Well, I’m a gonna raise a fuss, I’m gonna raise a holler
About workin’ all summer just to try an’ earn a dollar
Everytime I call my baby, to try to get a date
My boss says, no dice, son, you gotta work late
Sometimes I wonder what I’m gonna do
‘Cause there ain’t no cure for the summertime blues
Well, my mom an papa told me, son, you gotta make some money
If you want to use the car to go ridin’ next sunday
Well I didn’t go to work, told the boss I was sick
Now you can’t use the car ’cause you didn’t work a lick
Sometimes I wonder what I’m gonna do
‘Cause there ain’t no cure for the summertime blues
Ow
I’m gonna take two weeks, gonna have a vacation
I’m gonna take my problem to the United Nation
Well I called my congressman and he said quote
“I’d like to help you son, but you’re too young to vote”
Sometimes I wonder what I’m gonna do
‘Cause there ain’t no cure for the summertime blues
Well, I’m a gonna raise a fuss, I’m gonna raise a holler
About workin’ all summer just to try an’ earn a dollar
Sometimes I wonder what I’m gonna do
‘Cause there ain’t no cure for the summertime blues
Yeah, sometimes I wonder what I’m gonna do
‘Cause there ain’t no cure for the summertime blues
No, there ain’t no cure for the summertime blues

The song “Summertime Blues” was recorded by the American rock and rockabilly artist Eddie Cochran and written by Cochran and his manager, Jerry Capehart. It was released in August 1958, originally as a single B-side..

Out of all the weeks I was supposed to be on vacation, I was away from Paris only during the last one. I saw and heard about calamities occurring in the USA, France and pretty much all over Europe this summer. My awareness of these tribulations made me choose this song. While my office was closed, I also had to deal with some hardships of my own.

Instead of information about how many people spent time in seashore resorts and how warm the sea was, this year we heard about wildfires all over France, and in many parts of Europe, as well as in areas generally not affected in the USA and Canada. We also heard about deaths from flooding and storms, as well as serious droughts. And this is just the news about the climate! The rest of the news, regardless of the topics, has been pretty gloomy, and one needs to scrutinize the media to find good news that inspires cautious optimism.

THE TAIWAN CRISIS
In my November 2021 issue, titled “Cloudy,” I described my longtime interest in the modern history of Taiwan. As often happens with old civilizations, to understand what is happening today one needs to go back several centuries, and I have researched Taiwanese history from the 17th century up to the present. With some Far East nations, exploring history for several thousand years is necessary to decipher current situations, and I almost never see such an in-depth perspective in either the French or American media reporting about the current situation in Taiwan. Suddenly everyone has discovered the conflict that exists in the China Sea, yet the origins of the impasse began in 1949 when General Chiang Kai-Shek and his armies and followers found refuge on the island known as Formosa. Tensions were high in August 2022, with the media talking about war being imminent. But I doubt armed conflict will break out any time soon. The hope that journalists covering this situation will go back to 1996, the year of the first-ever direct and de facto democratic presidential election in Taiwan, is perhaps not very realistic in today’s environment, but should diligent journalists cover those events, people today would be better informed and take sensationalist journalism with a grain of salt. Nevertheless, I believe that Nancy Pelosi is well acquainted with the history of Taiwan in the past 26 years, and probably even longer, as she was militant about the Tiananmen Square protests held in Beijing, which occurred in 1989.

THE FINALIZATION OF THE “A SURVIVAL HOME IN PARIS” PROJECT 
The closing on the property on August 11th almost did not occur, as few of the parties concerned were in town except our family. Based on the situation as of August 31st, it would be quite optimistic to envision the first guest moving in on November 1st. The renovation should be completed in September but the delivery of the furniture is going to take about two months and, as my regular readers know, whatever is done in August does not count, as the factories are closed. I will use my Facebook account and the October issue to keep people informed about the exact date when everything will be ready.

I remind my readers of the kind of project I have in mind. The studio should ideally serve as temporary but comfortable lodging for someone who has either secured a long-stay visa or is submitting a request for one. It could also be for someone who wants to “test drive” living in France while on a 90-day Schengen regulation before taking the plunge – or not – to buy or rent somewhere on a more long-term basis. After 25 years of offering “A Survival Kit for Paris,” I will soon be able to propose “A Survival Home in Paris” to those who need it, as an extension of my services.

These are the guidelines to accommodate this project:

Rentals will be for a minimum of two months, maximum of six months. This is meant to be the first step toward settling in Paris, or for people who have a serious interest regarding France.

The monthly rent is 1,200€, all included (internet access, utilities and so on), with payment for the duration of the rental period due when the reservation is made.

The security deposit of the same amount, 1,200€, is added to the rent payment.

This is a no-smoking, no-pet place.

My website should soon have a section dedicated to the apartment so that reservations and payment can be done online.

Given the size of the studio – 329 square feet (30 square meters) – and the way it is set up, it is ideal for a single person. It might be considered a tad too small for a couple by American standards: there is just one room, which includes the kitchen, and only the bathroom is separate.

The two walk-throughs cost 150€ each and the initial one includes as such a one-hour session with my assistant, Sarah, for advice and guidance to help with the stay aside from showing the studio, its appliances, and other things.

While this rental business is totally separate from my consulting business, I expect many of the guests will have been my clients earlier, so the two lines of service can coexist.

EU INFORMATION FOR VISITORS: ETIAS AND STAYING AFTER PERMISSION EXPIRES
I discovered two breakthroughs have come from the EU administration.

ETIAS
What I believe to be the more important of the two concerns the planned European Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS).

Currently citizens of 63 countries that are not in the European Union (EU) can enter the EU’s Schengen area without a visa. The USA is one of these countries.

ETIAS will be a completely electronic system that allows and keeps track of visitors from these countries. It resembles the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA), which serves a similar purpose in the USA.

The legal process to create ETIAS started in 2016. The system is expected to be fully operational in May 2023, but not mandatory until the following November. Currently there is still some uncertainty regarding the timing of its implementation. 

ETIAS will make a detailed security check of each applicant to determine whether they are allowed to enter a Schengen country. This procedure applies to those who do not need a visa for travel of up to 90 days in the EU. ETIAS will gather, keep track of and update information to make sure they are not a security threat. It will also monitor precisely who is overstaying the 90-day limit inside the Schengen area.

People who are applying for or renewing an immigration status do not need to request ETIAS.

www.schengenvisainfo.com/etias

Staying after a visa or other permission has expired
I am often asked about this second issue. My answer has always been that at the end of the immigration right documented by a visa, carte de séjour or other document, the illegal stay starts. At the same time, especially in France, there is a certain tolerance for stays beyond that date. The European Commission has issued a statement that recognized this right to overstay the expiration date of an immigration status at the EU level, which I have been calling “tolerance”.

Here is the statement given by Dimitris Avramopoulos, then EU Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship. on behalf of the Commission on March 13th, 2015, to an EU Parliament question:

“The Commission confirms its reply of 16 December 2014 on the same issue (E-007775/2014). Consecutive stays beyond 90 days in a Member State (such as a continuous stay without interruption right after the expiry of a long‐term residence permit) are not regulated by the Schengen acquis.

“According to Article 5(1a) of the Schengen Borders Code, the periods of stay authorized under a residence permit or a long-stay visa shall not be taken into account in the calculation of the duration of short-stay on the territory of the Schengen Member States (when assessing the compliance with the 90 days in any 180-day rule provided by the EU/Schengen acquis). This provision thus allows visa-free third-country nationals (such as US citizens) legally to remain in the Schengen area and visit the other Schengen Member States than the one that issued the residence permit; they can start ‘consuming’ their 90 days visa-free ‘tourist’-stay without leaving and re-entering the Schengen area.

“However, this provision does not allow for a continuous, uninterrupted stay in the Member State that issued the residence permit. As already stated, that would require a successful application for the prolongation/extension of stay from the Member State that issued the permit, which is obviously to be arranged before the expiry of the permit. Finally, it is to be noted that the EU/Schengen acquis does not prevent the Member States from prolonging the stay (extending the validity of the permit) for less than 90 days. The overall duration of stay matters, when, as is the case in the example discussed here, this is more than 90 days, national law applies.”

www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-8-2015-000886-ASW_EN.html

The parliamentary question, reference E-007775/2014, to which the first paragraph refers, was as follows:

“In the Commission’s view, is it possible for a third‐country national residing in an EU Member State based on a long‐term residence permit to then, once that permit has expired, remain without interruption in that same Member State based on the rules on staying in the Schengen Area — i.e., 90 days out of 180 days? If not, would it be necessary for that foreign national to leave the Member State of residence as soon as possible and then re‐enter since the relevant provisions connect the right to remain on the territory with the ‘arrival’ in that territory?

“This question mainly concerns third‐country nationals (i.e., non-European) for whom compulsory EU visa programs are in place.”

