submitted to the tax office. That information is shared with URSSAF, which relies on it to make its calculations. When Americans think about how the Internal Revenue Service and the Social Security Administration have worked together for decades, they are often stupefied by the level of distrust that once existed between the two French administrative divisions. Mr. Macron promised during his 2017 presidential campaign to simplify and unify different entities of the administration doing the same thing. This proved true of health coverage, which was unified under the CPAM system as of January 1st, 2020. The retirement unification is still being worked on.

URSSAF recently sent a memo to everyone on its mailing list, regardless of the status the recipients have, explaining how the information from the tax office is used and how the social charges are calculated. This disturbed and worried a lot of people who think “auto-entrepreneur” is the only status that exists.

Here is a translation of the memo from URSSAF:
“Understanding the calculation of your contributions following your tax returnhttps://info.urssaf.fr/l/6521/500199940/22016/106423/294868/11f8de51

Between April and June, you declare your 2022 income on impots.gouv.fr. As soon as your declaration has been validated, the tax authorities forward it to URSSAF.

You will then receive the 2022 regularization document and the 2023 call for contributions. URSSAF has set up a dedicated website to help you understand the information contained in this letter.”

THE GENESIS OF THE FRENCH BUREAUCRACY
A client recently sent me this email:
“I really enjoy the history lessons you provide me. But overwhelmed by being at the Prefecture, I can’t remember the person who you told me was the father of French bureaucracy and taxation. I think you referred to Louis XI, but if you wouldn’t mind just pointing me in the right direction, I’ll really enjoy the research.”

My reply, “This king is rarely mentioned because he did nothing flamboyant. He did not build castles. During his entire lifetime, he acted as a statesman, building France as a unit, by defeating all his rebellious vassals and by creating a centralized structure, which later became the French administration.”

On May 1st, 1890, French unions commemorated these events by demonstrating in the streets to ask for an eight-hour workday. May 1st became a national holiday in 1948. The day is so protected by French law that any employee who is required to work that day gets three times the normal wage. Over the years, the holiday has been celebrated in various ways but it always ends with people marching down one of the large avenues or boulevards in Paris and most other cities in France.

Wikipedia
Louis XI (3 July 1423 – 30 August 1483), called “Louis the Prudent” (French: le Prudent), was King of France from 1461 to 1483. He succeeded his father, Charles VII.

Louis entered into open rebellion against his father in a short-lived revolt known as the Praguerie in 1440. The king forgave his rebellious vassals, including Louis, to whom he entrusted the management of the Dauphiné, then a province in southeastern France. …

When Charles VII died in 1461, Louis left the Burgundian court to take possession of his kingdom. His taste for intrigue and his intense diplomatic activity earned him the nicknames “the Cunning” (Middle French: le rusé) and “the Universal Spider” (Middle French: l’universelle araignée), as his enemies accused him of spinning webs of plots and conspiracies. …

Without direct foreign threats, Louis was able to eliminate his rebellious vassals, expand royal power, and strengthen the economic development of his country. He died on 30 August 1483 and was succeeded by his minor son Charles VIII. ….

Legacy
Eager to obtain information about his enemies, Louis created, from 1464, a net of postal relays all over France, which was a precursor to the modern French postal service.

Louis developed his kingdom by encouraging trade fairs and the building and maintenance of roads. Louis XI pursued the organization of the kingdom of France with the assistance of bourgeois officials. In some respects, Louis XI perfected the framework of the modern French Government which was to last until the French Revolution. Thus, Louis XI is one of the first modern kings of France who helped take it out of the Middle Ages. ….

Through wars and guile, Louis XI overcame France’s mostly independent feudal lords, and at the time of his death in the Château de Plessis-lèz-Tours, he had united France and laid the foundations of a strong monarchy. ….

Despite Louis XI’s political acumen and overall policy of Realpolitik, Niccolò Machiavelli criticized him harshly in Chapter 13 of The Prince, calling him shortsighted and imprudent for abolishing his own infantry in favor of Swiss mercenaries.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_XI

OFFICE CLOSED FOR SUMMER VACATION 
The office will be closed for six weeks over the summer holidays, starting on Friday, July 7th, in the evening and reopening on the morning of Monday, August 21st. As always, I will be reachable by email for emergencies and important matters. The service I offer of receiving mail for clients will continue while the office is closed. Unlike in recent years, I will be in the USA from July 19th to August 3rd. Of course, Sarah or I will honor the prefecture meetings already scheduled, as well as a couple of other engagements. It is also possible that my daughter, Lucille, will handle some situations as she is getting more and more involved in my business.

I would like to remind everyone there will be no August issue.

Best regards,

QUESTION

THE QUESTION OF CUSTODY IN FRENCH DIVORCES

I have been married to a Frenchman for several years now and I recently filed for divorce in France. I want to move back to the USA with my children as quickly as possible as I have professionally and personally no future in France. We just had the first hearing and the judge decided that we all must stay as it would be best for my children if they lived in France. This is scary as heck! I am now a prisoner of France. This should be illegal.

QUESTION

SHOULD YOU RENEW YOUR CARTE DE SÉJOUR OR ASK FOR A CARTE DE RÉSIDENT?

I got a passeport talent visa in the USA and moved to France during the summer of 2019. The visa lasted one year and I got a carte de séjour as a performing musician, which was valid for four years. It will expire in June 2024, My family and I are still living here and we are doing well. As the first request demanded a lot of documents about my career, I would like to know as soon as possible what the necessary steps are to apply for a renewal.

The album Burn was released in February 1974 by Deep Purple. I always find it interesting that lyrics can be understood in a way totally different from their intent when they were written. Reading the lyrics of this album’s title track once again, I felt it could apply poetically to what happened to Notre-Dame Cathedral.

The sky is red, I don’t understand
Past midnight I still see the land
People are sayin’ the woman is damned
She makes you burn with a wave of her hand
The city’s ablaze, the town’s on fire
The woman’s flames are reaching higher.

It felt like the whole world watched the cathedral burning. Almost everybody was talking about this tragedy, and rightfully so. Now France needs to start the rebuilding. I hope it is well done, with the finest craftspeople doing the work. Almost certainly, the Compagnons will be called upon – possibly the same guilds that built the cathedral in the first place. Many guilds were created in about AD 1000 to make the building of churches and cathedrals possible. I find it reassuring that they have been able to maintain their traditions and craftsmanship through the centuries.

https://compagnons-du-devoir.com

https://compagnons-du-devoir.com/les-compagnons-du-devoir-caen

A NEW OFFICE PROJECT SHOULD BE COMPLETED BY THE END OF THIS YEAR
For about seven years, when I had an office near the Place Saint-Georges, I rented the other room out, usually for about a year at a time and no longer than two years. Most of the people renting it were creators of start-ups, consultants or independent contractors who needed this place to make their professional transition. I always liked being able to offer a professional setting at an affordable price and thus help people launch their careers.

As many people know, my current office has three rooms: one is where I meet my clients, one is my workroom with files, printers and a large desk, and the third contains a kitchen corner and my assistant Sarah’s workspace.

For almost a year now, I have been interested in purchasing a place in close proximity to my office in the same building. I have just received the seller’s approval from the real-estate agent. As long as the sale goes through, I should be able to offer the use of a completely independent space very near my current office. I cannot say more until I have the presale contract. But I am already thinking about offering a small discount to any of my readers who might like to use this space as an office space or Airbnb place to stay.

I will probably not have much of a summer vacation, as I will be working on this project so as to have everything ready for September. It will likely be necessary to do some renovation so that the place offers a comfortable setting.

PAPERLESS OFII PROCEDURE
The Office Français de l’Intégration et de l’Immigration (OFII), the part of the French administration dealing with the side effects of the immigration procedure, has gone completely paperless, as many of us have long wished. There is no longer a paper form; instead, an electronic procedure is activated once you arrive in France. When you receive your passport with the visa for France in it, on the next page is the URL of the website where you go to ask for an appointment once you arrive in France. It asks for your date of entry into France, and you will be asked to prove it, if possible. This seems to have shortened the time it takes to obtain an appointment.

PUBLIC HEALTH COVERAGE AND VISITEUR IMMIGRATION STATUS
French immigration law has always put an emphasis on the health insurance coverage valid in France. The most recent evolution is creating some serious problems for the foreigner holding a ‘visiteur’ immigration status. I had hoped that the prefecture had taken a definitive position after taking into consideration the vast changes set in motion by the creation of PUMA. Sadly, the prefecture has once again changed its position on whether people withvisiteur status must provide proof of health coverage.

The starting point is simple. To obtain visiteur immigration status, you have to prove that you have a certain minimum income, often retirement funds or other assets. You also have to prove that your health care is covered by a policy valid in France, and that the premiums for it are being paid regularly, either directly or indirectly (as part of a retirement package, the person often gets coverage for life, whether or not an amount is deducted from the pension for it).

Before the protection universelle maladie (PUMA) went into effect on January 1st 2016, each person covered by the couverture médicale universelle sent in an income declaration and the cost of the premium was 8%. The coverage was (and still is) free for those with annual earnings below 8,951€, which is pretty much poverty level. With the prefecture looking for annual income of at least 14,000€, the system was set up so that a foreigner covered by the public system called Assurance Maladie would easily be able to prove payment of some premium and therefore comply with the requirement.

Since the 8% of income used to calculate the premium does not include retirement income, many American retirees with visiteur immigration status can sign onto PUMA and be covered for free even if their global income is $100,000 or more, way over what the prefecture requires as a minimum.

URSSAF handles PUMA billing and collection, as it is the collection agency for social charges in France. Instead of receiving a special declaration of income, as before, they now get the information from the French tax office. This leads to several crazy situations. Some foreigners who declare their worldwide income to France without paying anything have received bills from URSSAF even though they have always been covered by the private sector. Under the old system, some foreigners paid their premiums in order to be covered by French public health program. These same foreigners now pay nothing because they do not declare their income to France.

