First, I would like to wish you all once again a very happy and prosperous 2023! There is a point at which we need to fill ourselves with optimism, regardless of what is happening around us.

Happy New Year!

I believe many of us, and probably all of us, think that 2023 must find a way to be better than 2022. For most of us, this will require more faith and less time following the news.

French custom dictates that New Year’s wishes can be expressed until the end of January, so I have managed it a few hours before the deadline.

Don’t Let It Bring You Down 
Old man lying by the side of the road
With the lorries rolling by
Blue moon sinking from the weight of the load
And the buildings scrape the sky
Cold wind ripping down the alley at dawn
And the morning paper flies
Dead man lying by the side of the road
With the daylight in his eyes
Don’t let it bring you down
It’s only castles burning
Find someone who’s turning
And you will come around
Blind man running through the light of the night
With an answer in his hand
Come on down to the river of sight
And you can really understand
Red lights flashing through the window in the rain
Can you hear the sirens moan? 
White cane lying in a gutter in the lane
If you’re walking home alone
Don’t let it bring you down
It’s only castles burning
Find someone who’s turning
And you will come around
Don’t let it bring you down
It’s only castles burning
Just find someone who’s turning
And you will come around
Don’t let it bring you down
It’s only castles burning
Just find someone who’s turning
And you will come around

“Don’t Let It Bring You Down” is the seventh track on Neil Young’s 1970 studio album, After the Gold Rush. It also appeared the following year as the ninth track on 4 Way Street, the third album by Crosby, Stills & Nash, their second as Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and their first live album – which is the version I know. That album shipped as a gold record and reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200.

I have always been intrigued, amused and impressed that my two children listened non-stop to this album for about a year when they were young teenagers. At the very least, they were raised with good music and lyrics.

After David Crosby’s death last month I had hoped to find a song by him that I knew and liked and whose title I could use. This was as close as I could get. I trust my readers will consider it to be close enough.

Sadly, a long list of things in France and the USA could be linked to this song. I see no point in mentioning them, however. We need a ton of faith to think that 2023 will bring great things and that many things will get fixed. At the same time, I know that with my own faith and determination, this year is going to bring a lot of good things, even though there will be several challenging projects.

The world and our countries would be very different if we never let anything bring us down. As far as I am concerned it is a matter of faith first and then using wise business sense – always in that order. So whenever you need it, remember: “Don’t let it bring you down”!

THE CHOICE OF OFFICIALS THROUGH THE ELECTORAL PROCESS 
“When stupidity is considered patriotism, it is unsafe to be intelligent.” – Isaac Asimov.

When I read this quote, it made me reflect on several instances where some elected officials and members of the executive branch have shown significant flaws in the positions they held. This in turn recalled a topic I mentioned a long time ago, in the November 2018 issue.

During the 2012 presidential campaign, Mitt Romney, the Republican candidate, was heavily criticized by both Democrats and numerous Republicans for speaking fluent French. I have no interest in discussing his political views or his career in general. As a Frenchman in France, I consider the ability to speak several languages as a plus for politicians at any level of responsibility. Here, according to Wikipedia, is how Romney became fluent in French.

“In July 1966, he began a 30-month stint in France as a Mormon missionary, a traditional rite of passage in his family. He arrived in Le Havre, where he shared cramped quarters under meager conditions. …

Romney soon gained recognition within the mission for the many homes he called on and the repeat visits he was granted. He became a zone leader in Bordeaux in early 1968, and soon thereafter became an assistant to the mission president in Paris. …

When the French expressed opposition to the U.S. role in the Vietnam War, Romney debated them. Those who yelled at him and slammed their doors in his face merely reinforced his resolve.

In June 1968, while in southern France and driving an automobile that was hit by another vehicle, Romney was seriously injured. The crash killed one of his passengers, the wife of the mission president.

Romney then became co-president of a mission that had become demoralized and disorganized after the May 1968 general strike and student uprisings and the car accident. With Romney rallying the others, the mission met its goal of 200 baptisms for the year, the most in a decade. By the end of his stint in December 1968, he was overseeing the work of 175 others. As a result of his experience there, Romney developed a lifelong affection for France and its people and has remained fluent in French.”

This reminded me of the expression “Pardon my French,” which of course I never use. I feel odd every time I hear it. Again from Wikipedia.

“‘Pardon my French’ or ‘Excuse my French’ is a common English language phrase ostensibly disguising profanity as words from the French language. The phrase is uttered in an attempt to excuse the user of profanity, swearing, or curses in the presence of those offended by it, under the pretense of the words being part of a foreign language. Also derived from the attempt to disguise the French term for ‘the seal’ – ’le phoque.’

At least one source suggests that the phrase ‘derives from a literal usage of the exclamation. In the 19th century, when English people used French expressions in conversation they often apologized for it – presumably because many of their listeners (then as now) wouldn’t be familiar with the language’. The definition cites an example from The Lady’s Magazine, 1830.

Bless me, how fat you are grown! – absolutely as round as a ball: – you will soon be as embonpoint (excuse my French) as your poor dear father, the major.”