THE RIGHT TO OPEN A FRENCH BANK ACCOUNT IS NOW EASIER TO ENFORCE
As of June 13th, 2022, people who apply for a bank account and do not receive a reply within 15 days of their application can turn immediately to the Banque de France, which will designate a bank close to the applicant’s home. This procedure is open to any person residing in France or other EU country, any French person residing abroad and certain applicants who are not allowed to use a bank.

A decree published on March 13th, 2022, in the Journal Officiel simplified the procedure for people who do not have a deposit account and cannot obtain one from the institutions they have applied to. The objective is to modify the deadlines in the procedures concerning the right to an account and improve follow-up.

A person without an account who has not received a response from the bank contacted within 15 days may refer the matter to the Banque de France by providing proof of their application in the form of an acknowledgment of receipt of the registered letter sent to the banking establishment or a receipt for hand delivery of the request.

The implicit refusal system that came into force on June 13th, 2022 replaced the certificate of refusal to open an account that the bank concerned had to produce. It was sometimes difficult or even impossible to obtain this certificate. Now one only has to refer the matter to the Banque de France to assert one’s right to an account.

Within one working day of the referral, the Banque de France designates a bank near the applicant’s home or other place of their choice. Within three days of this designation, the bank chosen must provide the customer with the documents required to open an account.

The designated institution is not obliged to open an account, but it must inform the Banque de France of the reason for any refusal. It must also inform the Banque de France if it subsequently terminates the account management agreement opened under this process.

The designated bank must provide the following basic services:

• – opening, maintaining and closing the account,
• – issuing bank identity statements on request called RIB, which has the IBAN of the account,
• – effecting direct debit of bank transfers,
• – sending a monthly statement of transactions on the account,
• – carrying out cash operations,
• – providing checkbooks and bank transfers,
• – carrying out cash deposits and withdrawals at the counter or ATMs,
• – making payments by direct debit, interbank payment orders or bank transfers,
• – providing a means of remote consultation of the account balance,
• – furnishing a bank card and authorizing its use,
• – providing two bank check forms per month or an equivalent means of payment offering the same service..

Established by article 58 of the law of January 24th, 1984, on the activity and control of credit institutions, the right to a bank account is open to any individual or legal entity residing in France, to any individual requesting an account for non-business purposes and residing in another EU country and to any French person residing abroad. Applicants who are banned from banking, registered in the file of personal credit incidents or the central checks file, or in an overdraft situation may also exercise this right.

www.service-public.fr/particuliers/actualites/A15560

MY FEES ARE INCREASING ON SEPTEMBER 1st, 2022
1st meeting/1st work: 350 euros for 2 hours 
Extra per hour: 150 euros 
Handling mail in my office: 50 euros per month 
Handling mail at my home: 60 euros per month 
Surcharge for out-of-office meetings: 80 euros, assuming less than 30 minutes’ transportation 
Surcharge for meetings and phone calls at the client’s request after 7PM weekdays, all weekend, on national French holidays and during vacations: 30%.

QUESTION

MOVING BELONGINGS TO FRANCE AND FRENCH CUSTOMS REGULATIONS

After completing my two-year master’s at the University of Rennes next month, the university has helped us obtain a two-year extension to our passport-talent visas from the prefecture.
Now that my immigration situation is under control, my wife and I would finally like to move our household possessions to France – they have been in storage in the United States since I started living in France.
We have started working with an international moving company who will handle processing the container through French customs, but they need us to provide an Attestation de non-cession and to get a Certificate of Change of Residence from the French Consulate, if I understand correctly.
We need to explain to the consulate/customs authorities that, even though we have been physically in France longer than 12 months already, it has not been our résidence normale as defined by Les franchises douanières et fiscales de droit commun à l’importation, which states that La fréquentation d’une université ou d’une école n’implique pas le transfert de la résidence normale.
This said, we understand that the French consulate via the process of requesting a Certificate of Change of Residence should deny us such documents, based on the fact that I am holding a passeport talent visa. I also studied the document issued by French customs called Les franchises douanières et fiscales de droit commun à l’importation.
We have avis d’impots and have paid the taxes d’habitation for each of the three years during which I had passeport talent immigration status. Based on my research, these French fiscal documents would be refused by the French consulate as part of processing my Certificate of Change of Residence.Please let us know if you can provide that type of assistance, or if you need more information.

QUESTION

EMPLOYEE IMMIGRATION STATUS

I am looking for some advice regarding my immigration status. I moved from the USA a couple of years ago with an employee/salarié visa. I am currently holding a carte de séjour salarié I got last year. I have still the same employer who sponsored me in the first place. I now have a CDI, and I am renewing to receive a four-year carte de séjour salarié. I would like advice regarding changing employers once this new carte de séjour salarié has been issued.

From Wikipedia
“Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child” (or simply “Motherless Child”) is a traditional Negro spiritual. It originated during the era of slavery in the United States. An early performance of the song by the Fisk Jubilee Singers dates back to the 1870s.

The song is clearly an expression of pain and despair conveying the hopelessness of a child who has been torn from her or his parents.

“Sometimes I feel like a motherless child
A long way from home, a long way from home”

Negro spirituals and some gospel songs say a lot about the suffering the slaves in the USA endured. Today they are usually sung by choirs, and too often we enjoy the concert, the performance, the beauty of the music, and overlook what the lyrics meant to the people who created these songs. It has always fascinated me to see large crowds of French people listening to this music, knowing next to nothing about the lyrics and what they convey.

This might explain why so many African-American musicians, particularly jazz and blues performers, moved to Europe and especially France. This began as early as 1925 with Josephine Baker.

Longing for home is very common among people who emigrate to a different country. The farther away they are from home, the more painful this feeling is.

Clearly the title can be linked to the topic that follows, concerning the fact that the majority of French children are born out of wedlock. When I discussed this topic with my two children, their response was that the term “out of wedlock” does not mean anything, and should be changed. They were trying to find something that would mean “children born of a stable relationship.”

I believe the title can resound further with almost everybody, especially those who have lost their parents.

THE MAJORITY OF FRENCH CHILDREN ARE BORN OUT OF WEDLOCK
When I first traveled to the USA in 1980 and 1981, and during my later stay when I got married in 1986 and lived there several years, I was surprised by the large number of teen pregnancies. The expression “babies making babies” was commonly used. One day I looked at France and saw that a growing number of children there were born out of wedlock – although the cultures of the two countries in this respect are quite different. There are several reasons for that – I would like to explain them before discussing the results of recently released data.

For a long time, almost 60 years, fewer and fewer people in France have been getting married, to the point that the legislation needed to change to follow this evolution.

1 –From the mid-1970s, city halls started to issue increasing numbers of certificat de concubinage. A couple would go to city hall, state that they were living together, and walk out with an official statement that could be used to obtain benefits that otherwise only spouses could get.

2 – The kinship law of January 3rd 1972 erased the legal difference between children born within marriage and those born outside of wedlock, as long as neither parent in the latter case was married to someone else.

3 – The PACS law of November 15th 1999 established the pacte civil de solidarité, which quickly became almost a carbon copy of the institution of marriage.

With the French state officializing stable non-married couples and giving them strong legal status, more and more such couples are having children without being married.

Teen pregnancy is virtually non-existent in France, and children are almost always born to a stable couple.

In 2017, almost 6 children out of 10 (59.5%) were born outside of marriage. In 2007 such children were already the majority at 50.7%. These numbers were published by INSEE, the French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies, on September 4th 2018.

The numbers indicate that churches have almost completely lost their influence on the general population, as one must be married at city hall before having a religious ceremony. It is clear that France is a secular country and can no longer be called a Catholic country. Of course, these percentages include French Muslims. However, since France does not allow data studies to be based on ethnicity or religious affiliation, it is impossible to know how many Muslims get married, and how many of these ceremonies include religious rites.

There were 228,000 weddings celebrated in France in 2017, around 5,000 fewer than the year before. Some 192,000 PACS were recorded in 2016, up 3,000 from the year before. The numbers say it all – the trend is obvious. This clearly explains how it was possible to have 6 out of 10 children born out of wedlock in 2017.

Several years ago, I met a couple who showed that the numbers were not telling the entire story. He was French, born in France of two parents from the same African country. She was from that country as well. They chose to be PACSed rather than married. But the young woman told me she had waited to be PACSed before moving in with the man and consummating the relationship, as she was an honorable woman.

I have encountered many similar situations where the couple mixes very traditional values with choosing a PACS over marriage. This puts back in perspective the variety of choices hinted at in the title, especially for people who are not used to the French situation, which is after all not an oddity. It is just people adapting to situations and making their own decisions according to the law of the land.

https://abonnes.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2018/09/04/six-enfants-sur-dix-naissent-hors-mariage-en-france-un-record-en-europe_5350153_4355770.html

EMPLOYEE PROTECTION IN FRANCE HAS A LIMIT
French labor law is extremely protective in favor of employees. This is well known, and the scariest tales heard in the expat community have some truth in them. But recent laws sought by Economics Minister Emmanuel Macron and achieved by President Macron are taking away some of this protection. A recent court decision sheds some interesting light on this issue.