Because of the craziness of the situation and the fact that for about two years URSSAF did not send a single bill to anyone, the prefecture agreed to renew people’s immigration ‘visiteur’ status without proof of health coverage. But my experience is that since the beginning of this year the prefecture has once again been asking for such proof. Several of my clients’ requests for renewal are up in the air, and they are waiting for the prefecture to decide about this situation. Some foreigners have ample income but do not pay anything for their public French health coverage. If that describes you, and you are about to go to the prefecture, be ready to face this issue.

MORE DOCUMENTS NEEDED FOR SELF-EMPLOYED STATUS
The prefecture has added to the list of documents required to be registered as self-employed, opening up a can of worms much bigger than you might think. The first requirement has long-lasting effects and creates serious problems.

Domiciliation professionnelle
The prefecture has a clear tendency to treat self-employed people registered in France as consultants, as if they were opening a shop, or as a limited liability corporation. Now it is asking applicants to submit a statement under oath that their business is domiciled in the home, even though all the other paperwork proves that this is the case.

The next step is that the prefecture may ask to see a lease or other document proving the grounds for the person’s tenancy. Leases almost always state that the apartment is residential and that no businesses can operate on the premises. So the prefecture requires the statement ofdomiciliation professionnelle to be signed by the landlord, authorizing something that is prohibited in the lease, as if a consultant’s activity were the same thing as having the public enter a shop or operating heavy machinery.

This has damaging consequences. Often landlords and even property agencies have people sign a hosting agreement (attestation d’hébergement), when all the utilities and local tax liability remain in the landlord’s name. Getting them to sign a domiciliation professionnelle document is close to impossible. Formerly, one way to block unscrupulous landlords was to have a business registered in the home. This meant declaring income for tax purposes and billing of business taxes at that address, documenting that the person was staying there as their primary domicile and therefore giving them domiciliary protection. This is no longer possible, however, and one might quickly need to find a new place. Thus, for people with this kind of profile, instead of risking being put out on the street, you may want to get yourdomiciliation professionnelle from asociété de domiciliation professionnelle, which may cost about 10€ to 20€ a month for the base service, equivalent to a PO box corporation in the USA.

By doing this, one gets the carte de séjour and the right to work, but gives up the right to deduct a substantial portion of the rent from one’s taxes, which can represent a significant loss. Considering how difficult it is to find lodging in Paris, this adds considerably to the existing problem.

Attestation de vigilance
This is a completely counterintuitive request regarding a review of the payment of taxes and social charges required of those with the self-employed immigration status. Until recently, URSSAF readily made available a statement of what was paid and how much the social charges were. If the statement indicated that the outstanding balance was zero, the person was paid up. The prefecture accepted this was proof of good standing.

Now the prefecture wants another document that does not show any figures but states at the bottom of the second page that the person has complied with all the requirements linked to their status. I would like to raise a couple of questions:

What other requirement could be as important as being up to date on your payments, when one knows that not declaring means getting a fine?

Would not it make more sense to match the four individual URSSAF bills, one for each quarter, with the statement wrapping them all up so as to see if anything is missing?

FRENCH INCOME TAX: TIME TO DECLARE IS NOW
Regarding the more mundane topic of income tax, I would like to remind everybody that the paper version of the 2018 income declaration must be filed in France by Wednesday, May 17th midnight. The declaration forms are available at www.impots.gouv.fr. You can file your declaration on this website, provided it is not your first time. To do so, you need your tax ID number and some access codes.

Note that if you file online, the deadline is later. The schedule depends on your postal code:

• départements 01 to 19 must file by midnight on May 22nd
• départements 20 to 49 by May 29 th
• départements 50 or higher by June 5th

An important reminder: if you are a French fiscal resident (i.e. if you hold acarte de séjour or an immigration visa validated with an OFII stamp, and comply with the requirements), you must declare your worldwide income to the French authorities even if you have no income in France and do not have the right to work in France. There is no penalty for neglecting to file, but not meeting this obligation is illegal and can have consequences.

You are a French fiscal resident if you:

• 1. Staying in France for 183 days in a calendar year, whether you have legal immigration status or not.
• 2. Having immediate family members who reside in France (a spouse and/or children).
• 3. Having a French employer.
• 4. Running a French business, even something like tutoring schoolchildren in English.

Current government-sponsored advertising campaigns refer to paper forms as thing of the past. For now, declaring electronically gives you an extension of a few weeks.

CHOOSING BETWEEN FRENCH NATIONALITY AND A CARTE DE RESIDENT
A couple of weeks ago, while attending one of Stephen Heiner’s monthly entrepreneurs’ lunches, the topic of naturalization came up and I could see that there is a misconception about the naturalization procedure, especially when comparing it to obtaining the carte de résident, which is loosely the equivalent of the American green card.

Many people read the requirements and conclude that the naturalization procedure asks for almost nothing, as the current requirements are: 

• 1. Having had a permanent legal stay in France at all times.
• 2. Being a French fiscal resident.
• 3. Mastering the language at B1 level (the government is thinking of increasing it to B2)
• 4. Having lived in France for five consecutive years, or possibly two consecutive years for applicants who have received a master’s degree in France.

The carte de résident requirements are much stricter: 

• 1. Having had a permanent legal stay in France at all times.
• 2. Having lived in France for five consecutive years, without exception (years holding a student carte de séjour do not count).
• 3. Showing four consecutive avis d’imposition, the French income tax statement, with a consistent annual income at least equal to French minimum wage, the SMIC.
• 4. Mastering the language at A2 level.
• 5. Preferably owning one’s home, or renting with a full lease.
• 6. Preferably being covered by the French public health care system.

The requirements for a carte de résident are more numerous, more demanding, and more rigid than those for naturalization. This confuses a lot of people. They do not understand why becoming a French national looks so easy, when even asking for carte de séjour can entail a longer list of required documents.

My explanation of this apparent oddity is that the naturalization procedure is like a funnel: the entrance is wide but the exit is tiny. What I mean is that it is true that the requirements for submitting a file requesting naturalization are simple, but the ones for obtaining it are strict. There are a lot of unwritten requirements that are not mentioned in the documents the prefecture gives you when you ask for the list.

By contrast, the carte de résident procedure is like a straight pipe: If you qualify to submit the file requesting it, it is nearly certain to be approved.

Finally, in my experience, many people do not know the rights associated with the carte de résident. It gives you various types of right to work and guarantees that you can live forever in France; you can even live in another country without losing the right to live in France.

I would say the objective when asking for naturalization is to prove complete allegiance to France and, ideally, to have all aspects of your life grounded in France. Hence some of the unwritten requirements when asking for naturalization, such as holding a carte de séjour salarié as well as vie privée et familiale, which gives you a better chance of success. Otherwise, asking first for the carte de résident is pretty much an obligation. Another is earning most, if not all, of your income from a French source, ideally as an employee. This is just to give an idea of what is truly required, but, to be fair, miracles can happen, so if you think you have a special profile that offsets what is missing, you should still apply.

I would like to remind my readers who hold a ‘visiteur’ immigration status that after a lawful presence of five years and compliance with all the abovementioned requirements. They can easily get the 10-year carte de résident because they already comply with everything on the list by virtue of their annual renewals. Some prefectures can be extremely lenient with American citizens who can often renew their immigration status without complying with this abovementioned list. So this is one of the first things to check. Then the only thing that is left uncertain is their competency in French. This said, an A2-level of competency can be presumed after a presence of five years in France.

DISCUSSION OF RAISING TAXES AT THE 2019 DAVOS FORUM
The article I cite below has a direct link with the section of my January 31st issue in which the gilets jaunes movement is discussed. Their members still demonstrate every Saturday, regardless of what the government proposes. Clearly this is not something that can dealt with by announcing last-minute changes. Several other countries have also been experiencing weekend demonstrations, notably Algeria. What is going on there deserves much more attention than the Western media, including French media, are giving it. Western economies need a radical new way to address taxation, especially taxation of income and wealth. These are the tools that enable countries to deal with their primary mission of national security and inhabitants’ well-being. I am happy to see that terms such as socialism, taxation and wealth regulation are no longer considered obscene and taboo but have become issues to discuss and review. The definition of well-being varies by country but the constant decreases in the services and protection the state guarantees its people now has a visible result: multinationals have more power than many countries and their money controls democratic elections more and more, stripping away what democracy should be: the voice of people.

The following article was published in the Guardian on February 1st 2019.
Rutger Bregman had not really intended to stick it to the global elite. He never meant to have a pop at the idea that inequality could be solved by philanthropy or inviting Bono to Davos. But when the Dutch historian decided to go off-piste at the World Economic Forum and tell the assembled billionaires they should stop avoiding paying tax, he became an overnight social media sensation.

“It’s been a crazy week and just for stating the obvious,” said Bregman, when asked about a panel discussion at the WEF last month in which he said the issue was “taxes, taxes, taxes, and all the rest is bullshit in my opinion”.

Bregman had not been to Davos before. He was invited on the basis of the book Utopia for Realists, which argued for a basic income and a shorter working week, ideas that have been taken up by some of the Silicon Valley billionaires who show up for the annual event in the Swiss Alps.

But he grew more irritated as the week wore on. Bregman gave a speech to a dinner of technology chief executives and then spoke at one of Davos’s private sessions, off limits to journalists. There he was surprised and maddened by the pushback when he mentioned tax. “One American looked at me as if I was from another planet,” he said.

As a result, Bregman decided to change his plan for a panel on inequality organized by Time magazine on the final morning of Davos. “I went to my hotel room and memorized what I wanted to say by heart,” he said.