But back to Mitt Romney, there is now a similar trend in France and several other European countries in the sense that to be elected or nominated for a government position, it is a big advantage to seem close to the people, to look and sound like them. In my view, this goes against the fundamental mission of leadership. I believe it requires impressive knowledge and experience in managing complex situations, as well as being a skilled negotiator. To me, having international experience and a worldview on issues is a must, but I understand why this might not be the case in the USA.

www.wamu.org/story/12/02/10/on_the_trail_romney_avoids_his_french_connection

FRENCH TENANTS’ RIGHTS ARE BEING CHALLENGED 
The National Assembly voted on December 2nd, 2022, to approve a law increasing penalties and other consequences of squatting in a property, whether it is someone’s primary or secondary residence. It is now awaiting discussion in the Senate. This is a significant breakthrough, as the bill reduces non-paying tenants’ rights.

Since 1954, the rights of tenants and, more generally, of people occupying a home have increased over the years, building on the concept that all French residents have a legal right to a home. Once someone has established their primary residence one way or another, the law protects this residence. Both the court and administrative procedures, especially combined, are very much against owners. In recent years there had been attempts to regulate these rights but they were marginal and did not help.

Recently the French media has reported situations where people break into someone’s secondary residence. It takes about three years to get them out, on average, and the inside of the house is usually destroyed by then. Another scam that appeared a few years ago and is now quite common involves a crook organizing a break-in at an apartment or a house and getting paid a cash commission, most often by a family who sign a lease that at first glance looks legal. The family then puts the utilities in their name, using the lease. The French courts and police have a very hard time getting such families evicted.

For those who are interested, you review the details of the new legislation here:
www.vie-publique.fr/loi/287344-proposition-loi-anti-squat-occupation-illicite-des-logements-expulsion.

THE SURVIVAL HOME IN PARIS (SHIP) IS FULLY OPERATIONAL
The first tenant moved in on January 3rd. As she is a friend of my wife, she got preferential financial treatment in exchange for being the first renter and testing everything for a month. This led to some minor adjustments. The story I like the most is that when I was asked if the kitchen was fully equipped, I said yes. After a trip to IKEA and a receipt totaling 303€ for all that was missing, now the kitchen really is fully equipped! I had a SHIP logo made, so I should soon have the website ready, with pictures and presentation. So far, we already have the studio rented through August 2023.

GOING THROUGH A NATURALIZATION INTERVIEW AT NANTERRE
In December a client went through an appointment for nationalization at the Nanterre prefecture. Afterward he shared with me the questions asked. Applicants often have a lot of anxiety about these interviews, fearing that they have to know everything about France – especially the culture, literature and history – back to Roman times. This report shows what is being asked.

The topics may differ from interview to interview. The goal of this meeting is less to check the applicant’s knowledge of France than to evaluate their ability to explain and describe a variety of unrelated topics in French, jumping from one to the next. Being able to do this demands a good level of French as well as feeling at ease speaking it. In short, the French administration is not checking the level of French grammar so much as the fluidity and ability to converse the French way.

Here is my client’s report:
“She went over my file and all my documents and confirmed everything, asked some questions about my family and where they live, how long my contract will last if I had a CDI.

Why do you want to be French? 
Do you see yourself in France in 10 years? 
Are you part of any associations? 
Do you own property in France or abroad? 
What are the nationalities of your entourage in France? 
How often do you visit your home country? 
Do you still have close ties to your home country? 
What cities in France have you visited? 
What river goes through Paris? 
What river goes through Lyon? 
What is democracy and what do you think about it? 
Is voting important to you? 
Serving on a jury? 
What is France’s currency? Describe each value. 
What are the rights and duties of a French citizen? 
What are the colors of the French flag? 
What is the symbol of France that is a woman? 
Describe the events of July 14th and why it’s an important day in French history
Describe laïcité and give your opinion of it. 
What is your opinion of freedom of expression? Does it have a limit? 
Who is the current prime minister? 
What is the French healthcare system called? When was it started? 
Name an important French person in history and why they are remarkable to you
Do you think men and women are equal in France?
How many countries are in the EU and which country just left?”

A READER REACTS TO THE SONG “WIND OF CHANGE”
A reader writes, referring to the December issue:
“I just had to write you following this month’s column.

To jog your memory, a few years ago I introduced you to the owners of XXX where you helped my American former colleague R. with her status.

You and I met when I first arrived here around 2005 at a talk you gave at the American Church if I recall – and I’ve read every one of your columns since then. I applied for and got my French nationality, with ALL the usual administrative hiccups and after a multi-year process, a few years ago. I can honestly say that without being a reader of your columns, I would have gone mad! However, you armed me very well – and I was able to laugh at some of the administrative inconsistencies and insane requests and soldier on! So, thank you for that. I doubt you often receive such feedback, but you should!

So why this [letter]? “Wind of Change” and the alleged CIA connection. Of course, I have no idea of the truth or not of such things, but I highly encourage you to listen to this podcast series on it. You and I are about the same age and have similar musical tastes, so if nothing else this will take you on a delightful and well-produced stroll down memory lane, I am certain: https://crooked.com/podcast-series/wind-of-change.

Enjoy should you choose to dive in, and no, I have no connection to crooked media but confess to being a regular listener to some of their pods.”

And here is my reply:
“Thanks for your message and your appreciation of my column. Indeed, I rarely receive such a nice comment about the help my column carries to people.

I might sound more cynical than I am. An unusual number of readers told me about the CIA creating/composing/drafting the lyrics of this song. Even if it is true, at this point I do not care; singers are not always composers.

What I do know is that the Scorpions performed behind the Iron Curtain, including in today’s Russia. They put their bodies on the line in defiance of Communist regimes.