A sales representative had a company car and pretty much had all of France as his territory and therefore drove a lot. He registered with the Blablacar site to drive people during his working hours. Blablacar provides carpooling, which ensures that more than one person is traveling in a car, reducing the need for others to have to drive themselves.

The initial problem was that the car was insured only for his own use when he was using it on company business. Therefore, his action constituted a violation of the labor contract.

On top of that, even though the car did not cost him anything, he was asking for cost sharing and a tad more, which ended up making him a substantial profit – several thousand euros in a couple of years – which Blablacar does not allow.

The employee argued that the fact that his participation in Blabla-carpooling did not cost his company any extra, and therefore it had no grounds for firing him.

The Rennes Court of Appeals in August 2018 struck down the decision by a lower court in Nantes because he had driven the car in violation of his company’s insurance policy and therefore his employer’s guidelines, and because he made a profit, which did not comply with Blablacar regulations.

The usual argument that “it does not hurt the employer” does not work as well as it used to.

https://www.lemonde.fr/economie/article/2018/09/06/les-prud-hommes-deboutent-un-salarie-licencie-pour-covoiturage-avec-une-voiture-de-fonction_5351321_3234.html

THE PARIS BRANCH OF OFII HAS MOVED
Since I started my business over 20 years ago, I have seen this division of the French administration change its name many times, since it felt like each president wanted to fix the immigration problem once and for all. The office now called OFII (Office Français de l’Immigration et de l’Intégration) has several functions:

(1) It is probably best known for the mandatory medical exam for people who come to France with a visa.

(2) In the procedure of an employer hiring a foreigner living abroad, OFII carries out the second round of investigations before sending the file to the designated consulate.

(3) In the family reunification procedure, when a foreigner sponsors a spouse and/or minor children to come to France, it carries out the initial strict investigation.

(4) It also introduces visa-holders to France, showing them an explanatory movie and testing their ability to speak French, find a job and so on.

The office used to be located at 48 rue de la Roquette in the 11th arrondissement, near the Place de la Bastille. The new location opened on September 25th at 83 rue de Patay in the 13th. It is now quite far from a metro stop, and is closest to the Bibliothèque François Mitterrand and Olympiades stops.

My guess is that this will not fix the problem of the office personnel being overworked due to the number of asylum seekers who need appointments. I have not heard feedback yet, but I will make sure to let people know how it goes.

VFS GLOBAL, A NEW PLAYER IN THE FRENCH IMMIGRATION PROCEDURE
From Wikipedia:
VFS Global is an outsourcing and technology services specialist for governments and diplomatic missions worldwide. The company manages visa and passport issuance-related administrative and non-discretionary tasks for its client governments. It is based in Dubai.

The company operates in 139 countries on behalf of its 60 client governments. It has processed over 180 million applications since it commenced operations in 2001.

There are two very different issues here I would like to raise.
1 – For the foreigner, it complicates the procedure and increases the risk of getting the wrong visa. The request for the visa is filed online but VFS does not gather enough information about the exact reasons for the visa request to ensure that the visa hoped for will be the one received. I have been seeing people who went through this procedure and thought they asked for a visiteur immigration visa but instead received a one-year non-renewable one because they chose “up to one year” instead of “more than one year.” The latter is needed to obtain true immigration status that can be renewed by the prefecture a year or so later.

2 – For the government, it means trusting a private foreign corporation to handle a national security matter. Controlling the borders includes dealing with those coming into the country with a visa. French civil servants, i.e. the French administration, have a mixed reputation but most people agree they take pride in doing their job to protect the nation’s interests. The fact that this attitude can sometimes lead them to treat private individuals with contempt does not negate this point. So hiring a private company whose employees are just there to do a job does not reassure me when it comes to those employees completely reviewing a file and understanding the nature of the request. It really feels like paper pushing. All the approved requests go to the French consulate in Washington for the visa to be issued.

A reader sent me a link to a site rating this company. Its score was 2 out of 5. Many of the negative comments sounded familiar to me. Even clients of mine who got their visas recently have not been impressed by the quality of the service. In the most striking case, the address for the meeting was wrong because VFS had moved without informing the people who had appointments.

www.trustpilot.com/review/vfsglobal.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VFS_Global

CPAM IS NOW TIGHTENING PUMA REGISTRATION AND COVERAGE
President Macron has stated a few times that the Assurance Maladie should do more to keep people who do not live in France from abusing the system. I have seen this happen; sometimes it is people do not know they are breaking the law, but others know the regulations very well. The Assurance Maladie covers only residents of France.

Thus, alongside PUMA coverage, we have seen a growing effort to identify users who do not live here but have their medical check-up when they come to France on vacation.

First CPAM suddenly refused to register foreigners with visiteur immigration status. This lasted several months until the rule changed and these foreigners regained the right. Then came a hassle in obtaining coverage for people who could not prove they had been living in France for the previous three months. The immediate assumption was that they were not residents, even people who had their immigration visa, the OFII stamp, and utility bills in their name. Such scrutiny has decreased significantly, but proof of residence from several sources is still required. Therefore, if you are one of those affected, be ready to bring your lease, rent receipts (quittances de loyer), utility bills and Internet provider bills for the last six months. If you have children in school, bring their school registration statement.

The latest development is that some foreigners are receiving very detailed questionnaires asking their whereabouts. One of my readers writes:

“The letter was received at the beginning of this week – which is not only the middle of the vacation period but includes the August 15th holiday – demanding the return of a dossier within three weeks, without which the rights to health coverage will cease and steps can be taken to recover medical expenses already paid.”

Though the vast majority of PUMA beneficiaries are French nationals from birth, it seems they will also need to prove residence in their native country each year.

There was also apparently a request to furnish a RIB in the name of the individual person, even though couples often have joint accounts. The points is that Sécu accounts are now individual. It is not clear whether the submission of a RIB in the name of the individual was optional.

I am attaching the complete letter for those who are interested.

Best regards,

QUESTION

INSURANCE COVERAGE FOR FRENCH SMALL BUSINESSES

I am an American who teaches in France with auto-entrepreneur status. My most recent client demands proof of insurance. Have you any thoughts on that? It is a bilingual school, and the manager wants me to have two separate types of insurance – one for working with children and the other for being in the actual school building. Both are very expensive and I honestly do not understand the need for two policies. Can’t I have just one insurance policy that covers me for the work I do wherever I do it? Do you have an insurance company you recommend?

QUESTION

FRENCH HEALTH COVERAGE AND BREXIT

I am British, married to an American. I understand that because of Brexit, we wil find it very difficult to get health insurance when we move to France. She received a liver transplant twelve years ago, and recently was successfully treated for hepatitis C. Am I right in my understanding or do we have to wait to see how the EU treats the Brits in the coming months?

QUESTION

IS A STUDENT IN FRANCE A FRENCH FISCAL RESIDENT?

I am an American who recently received a two-year student visa and now hold the OFII stamp. I arrived late April 2018. I have several questions to which I cannot get a straight answer:
Am I subject to French tax (income or other)?

1. If I am subject to French income tax, what is the trigger and can it be avoided?
2. Does opening a bank account in France have any impact on the answer to the first question above?
   I ask because HSBC is telling me to fill out an auto-certification tax form, and since my HSBC account is linked to my new French address, my banker is saying that the country of tax residence (currently USA) needs to match the address and be in France as well. This doesn’t seem right, considering I am just on a student visa.
3. I want to continue filing my taxes in the USA. If I cannot escape French taxes, do you think it’s best that I find a French accountant?

I ask because HSBC is telling me to fill out an auto-certification tax form, and since my HSBC account is linked to my new French address, my banker is saying that the country of tax residence (currently USA) needs to match the address and be in France as well. This doesn’t seem right, considering I am just on a student visa.

I want to continue filing my taxes in the USA. If I cannot escape French taxes, do you think it’s best that I find a French accountant?

From Wikipedia
“Won’t Get Fooled Again” is a song by the English band The Who, written by Pete Townshend. It was released as a single in June 1971, reaching the top 10 in the UK, while the full eight-and-a-half-minute version appears as the final track on the band’s 1971 album Who’s Next, released that August.
This iconic song has swept a complete generation in the 70’s. Today its message can be interpreted in very many ways. The idea is that everybody lies and cheats; politicians, medias, the corporate world, bosses, spouses, … It has reached the point where it feels like that there is a conspiracy theory for just about everything.
At the same time, crooks have perfected their methods and phishing is only one ways in which their prowess is revealed. We are now living in a world where we need to be cautious just about all the time. This changes the way we live and many people become suspicious of everything, and expect the worst all the time.
This issue deals for the most part about not delivering what has been promised. A foreigner is always an easier prey. Since everything seems weird, it is very difficult to discriminate between cultural differences and being taken advantage of. It is easy to state “Won’t Get Fooled Again” when we get mad after finding out that we have taken for a ride. We blame ourselves for not having being vigilant enough.