“I more or less ignored the question asked by the moderator and gave my speech instead. It was mainly to ease my own conscience: someone has to say what needs to be said.”

What Bregman said, put simply, was the Davos emperors have no clothes. They talk a lot about how something must be done about inequality and the need to address social unrest, but cavil at the idea they might be a big part of the problem.

He told his audience that people in Davos talked about participation, justice, equality and transparency, but “nobody raises the issue of tax avoidance and the rich not paying their share. It is like going to a firefighters’ conference and not talking about water.”

Nothing happened over the weekend. Bregman went back to Amsterdam wondering whether his colorful language was a mistake, but then a video of the Time panel went viral, and it has received millions of views on Twitter alone.

Bregman, 30, is not entirely surprised at the reaction. He said he is part of a generation not traumatized by the cold war and radicalized by the financial crisis of a decade ago. “When we say what’s needed are higher taxes and the response is ‘that’s communism’, we say ‘whatever’,” he said.

“I am part of a broad social movement. Ten years ago, it would have unimaginable for some random Dutch historian to go viral when talking about taxes. Yet here we are.”

As a historian, Bregman noted the most successful period for capitalism occurred in the years after the second world war, when the top rate of tax in the US was above 90%.

“This is about saving capitalism,” he said. “Most innovation has come about through government spending. During the golden age period [after the second world war], there were way higher taxes on wealth, property, inheritance and top incomes. That’s what we need today if we are going to tame this beast called capitalism.”

Bregman was born in 1988, the year before the Berlin Wall came down. He grew up in the Dutch city of Zoetermeer, studied history at Utrecht University and contemplated doing a PhD before deciding he was not cut out for a career in academia.

“I didn’t want to waste four years on an insignificant subject nobody cares about,” he said. Instead, the global financial crisis pushed him in a different direction.

“I thought that we needed historians to take the stage and explain what’s going on. When I watched the crisis on TV, the only people being interviewed were economists, and these were the guys that didn’t see it coming. I thought that we needed some historians there, so I left academia,” Bregman said.

He spent a year working on a left-of-centre Dutch paper before joining a new journalism platform that paid him a basic income and provided the freedom to write about anything he chose. Utopia for Realists was the result.

Bregman is working on a new book in which he intends to challenge the view that humans are inherently selfish. It is not true, he said, that people revert to their true, nasty selves when the thin veneer of civilization is stripped away.

“If we assume the best in people, we can radically redesign our democracy and welfare states,” he said.

Bregman bridles at being called an optimist. “I prefer the word possibilist,” he said. Optimists are the sort of chief executives found at Davos, who think globalization is working, neoliberalism is a good idea and inequality is on the decline, he added.

“A lot of great things are going on. In many ways, the past 30 years have been the best in world history. But we can do much better. I prefer the word hope over optimism,” Bregman added.

So, would he make a return visit to the WEF next year?

“I would definitely go. I would just give the same speech. It is going to be a dilemma for them. If they don’t invite me, it will prove my point. If they do, I’ll say the same thing all over again,” he said.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/feb/01/rutger-bregman-world-economic-forum-davos-speech-tax-billionaires-capitalism

OFFICE CLOSED FOR MY 60th BIRTHDAY
The office will close for slightly over two weeks for this occasion. It will start on Friday June 14th evening and will reopen on Tuesday July 2nd morning. As always, I will only be reachable by email for emergencies and important matters as I will be out of France. The service I offer of receiving mail for clients will continue while the office is closed. I have not figured out how I will send the July issue considering the situation.

MY SUMMER VACATION: THE OFFICE IS CLOSED from July 19th to August 19th
The office will be closed for one month starting Friday, July 19th, reopening on Monday, August 19th. 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.

MY FEES WILL GO UP ON OCTOBER 1st 2019
I plan to change some aspects of my business when I reopen the office on Monday, August 19th. The main reason is to allow my assistant to do some tasks more systematically. One of them is to accompany the clients to the prefecture, URSSAF, CPAM and other public offices. She already handles most of the dealings with the offices where self-employed people are registered. She has also accompanied my clients to the prefecture several times. As her fees are lower than mine, this should compensate for the increase in my fees. On October 1st, I will raise my initial retainer from 270€ to 300€ and the hourly rate from 110€ to 130€.

Best regards,

QUESTION

PROBLEMS LINKED TO THE ABSENCE OF A BUILDING PERMIT

My French boyfriend owns a tiny house at the end of a courtyard in the middle of Paris, which makes for a wonderful place to live as it is so quiet, no street noise and no neighbors. When I moved in with him, there was a large toolshed against our wall which is located in a different condominium association. After several months of heavy work, which felt like a complete renovation, someone moved in and because there is a tiny brick wall between us, we hear everything, and we smell all his cooking. It has become a nightmare. When my boyfriend called the owner of this toolshed, the answer was that this is private property, he can do whatever he wants and we should get over this. Can we stop him bullying us this way? Can he face some significant consequences? Can someone sleep in what is zoned as a toolshed?

QUESTION

CHANGES TO AN APARTMENT WHILE IT IS BEING SOLD

After several years of living in France, I finally made the bold move of buying an apartment. Finding a decent place at a decent price felt like going through combat, as some places were beyond horrific.

At the time of signing the presale contract, la promesse de vente, we discussed whether anything would be left in the apartment in terms of appliances and furniture. There was an amazing refrigerator. I cannot remember seeing such a big and fancy one before, including in the USA. It was over 6 feet with the all features one could dream of. The seller valued it to be worth 1,000€ second hand. I had no idea if this was the right evaluation, as I understood that the higher we all agreed to value the appliances and furniture, the less I would pay in frais de notaire, which are in fact mostly taxes, with a tiny fraction being the notaire’s compensation.

I was shocked, when I visited the apartment minutes before the closing, to see a broken tiny refrigerator instead. I was fuming as I entered the meeting to sign. The man, the seller, never budged during the entire meeting. Both notaires tried to explain that the presale contract gave the list of appliances and furniture and it was binding. His answer the entire time was that the contract says a refrigerator and there is one, so the contract is being met. I was told by the notaires that they did not have any coercive power and there was nothing they could do. So, in the end, I gave in and signed, but I am mad as I believe I was the victim of a dishonest person. Could things have turned out differently? What should I have done?

Most people stay away from bus stops. They are known as dreadful places, always found in bad neighborhoods. They cannot be associated with pleasant journeys. Even the worst train stations I have gone through do not have the gloomy lighting and the shaggy feeling one gets when entering a bus stop, getting off a bus, and getting ready to take a bus.I really like the movie Bus Stop; Marilyn Monroe acts using her inside brokenness in a very skillful way. Her character is about broken dreams and severe disillusionment, a woman with a golden heart stuck in a horrid place.

From Wikipedia
Bus Stop is a 1956 American romantic comedy film directed by Joshua Logan for 20th Century Fox, starring Marilyn Monroe, Don Murray, Arthur O’Connell, Betty Field, Eileen Heckart, Robert Bray and Hope Lange.
…it was the first film she appeared in after studying at the Actors Studio in New York. Bus Stop was based on two plays by William Inge, People in the Wind and Bus Stop. The inspiration for the play Bus Stop came from people Inge met in Tonganoxie, Kansas.

Considering how often I got on and off the bus at bus stops, I ended up being able to see past the gloom, which is maybe the cheerful image needed to celebrate Christmas this year. I wonder how many people will manage to celebrate Christmas this year with a cheerful heart, having a wonderful time with family and friends, partying as they always do. Some people in the USA seem to feel like they are sitting in a bus stop without knowing how they jumped off the bus. Others feel as though they are stuck in a bus they have not chosen. This Christmas, I remember the people I met in those buses, in those bus stops, those people I ended caring about because I got to know them quite well. Ultimately my bus stop vision is an allegory about immigrants leaving with the hope of a better future elsewhere and arriving at their destination with cumbersome luggage, and mixed feelings of excitement and fear about their new lives.

I would like to wish you all
A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR
I am looking forward to the year to come, 2017.
Like many, I feel that 2016 was a very hard year and I am eager to let it go.

THE GREYHOUND LESSON
As a French person, I wish to avoid making yet another comment about the results of the latest American presidential election. I heard and read way too many comments, but one in particular caught my attention. It was about not knowing how angry the white working class was.

In 1981, I had just turned 22 and was taking my second trip around the USA. I toured the country exclusively on Greyhound buses. Starting from New York City, I went to Denver, stopped in New Mexico, Arizona, LA, SF and Reno, entered Yosemite Park by way of Nevada and left via the main entrance in California, then went back to SF. After that it was Portland OR, Spokane WA, Cheyenne WY, then a long stretch to Birmingham AL and north to Indianapolis and Notre Dame IN before returning to NYC and then taking a round trip to Vermont.

Basically living off the Greyhound buses taught me the size of the country. I got a physical experience of how big it is, like an imprint on my sore body, riding all those miles. Also, in the summer of 1981 it felt as though the entire American population thought Soviet tanks were in Paris because France had elected a Socialist president a couple of months before with the help of the French Communist Party. So everybody thought I was a political refugee, and the way I was welcomed was quite impressive. This was very different from the current position of America (and most of the Western world!) on how to handle refugees.

What may be more relevant to the recent election is that I met the people who rode the buses, waited in the bus stops, ate in the diners. Being French among them made me an oddity, to put it mildly. We shared hours of discussions, and I learned who they were and, I believe, who they still are. I liked the fact that in the traditional American education system, students from middle school on were expected to work for their spending money. Many would earn the money to pay for their college tuition. So, for several years, they often shared the workplaces of blue-collar workers and got to know them. When they started holding executive positions, they could usually understand the practical consequences of their decisions for the people working for them.