Whoever wrote it, I care about the band because their lives were and still are affected by the existence of the Iron Curtain and what it meant. That is why I compared the song with “We Shall Overcome.” In the USA the people singing the latter song in the South, while demonstrating and risking their lives, also did not compose the lyrics, but they were living them.

I will just add that if the CIA did indeed write the lyrics, they did a darn good job, catching the spirit of that time very well.

REFUGEES COMING TO FRANCE AND RELATED PROCEDURES 
Pretty much since we moved back to France, I have been helping refugees, usually from anglophone Africa and Asia, often through a few non-profit organizations and local churches. These people can experience serious difficulties securing their immigration at renewal time as well as having a very hard time going through the regulation program, which makes it possible for an undocumented alien to obtain a legal stay. There are also asylum seekers, who face a complex and lengthy procedure.

As soon as I read the first article linked below in the newspaper Le Monde, I decided to share it with my readership. We hear so much about immigration and asylum seekers, but rarely an accurate description of what the procedure is and who the individuals seeking this status are. I was impressed by the neutral and accurate description of what these people go through, who was accepted and who was refused, and why. That is why I share it here, hoping some of you can find a way to have it translated into English, (for example, using the free DeepL translation program, https://www.deepl.com/translator).

As the second article linked below shows, the French government is working once again to pass legislation with significant political motivations. Thus it will result in further chaos concerning types of status the government considers “bad immigration” and will not help with what they deem “good immigration.”

By contrast, when the prefectures started to issue cartes de séjour valid for several years based on simple and clear guidelines, no one in the government mentioned this reform and hardly any major media outlets mentioned the changes. I believe this was the last efficient and positive reform related to immigration. The same is true of the many new online procedures. All those reforms were purely pragmatic, efficient and relatively easy to implement, all things considered.

www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2022/12/29/demandeurs-d-asile-a-montreuil-le-grand-oral-pour-obtenir-le-statut-de-refugie_6155963_3224.html
www.lemonde.fr/politique/article/2022/12/21/renforcement-de-la-double-peine-titre-de-sejour-pour-les-professions-medicales-le-gouvernement-a-finalise-son-projet-de-loi-sur-l-immigration_6155229_823448.html

Best regards,

QUESTION

ISSUES RELATED TO A TENANT’S PROOF OF ADDRESS

We are a couple of Americans living in California. Normally we never rent out the Parisian apartment we have owned for 15 years in the 15th. A friend of ours asked if we could help his daughter. We signed a one-year furnished contract in mid-December to start on the 1st of January. All the money owed, i.e. one month’s deposit and one month’s rent, appeared in my account early.”
Then she informed me that she would not be able to be there for the walk-through scheduled on Monday, January 2nd, but it would be done with a friend of hers who lives in Paris. Reluctantly I gave the keys to this man and had the entry walk-through form signed in two copies. I became very worried and upset when I received a copy of the tenant insurance statement of coverage issued in both names.
I now fear that this person may move in with my tenant. Is there anything I can do?

QUESTION

ASKING FOR A LONG-STAY VISA

I am an American and I have now scheduled my move to Paris in the early spring. Please let me know what I need to do for the visa. I would like you to describe the procedure and what goes in the file.

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.

I would like to wish you all you a great summer and a very nice vacation, enjoying the freedom of the moment.
I will start mine in ten days 

When I get older, losing my hair,
Many years from now, 
Will you still be sending me a Valentine, 
Birthday greetings, bottle of wine? 
If I’d been out till quarter to three
Would you lock the door? 
Will you still need me, will you still feed me, 
When I’m sixty-four? 
You’ll be older too
And if you say the word, 
I could stay with you. 
I could be handy, mending a fuse
When your lights have gone. 
You can knit a sweater by the fireside, 
Sunday mornings go for a ride. 
Doing the garden, digging the weeds
Who could ask for more? 
Will you still need me, will you still feed me, 
When I’m sixty-four? 
Every summer we can rent a cottage
On the Isle of Wight, if it’s not too dear. 
We shall scrimp and save. 
Grandchildren on your knee: 
Vera, Chuck and Dave. 
Send me a postcard, drop me a line, 
Stating point of view. 
Indicate precisely what you mean to say, 
Yours sincerely, wasting away. 
Give me your answer, fill in a form, 
Mine forever more. 
Will you still need me, will you still feed me, 
When I’m sixty-four?

Well, not quite – I just turned 62, the ripe age to retire in France. Some days I feel as old and in as bad shape as the song states. By the way, we do not have grandchildren yet! My birthday was yesterday.

After over two difficult years, I am seriously looking forward first to my vacation, starting in a few days on July 9th, as well as decreasing my workload starting in September so it is compatible with my age. One thing needed is stricter control over my schedule. Way too often I meet clients at lunchtime so I can accommodate their urgency. In retrospect, I realize this is no longer sustainable.

Even though there should be no more curfew or confinement in the foreseeable future, I have enjoyed getting home in time for dinner, and will make sure I continue to do so.

I am happy that I continue to have projects I want to do and the desire to get a few things done, both personal and professional. I have no intention of retiring but I have come to terms with the fact that I need to slow down. I also count on the pandemic being pretty much behind us: even though it will be a new normal, things will likely settle down to the extent that I can put together robust plans for my clients, knowing the rules and regulations are no longer liable to change overnight.

EXPECTATIONS ABOUT BEING OLD 
Another song sung by the young about being old and at the end of a career, like “When I’m Sixty-four,” is a French one. “Quand j’étais chanteur” (when I was a singer) came out in 1975, when the artist, Michel Delpech, was only 29 years old. It is a bold move by young artists, early in their career, to sing about its end. The vast majority of people do not like to think about getting old and what it means in terms of staying fit physically and mentally.