RAPID CHANGE IN HOUSING IN THE PARIS REGION
I have heard very few people commenting about a phenomenon that is visible all around Paris. While Paris proper is slowly losing population, its suburbs continue to grow faster than the French population as a whole. This means many people working in or near Paris are living farther and farther away. I saw a similar situation firsthand in greater New York, where people work in Manhattan but live far away in New Jersey and Connecticut. The small town where I grew up in Paris’s southern suburbs, about 20 miles from the city, had an urban life disconnected from Paris, with its own active town center. There were large families living in big houses, including the one I grew up in, which was around 100 years old.
Today, most of those houses are condominiums. Each unit is a small studio or one-bedroom apartment. They were converted on the cheap, and the comfort level is really low. So many people are desperate to live in the Paris region that no matter how terrible an apartment is, it will be rented.
It is never too late to stop such destruction, but a lot of damage has already been done. A recent law upgrades the standards regulating what constitutes decent rental housing, and the government of the Ile de France region, which includes Paris, is determined to expropriate the remaining unspoiled properties and prosecute unscrupulous landlords.

http://www.lemonde.fr/logement/article/2017/09/05/l-ile-de-france-s-attaque-aux-marchands-de-sommeil_5181177_1653445.html/

AVOIDING CROOKS WHEN REGISTERING AS SELF-EMPLOYED
The registration form for self-employment, accessible through the CFE-URSSAF website, is offering a new option that is very useful. You can choose to have your information kept private during the registration procedure.

For a long time, INSEE’s policy was that such information should be fully public, with the idea that clients would check the company before doing business with it. However, this almost never happens. As far back as I can remember, there have been establishments offering their services to new businesses. Some of them are genuine, but most are what I consider to be crooks. In their letterhead, names and logos, they try to look like divisions of the French administration linked to business creation. But the “service” they offer is usually just a mention in a database that nobody checks, for which they charge between 200€ and 500€. It is often difficult to find the truly minuscule fine print at the bottom or on the back of their mailings, stating what the service is.

Now, by checking a box on the registration form, you can opt out of having your information become public, and thus avoid receiving these unwelcome solicitations. This does not mean everything you receive in the mail will be pertinent to your particular business, but at least everything is official, which makes the process a lot safer.

President Macron is going after an organization called the Régime Social des Indépendants (RSI), which was never well-organized but today has become just plain dysfunctional on so many levels that his efforts to get rid of it have made headlines in the French media. As a period of high uncertainty starts, I prefer to identify the services the French administration offers, noting that the names associated with some of these divisions may change.

1 – Health coverage is obtained on the day of registration. One of the organizations commonly chosen is RAM,

2 – A retirement account is opened when you sign for self-employed status. The organization in charge is usually CIPAV,

3 – The family subsidy collection agency is called URSSAF,

4 – The tax office’s business division is also informed of the creation of your business, and writes to inform you that it has opened a file for you,

5 – There are also several organizations sending mail about retirement accounts for any employees of the new business. You can set these aside, as they are irrelevant for many self-employed people, who usually have profession libérale status, at least at first.

Becoming self-employed used to entail many special procedures, but the number has decreased over the years.

President Macron is making a huge effort to unify everything in a single group of organizations for self-employed people – one for health, one for retirement and one for unemployment. This will not happen right away, but we know for sure that the RSI as it exists today, is nearly defunct. We just do not know yet what will happen after it is closed, or how the situation will be handled.

DOUBLING THE CEILING FOR MICRO-ENTREPRENEURS (FORMERLYAUTO-ENTREPRENEURS): PROMISES AND REALITY
President Macron is also making speeches about doubling the maximum income for the type of self-employment formerly known as auto-entrepreneur but now called micro-entrepreneur, and the government is working on carrying out his promises. There are so many aspects to this that I want to address just two, which I believe illustrate the complexity of the change.

1 – Immediate payment of social charges, monthly or quarterly
Being a micro-entrepreneur has this excellent feature: You declare your revenue either 12 times or four times a year, paying the related taxes at the same time, thus immediately freeing the business from tax debt. This is a wonderful change from the previous system, which delayed up to 18 months the payment of some of the social charges and should clearly be adopted for many other types of business, as it prevents people from spending tax money, and never paying their taxes.

2 – TVA
The sales tax called the value-added tax or TVA is the single largest provider of funds to the state coffers, so any change could have serious consequences on the budget deficit. Previously the auto-entrepreneur income ceiling was low enough that it did not have much effect on the amount of TVA collected. Doubling the ceiling and keeping the TVA exemption would have a very significant impact, however, and there is no way this will happen.

The current system is coherent and works well. This is one reason it is so popular. It has two excellent features, immediate social charge payment and no need to hold any accounting. There is just one standard deduction, which makes it impossible to claim expenses.

Should the income ceiling double for payment of social charges but remain the same for charging TVA, this status will lose one of its best features. No solution seems to have been decided thus far.

For your information:
The service providers’ annual revenue ceiling would go from 33,100 euros to 70,000 euros
The annual ceiling for sales activities would go from 82,800 euros to 170,000 euros

I will continue to follow this topic very closely, as it affects a lot of people.

http://business.lesechos.fr/entrepreneurs/auto-entrepreneur/030522905401-microentrepreneurs-le-regime-social-etendu-312662.php?BCarpDI3G0w4JAkD.99

CRACKING DOWN ON UNDOCUMENTED FOREIGNERS IN FRANCE
The French government has come up with an interesting twist on the control of undocumented foreigners. When the Schengen Agreement was signed, the idea was to improve efficiency by loosening border controls inside member countries and strengthening controls at the Schengen-area borders. The migrant and refugee crisis as well as the terrorist attacks shattered this goal and all member countries have tried to manipulate the existing legislation so they can check who is coming in.

Since country borders within the Schengen area no longer have custom offices, each police force has the right to freely check within 20 km from the border. The French government’s latest idea is that every international airport should also be considered a “border,” as they are a point of entry to the country. The point is completely true, although airports have ample police forces, and even when a person travels within the Schengen area, there is always the possibility of controls when suspicion warrants.

If the 20 km zones were applied on airports throughout France, it would put two-thirds of the French population within the zones.

Many nonprofits in France are fighting this new idea, since the true motive for such controls has nothing to do with fighting terrorism or monitoring the refugee crisis. The main reason is to catch as many undocumented foreigners as possible, since most of them live in the largest cities. Of course, this would contravene the Schengen guidelines and be stricken down by EU authorities. But using terrorism as the reason, it has a much better chance of being approved and seen as complying with the EU legislation.

http://abonnes.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2017/09/12/le-gouvernement-prepare-une-extension-massive-des-controles-d-identite-aux-frontieres_5184205_3224.html?xtmc=le_gouvernement_prepare_une_extension_massive_des_controles_d_identite_aux_frontieres&xtcr=1

MY HELPER HAS STARTED WORKING WITH MY CLIENTS
Sarah B., as my helper has called her business, started a tad later than we were hoping for. This is the kind of situations that happens all the time when one launches a new business. She is now addressing the needs of people earning less than 33,100€ in gross sales, with the micro BNC fiscal status. Such clients are exempt from doing full bookkeeping, but still have to file declarations of income to the tax office and to RSI for social charges. Managing payment of the social charges and understanding how it works can be quite complex. I do some of it when people initially register, because almost all these documents are needed to obtain the related immigration status. After that they should be autonomous, but in fact most of the time they are not.

I have been giving her name and information upon request. Her fees are between one-half and one-third of what I charge, depending on the level of services requested. Of course, she works under my supervision, so I guarantee the quality of the service, and she keeps her files in my office.

OFFICE CLOSED FOR CHRISTMAS
The office will close for three weeks for the Christmas holidays, starting on Friday December 15th, reopening on Monday January 8th. As always, I will be reachable by email for emergencies and important matters. The service I offer of receiving mail for clients will continue while the office is closed. I did not take much of a summer vacation so I have decided to take some time off, close to the normal length of my vacation. Of course, I will honor the prefecture meetings already scheduled, as well as a couple of other engagements.

Best regards,

QUESTION

EDITORIAL FREEDOM OF AN AUTHOR

I have known about you for many years but have only just begun reading your newsletter and Q/A. This past newsletter made me so very sad for you: your despair at the world events and catastrophes, that you, like most of us, can only helplessly witness. While of course you can do nothing about hurricanes, floods, terrorism and death, you do prevent or alleviate much personal disaster and allow many people to make sense of a system that is difficult to navigate. And that with a combination of unfailing courtesy and clinical detachment; you rarely bite back when faced with entitlement, sarcasm or erudition. I love the way you accept that people ARE the center of their universe … anyway, all this is to say that you do so much for so many, and France is certainly a better place with you in it. I wish you comfort.