Over the years, however, this practice has disappeared in the USA as tuition has skyrocketed and student loans have become common. Maybe the resulting disconnect between economic classes has affected the evolution of the country. I am sure that 35 years later, members of the white working class rarely live any better than they did then, and probably worse. I believe, and many observers agree, that it is this segment of American population that made the election of Mr. Trump possible.

I feel that I was privileged to have the life-changing experience of that American journey. As a law student in Paris fully financed by my parents, I was going back to a very different life than that of the people I met. This was a summertime trip that lasted three months. In addition to the bus trip, I worked in a port warehouse in Stamford CT doing hard labor, loading and unloading rolls of material on trucks. This is one reason I have the highest respect for the old-fashioned American work ethic. People had to work hard to get where they were, and being an upstanding member in the church and the community was also important.

AN UNUSUAL USE OF A MAID’S ROOM DURING WWII
A reader sends this reminiscence:
“In 1939 my family was living on Blvd Jules Sandeau and my father, fearing the possibility of Paris being bombed, moved us to the south of France. After the debacle and capitulation in 1940 he returned to Paris and moved some of our valuables to the chambre de bonne. After the war when he returned, the apartment was cleaned out but the chambre de bonne was intact. That was a plus for their difficult access. That is another story for these chambres.”

LEAVING FRANCE, CONTROLS AT THE AIRPORT – EU REGULATION
Another reader writes:
“On 2 October, my wife and I left CDG for Minneapolis. At the immigration kiosk I presented our American passports. My wife’s is virgin, as she usually travels to all other countries, other than the US, on her French passport. The immigration officer looked in vain for an entry stamp and asked when she had last entered France. I told him she was a French citizen. He asked for and got her French passport, and that was that – for her passport. He then asked me when I had last entered France. My answer was slow in coming as it had been well over a year. He then asked if I was married to her. I said yes, and that was that for me. (I have a carte de résident.) Lesson: French immigration authorities have joined their EU compatriots in checking Schengen entrance dates.”

RETENUE À LA SOURCE – INCOME TAX WITHHELD BY THE EMPLOYER
I wrote the following section for the July-August 2015 issue. Since then, aside from a few snippets in the media, it seems nobody is talking about this enormous reform to the taxation method except the people who are working on it. If you go to government websites, there is detailed information explaining what is going to happen, but it seems that nobody cares. This will be a radically different way to pay income tax in France. Therefore, I am republishing this July-August 2015 section.

France is one of the last Western countries where income tax is paid by the individual directly and not withheld by the employer. There are many cultural and historical reasons why the French people are reluctant to change this set-up, but all of them combined are not enough to explain why it has not yet been done. There is only one technical reason that withholding tax would be very difficult to set up. It is called the quotient familial. I believe France is the only country that taxes the family as a group rather than individuals.

• This means the amount of tax you owe changes if:
  – You get married,
  – You get divorced,
  – You have a child,
  – The child leaves the home,
  – A family member dies, and/or
  – A family member becomes disabled.

These events occur frequently enough in the course of a lifetime that if France had withholding taxes, such happenings could significantly change the amount withheld. A withholding system works well only if there is just a small discrepancy at the end of the year. This is why the French system prefers to have taxes paid in three installments. The first two, in February and in May, are calculated on the amount owed the year before, and the last one on the amount of taxes owed for the year.

Now, however, the government is determined to have a new withholding system go into effect on January 1st 2018. Neither employers nor employees are very happy with this. Employers do not want an extra task to complicate the French pay slip even more. Employees do not want the change, as it will mean the employer will know much more about their private lives. Employees will be required to inform employers right away of any of the abovementioned changes in their life. The employers will then be obligated to inform the tax office to calculate the new amount owed. Considering the level of distrust that French employees have toward their employers, this could create major difficulties.

It is going to be interesting to see if this measure actually goes through. Most likely it will, but I can see a lot of problems arising from it, and there will be a lot of unhappy people in France before everything settles down.

To ease the transition to the new method, the French administration will start setting up tools in the second quarter of 2017. It will send employers the rate of income tax their employees paid in 2016. On January 1st 2018, employers will start withholding an amount based on that rate, which will be reviewed in September 2018.

I strongly advise anyone who is an employee in France to be extremely attentive in 2017 regarding this reform. If need be, ask your employer how it is handling the change, what tax rate it has for you, and so on. Keep in mind that even though French employers have paid social charges for decades, they are not really equipped to deal with this. It is important to note that the employee, not the administration, will be responsible for telling the employer when to change the rate because of a change in family situation. Culturally speaking, this is not going to be easy.

MORE ON SENDING A TEXT MESSAGE TO PICK UP A CARD AT THE PREFECTURE
The document officially called feuille de mise en salle but often referred as fiche de renseignements changed sometime in November at the Paris Prefecture. In the personal information section, it now states that : “nécessaire pour l’envoi du SMS pour la remise du titre”; that is, translated into English “needed for transmission of the text message advising one to pick up the title” which means the new carte de séjour. I know that the prefecture can change this document again at any time, but the new wording is a clear indication that the French administration considers the system of notification by SMS to be here to stay.

NEW LEGISLATION REGARDING FRENCH IMMIGRATION
On November 3rd I was at the Paris prefecture with clients and there was a traffic jam at the printer-copier. A new regulation to be implemented on November 1st, which is a national holiday in France, was close to 300 pages long. Its printing for this office was taking a long time, keeping the civil servants from doing their job, which includes making a copy of each récépissé issued with the number the applicant is being called by. The civil servant dealing with our request explained that the work done by the entire office on November 2nd had been piled up as they were waiting for guidelines on what to do and which card should be awarded to whom. The upshot is that it is now official: the multiyear cards are now available.

However, the bad news is that the tax linked to the carte de séjour has skyrocketed. Renewal used to cost 110€ because the card is only valid one year; this was less expensive than the initial card or the ten-year carte de résident. Now, just about all cartes de séjour will cost 269€ to renew. The official reason given is that, regardless of how long they are valid, they all cost exactly the same to produce.

There are so many flaws in this logic that I will just review the ones I find the most offensive. The first and most obvious is that it makes a carte de séjour ten times as expensive as a carte de résident. A carte de séjour carries a lot fewer rights, so for the users, who most of the time are poor immigrants, this increase in cost is going to be very onerous.

An underlying principle of the French administration is that a service and the price charged for it are not connected. The idea of le service public is that everyone must have access to a given service offered by the administration and its cost should not be a barrier. But in this case, the population concerned does not vote and does not really have a means of voicing its opposition, so revenue from card renewal is easy money.

Choosing to have all cards priced at the highest level is a political decision that goes against this very basic French principle. Furthermore, the price is way too low if one looks at the cost of just the wages of all the civil servants who have to spend time working on renewal requests. It is way too high if it is just the cost of each card’s actual production that is taken into consideration.

Also, making it financially difficult to obtain the card is a way to increase the number of people who lose their legal right to live in France simply because they lack the means to pay such a large amount in one lump sum (269€ is 16% of the monthly minimum wage in France).

The new legislation also involves intrusion into people’s lives. Previously, the civil servants based their decisions simply on the documents submitted to them. As long as the originals looked authentic, the documents were trusted. There is always a police check before the card is produced, but what the police do in this respect is up to them.

• Now, however, the prefecture has been given direct access to several databases:
  – The état civil, i.e., everything pertaining to the person’s birth, marriage, divorce, children, and so on.
  – Social charges and organizations dealing with people’s employment or profession, i.e., all the information that carries the French Social Security number. Even though this is a lot less information than for the American counterpart, it is still a lot!
  – All programs linked to social services, whether through the Caisse d’allocations familiales (CAF) or the Caisses primaires d’assurance maladie (CPAM).
  – All records from schools and universities, including children’s report cards, as well as school-based extracurricular activities.
  – All utilities contracts, including internet access and both fixed-line and mobile phones, going back five years.
  – All bank statements going back two years.

This will definitely eliminate fake originals and related cheating. It will also put a lot of people in a delicate situation if their life is a tad messier than the paperwork in their dossier shows.

The only good news that I can see in this is that now some types of cards can last for more than one year. This is especially true for employee (salarié) and private life (vie privée et familiale) cards, since student cards have been multiyear for a while. People holding visiteur cards will continue to renew yearly.

For more information (in French), see :  www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2016/11/03/loi-sur-les-droits-des-etrangers-les-decrets-enterinent-des-reculs_5024888_4355770.html

APPOINTMENTS MADE BY THE CRE IN PARIS ARE VERY EARLY
There is a new situation that only affects a few people but provides a good illustration of what happens when one division of the French administration does not care at all what other divisions require. The result is that applicants are caught in the middle and have to handle an impossible situation.

It is possible to immigrate to France with a visa for self-employed professionals. When the procedure happens in Paris, the first step is to go to the Centre de réception des étrangers (CRE) to get an appointment for the Cité prefecture and a récépissé. This serves as a French ID (which the visa is not) and enables the applicant to register with URSSAF, the Maison des Artistes or AGESSA, which in turn process registration for all related agencies.

It used to be that the prefecture appointment was scheduled about two months later, sometimes more. This was great because four offices must respond in due time in order to make the file complete for the appointment. In short, once registered, the foreigner had time to start working, get all the necessary documents and be ready for the appointment without too much hassle.

At the beginning of this year, however, the period was shortened to about six weeks. That was the bare minimum possible, and it meant the statement of health coverage was never ready on time to be sent and needed to be picked up. But for one of the last cases I submitted at the Cité prefecture, the appointment was one month to the day after the CRE visit: from October 14th to November 14th. The agencies involved are going slower, too: even though the client picked up the statement from RSI regarding health coverage on November 13th, it stated that the request was in process. The next appointment is at the end of March 2017.