Western culture glorifies youth, being athletic, having a perfectly toned body. Asian and African cultures, by contrast, traditionally value older age, which they associate with knowledge, wisdom, authority.

HANDLING CULTURAL DIVERSITY 
I have been a fan of John Oliver since his debut with The Daily Show. His Wikipedia bio states:

“John William Oliver (born 23 April 1977) is a British-American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. Oliver started his career as a stand-up comedian in the United Kingdom. He came to wider attention for his work in the United States on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart as its senior British correspondent from 2006 to 2013. … Since 2014, Oliver has been the host of the HBO series Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.”

I watch this program online the Monday after it airs, when it becomes available on YouTube. Recently Oliver addressed two topics that resonated with me personally.

“hair, specifically black hair” on May 10th 
The first was “hair, specifically black hair.” I have been a member of the African Fellowship of the American Church in Paris since 2003. I have learned a lot and continue to be honored to feel I belong there. This connection has led to many interesting situations stemming from cultural differences and my need to quickly adapt. Oliver’s commentary in his May 10th segment called “Hair” was 100% right: Either you were born with it or you have no idea what it means, unless you have been personally confronted with the issue. I was amazed how balanced the program was. Although this white, British-born man admitted he had no grounds for addressing the issue, he managed to explain its many facets in a caring way.

Like him, I am a complete outsider. I had no idea about this issue until I was faced with it. About 15 years ago, I met with a friend from Zimbabwe one Saturday afternoon in Paris’s Chateau Rouge neighborhood, which is largely African. Most everything from the continent is available, and almost as much business is done on the sidewalk and even the street itself as in the shops. Eventually we went into beauty product shops. She went in first and I followed. What I was used to seeing, regarding hair care, was not there. Instead, I discovered a new world. Even the topics of discussions were different.

Eventually, I walked into one such shop first, momentarily blocking my friend from view. “A fish out of water” would be a major understatement. I was met by the saleswomen with total disbelief. It was inconceivable that I could have any business there. Clearly, I did not belong. A few seconds later, my friend stepped up and the situation went back to something more normal.

That is how I became familiar with this issue and with the huge disconnect between the standard hair care industry in the Western world and what it means to have black hair. 
You can watch the segment here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uf1c0tEGfrU

“Asian Americans” June 7th 
About a month later, Oliver’s main topic was Asian Americans. My wife and I used to be active members of the Multicultural Couples group at the American Church, which was started about 15 years ago. The members were often Franco-American couples, but not always. I remember a Spanish-Russian couple who had to do everything twice – wedding, baptisms – since their families were traditional and religious, so the ceremonies had to be first Catholic and then Orthodox. Stuck in the middle, this couple had to deal with all kinds of issues, the most obvious being juggling how and when to celebrate Christmas and Easter.

Another couple who caught my attention were both East Asian. Their story was a true eye-opener, and still fascinates me all these years later. In both cases, their parents came from the area of Wenzhou, a port city in Zhejiang province, China. Thus they spoke the same dialect, ate the same food, were raised with similar parental styles in the same culture and traditions. During their courtship, they felt they had everything in common and there were no cultural differences for them. Only after they married and had lived together for a while did they realize how far apart they were culturally. The husband was born and raised in Canada and the wife in the Belleville neighborhood of Paris. One was a Canadian citizen, educated in Canada, with Canadian reflexes. The other was French, with French schooling and everything that goes with it. Unlike the other couples in the group, they had never expected to have to adapt to each other’s culture and deal with obvious differences.

On June 7th, John Oliver’s segment titled “Asian Americans” dealt with the diverse population in the USA with origins in Asia, especially Southeast Asia. Along with Chinese immigrants, with whom they are often conflated, these people have been the victims of racist aggression in recent years, especially since the beginning of the pandemic. John Oliver discussed the stereotypes associated with Asian Americans. Regardless of whether they reflect reality, stereotypes are hurtful. 
Once again, I was impressed by how easy he made it seem to explain complex issues in detail:www.youtube.com/watch?v=29lXsOYBaow

Recalling these episodes of Last Week Tonight was an attempt to choose some lighter topics and stay as far as possible from the political issues of the moment. It is aligned with my job which is, among other things, to adapt to the cultural differences, which I face while trying to help foreigners living in France.

FRENCH LOCAL ELECTIONS
On consecutive Sundays, June 20th and 27th, France held elections for the regional and departmental levels. Turnout is always lower in local elections than in national ones, which involve presidential elections. This time, the vast majority of eligible voters stayed away, setting a record low of 33.28% voters. Of course, everybody has an explanation and blames others for the situation. I do not believe there is just one reason or one person to blame. But a particular reason I have heard makes sense to me, although I am sure it is not the only one and may not be the most important.

France’s regions have their roots in provinces that were formed after the fall of the Roman Empire. They have always had strong cultural identities. Even today, some have their own languages, not always with Latin roots. Law No 2015-29 of January 16th, 2015, turned 22 historical provinces into 13 regions, thus aggregating areas that often had little in common except being next to each other. In American terms, it would be like joining Texas and Louisiana in a single unit just because they share a border. True, Brittany and Corsica were left alone in the reorganization. Both had suffered terrorist attacks in the 1970s in campaigns for independence from France. This may have deterred the central government from changing their status. These two exceptions could make my comparison with Texas and Louisiana less pertinent.