QUESTION

ACRONYMS IN FRANCE RELATED TO SMALL BUSINESSES

I have a few questions regarding my registration with URSSAF, which I wish to do online. What will my legal status be (my statut juridique)? EI, EI avec option EIRL, or EURL? I was very happy that the prefecture approved my project and I now need to register to start working by creating my business.

QUESTION

INTERNSHIPS IN PARIS

I am American and I have been offered two full-time stages in Paris for different periods: the first from October to December 2017, and the second from January to July 2018. Both are paid a stipend, and each is with a multinational corporation. I intended to enroll in French language courses in order to improve my French, as I will be studying to enter a French business school. The prep school can sign a convention de stage, and the French courses qualify me for a student visa. What is unclear to me is whether I can legally undertake two stages, and obtain two internship visas, and, if not, whether I can obtain a student visa for the first three months followed by an internship visa for the following six months.

QUESTION

GOING FROM STUDENT TO EMPLOYEE IMMIGRATION STATUS

I have been a foreign student in France for a few years and want to become an employee. I received a complete job offer a few days ago and just learned from them that the labor inspectors (inspection du travail) visited their office. They were told that they did not have the right to hire a foreign student on a fixed-term contract (CDD). The student immigration status allows only part-time work – 60% of full-time hours. The worst thing with this situation is that the prefecture advised this solution. Clearly the inspection du travail rules, as they are the cops. Can you explain this insanity?

“If I Had a Hammer (The Hammer Song),” by Pete Seeger and Lee Hays, was written in 1949 in support of the Progressive Movement.

Almost a year ago, I moved to my new office near Place de la Nation. Some tiny details end up meaning a lot more than they appear.

The office is equipped with a plastic shutter protecting the front door that looks and works exactly like the old-fashioned iron shutters that shops and workshops used to have. It is pulled down to close, and pulled up to open. This daily task reminds me of my father, grandfather and great-grandfather’s woodworking shop in a southern Paris suburb. I could see a staircase being built, a cupboard being made and many other pieces being created. There was the smell of hot wood, and the wood dust on the floor and in the air. I watched the skilled workers who did not just build but crafted all this beautiful furniture, carving and assembling everything. These men (in those days there were no women) mastered their craft. They were proud of their work when the furniture was done; they shared the feeling of a job well done.

When I see what my son can sculpt with a piece of stone, and see him taking the time to carve, I know that this gift skipped only one generation.

So, in this weird way, I see my writing (whether it is my column or the letters and even the emails I write for my clients) more and more as a craft, an exercise in choosing and assembling the words and keeping things simple. By sticking to this idea I try to avoid the temptation of writing literature. My job is to craft, which means work on it more than once, let it sit, and then go back to it.

What if “Making America great again” (and France, too, for that matter) meant promoting crafts as a discipline in school, with homework being crafted instead of just being done, or crafting the windows of a shops to decorate them. The same concept can apply to web design, creating apps, writing computer programs and so on. I strongly believe that many new jobs are compatible with this approach to working.

If I had a hammer!

THE LATEST COURT DECISION REGARDING RENTING WITH AIRBNB IN PARIS 
The message from the French administration regarding vacation rentals has been clear for years: the authorities are cracking down, reining in such rentals and so on. The advice given was, “Do it right or the consequences can be quite damaging.” Given this understanding, the latest court decision I am aware of is mind-boggling, as it goes completely against the conventional wisdom.

A French tenant of an HLM (low-income housing) was renting out her flat from time to time through Airbnb. HLM leases are rent controlled, as they are based on the tenant’s income as well as rent subsidized. The size of such an apartment is supposed to exactly fit the size of the family, and is often a tad smaller. The lease states that it is a breach of contract to have an extra person living there, and of course subletting even a portion of the apartment is totally illegal, resulting in the lease being automatically voided.

In light of all of this, it seemed clear that once this person was caught, the outcome of the court case was certain. But in fact the ruling demonstrated that protection of the tenant goes way too far in France. The ruling noted that the tenant stopped the rentals after receiving the first notice, having pleaded ignorance of the law; that the Airbnb ad was taken down immediately; and, the final straw, that the rent asked for the room was so moderate that it could not be seen as engaging in a business.

This succession of excuses led to the ruling that the person was a lawful tenant and entitled to keep the lease. At this point, I would ask what constitutes an unlawful tenant?

Throughout the Fifth Republic, there has been strong discipline within the parties in terms of voting the way the leadership wants. With the presidential group, it is uncertain whether the same obedience will exist, as it is brand new and its members come from very diverse backgrounds and clearly do not share the same views on several topics. For more info (in French), see http://sosconso.blog.lemonde.fr/2017/06/29/elle-sous-loue-son-hlm-via-airbnb/

FINES FOR AIRBNB-TYPE RENTALS IN PARIS HIT A RECORD HIGH 
The total of fines collected by the Paris city hall for illegal vacation rentals reached a record 615,000€ in the first half of 2017, compared with 45,000€ in the first half of 2016 (the total collected in 2016 was 200,000€). The number of owners fined in the 2017 period was 31, with 128 apartments checked compared to 42 in the 2016 period. That means the average fine was 19,839€. Nevertheless, despite the increased risk of being fined, the number of apartments dedicated to this kind of rental is growing in Paris. I have heard that the risk is considered just part of doing business because the amount of money to be made is sufficiently greater than the fine.

Especially in France, where application of the law can differ depending on the context, the parties involved and so on, I can only state that the risk is increasing and there may come a time when the amount of the fine becomes truly punitive, at which point more people will get out of the market.

As the story in the previous section indicates, the court system also makes a huge difference. In particular, the system is likely to mete out different treatment to a French person who lives in France and rents out occasionally, and a foreigner who buys an apartment exclusively for this use and runs it as a business. Is the court decision described above unfair? That is not for me to answer; in any case, basing decisions in this matter on fairness is totally missing the point.

Still, comparing these two situations shows how contradictory court decisions can be. One of the first things one learns in law school is that every case is different and it is the lawyer’s job to find the right angle, precedent and legal grounds to let the client win the case.

I will keep informing my readers and clients about this issue to the best of my ability. One thing is clear: the Paris city hall is on the warpath about this issue and I do not see anything that might change that.

http://abonnes.lemonde.fr/logement/article/2017/08/11/airbnb-a-paris-les-amendes-sont-passees-de-45-000-a-615-000-euros-en-un-an_5171370_1653445.html

A LONG-TIME READER IS SELLING ONE OF HIS BUSINESSES 
I almost never open my column to such advertisements; the person needs to be quite close to me for me to consider it. But a very long-time reader recently let me know that he has a business for sale. It is a debt-free, profitable tour guiding business with over 130 TripAdvisor reviews and has received a Certificate of Excellence every year it has been eligible. He is taking on a new project later this year and needs to free up some time to devote to that. The sale price would include formation of the appropriate French business entity for the company. If you are interested, please email me directly.

URSSAF IS FORCING MORE AND MORE PEOPLE TO DECLARE BILLING THROUGH ITS WEBSITE
I have often written about the French administration pushing to use the internet for many things. I have no problem with that when there is an alternate solution, even if it means paying a bit more. On the other hand, I question the fairness of forcing people to use the internet as the only option.

When it comes to declaring employee social charges to be paid, sales tax and so on for established businesses, I believe a CPA or in-house accountant is needed, and they all have access to the internet and are trained to use the relevant applications.

I just learned, however, that 16,000€ in billing is enough to be forced to only use the internet procedure. Many people working out of their homes, having independent work as a side job, make this kind of money.

The entire reason for creating the auto-entrepreneur status was to make it easy for people to enter the business world by doing a side job along with a salaried position. This often applies to retired people, those doing manual labor and so on, who may not be that savvy with computers and internet applications. Furthermore, I found the app not user friendly at all.

I think the income limit is way too low for the population potentially affected by the decision – especially foreigners, whose French may not be sufficient to understand what is being asked of them. Many Americans, for example, confuse the SIRET number – the tax ID number for a business, regardless of its size – with the SECU number, which is the equivalent of the Social Security number used for health coverage and retirement benefits.

FOR THE FIRST TIME, I HAVE AN ASSISTANT
When I worked with Isabelle Russo as part of the Alliage company, we managed to deal with reporting and some bookkeeping issues for very small businesses. Several of my American clients wanting to live in France chose self-employed status, as it is easier to obtain immigration status with it, and lately has also made it a little easier to obtain employment, now that the auto-entrepreneur status has become popular.