The situation became even worse with a new client, when I went to the CRE on November 17th to start this same procedure and the latest appointment we could get was December 1st. This person was not even allowed to get a récépissé because, we were told, the visa, which lasts three months, would be still valid and therefore it was impossible to issue one. There was no point in going to URSSAF without it. Thus the meeting at the Cité prefecture that is supposed to finalize the procedure now will start it. I tried everything I could think of to get the civil servants to understand. Even without my asking to see the manager of the CRE, he kindly came out of his office and said he was sorry but that the software blocked the issuance of the récépissé.

Some people might be happy to have appointments so quickly, and I would share this feeling if applicants really benefited from this and could be done dealing with the prefecture sooner, which I admit is quite an appealing prospect. But as the above description shows, the actual result is that it stretches out the process by many months, which makes it completely counterproductive.

A similar topic, which I need to address in the next issue (for February 2017), is the fact that people with universal health coverage (CMU), now called universal health protection (PUMa), have not paid any premiums for an entire year. The people in charge explain that the situation will be fixed in 2017, probably in the first half of the year. The problem is that foreigners holding the carte de séjour visiteur must show that they pay for their coverage, which proves that they are not destitute. The prefecture refuses to renew the carte de séjour without this proof.

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.

OFFICE CLOSED FOR CHRISTMAS
The office will close for three weeks for the Christmas holidays, starting on Friday December 16th, reopening on Monday January 9th. 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 any vacation time last summer, so now that I am settled in the new office with my new corporation, 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.

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

Best regards,

QUESTION

RENEWING THE CARTE DE RÉSIDENT

My 10-year card came to its expiration date at the end of October. Knowing this I recently called and obtained a renewal appointment in August. I did get the official document in the mail but I was wondering if it is still legal for me to work here while waiting. So I called a second time and was told to go to the CRE in the 17th district to get a récépissé. The agent had told me I needed all kinds of docs – like phone/gas bills, copies of my passport and current resident card, etc. – but when I got there, the only thing needed was my convocation and a PHOTO (the photo was the only thing the agent did NOT mention on the phone). Fortunately, there is a Photomaton on the ground floor AND a change machine.. So I was in and out in about 10 minutes – a miracle. If I understand correctly, I’m now still “legal” up through my convocation date. I hope this will work for traveling as well because I must make a trip to England in the near future. Neither of these two documents feel like they are proper ID, and I do not trust the prefecture.

QUESTION

HOW TO OBTAIN A CARTE DE SÉJOUR AS A SELF-EMPLOYED PERSON

All by myself, I got a self-employed immigration visa from the French consulate in Chicago. I showed them what I do as a branding consultant specialized in the fashion industry, and got references from the couple of businesses in France interested in what I do. I am planning my arrival in Paris but I cannot find any information that makes sense regarding the steps I should take to secure my right to work and live in France. On the bottom of the visa is “carte de séjour à solliciter dans les deux mois suivant l’arrivée”, which I understand means that I must ask for my immigration ID within two months after I arrive. The consulate did not give me any other information other than to contact the prefecture. I tried and get no answer by email and once I got someone on the phone and did not at all understand the explanation. Can you tell me where and when should I go?

“Riders on the Storm” is a song by The Doors from their 1971 album, L.A. Woman. Foreigners living in a new country often feel as though the waves are pushing them in a different direction from where they would like to go.

For such a short issue, the October 2016 installment triggered many more responses than I had expected, mainly about living conditions in Paris but also about banking in France. Therefore, I have decided to use several of them to show the diversity of the responses I got – especially the ones dealing with maids’ rooms. I get the feeling people living in them are feeling the crunch; even though they are not complaining about it, and are happy to have found a home, one can read between the lines how hard their lives in Paris are.

I am happy to be able to let their voices be heard, and I thank them for sending their reactions to me.

GETTING FINED IN SWITZERLAND FOR OVERSTAYING IN THE EU
A reader writes:
“In 2013, I was leaving France, on my way to Tel Aviv, having stayed 20 days beyond the 90 days allowed me as a tourist. I had a scheduled stop in Switzerland, where I was sent to the immigration office to be questioned about the reason for my overstaying in Europe; then I was fined 350 euros. Good thing I had a valid credit card! There was also a lengthy talk concerning the seriousness of my offense, which was way before the recent terrorist attacks in the EU; I can’t imagine what it would cost me now.”
MY ANSWER
I have been stating for years that many European countries issue fines to non-Europeans overstaying in the EU. This policy was being implemented gradually until the most recent terrorist attacks, but since then its evolution has been swift throughout the EU. Anyone planning on traveling extensively in Europe without an immigration status is bound to be fined or worse. One client with a spouse and daughter has a carte de séjour visiteur. Since they are Americans and travel a lot, they chose France for their residency because, after doing considerable homework, they concluded that the process of getting immigration status was easier in France than anywhere else in the EU. This says a lot about the laws and procedures in the other EU countries.

THE PARIS PREFECTURE HAS MADE PICKING UP CARDS A LOT MORE DIFFICULT
The Paris prefecture has changed its procedure for delivering the plastic carte de séjour ID card. It used to be possible to pick it up any time during the two months starting from the date specified on the notification letter. Some of my American clients were able to pick it up at or near the expiration date of the card itself. This leeway was very useful.

About two months ago, the prefecture changed its procedure. It now sends a text message giving an appointment about two to three weeks later. That appointment is a window of about two hours on the date the card will be ready. Clearly the system is not working well, however, since the card sometimes is not there or cannot be picked up at the designated appointment time.

Therefore I asked if it was possible to come at another time: would the prefecture send another text message? Can the foreigner show up anytime? For the moment, no new appointment is made but the card can be picked up any day starting at 2PM. However, I also learned that the system will eventually evolve into very strict observance of the following procedure: If the foreigner cannot make the initial appointment, the prefecture will send a second message for an appointment three months later. If that appointment is missed, the card will be destroyed.

Implementation of a new policy takes a long time, and often changes are made during that time. In any case, it is obvious that this text message policy is here to stay and the prefecture wants much better control, making sure that people who hold the carte de séjour actually live in France.

The immediate consequence is that foreigners living in France must plan trips and vacations accordingly. There are two ways of dealing with this new rule. The first one is to make sure you are back in France no later than one month after your appointment to request the renewal of your card at the prefecture. If you are planning a long absence from France, do not leave until you pick up the card, which means scheduling your departure at least two months after the said appointment at the prefecture. It is clear that this will have an impact on when and how you book your appointment, especially around Christmas time, summer vacation and other prime travel seasons.

For example, if the card expires on Dec 5th and you plan on spending Christmas in the USA and returning to France on January 15th, I can see two possible solutions:

With the first scenario, the first thing to do is to secure an appointment at the prefecture to ask for the renewal of the carte de séjour as close as possible to Dec 15th or your departure date. That makes it very likely that you will receive the text message at about the time of your return flight, making it possible for you to pick up the card. If you have the appointment before the expiration date, you run a risk of missing the meeting to pick up the card unless you shorten your trip.

The alternative is to wait until Dec 1st or thereabouts to book the renewal appointment, which could be as late as four months later, April 1st. This would then mean getting a récépissé before the card expires. It should last at least three months and cover the entire Christmas vacation. The latter solution may seem a lot more daring, as it pushes back the appointment, but it could be safer, since it allows one to renew and pick up the card without any worries regarding the vacation.

This situation puts a huge twist in the titre de séjour renewal and should not be taken lightly. Indeed, missing the first appointment could mean coming back to France or the Schengen area without a valid immigration document, and we now know the consequences can be very serious, even when returning to France, though it seems France remains more lenient than many other European countries.

I will make sure to keep my readers informed as the situation evolves. I recently had to redo my French passport and French national ID card, and both times I received a text message. It appears this method is here to stay. Some of my clients who do not have a French cellular phone have given my number so they would be informed. The system assumes that everybody has such a phone, which is not true. So it creates a new insecurity in this procedure for people who are already in precarious situations. I hope that the text message system for the carte de séjour becomes as reliable as the one for the French ID documents. I also hope the system for retrieving the card remains reasonable, even though unfortunately this does not seem to be the case right now.

NEW COMMENTS ABOUT DEPOSITING CASH IN A FRENCH BANK ACCOUNT
A reader writes:
“A short note to let you know I have had the same experience … regarding cash deposits. My bank, HSBC, Auteuil branch, accepted cash deposits until July 2016. Then they completely refurbished the place, and now there is an automatic teller where cash has to be deposited. To activate it, you need to use your bank card.

“Same situation at Banque Palatine (where I have my professional account and where I need to be able to deposit cash). My branch at Auteuil never accepted cash, so I used to go to Doumer branch to deposit cash. Now they do not accept cash anymore. Banque Palatine has what they call a mur d’argent at the Matignon branch where you need to use your bank card to do the transaction.

“It’s becoming more and more difficult to make cash deposits. My bank understands that the cash deposits are related to my work, but they do not accept cash in my branch. So I have to take an hour of my time to go to the branch that accepts cash.”

Now I understand better why there is a need for a bank card to deposit cash. Each bank is different! Also, I see a trend of French banks closing branches in Paris as well as reducing the services offered by leaving fewer machines on the premises. The idea behind this is that clients increasingly being urged OR encouraged to bank by internet.

ANOTHER COMMENT ABOUT FRENCH BANKS
On this topic, another reader says:
“I have been spending three summer months a year in France for a while now, and I have often withdrawn $3,000 in euros from an ATM in France only to deposit it in the French bank account, using the same ATM, for living expenses. Other friends of mine have done the same thing. I guess that is now out the door.