The real issue is that one motivation for voting is to feel engaged in matters. Ideally, it is things like knowing the candidates personally and having an opinion on local projects that draw people to the voting booth.

Also, there were two elections at the same time, as the one for thedépartements had originally been scheduled during the pandemic. The structure of the départements has scarcely changed in 200 years. I cannot remember France ever conducting elections for two levels at once, though this is the norm in the USA, with multiple ballots.

Many think the French democratic system is in crisis. If the low turnout in June proves to be an isolated incident, COVID-19 may be one of the main reasons. But I am not convinced of it.

ALL TYPES OF VISA ARE NOW AVAILABLE
For a long time, I was asked almost daily when the French consulate in Washington, DC, and VFS Global’s offices would fully reopen. Now information I am getting through my clients indicates that things started to move after June 9th, and it seems that everything was back to normal by the 21st. That is so recent that I do not know how easy the visa issuance is, the timeframe for each type of visa, and so on. Overall, though, this is going to facilitate my work a lot, making it much easier to help clients plan their immigration projects.

CONSEQUENCES OF BREXIT AT THE PREFECTURES
Advice on French administration websites says if you could prove you settled in France before December 31st, 2020, you had to file your request for an EU card by June 30th, 2021. Then the actual carte de séjour must be available before September 30th. Those who settled after December 31st have no EU card available and they have to prove grounds for residency as defined by the six types of cartes de séjour:

• – visiteur
• – étudiant
• – salarié
• – vie privée & familiale
• – commerçant & artisan
• – passeport talent

Hence, I strongly advise British people to ask for immigration status immediately by booking an appointment with VFS Global. The challenge is to put together a file corresponding to one of the choices above. In my experience, many British people got used to coming and going, having part of their life in France, while never establishing solid roots that would enable them to obtain a carte de séjour. It will be a rude awakening to find out that they need to ask for a visa and give a reason in order to spend more than three months in France!

TENANTS LEAVING AN APARTMENT UNOCCUPIED CAN LOSE THE LEASE
The tenant of a primary residence is well protected and almost nothing can be done to jeopardize the right to stay there. As almost everybody knows, it can take about three years to expel a non-paying tenant. I have reported on a case where a tenant lost their right for running an Airbnb rental business, and common sense indicates that engaging in criminal activities and living in deeply unsanitary conditions would also affect the right to stay.

Now a court decision has shed light on a more obscure provision: occupying the premises. One would think it is evident that a person would only pay rent for a long time if they live there. But the pandemic led to situations where people left their rented lodgings vacant for a year or more. Even if such a pandemic occurs only once a century, situations where rent is paid for months or even years, without anyone staying there, exist more often than one would think.

The tenant of the main residence must occupy it “effectively and continuously,” i.e., at least eight months a year, failing which the lease may be terminated. The Cour de Cassation, the French Supreme Court, in a ruling on May 6th, 2021, shed some interesting light on this issue. It involves the terms of the standard lease, which state that the tenant must occupy the lodging. This is also a provision in French law.

Obligation du locataire d’occuper effectivement et personnellement le logement. Lorsque le logement est occupé à titre de résidence principale, le locataire est tenu d’user paisiblement des locaux loués suivant la destination qui leur a été donnée par le contrat de location (loi du 6.7.89 : article 7).

In other words, “The tenant is obliged to effectively and personally occupy the dwelling. When the dwelling is occupied as a principal residence, the tenant is obliged to use the rented premises peacefully according to the purpose assigned to them in the rental agreement.”

Here is a summary of the case in question: In 2014, the landlord wondered if the tenant still occupied the premises, even though the rent was paid. He went to court to obtain the right to verify the tenant’s presence. A bailiff forced the lock and observed that the apartment “had not been inhabited for a long time.” This was confirmed by the minimal water consumption and the presence of unopened mail dating back to 2008. The tenant lost the lease as a result.

I am sure it is extremely rare for a tenant to pay rent on an apartment left empty for years. Still, many foreigners are unaware of the importance of the primary residence, and therefore of choosing one. The primary domicile address is the cornerstone of a large part of the French legal system, despite the fact that in 2021 hardly any postal mail is still delivered.

www.lemonde.fr/argent/article/2021/06/05/immobilier-le-locataire-qui-s-absente-trop-risque-l-expulsion_6082950_1657007.html

MY BUSINESS HAS A NEW FACEBOOK PAGE
Over the holidays, my assistant, Sarah, took an interesting initiative and created a new Facebook page. It is a good move for her since she and I both moderate it. She can show off her expertise and her ability to give good advice and clearly explain solutions. She does this in French, leaving the queries in English to me.

Since I am already active in a few Facebook groups and my website is my main showcase, I did not feel I needed such a page. On the other hand, it will no doubt benefit her. I do not have the time to monitor this forum and so far, it has been fairly quiet. Sarah is still figuring out how to handle this new task, being quite busy herself. I am sure it will be a great space for exchange, and hope it will pick up in the near future.

You are welcome to join:
https://www.facebook.com/rattachement

SUMMER VACATION: THE OFFICE WILL BE CLOSED JULY 9th to AUGUST 23rd
The office will be closed for a month and a half, starting Friday, July 9th, and reopening on Monday, August 23rd. As always, I will be reachable by email for emergencies and important matters. My service of receiving mail for clients will continue while the office is closed.

THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE ALREADY HAS A TITLE
Dreamboat Annie was the band Heart’s first album. A reader challenged me to title the next issue this way. Two years ago, for the July 2019 issue, I was faced with the same challenge with “Father and Son” by Cat Stevens. This time the challenge is much more difficult.

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

Best regards,

QUESTION

IS SELF-EMPLOYMENT IN FRANCE & EMPLOYEE IN THE USA COMPATIBLE?

Following your answers read on Facebook, I’m just asking a follow-up question. With a micro-entrepreneur permit in France, as a consultant, I leave France for a year or two to take up a job in country X. During that time, I pay micro-entrepreneur related taxes to France and job-related taxes to X. At this time, I’m a fiscal resident of France but since I don’t have a physical residence in France, will that be a problem if I want to count this time of absence towards my applying for residency (= ten-year card) in France? I noticed that in your answer, you mentioned legal and fiscal residency is needed even though one lives abroad. So what constitutes legal residency?

QUESTION

OWNING AND SELLING REAL ESTATE IN FRANCE: CAPITAL GAINS AND PRIMARY RESIDENCE

I own an apartment in Paris in full. I finally got in there after almost two years of being blocked. I never want that to happen again. I need to secure my stay in France once and for all. My apartment is quite spacious and therefore great for a family of three children in the 16th arrondissement. Now that I am single and an empty nester, I need to downsize some and get to a livelier neighborhood. My children want to keep a place to stay in Paris, but I am afraid of French estate taxes. Right now I am even more afraid of the capital gains tax I will pay when I sell the apartment

The song “Hard-Headed Woman” was recorded on Cat Stevens’s fourth album, Tea for the Tillerman, released in 1970.

I’m looking for a hard-headed woman
One who’ll take me for myself
And if I find my hard-headed woman
I won’t need nobody else, no no no!

I’m looking for a hard-headed woman
One who’ll make me do my best
And if I find my hard-headed woman
I know the rest of my life will be blessed, yes yes yes.

I have always loved this song, and I share the inclination for strong-willed women. I am not sure how many men, even today, will feel blessed finding a hard-headed woman. My friend Richard found his mate many years ago, and she is now grieving his death. Some pending changes in state law in the South of the USA reminded me of this song describing a quest for the right strong-willed woman. I have no idea what will happen to these legislative changes at the end of the process, but I am sure there will be an increase in the number of hard-headed women throughout the USA. It will scare some or many men. It will also offer a larger choice to men who know they will be blessed for the rest of their life with the hard-headed woman of their liking.

OFFICE CLOSED FOR MY 60th BIRTHDAY
The office will close for a little less than two weeks for this occasion, from the evening of Friday June 14, reopening the morning of Tuesday July 2nd. I will only be reachable by e-mail for emergencies and important matters, as I will be outside of France. My service of receiving mail for clients will continue while the office is closed. For the first time in about 20 years, an issue of my column, that of July 2019, will probably not be sent the last day of the month, as I will still be out of the country on vacation. You may expect to receive the issue on the 2nd or the 3rd.

THE EUROPEAN ELECTIONS
In France, voting took place on Sunday May 26, which was too late for me to draw any conclusions for the current issue, so my reflections on the European elections will have to wait until the next issue.

URSSAF HAS INTRODUCTORY INFO IN ENGLISH
I recently discovered that URSSAF is now communicating in English, including a three-minute video explaining French social programs. I am tempted to dismiss this effort because the information is so basic that I wonder who in France would not already know it. That being said, my clients often need me to explain to them how the system works at such a basic level. So I admit this communication campaign might be useful to foreigners who have not figured out how France’s social programs work, starting with an overview on healthcare coverage.

I almost wish I could conduct a poll to find out how many people will take the time to watch the video and how many of them honestly learn something it. Nevertheless, this is a move in the right direction, and I hope URSSAF will continue down this path.

The main section of the URSSAF website in English starts here:

www.urssaf.fr/portail/home/welcome-to-foreign-companies.html

It includes a link to the video on the right side. Otherwise, go directly to:

THE ICONIC METRO TICKET IS ABOUT TO DISAPPEAR
The metro ticket as a means of payment for travel in the Parisian public transport system first appeared in 1900. The ticketing system went through many changes as the metro was modernized. The most recent radical change occurred between 1970 and 1973, when the ticket punchers (poinçonneurs) disappeared and stations were equipped with automatic turnstiles and magnetic tickets. Serge Gainsbourg wrote and sang a song about a poinçonneur, who punched holes in tickets before travelers got on the train:

No matter how diverse the range of various passes tailored to special user groups, there is always the need for a single-trip ticket requiring a single-trip payment. This possibility is fast disappearing. Many people help the homeless and asylum seekers in Paris by giving out a few individual tickets, making a world of difference for those needy travelers. I fully understand the need for turnstiles to evolve with more modern technology, especially considering how often the ticket-reading parts fail and require repair compared to the laser-based pass-reading parts. Still, this evolution further marginalizes what is seen as an undesirable population.