In 2016, ALLIAGE closed, and this teamwork ended, so I quickly struck up a relationship with a fully licensed French CPA (expert-comptable-commissaire aux comptes). But this did not address the needs of people earning less than 32,000€ in gross sales, with the micro BNC fiscal status. They are exempt from doing full bookkeeping but still have to file declarations of income to the tax office and to RSI for social charges. Managing payment of the social charges and understanding how it works can be quite complex. I do some of it when people initially register, because almost all these documents are needed to obtain the related immigration status. After that they should be autonomous, but in fact most of the time they are not. There has always been a real need for this level of help, which is below what the French CPA does professionally but which I am not really equipped to handle efficiently, especially considering the level of my fees.

Therefore, starting this month (September), I will be working with an assistant so as to add this service for those who need help handling the French paperwork, basic French administrative procedures and so on. I will give her name and information upon request. Her fees are between one-half and one-third of what I charge, depending on the level of services requested. Of course, she works under my supervision, so I guarantee the quality of the service, and she will keep her files in my office.

TAX OWED ON 2016 INCOME IS DUE SEPTEMBER 15th
Could this be the last time in French history that people pay their income tax in the traditional three installments on February 15th, May 15th and September 15th? The system is set up so that on each of these dates, people pay part of the total tax due, usually in three approximately equal installments. The first two payments are each equal to one-third of the tax owed the previous year, since the tax collection agency, the Trésor Public, does not know the amount for the current payment year until it is notified by the Centre des Impôts, which receives the income declaration of the previous calendar year in the spring. There is a special office in the Parisian suburb of Créteil for residents of Paris. It used to be that these two divisions of the French fiscal administration had different locations. Today they share the same buildings, but still function as separate entities.

Until the presidential election last May, the plan was that everything would be ready on January 1st 2018 to switch to a new system. France is one of the last Western countries where income tax is paid by the individual directly and not withheld by the employer. For many cultural and historical reasons, the French are reluctant to change this set-up, but all of them 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 arrange, and that is the concept of 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,

A family member becomes disabled.

Both during the presidential campaign and after President Macron was sworn in, he has expressed his doubts about how pertinent the new set-up is. It is clear that there is a powerful arm-twist challenge between the president and his cabinet, on the one hand, and, on the other, the French fiscal administration, which has worked on this project for years and supposedly is totally on schedule. Everybody should follow this issue very carefully.

Best regards,

QUESTION

DIFFERENT TYPES OF RIGHT TO WORK AS AN EMPLOYEE

I just went through the OFII physical as a tourist and a consulting firm here in Paris made me an offer this morning as a 60,000€ salaried employee to start next month and they have agreed to sponsor me for a work permit. One of my questions is what is the name of the work permit that I need to ask for on the prefecture forms? Is it a carte de séjour salarié? There is one additional question I have now. My new employer said that with his other employees who needed work permits (I know they had cartes de séjour salarié), he was able to get them started working at their new job once the paperwork was submitted, even though the permit was yet to be issued. He said that there was never a problem with it. The permit was always issued. Do you recommend that I not to go this route and, instead, wait till the process is complete?

QUESTION

THE PREFECTURE ISSUES THE RIGHT IMMIGRATION STATUS

I submitted a request for a change of immigration status. I was a student for a few years with the related immigration status and I wanted to start my own business. The prefecture told me that my card was ready so I picked it up and it was all wrong. It said visiteur when I asked for merchant, commerçant. How can they make such an error? I offer services to small businesses with their websites, flyers and newsletters both in French and in English. What I find weird is that it also says profession libérale on the card. 

Can you explain any.

QUESTION

LOST KEYS? – CHANGE THE LOCK!

I have lived in Paris for a few months. I was robbed last night and they got my apartment key. It’s the kind where you have no option but to order a replacement key for 140 euros. My roommate still has one, luckily, so I wonder: is there a shady dude who will copy it for 50 euros or something?

No Protection (1987) is the second album by Starship, the band that came after Jefferson Starship and Jefferson Airplane, all three of which were led by the singer Grace Slick. Many of the issues I address this month deal with maintaining, providing or diminishing protection for people. One twist, especially in France, is that once the law favors one party, the other is exposed to greater risk. France has insisted for centuries that the law must be fair, which means providing for “unequal treatment”. The logic here is that the underdog must be protected and helped. The recently proposed labor law (loi travail) submitted by Labor Minister Ms. Myriam El Khomri would take away a lot of what is seen as protection for employees; as a result, a lot of demonstrations and strikes have been happening all over France. Nearly everybody agrees that the old way of addressing the situations where there is built-in inequality must be changed, but there is a lot of disagreement as to how it should be changed..

Even French divorce law, which seemed to be widely accepted, is now being criticized in the media, mainly for reasons I will explain below. Interestingly, and in a purely French way, changes that occurred decades ago in other Western countries could now definitively take place in France. This is being done by a liberal government led by Mr. François Hollande, a member of the Socialist Party. If one can see past the current demonstrations, violence and name calling, this is a very interesting time for France.

By the way, the weeks of “Nuit Debout” sit-in demonstrations at the Place de la République also show a desire to change, but in quite the opposite way.

Whether to maintain protection or reduce it, as well as whom to protect, is a very hot topic right now.

BREAKTHROUGH REGARDING DIVORCE IN FRANCE
Divorce has been possible without proving fault since the passage on July 11th 1975 of a law mostly drafted by the legal scholar Jean Carbonnier, which made the judge the cornerstone of the proceedings so as to ensure the fairness of the divorce.

There are four types of divorce proceedings, whose interpretations have changed over the years but which have pretty much kept the same name and logic.

• 1. Le consentement mutuel is a mutually agreed upon divorce, in which the couple is in agreement on all issues needed to divorce.
• 2. La demande acceptée, now called le divorce pour acceptation du principe de la rupture du mariage, means the couple agrees on at least one thing, the fondamental decision to divorce.
• 3. La rupture de la vie commune, now called le divorce pour altération définitive du lien conjugal,indicates that the couple no longer live together and have not for a number of years (formerly seven, now two years).
• 4. Le divorce pour faute used to entail any breach of the legal obligations within a marriage but now the grounds are limited to violence and various forms of coercion resulting in one spouse being truly scared of the other.

In all of these proceedings, the judge is seen as the person making sure each spouse fairly shares both rights and responsibilities. In consentement mutuel (mutual agreement) proceedings, the judge’s role is to make sure that the agreement is fair and that neither spouse has been threatened to obtain the desired result.

On May 4th, however, the Chambre des Députés, the French equivalent of the House of Representatives, approved a provision in a judicial reform bill that would give notaires the responsibility of reviewing and recording mutually agreed divorces, instead of having the judge hear and rule on the case. This means the deputies believe the chances of coercion of a spouse are no longer of much concern. On this topic, I could write a lot about recent immigrants to France who are not yet integrated into French culture, so I disagree with the assumption that the risk is negligible and believe it should still be taken into consideration.

From what I understand of the vote, notaires, acting as neutral professionals, will determine if the split of assets and debts is fair, as well as the sharing of responsibilities regarding alimony, child support, visitation rights and so on. If they see any discrepancies, however, they cannot rule, since their involvement is purely to register divorces. We will see how often such proceedings work with only a notaire, and how often a judge will have to get involved and rule on certain issues. Also, a minor child can ask to be heard by a judge in mutual-agreement proceedings.

The couple can always go to a judge if they realize they were not in as complete agreement as needed and they cannot reconcile their views.

The reasons given by the government for the change are to make divorce cheaper (50€ is the recommended cost of the registration) and to clear crowded family court dockets of this type of proceeding. In much of France, mutual-agreement divorces constitute a majority of divorce decisions; they account for over 60% of Parisian divorces, for example. Clearly it would benefit the court system to be able to restrict its business to family cases that really need a judge’s attention.

The lower cost may be illusory, as notaire proceedings will require each spouse to have a lawyer; before, a couple who managed to agree on everything could get a divorce with just one lawyer.

One small detail that could complicate matters, even though it looks like the people will be saving a lot of money, is that notaires have their own jargon and way of thinking, which lawyers readily understand but which can be very puzzling for French laypeople, and even more so for foreigners. In family courts especially, the judges are often women. Generally the judge met with both spouses, together and then individually, making sure they agreed with the contents of the document drafted by the lawyer. These three meetings are mainly intended to make sure the wife is not being coerced into the divorce and is not renouncing her rights. Today it is possible that men could be coerced through blackmail into an unfair agreement. In most people’s experience, judges use plain language and couples rarely complain of trouble understanding what the judge says. The way notaires work in France is evolving towards more client service, including being better understood. But it remains to be seen if they will do as well as judges with this task. It is far from certain, since thus far in the legislative process, the three meetings have not been mentioned.