“I have been declaring my French account on my US tax declaration, since my balance exceeded $10,000 during the 2015 year. I have been wiring multiple $10,000 sums at exchange rates of 1.12, 1.10 and last at 1.08. I am now set for my expenses here, including all automatic payments for taxe d’habitation and the like. Never has anyone questioned the wires at either end.

“Back to the Carte Bleue. As expected, I had to file US tax form W9 supplying the BNP with my tax ID (SS#) last year. But this year my life partner’s Carte Bleue expired? Was canceled?. The bank demanded she stop at the branch and fill out a W9 form before they would give her a replacement card. I was very surprised and told them so, given that she is NOT on the account but is simply an authorized user. I lost the argument and we did as they requested despite not thinking it proper.”

MY ANSWER
I have had an American social security number since I was 21, so the IRS demanded that I sign the US W9 tax form, stating that I was not an American. Since I did it right away, there were no negative consequences regarding the services offered by the bank.

The wire transfers are probably accepted since they come every month at about the same time and therefore it looks like you are moving money to pay your bills. The pattern that is a red flag is several wire transfers of about 1,000 euros from a foreign source, made daily or thereabouts, which clearly indicate that someone wants to receive a larger sum of money while bypassing the declaration both sides are asking for.

COMMENTS ABOUT LIVING IN THE MAID’S ROOM ON THE LAST FLOOR
1st comment
“I had a friend who lived in a tiny maid’s room on the 6th floor. She paid a lot because she had a beautiful view and was in Paris. I once went to Rue Saint Dominique where an old lady was renting a similar room. You had access to her house for laundry but the room was your home. It is true such rooms are small and sometimes ridiculously priced but people still rent them because the other apartments are too expensive.”
My answer
I find it interesting that people are still offering services such as laundry in their homes, allowing tenants to come in and out of their apartment. As for the general idea that the steep rents are just a result of supply and demand, this is absolutely true. As long as people agree to pay exorbitant amounts for unsafe lodgings, there is not much that can be done to stop it.

2nd comment
“Your last issue reminded me of the numerous moves of my office when I was a lawyer in Paris. Once I had my archives on the 6th floor without an elevator in a maid’s room in the 16th and my secretary refused to help as it was not part of her job description!”
My answer
That is an interesting use of a maid’s room, especially the type that is totally unsuited for living in according to today’s regulations. I am not surprised by your employee’s reaction, although I would have thought that carrying files is part of her job description. Still, she is not supposed to work as a mover. There is a fine line here.

3rd comment
“For a few months, I lived on the 8th and last floor of a building in Place des Ternes. Several chambres de bonne made quite a spacious apartment with a large bathroom equipped with a bathtub and a washing machine. But the tiny spiral staircase was so narrow and the steps too small; I had to tiptoe going up, and coming down was scary as the steps could not accommodate the foot of an adult. One more thing: you get dizzy going up or down this stuffy spiral stairway to hell.”
My answer
This comment is a good illustration of the extreme situations Parisian real estate can present. Given the location and size, the rent must have been quite high, even with the serious drawback that those stairs represented. If ever the demand for Paris rentals significantly decreases, this type of apartment will be the first to take the hit, as its level of comfort is totally out of line with the route one must take to get to it.

4th comment
“A sad part of Paris history – the maid’s room – barely a space to navigate and reminding one of class differentials – not a morale boost. Lucille writes beautifully and [her words are] touching.”
My answer
Baron Haussmann (b. March 27, 1809, d. January 11, 1891), as the préfet de Paris from June 23, 1853, to January 5, 1870, largely designed the Paris we know today. This drastic reshaping occurred during the second half of the 19th century, and therefore it is no surprise that class differences are reflected in the design of the buildings erected then; this occurred into the 20th century. The buildings are a product of their time, and as such, there is nothing sad about them. But the living conditions of their residents, then as now, are too often a sad story.

5th comment
“I love that your daughter, Lucille, helps you with the titles of your columns and sometimes the topics. Also, I really enjoyed her story about her friend’s maid’s quarters or chambre de bonne. Of course, I live in such a room. It is so small I have to go outside to change my mind.  But each time I climb the 117 stairs, I thank my lucky stars that I have a room here in Paris, dark or otherwise, and shelter from the cold nights. But, really, it is so good of you and Lucille to care about so many of us, especially those who are financially ???? challenged. Thank you!”

My answer
Thank you for your testimony. I like to hear from people who live in chambres de bonne as they are permanent homes for them. You do not see maids’ rooms the same way. You are happy that they exist and you put up with everything so you can live in Paris, often in the same neighborhood as your employers.

6th comment
“I find your previous issue about the maids’ rooms and the service staircase misleading and offensive. My experience is that the worst violations do not always happen on the last floor where the maids’ rooms are, even when the only access is the gloomiest staircase. Those rooms are small and often have inadequate comfort, but I did finally find peace and safety in one of them. Holding a real lease and having the utilities in my name makes me safe in my home. The room is for sure tiny but it is my kingdom, I am alone and I know that I am safe. “Here are just a few things that happened to me and caused me to feel this way. I had just arrived in France and was living in my employer’s home. Shortly after arriving in France, I found out that I had a serious medical condition and I needed surgery, which required a three-weeks convalescence. When my employer learned that, she told me that I would lose my ‘home’ and my job if I underwent this surgery. The lavish luxury of the place that I also enjoyed did not change the fact that it was a place of death. “When I was discharged from the hospital, I shared a tiny room on the third floor of a residential building in Paris during my recovery. It was the size of a maid’s room. The kitchen was installed underneath a bunkbed, which was almost at the level of the ceiling. There was no available space, just a tiny path. “A few years later, I got a maid’s room in the 16th. I was told I would sign a lease, but I was left instead with a very short note. When I tried to get the electrical meter in my name, I discovered that I was renting from a crook. No electricity had been paid for seven years on that meter. With some help and good guidance, I was able to work with EDF to clear up the situation, since they found the owner responsible. That same day, I received death threats from people banging on my door in the middle of night. The gardienne was extremely angry at me, advised me daily to move out if I wanted to stay out of trouble, and said I should fear for my life. With some good support, I held fast and one day the crook and the threats disappeared completely. “So today I savor the peace and safety I get from being home. Do not speak negatively about those maids’ rooms. They are our homes, and we have come a long way when we can rent by ourselves rooms that comply with the regulations and are put up for rent by law-abiding landlords. You should talk about the awful people who make our life pure hell. The buildings are not the problem, and climbing six flights of stairs is a small price to pay to be safe and have enough space around the bed to move around and feel free. I hope that you get the message.”
MY ANSWER
What can I say? I totally agree with you that the living condition of maids’ rooms might be harsh but that is nothing compared to what you went through, which was a nightmare. Too often you must deal with unscrupulous people for work and for lodging, and if you are an undocumented alien, it is even worse since they know you have hardly any ways to fight for your rights. I agree that, in the grand scheme of things, “the buildings are not the problem.”

OFFICE CLOSED FOR CHRISTMAS
The office will close for three weeks for the Christmas holidays, starting on Friday December 16th, reopening on Monday January 9th. 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 any vacation time last summer, so now that I am settled in the new office with my new corporation, 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

BUYING REAL ESTATE IN FRANCE: THE FLAW MIGHT NOT BE WHERE YOU ARE LOOKING

After living more than a decade in Paris, my husband and I chose to move to the countryside in the southwest of France. After several months of searching we found a wonderful old farm with several buildings, at least two of which are well equipped and easy for us to move into. During what was supposed to be our last trip there, before we made the offer, we had a huge setback. We discovered that a windmill farm is to be installed within a mile of the house. Of course, no one told us about it, and when we asked the real estate agent and the seller about it, they completely denied that this project existed, saying that it had been abandoned a very long time ago. But after further research, we found out that there is a small section of the property that the seller did not put on the market, which corresponds to the location where some of the windmills would be. This is highly suspicious. Now the real estate agent is threatening us, saying we must go on with the sale since during one of our last visits we reached an agreement on the price of the purchase. We refuse to buy in those conditions and they refuse to listen to us. Can they really force the sale on us? I refuse to be the victim of crooks.

QUESTION

EMPLOYEE CARTE DE SEJOUR RENEWAL WHEN ONE IS UNEMPLOYED

After having been a student in France I managed to obtain the employee carte de séjour with a one-year labor contract. I am not sure if the prefecture did it on purpose, but the card expires the very day my contract ends. This creates an absolutely impossible situation, since I do not see how I can renew my card as I am really not sure that I will be employed with a new contract the day of the appointment. I am seriously afraid that I will lose my residency for a very stupid reason. This is totally unfair. Do you have a solution?

Stephen Stills wrote the song “Find the Cost of Freedom ” , which is the last song of the live album 4 way Street by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young released on April 7, 1971.

My son Eric as a pre-teen played this album for about a year after hearing it once when I was playing it. More than 40 years after its release, the album still has a significant impact on people, and managed to outlive the hippie movement, of which this band and its individual artists were perceived as spokesmen.

The question of how much people are willing to give up to be free – which in this context means unattached to possessions and outside of a system – is a very interesting one, which was critical at the time and still resonates today. Today, for over a decade, the question has also shifted to how much people are willing to give up to be worry-free, which is another form of feeling free.

I find it very interesting that the pursuit of freedom in terms of being detached from society and the desire to be worry-free, which makes people even more entrenched in society, are by nature very often completely incompatible goals.

I have no intention of pursuing this analysis, as it is not my area of expertise, but I find interesting that in recent months there has been legislation in France (originating at the EU level) that increased the right to choose, i.e., the freedom to decide, about more than one topic. The choice of which laws apply to one’s estate, the freedom to travel in and around Paris in public transport and the freedom to marry are some of the examples I chose as topics for this month’s issue.