From The Local, May 20th 2019:
Paris authorities are set to launch a new paperless version of their tickets in the form of a plastic top-up card called Navigo Easy.
On June 12, 2019, tourists and occasional users of the Paris metro network will be able to purchase the contactless and reusable card for €2.
“It will work like an e-wallet,” Valérie Pécresse, head of Ile-de-France’s transport network, told reporters at the Vivatech new technologies fair on Friday.
The fare will remain the same: €1.90 for a single-trip ticket and €14.90 for ten trips.
Paris transport authorities estimate the Navigo Easy system has 5.8 million potential customers.
If it’s any consolation for those who prefer to carry on buying the small single-trip carton tickets, it won’t be until the summer of 2020 that they are completely discontinued.
For nearly 119 years, from the opening of the first line of the Paris Métro in 1900, the little rectangles of thick white paper with a black line on the back have been with Parisians.
This will signal the end of the sale of 550 million single-trip tickets every year.
By September 2019 the new digital system will be improved with the option of being able to top up on trips directly from a smartphone rather than at the counter or ticket machine.
“No more queueing at the station or station to top up your Navigo pass or to buy tickets,” added Pécresse.
But the system is currently only adapted to latest-generation Samsung smartphone users. No mention has been made yet of whether iPhone Paris metro users will have been able to go completely digital in future. Paris transport authorities plan to eventually incorporate the whole public transport network of the Ile-de-France region into the Navigo Easy system.

https://www.thelocal.fr/20190520/this-card-will-start-replacing-paris-metro-tickets-on-june-12th?fbclid=IwAR0awcBiObEDUUdpXL7hTzphM_YHPRN8iBdPYAyaL1aLaEUBjHEhAj9_XNU

FRENCH REAL ESTATE AGENTS NOW MUST ADVISE CLIENTS
For a long time, French real estate agents were reputed to lie about everything. In the last twenty years, legislation has been passed forcing the industry to give accurate information on specific topics. For example, the law known as the loi Carrez sets out obligatory information on the size of a dwelling, and other regulations specify tests that must be done at the seller’s expense including checking for possible hazards such lead, asbestos, and more, along with the status of electricity and gas.

Now the French Supreme Court, the Cour de cassation, has issued a ruling that adds a new layer of professional obligations which could radically change the way French real estate agents do business.

Until now, agencies were liable for inaccuracies, also called lying, that could be proved in court. In other words, they have been operating on what I call “French truth.” This means they saying just enough to be telling the truth, but not the whole truth. There is often a huge difference between the two. For example, stating that that no major work has been done inside the house could hide the fact that the patio and terrace were built illegally, as they are not “inside” the house.

The latest case is a milestone because a real estate agent was ruled liable for not giving a critical piece of information even though he was not asked about it.

In this specific case, a couple bought a house in southwestern France in what seemed to be a quiet place. Neither the sellers nor the real estate agent mentioned that a new highway loop would be built about 50 meters (164 feet) from the house.

The buyers sued the sellers and won the case; the sale was annulled on the grounds of willful misrepresentation or dol. This legal concept means knowingly giving the buyer a false impression about what is being bought. Staying silent about a critical element of the object purchased has long been considered dol. What is new here is that the real estate agent was ordered to pay damages for not informing the sellers about their duty to be honest with the buyers. The argument that he was not enough of a professional to know the consequences of the highway plans did not stick. The court ruled that the agent had a responsibility to disclose the plans since he knew that a road so close to the house would have an impact on the quality of life of those living in it.

Let’s hope for the best: perhaps in the future French real estate agents will inform buyers of what they know.

SUMMER VACATION: THE OFFICE WILL BE CLOSED from July 19 to August 19
The office will be closed for one month starting Friday, July 19, reopening on Monday, August 19. As always, I will be reachable by e-mail for emergencies and important matters. My service of receiving mail for clients will continue while the office is closed.

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

Best regards,

QUESTION

WORKING THROUGH A NON-PROFIT

About a year ago, I got a visiteur visa and was able to renew it. I have always been interested in healthy food and teaching people how to eat, which means how to cook. I know many say France has the best cuisine in the world, but I see the same bad habits that exist in the USA – the fast food industry, eating processed food, and so on. This is not French cuisine, but French people are eating it. I can live off my family trust fund for years so I am not rushed to resume my career in France, but I would love to launch awareness-raising courses right away. Is it possible with my current status, or should I change and maybe wait several years? Would asking for a different visa in the USA make it possible?

QUESTION

HOW TO MANAGE A NEGATIVE DECISION FROM DIRECCTE

I am an American living in Paris. I came to France in 2016 to pursue my master’s degree in hospitality and tourism management at Paris School of Business. During my studies, I worked at Planet Hollywood as a bartender to support myself for 960 hours per academic year. Upon graduation, I was offered a full-time job as a bartender with the same employer. So I applied for a work permit at the prefecture of Bobigny while I enrolled in a master’s research program. I waited a year then received a letter from the prefecture refusing this work permit and giving me 30 days to leave France. I have 25 pay slips and 12 of them are full-time. Can I appeal the decision to a court? Can I ask for new student status?

QUESTION

LONG-STAY VISA WITH NO RIGHT TO RENEW

I am an American studying French in Paris. I have been here since March 27 and will finish the winter semester at the Sorbonne this week. I have a dispense temporaire de carte de séjour, which expires in October 2019. This has prevented me from obtaining a carte de séjour, which I was hoping would then allow me to get a work visa, as I thought as a student I was permitted to work 20 hours a week. In order to stay, I must have a job, as I have plunged below zero in my bank account. I have two job offers, but both require proper papers. I can go back to the States if necessary and deal with the French Embassy in LA, but I wanted to see if you thought you could help me with anything. I know people who are here without proper visas and seem to be getting around the system, finding work where they are paid under the table. Is it really the best solution?