I just hope the use of the new proceedings will be for the best and notaires will be strong enough to refuse to register an agreement where the wife or husband gives up their rights to everything and states that they are fully OK with it. I also hope they will be wise enough to understand that some people may need clarification concerning the process, the consequences and the implications for both parties.

http://abonnes.lemonde.fr/police-justice/article/2016/05/05/le-divorce-par-consentement-mutuel-sans-juge-vote-par-les-deputes-en-commission_4914097_1653578.htmlhttp://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-france/2015/07/11/01016-20150711ARTFIG00128-en-quarante-ans-le-divorce-par-consentement-mutuel-n-a-pas-conquis-toute-la-france.php

MOST WIVES IN FRANCE NOW HAVE A HIGHER EDUCATION THAN THEIR SPOUSES
Until the 1960s, men in France tended to marry women of low education; it was assumed in those days that higher education and being a good wife at home were not compatible. This belief was common among men born before WWII.

France continues to be a patriarchal society, therefore it is still harder for women to get a job than men; in addition, they continue to be paid less, by 19% on average. Studying longer is seen as a way to offset these two obstacles, and consequently today in a majority of couples in France, the woman has a university diploma. Meanwhile, uneducated men have the hardest time getting married or finding a long-term partner.

As this trend of women having university degrees continues, it will be more and more common for the wife to make more money than the husband. It does not need to be prevalent to modify the balance in society. I find this evolution very interesting.

http://www.lemonde.fr/campus/article/2016/04/14/les-femmes-sont-desormais-plus-diplomees-que-leur-conjoint_4902195_4401467.html#8TDtr9d51J4ftSRj.99

THE PNR DATABASE AND POSSIBLE CONSEQUENCES FOR TRAVEL IN THE EU AND THE SCHENGEN AREA
For over a decade the USA has kept a database of everybody traveling into and out of the country, with particular attention to foreigners entering the country legally without a visa. The US police have the ability to learn right away if a foreigner has stayed in the USA more than the 90 days authorized by the visa waiver program.

In Europe, there is no such database, though many governments have asked for it. For several reasons, the European Parliament was slow in approving its creation. In addition, some governments did not feel comfortable sharing information between their intelligence services so that terrorists could be tracked down.

Therefore, the recent creation of the Passenger Name Record (PNR) was approved only by a very small margin, 32 to 27. Right now everybody says they want the data to track terrorists and people involved in other serious crimes, and I believe that is true. I do not see any hidden agenda here.

On the other hand, once the database is created, it can be used for many other things. One that would be easy to set up is identifying and fining people who overstay the 90 days allowed by the visa waiver program. Several countries in the Schengen area already severely fine foreigners identified as having overstayed. Today these people are only caught when they get to a border and their passports are checked. Once the PNR is fully functioning, if all European police forces have full access to it, each member country can add software that matches people overstaying their visas with people traveling. The police could know in advance who is traveling in this situation, and handle them right off the plane if need be.

I have no idea if the French police would ever be interested in apprehending North Americans who have overstayed their visas. Right now nothing indicates that they are. But it would not take much for other Schengen area police forces to catch people. The absence of border controls does not mean there are no controls; on the contrary, there are many. My experience is that until recently they were mostly done near the Spanish and Italian borders, where a lot of undocumented aliens enter France, and at the Belgian border where drug smugglers come from the Netherlands. It is perfectly legal for Germany, Switzerland, Spain and the Netherlands to fine people who overstay at the Schengen level; as long as it does not involve a border control, it would be in full compliance with the Schengen agreement— for example, picking up a person getting off a plane.

People who are in this situation should not panic. The PNR has just been voted in and for many reasons it will be a long time before it is fully operational. Still, we now know it will exist and it will be used. The rest is speculation. My personal opinion comes from what is going today and what could happen when countries have full access to the information. Now may be the time to reconsider this lifestyle.

UBER IN FRANCE AND URSSAF’S REQUALIFICATION ATTEMPT
The French administration has won in court regarding one aspect of Uber’s activities. But now the administration has found a more definitive way to get rid of Uber in France.

The key to Uber’s system is that its drivers are self-employed and run their business the way they want. In several US states, this arrangement is being challenged on the grounds that the drivers should be considered employees. Now URSSAF is doing the same thing in France. The key difference is that in France the financial consequences are much worse. Social charges are calculated differently between the self-employed status and the employee status.

Two things are happening and are independent one from the other. The first most important one is that the employer is said to owe the employee’s and employer’s social charges calculated on the money the driver has received. This means that the entire amount of the social charges is owed by the employer. The second consequence is that the drivers are reimbursed the amount of social charges they have paid as self-employed.

This amounts to a huge amount of money, to which URSSAF adds fines and penalties with interests for late payment going back as much as three years. If URSSAF wins its case, Uber might have to file for bankruptcy to handle such a debt. One nasty twist is that even if Uber takes the matter to court and obtains a favorable decision, it still owes the money the entire time. This means URSSAF can use all the collection methods at its disposal, including freezing bank accounts, blocking money that Uber’s creditors owe, and so on, so it can dry up Uber’s cash fast.

The legal ground for this action is that, under French law, if an individual is a subordinate of a company, he is an employee no matter what his legal status is. URSSAF is trying to prove that this lien de subordination exists between Uber and its drivers.

I do not wish to comment on the quality of the service Uber offers, or on the fact that many black and Arab drivers, those who have the hardest time getting decent jobs, have found working with Uber to be a good opportunity. As far as the big picture goes, whether this attack on Uber is a good or a bad thing for France is a very complex question. One thing I am sure is that there will be intense lobbying by employers to stop or reduce this attack, as it is clear that French business owners are part of the trend to make their workers self-employed as much as possible.

It has reached the point where people speak in French about the uberisation de la société, which describes the disappearance of social protection for French employees, as well as for tenants and so on. That gives an idea how important this action is for France, as it will set the trend for the rest of French society.

An article in Le Monde also illustrates very well the evolution towards less protection for the employees.

http://www.lemonde.fr/economie-francaise/article/2016/05/17/l-urssaf-poursuit-uber-pour-requalifier-ses-chauffeurs-en-salaries_4920825_1656968.html#Z8ThiT8Otb0xpmj4.99

INCREASE OF MY FEES ON OCTOBER 1st 2016
It has been about six years since my fees last increased. On October 1st, I will raise my initial retainer from 250€ to 270€ and the hourly rate from 100€ to 110€.

MY OFFICE WILL NOT CLOSE DURING THE SUMMER VACATION
Since my office situation has not been resolved and I do not anticipate being able to move before August or early September, I am not planning any vacation time and do not expect to go away for any length of time this summer. Depending on the outcome of my office search and how quickly it proceeds, this could change some € but not much, considering the fact that any changes would be last minute. By the way, I have formed a new corporation, called “A Survival Kit For Paris.”

Best regards,

QUESTION

THE CONSEQUENCES OF AN UNWELCOME PROMOTION

After many years in France, I hold a carte de résident and I have been working for my employer for years. It is a job, and only a job … I do not want to say more. About two months ago I got a promotion and my new boss is plain awful. One could speak of harassment and degrading methods. I have worked on some projects with him and he is very abusive. Without waiting for me to sign the addendum to my contract, they gave me a new office, a new boss and more work to do with a meager increase in pay. I am reminded daily that if I do not sign the contract, I will not keep my raise. Considering the situation, I truly miss my former position; at least I could work in relative peace and get things done.
Do you think it is possible to get my job back? I never accepted the change and I have no intention of signing at this point. So what do I risk?

QUESTION

WHAT IS TAXABLE INCOME IN FRANCE?

Having lived here for many years, I have to fill out US tax forms as well as French. One thing about the French system I’ve never really understood is their “logic” about income: Brut, Net, Abbatu [sic], Imposable € each one is different. But why not just say you made this much and this is what you owe in taxes?

This is a 1992 movie staring Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston. She plays the threatened pop singer and he plays the bodyguard trained to protect presidents who becomes frustrated by the singer’s lack of understanding that her behavior is dangerous; she thinks that she is supposed to live a normal life and that he was hired to deliver just that. Eventually she understands that being safe requires changing her lifestyle and adapting to the new environment.

Several different plot elements illustrate aspects of the foreigner’s struggle to feel safe in a foreign country – the search for a protector, the need for « bodyguard » type of help, and the realization that a complete adaptation to the new environment would get rid of most of the fear. An example of this is the following exchange:

• – Professional: You are acting as if you fear that every new day brings another catastrophe.
• – Client: Yes, this has been my experience since I moved to France.
• – Professional: Do you feel the same way in your home country?
• – Client: Absolutely not, there I know that I am not in danger.

It is rare that it is expressed in such a candid way, but countless foreigners end up being crippled by this fear that is much bigger than what the issues should generate. In a society where security is getting to be one of the main concerns of people worldwide and particularly in the Western world, losing this sense of safety feels absolutely unacceptable.

Without opening the philosophical debate of what brings inner peace to people so that they feel safe, it is clear that the foreigner must have a much more objective evaluation of the situation and therefore must realize that he is facing nothing more than the same problems that he had in his country. The difference is simply that he knew how to fix them in his own country and, in the new country, he needs to learn new ways of fixing them. Seeking the ultimate bodyguard is a dangerous thing, and the professionals who help foreigners are often confronted by this impossible expectation.