At the same time, laws lowering the maximum one can pay in cash, and maintaining the monopoly of notaireson several critical aspects of people’s lives such as buying real estate, signing a prenuptial agreement or handling one’s estate, are ways of limiting people’s freedom and the promise of ever gaining or maintaining a worry-free state.

These are tiny illustrations, coming when both France and the USA are pretty much in a presidential electoral campaign, with an ongoing debate on how much right of surveillance the state should have to protect its people.

It is all about finding the cost of freedom.

MORE DETAILS ON NEW REGULATIONS FOR INTERNATIONAL ESTATES
In the September 2015 issue, I mentioned that as of August 17th 2015, the handling of estates would now be governed, by default, by the laws of the country of residence of the testator, including real estate owned in other countries.

Another aspect of this new regulation is just about as striking, from my point of view, as many of my readers have said in the past that this issue is even more important to them. The fact that one chooses, by writing a will, which law should apply to one’s estate – the law of nationality or that of residence – is indeed a major change. I believe it will be an especially radical change for French notaires, who will have to deal with estates located abroad if a French citizen living in the USA makes this choice. One last comment: it is often assumed that Britons and Americans always resent the Napoleonic rule that children cannot be disinherited and come first as legatees, but many of my clients, including Americans, are fine with this, especially when they realize the surviving spouse can easily get a life interest in the entire estate.

I will continue this topic in future issues, as some illustration is needed to show the consequences of those two changes.

THE RIGOROUS JOB DESCRIPTION OF THE NOTAIRE
The position of notaire is an odd French institution, which grants a lot of security in, among other things, real estate transactions. The notaire in France has three roles:

Here are some notable examples of the types of leave of absence granted in France:

Official supervisor. This is linked to the special status of real estate in France. Sales must be handled by a person representing France. The duty of the notaire is to guarantee that the sale is in the best interest of all the parties involved, including the state. The buyer should receive all necessary documents, including a guaranteed title, and acquire a property free of financial liability (libéré de toute hypothèque).

Tax collector. The so-called frais de notaire are for the most part taxes that the notaire collects and pays on behalf of the buyer.

• Private adviser. As a professional, the notaire establishes a personal relationship with his client and can be a normal legal adviser, either paid by a standard fee or according to a fee schedule. This, however, is the least important of the notaire’s roles.

A decision of the French Supreme Court (Cour de Cassation) on February 4th illustrates the extent of the first role: securing the buyer’s rights to a perfect title.

In the case in question, renovations had been done in an apartment, and the notairechecked that all necessary authorizations had been requested and obtained. But a document from the management company or syndic raised questions as to whether the work completely complied with the authorizations. The court decided that the duty of the notaireis to leave no stone unturned, and to guarantee, as much as possible, a perfect title. In this case, the work had affected a common area, damaging it.

More recently, I witnessed another illustration of the extent of this role of the notaire. An American bought a Parisian apartment where the gardienne, a type of concierge for the building, is suing the condominium association over a labor regulation and is seeking a sizable amount of money. The notairecalculated how much it would cost the new owner should the court rule in favor of the gardienne.

The parties agreed at the time of the signing of the initial pre-sale contract (promesse de vente) that the chances of the woman winning the case were very slim. Nevertheless, the notaire’s duty was to inform the buyer of this financial risk before any engagement was made, and obtain the buyer’s approval of this situation that did not affect the decision to buy.

In such situations, I find, French notaires are very reassuring when they do their job at its best. They must dig up whatever information they can regarding any potential liability linked to the property.

http://sosconso.blog.lemonde.fr/2015/05/19/quand-le-notaire-permet-la-vente-dune-terrasse-illegale/ La Cour de cassation, qui statue le 4 février, 2015.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT NOW COSTS THE SAME EVERYWHERE IN THE ILE DE FRANCE REGION
I would like to review a few aspects of the history of public transport in the greater Paris metropolitan area to explain why the change that took effect on September 1st 2015 was so radical in the way it affected pricing and the way the public transport is used.

The transport system introduced the Carte Orange (orange card) in 1975 to simplify usage, mainly of suburban trains. The price of the weekly, monthly or yearly pass depended on how many of the five zones existent at that time were traveled through, (from 1991 to 2007, there were 8 zones.) The Paris Métro system is almost completely within zones 1 and 2, which correspond to how far one can go with a normal metro ticket.

Keep in mind that French employees receive a reimbursement from the employer for half the cost of this pass, since it is considered to be the cost of going to work. Many employers pay the full cost of the pass and deduct half of it on the pay slip.

The card stayed pretty much the same until the Navigo pass was introduced in 2005. The new pass was read electronically instead of requiring a ticket to be inserted in a turnstyle.

The prices of both Navigo passes and individual tickets increased regularly, but the logic of the pricing system was not changed until this year. There has been political debate on the issue for a long time. Conservatives want the amount paid by the user to be as close as possible to the actual cost – within limits, since that also increases employers- costs. The left wants to maintain the system or improve it to help users. The idea of uniform pricing had come up regularly. An initial step was taken in September 2012, when holders of monthly and yearly passes got the right to travel to any zone in the system on weekends and during school vacations.

Many reasons have been put forward for the latest modification. In my opinion, making public transport more attractive is one way to fight car traffic in a very densely populated region (the 12 million people of the Ile de France make up 18.2% of the French population). It is also a popular change, as those who travel the farthest are paying less for their commute.

It is now mostly zone 1 and 2 travelers who pay more. The uniform price is currently 70 euros a month for the annual pass.

In my view the true issue is that the infrastructure is badly aging and the volume of people traveling makes it extremely difficult to carry out major repairs and maintenance. It is only recently that I have seen sections of the metro lines inside Paris closed for weeks for repairs. I am astounded by the frequency of failures in the system -problems with individual metro cars, signaling and so on – compared to what I remember from my youth. While in the bigger picture such incidents are small  one loses time, but there are hardly ever any significant accidents  they can make it very difficult to get to work on time if one uses, for example, the RER. And it is expected that the 2016 budget will be reduced by 485 million euros.

I know that this position is not popular but I would have preferred an increase in the budget so more repairs and renovation could be done. For now, though, I admit that I do enjoy the new set-up.

www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2015/09/01/ile-de-france-les-gagnants-et-les-perdants-du-passe-navigo-a-tarif-unique_4741939_4355770.html#igzZb0hS01JUw3O4.99

EVEN MORE RESTRICTIONS ON CASH PAYMENTS IN FRANCE
Paying in cash, depositing cash or even cashing a check is between suspicious and illegal in France. This is quite a contrast with the USA, where retail business relies a lot more on cash transactions. In addition, the acquisition of debt is discouraged. It was a political decision in France to push the use of debit cards; France has hardly any credit card companies as defined in the USA. Debit cards in France are issued by banks, and are linked to a bank account. Non-bank lenders such as COFINOGA and CETELEM do issue cards that allow access to a line of credit, but even there the latest regulations limit how much a client can charge on these cards, as well as the amount a client can borrow money when taking out a loan.

Thus it is now a lot more difficult to multiply the use of credit cards and to take out loans. Furthermore, most payments must be made into a bank account: that is the only way to receive one’s salary, subsidies from the Caisse d’Allocations Familiales, health care reimbursements, tax reimbursements and so on. Increasingly, payments out must also be wired directly from a bank account, including notably almost all utilities (electricity, gas, Internet, phone).

The latest development is that since September 1st it has been illegal to pay cash for purchases exceeding 1,000 euros; the previous limit was 3,000 euros. This includes transactions between professionals. For non-residents, notably tourists, the limit went down from 15,000 euros to 10,000 euros. Thus the new regulation promotes paying by check or debit card. Already, half of all transactions in France were with debit cards (49.5%, to be precise). Today the average amount of cash transactions is 24.30 euros, which illustrates how widespread the other means of payments are.

Starting on January 1st 2016, one must show ID to change more than 1,000 euros to a foreign currency. Also from that day, French banks will have to report to Tracfin (the French finance and budget ministries anti-money laundering unit) any account with cash deposits or withdrawals exceeding 10,000 euros. This should trigger an investigation of the client by Tracfin inspectors and most likely after that the tax inspector.

One last thing: foreigners, especially Americans, tend to be surprised at how common paying with a check is in France, including in grocery stores, restaurants and shops, even though the merchants are often lukewarm about accepting them since there is no assurance that they will not bounce. This form of payment is a lot more common in France than in the USA.

www.lemonde.fr/argent/article/2015/08/31/paiement-en-liquide-les-regles-changent_4741375_1657007.html#z2Mb1djUsRHrvjLH.99

FAKE MARRIAGE AND BEING MARRIED UNDER FALSE PRETENSES
I have always been interested in the dynamic of couples where the spouses are of different nationalities. Sometimes there is an age difference, often exceeding twenty years  in some cases it is an aging husband, in others the wife is older. One spouse may have significant means and the other be a penniless refugee without any legal immigration status. We could list other examples as well, although I know that such things do not just happen with international couples but can characterize couples who live in the same country or even the same city.

What interests me particularly is the sincerity of the love an undocumented alien has for a national when they get married.

The definition of a fake marriage (in French, a mariage blanc) is that both spouses knowingly get married for the sole purpose of obtaining immigration status for one of them, often with a financial payment to the national spouse. This is criminal in France and the USA.

About five years ago, some far right French politicians wanted to criminalize what they call grey marriage(mariage gris) in which one spouse was getting married for the sole purpose of obtaining immigration status while the other was sincerely in love and absolutely certain that this love was shared by the other. This attempt was short lived, as it appeared virtually impossible to prove criminal intent at the time of the wedding in most instances.

My observation, after working so many years with undocumented aliens, is that for many of them, obtaining legal status appears for years to be an unattainable goal. So when someone is kind and attentive to their situation and shows love and care for them, they are often totally overwhelmed with gratitude and have an outburst of love. From that, it does not take much to turn this into a love affair and then a stable romantic relationship, which in turn leads them to get married.

After a few months or a few years, when the couple has settled down and the immigration issue is fully solved, the foreign spouse may start to see the marriage and the other spouse very differently. Or other issues can come up, such as an age difference, difficulty in having children, and so on. As with all couples, when caught in such a dynamic of disillusion, the relationship may end in divorce.

The question I have always wrestled with is where to draw the line between foreigners who genuinely fall in love, even if influenced by the effects of a long quest for legal status, and those who all along are fooling the other person (and sometimes themselves) into showing love and getting married?

I assume that very few of them plan the entire thing and act as predators catching their prey. The article I give the link to clearly describes that. From my position as an outsider, the ones I have met and helped seemed to have genuine feelings for each other (although keep in mind what I describe above).

French law states that if the foreigner obtains immigration status exclusively through marriage and the couple does not stay together at least three years, this foreigner automatically loses the right to stay in France. As the article notes, this law takes care of at least the most blatant cases.

It leaves unanswered this question: what is the chemistry of love made of? This question has existed since the origin of humankind!

http://leplus.nouvelobs.com/contribution/1398345-j-ai-ete-victime-d-un-mariage-gris-il-voulait-juste-des-papiers-moi-je-l-aime-encore.html

Best regards,

QUESTION

CARTE DE RESIDENT HOLDER MARRIES A NON-FRENCH RESIDENT

I am an American expat in France who has been living and working in Paris for over fourteen years and I hold a carte de résident de long durée. I have also been a fan of your newsletter for many years and read it religiously although I have never had cause to contact you until now. My situation is complex. Last month I married a Czech woman who is a legal resident of Austria. We divide our time between Vienna and Paris and I maintain my legal residence in France. We are also expecting a baby girl later this year. The baby will be born in Austria and for the first year or so she will live there, although we do plan to move back to Paris in 2017. I will maintain my resident status in France as well as my apartment in Paris, which I own. My question is: Who in the French administration am I obliged to inform about my marriage and the birth of my child? Being a long-term resident here I know that there must be someone I have to inform of my changed status, but I have no idea who that would be.

QUESTION

WORKING IN FRANCE AS AN ENGLISH TEACHER

I am an American living in the USA and I would like to teach English at a French university. I currently teach English at the university level for foreign students who study business. I have been told that it is close to impossible to do this, but can you please help me?

Through the Looking-Glass is a novel written by Lewis Carroll in 1871. It is the sequel to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.The book starts with Alice sliding behind the mirror on top of the mantle and seeing what is happening around her from a completely different angle.

Both of Lewis Carroll’s books take place in a fantasyland. Settling in a foreign country very often gives the impression of landing in a place where the rule of a crazy, vicious queen creates complete chaos.

In 1980, I spent a week at the University of Notre Dame, on my first trip to the USA. I attended an English literature class, where I studied these two books. This trip was also where I first experienced culture shock as a young French adult. Most of the topics addressed in this issue deal with the impression that the French administration is either condescending or erratic and confusing.

IN FRANCE, FOREIGNERS EARN THEIR RIGHTS THE HARD WAY
A reader writes, quoting the April 2015 issue: -No one is born French; one learns to be French by sharing the values that France stands for.-
“He is not referring to the ability to hold a French passport, but his vision of what the ideal French nation should look like. Understanding what he means would help foreigners feel much better about handling the required paperwork!”
She continues:
-This reminds me of my naturalization at the French Consulate of San Francisco with my French husband in 1997. My husband made an offhand comment about French citizenship being my right, and was promptly reproved by the consular official: “Ah, non, Monsieur! être français n’est pas un droit, c’est un privilège!

-I have always felt privileged to be a French citizen and the paperwork was all worth it. Got a nice welcome letter from M. Chirac as well, welcoming me to the French nation. 

MY ANSWER
Indeed, the French administration makes sure you feel that you are granted French citizenship – or any other immigration status as a foreigner, for that matter – because they have decided to do so and not because you have a right to obtain it, even though you know you fully comply with the requirements. In those days, the naturalization process was pretty automatic, but this never deterred the administration from making you feel like you got it by the seat of your pants.

Today the issue is really different. The current prime minister was born not French but Spanish, and was naturalized when he was 20. Therefore his vision derives from that, and just being born French is not enough. In his mind what makes you French is the fact you know and respect the legacy of centuries of French history. He expects French people to respect and therefore endorse what France stands for. Thus he goes far beyond what was commonly said before. Of course, he has to, because the far right is attacking him for not being French enough.

I will be interested to see how far he goes in politics, since for the first time that I can remember, a member of the French government who is associated with the left has proclaimed how truly proud he is to be French. Since he was not born French, his message is much more authentic than such a message generally is.

RENEWAL OF THE CARTE DE RÉSIDENT SHOULD BE AUTOMATIC
Another reader writes:
-I finally went through the 3rd or 4th renewal of my carte de résident with the Parisian préfecture after nearly a year of procedure started in March 2014 by submitting the application in the mail. I got the card, after lots of anxiety and correspondence, in early March this year, 2015. The expiration of the card was in July 2014.

-It was quite a slog but I hope this is the last one, as I do not want to be around as a late ninety-year-old man or, heaven forbid, a centenarian after this card expires.

MY ANSWER
Here is a perfect example of the difference between what the law says and what happens at the préfecture.The law on this topic has not changed for decades; renewal of the carte de résident is automatic, except in three cases:

• – 1. The applicant has served a criminal sentence.
• – 2. He/she poses a threat to national security as a terrorist.
• – 3. The applicant has been resident elsewhere for over three years.

If you do not fit one of those situations then you know for sure that the card will be renewed. That is the legal position.

I recently accompanied a client to the central office of the Paris préfecture because her carte de résidentwas being renewed. I was able to get some explanation of the current situation from the civil servant we saw. This person said that the office in charge of this task had been reorganized and new management appointed. As a result, within a few months it got totally disorganized, to the point that what usually took three to four months quickly went to six, then to a year. According to this civil servant, there is no way of knowing when it will be back to normal. So this service is not answering the phone or replying to emails. Although there is a cTake-A-Number ticket dispenser on site, taking a number in order to see one of the préfecture employees does not mean one will automatically be served, as this machine is either for the use of people who already have appointments or who are applying for other immigration papers that do not necessitate an appointment. With some persuasion, we managed to start the conversation and be reassured as to where the récépissé was issued, i.e., at one of the Centres de Réception des Etrangers. (C.R.E.). It is unwise to stay in France with expired papers for several months, even for Americans.

All I can say in response to the rest of your comment is that we can only hope the current problem will have been fixed ten years from now!

THE HARSHEST IMMIGRATION LAW WAS ENFORCED BETWEEN 1993 AND 1997
-Something strange happened to us too, still another reader writes on this topic. We applied as a family for French citizenship because my former husband wanted to.

-We were at the final step when the Minister of Interior, Mr. Charles Pasqua, declared zero immigration and this very tough law was approved. An elusive letter said they were not actually refusing us but we should wait and start all over again in three years!

Well, I said a few chosen words and threw all the paperwork in the garbage, feeling that I did not really need citizenship to carry on my life in France.

MY ANSWER
This must have happened exactly as it happened to me, under the so-called Pasqua-Debré laws, which were in effect in 1993-97. I faced the same attitude coming from a completely different angle. The painful incident I described in the last issue occurred during that time.

FRENCH INCOME TAX: TIME TO DECLARE AND PAY
Regarding the more mundane topic of income tax, I would like to remind everybody that the paper version of the 2014 income declaration must be filed in France before May 19th and the second partial income tax payment (deuxième tiers) is to be paid before May 15th (midnight, in both cases). The forms have been available since April 15th on the website www.impots.gouv.fr. It is now possible to file your declaration on this website, provided that it is not your first time filing (you need your tax ID number and some access codes).

If you file online, the deadline is later. The schedule depends on your postal code:

• – départements 01 to 19 must file by midnight on May 26th,
• – départements 20 to 49 by June 2nd and
• – départements 50 or higher by June 9th.

An important reminder: if you are a French fiscal resident (i.e., basically if you hold a carte de séjour or an immigration visa validated with an OFII stamp), you must declare your worldwide income to the French authorities even if you do not earn any income in France, do not have the right to work in France or truly do not work in France. Just because there is no penalty to pay does not mean it is legal to neglect to file.

The four situations that define a French fiscal resident are:

• – 1. Staying in France for 183 days in a calendar year, whether you have legal immigration status or not.
• – 2. Having immediate family members who reside in France (a spouse and/or children).
• – 3. Having a French employer.
• – 4. Running a French business, even something like tutoring schoolchildren in English.

OFFICE TO CLOSE FOR A NON-SUMMER VACATION!
My office will be closed from the evening of Wednesday June 3rd until 9AM on Wednesday June 17th. 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.

Best regards,

QUESTION

THE FRENCH SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER

I am a self-employed American living in France and I cannot create a personal account with CIPAV, RSI and URSAFF, because apparently my French social security number is either incomplete or perhaps not right.
Can you advise me on how to get attestations from any of them saying that I am paid up, as I need them for the préfecture to renew my carte de séjour?

QUESTION

CARTE DE SEJOUR VIE PRIVEE ET FAMILIALE AFTER A BREAK-UP

I am American who was PACSed for five years, and I recently de-PACSed with my French partner. My carte de séjour expires in November. I am a student and will be done with my internship in mid-June. Do I have to change my status now, or only when I apply for another visa? I am afraid to change status because I have heard so many horror stories of the préfecture deporting expats because they believe they are cheating the system. I just want to stay until the end of the visa and I will leave. What are the necessary steps I need to take so that I can stay until the end of my visa?

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.