VISITING OSLO AND THE SECURITY IN THE CITY
I would like to share the experience of visiting the capital city of Norway a few weeks ago. I was there about 30 years ago and a lot had changed since then, but the historical downtown, which extends from the Royal Castle to the Central train station and is several centuries old, has remained pretty much the same.

The Scandinavian way of life is visible and very poignant, even though the country has changed in three decades. The complete absence of visible security checks, including the fact that uniformed police do not bear arms, is the one thing struck me more than any other. No public buildings, including the castle, the parliament, museums or the city hall, seem to have visible built-in security. The only building in the downtown area that does is the old American Embassy! In short, in our day and age there was a place in the Western world where the shift to omnipresent security has not occurred.

People asked me if I felt safe in this environment, and YES, it felt good not to be surrounded by security personnel and devices. I could see cameras so I knew the security was monitored this way, and it did not interfere with our wandering and visits. Has Oslo made an unusual choice? Considering how many countries have gone the opposite direction, the answer is yes. This is especially true when one remembers the horrific attack by Anders Behring Breivik that killed 77 people in 2011. It is not up to me to decide whether their choice was right or wrong; clearly it was their choice and they stand by it.

ALUR – THE NEW LAW ON REAL ESTATE IN FRANCE
The loi pour l’Accès au Logement et à l’Urbanisme Rénové (law for improving access to housing and updating town planning), sponsored by the former minister for housing, Cécile Duflot, has ended up being a lot more pervasive that most people had anticipated. It changes a lot of things regarding renting and purchasing, including the notaire’s obligations, the duties of the syndic and how the French condominium association, la copropriété, now works.

For now I will just deal with some aspects of the landlord-tenant relationship. The ALUR law makes the rules for furnished and unfurnished apartments (location meublée vs. location murs nus) even more similar. It also attempts to put more limitations on the landlord regarding the contents of the lease and the amount of rent sought.

This change, which can be seen as counterproductive, took place because of a long history of abuse in the furnished-apartment rental market, which dates back to a time when short-term rentals barely existed.

In those days, the legal definition of a furnished apartment was one provided with a table, a chair and a bed. The law did not specify what kind of condition the furniture should be in. Landlords benefited because the protection given to tenants of unfurnished apartments did not exist for tenants of furnished ones. The critical issue was that landlords had the right to ask tenants to leave at the end of the lease, for any reason. Furthermore, protective clauses linked to the French concept of domicile did not exist for furnished flats. The logic was that anyone renting a furnished place had a true, stable domicile elsewhere. And yet, from the late 1970s on, almost all furnished apartment rentals were long term and the people living there considered them their home.

Law 2009-323 of March 2009, the so-called Loi Boutin (mobilisation pour le logement et la lutte contre l’exclusion), changed the situation radically. Among other things, it extended domicile-related protection to whatever address a person used to declare his/her income to the tax office. In addition, the requirement that landlords could give notice to a tenant of an unfurnished apartment only for very limited reasons was also applied to furnished apartments, as long as the rental length made it a residential lease and not a vacation rental.

The new law goes even further in this direction, defining what a tenant should be able to expect from a furnished apartment: « un logement décent équipé d’un mobilier en nombre et en qualité suffisants pour permettre au locataire d’y dormir, manger et vivre convenablement au regard des exigences de la vie courante. » Translation: « a decent lodging equipped with enough furniture in good condition to allow the tenant to sleep, eat and live there properly in terms of the expectations of daily life. »

As you can see, France has come a long way from its original definition of « furnished » as « containing a table, a chair and a bed. » Nevertheless, I am sure it will still be a long time before French landlords renting to local people realize that times have changed, and that they owe their tenants a decent place and some customer satisfaction.

Just as an aside, without going into a topic which is still a nasty can of worms, I believe that the spread of short-term or vacation rentals in Paris targeting foreigners, tourists who expect things to work perfectly to get their money’s worth showed that there were some benefits to requiring quality service.

Another change in the law, which has been described as minor but in reality is huge, is that the walk-through (état des lieux) at the beginning and end of a tenancy must now follow a strict procedure involving the filling out of a special new form. This is an effort to eliminate the classic speedy walk-through when the tenant moves in, where everything is described as in perfect or good condition without really examining the state of the rooms. The change will not eliminate complete bad faith on the part of landlords, but since it forces the use of a detailed form signed by both parties, it offers as a starting point an opportunity to go down the list and look at the condition of the floors, ceilings and walls. With the new walk-through form comes an even longer list of mandatory tests, les diagnostics, also applied to furnished rentals.

One last thing to mention, one that came from a purely political decision, is an attempt to monitor the amount of rent paid in an effort to regulate this in terms of market price. We are all waiting to see what the procedure will be, and many have expressed serious doubt that it will actually work. As a Frenchman, I am not automatically against government regulation, since this is the way France functions, but I do not see how a new monitoring body can have more power than the law of supply and demand. So I just hope it will facilitate catching the most unscrupulous landlords, which would be an improvement.

In a next issue, I will address the new rules that the law imposes regarding buying real estate.

A NEW NUMBER FOR THE PARIS PREFECTURE
Foreigners living in Paris who want to change their immigration status can only get an appointment by making a telephone call. The complaint I hear very often is that getting anyone to pick up is virtually impossible. I find it very hard myself, even when I hit the redial button as soon as I hear the busy signal. In May, the Paris préfecture made the system more difficult still, combining the information and appointment services with only one number for both. I have not tried the new number yet, but my guess is that the office is still vastly understaffed for the volume of calls received. Here is the new number: 01.56.95.26.80. Be very patient, and equally stubborn, if you need to call in the near future.

SOME OF MY SERVICE FEES WILL GO UP IN SEPTEMBER
My fee structure involves more than just the initial retainer and an hourly rate. It includes other fees for specific services, and I have not increased their rates for about 10 years. When I first started, I calculated how much time the tasks would take, on average, but the correlation no longer exists. Therefore I will increase the following fees starting on September 1st:

– Handling mail in my office: from 20 to 30 euros per month.

– Handling mail received at my home: from 30 to 40 euros per month

– Surcharge for out-of-office meetings: from 20 to 30 euros.

I am also raising the only flat fee I charge, for obtaining full residency status as an employee in France. In such cases the employer pays me to do the complete procedure, so the prospective employee gets the right to work as an employee, then the long-term visa and finally the carte de séjour. My fee for this procedure will rise from 800€ HT/1.000€ TTC to 1,167€ HT/1,400€ TTC.

OFFICE TO CLOSE FOR SUMMER VACATION
My office will be closed from the evening of Friday July 25th until 9AM on Monday August 25th. 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.

As usual, there will be no August issue.

Best regards,

QUESTION

FIGHTING NOTICE GIVEN BY THE LANDLORD

I have been a tenant in my Parisian apartment for decades and have been enjoying it. The building has changed ownership several times, from being owned by a single old man then by an S.C.I. Société Civile Immobilière. Recently my apartment changed owners again and it now belongs to the son of the initial owner.
About three years ago, the son, as the manager of the S.C.I., gave notice for the apartment just above mine so that his son, the grandson of the original owner, could move in. I told the tenant that such a notice done by an S.C.I. was illegal, but nothing was done. This young adult moved in and stayed no more than a couple of months. Then a new tenant came in. Now the place is empty. I recently received a similar notice, stating that the same son wants to move into my apartment. Clearly this is a scam.
I saw a lawyer, who told me that it is impossible to stop a landlord from evicting in this situation since everything is being done legally this time. I want to fight this crook big time. Can French lawyers fight this kind of case in court?

QUESTION

A THIRD WAY TO DISMISS AN EMPLOYEE – RUPTURE CONVENTIONNELLE

After obtaining a French master’s in marketing, I accepted a low position as a junior graphic designer in an advertisement agency, for lack of better offers. I quickly hit it off with my immediate boss and I was allowed to work on more sophisticated projects, and I put in some very long hours at the office. He told me that he would ask senior management and HR to upgrade my position to cadre (management) status and redesign my job description.
I took a three-week vacation earlier this year, and when I came back, my immediate boss had been fired. So I went to see his boss, and the discussion turned very sour very quickly. All I got was a cold thank you for the passionate work I did, but my job description was never changed and I do not qualify for the so-called promised promotion. I hate them now. Even worse, they turned my workmates against me. I call this being harassed and persecuted. So I complained to my new boss, who hates me, and to HR, which answered that my disappointment created all this and I should fix my attitude. About a week ago, I told HR that I wanted a rupture conventionnelle, and therefore they should start the paperwork. They answered that this was not on offer but I could resign any time and they would accept it.

Now I want to report them to the authorities for harassment on the job, to get them to realize that what are doing is illegal. Do you think it is a good idea?