QUESTION

MOVING HOUSEHOLD POSSESSIONS TO FRANCE WITHOUT A TAX CLEARANCE

We arrived in France in January and have now found a place to settle down. We are ready to move our stuff. We will be back in the USA in August, which would be a time we could hire the mover. Our one-year window to move things without fees ends on December 8, the date the visa was issued. We are within that deadline, but now we have been told that we would pay duties if we cannot prove it is our stuff. This makes no sense: the movers are taking all this from one home and moving it to a new home. How can it be an import?

I would like to wish all of you a great summer
and a very nice vacation;
I will start mine in about three weeks

From Wikipedia
“The Sound of Music is a 1965 American musical drama film produced and directed by Robert Wise, and starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, with Richard Haydn and Eleanor Parker. Based on the memoir The Story of the Trapp Family Singers by Maria von Trapp, the film is about a young Austrian woman studying to become a nun in Salzburg in 1938 who is sent to the villa of a retired naval officer and widower to be governess to his seven children. After bringing and teaching love and music into the lives of the family through kindness and patience, she marries the officer and together with the children they find a way to survive the loss of their homeland through courage and faith.

Maria Augusta von Trapp (January 26th 1905 – March 28th 1987), also known as Baroness von Trapp, was the stepmother and matriarch of the Trapp Family Singers. She wrote The Story of the Trapp Family Singers, which was published in 1949.

After performing at a festival in 1935, they became a popular touring act. They experienced life under the Nazis after the Anschluss, i.e., the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany, which took place on March 12, 1938. Life became increasingly difficult as they witnessed hostility towards Jewish children by their classmates, the use of children against their parents, and finally by the induction of Georg into the German Navy. They visited Munich in the summer of 1938 and encountered Hitler at a restaurant. In September, the family left Austria and traveled to Italy, then to England and finally the United States. The Nazis made use of their abandoned home as Heinrich Himmler’s headquarters.”

The American media is buzzing and it feels like every hour there is a new tweet, a new statement. Comparisons are made, and the people offended express their indignation.

I use comparison to explain things, to help people understand foreign concepts and so on. It is now common to hear comparisons of what is happening in the USA to the period mentioned above.

From a technical and historical point of view, I find these comparisons inaccurate, even though I believe asylum seekers are by definition covered by the Geneva Convention and therefore can exercise their rights to ask for asylum in whatever country they choose. Considering such people criminals is wrong from a legal point of view, and it is wrong to persecute them.

The Trapp family’s final destination was the USA. They ended up living in Morrisville, Vermont. My wife and daughter can sing the soundtrack of this movie from beginning to end. I know the movie quite well and like everybody else I enjoy the sweet and/or comic scenes which constitute the vast majority of it. One character often overlooked is the father, Georg von Trapp. He is part of the Austrian aristocracy, a senior officer in the Austrian armed forces. He is as strict and stiff as an old-fashioned father can be, even according to the standards of that time. When he is told to go along with the flow and remain quiet, he rebels, and he publicly denounces the loss of Austrian sovereignty. The consequence is that the entire family has to flee the country to seek asylum elsewhere. The movie is not 100% accurate as to how the family sought asylum, but it is a fact that they managed and settled in the USA with this status.

FEELING UNSAFE IN THE USA WITH TEENAGERS 
I have been in business for over 20 years. When George Bush Junior was elected, I noticed a surge of people who wanted to move to France. The reality is that most of them had already been thinking about it for a while and the presidential election just accelerated the process. Lately, I have seen Americans deciding to move to France because they refuse to live in the USA while President Trump remains in office.”

A few weeks ago, I received a call from a woman living in the USA with her 12-year-old daughter. She had decided to send her daughter to live with her father, who lives near Montpellier, France. They have been divorced for many years and yet the father has never paid any child support. The court awarded her full custody of the child with visiting rights for the father, who rarely exercised them. I asked about her motivation, saying “Why do you want your pre-teen daughter to live in France with a father she barely knows?” Her answer chilled me to the bone. She first mentioned school shootings and said she thought they were living where these incidents usually happened. She added that life in the United States today is more dangerous than in Montpellier. Her ex-husband lives in a small village on the outskirts of town, where there is less danger than in a big town, and she felt her daughter would be safer living with him. I believe that a significant part of feeling scared lies in perceptions, and rarely is it an accurate reflection of the danger. I am convinced that her fears do not reflect the reality of the situation, even though she lives in a dangerous area.

It is undeniable that school shootings occur and it could appear that nothing is being done to stop them. Similarly, even though the #metoo movement has opened up the topic of sexual harassment, which makes for a safer environment, it can lead to the impression of an epidemic of harassment since so many stories are becoming public. Bullying is being discussed with more fervor, while schools take more positive action. I conclude the fear is real here, and since I do not have all the details of her life, I can only assume that her plan is not a hasty decision. It is true that attending French middle school for several years would enrich this young girl’s life and there are clear benefits to the idea. In fact, the woman did put the benefits first when she called.

I am still wrestling with this choice, however. How can a mother send her daughter to France, with all the uncertainties and potential risks involved? It is bound to be quite traumatic for all. It feels to me like a desperate decision, choosing between two evils.

DEVELOPMENTS ON SHORT-TERM LODGING IN FRANCE
The new administration in France is more conservative than expected at the time of the election. Nevertheless, the fight to restrict very short-term rentals continues pretty much the same way. One recent change is that the current administration has figured out that French fiscal residents are involved in this activity and they can be caught because of the tax implications. It has always been true that the easiest way to nail someone involved in an illegal activity is often through tax laws concerning the income they generate.

I would like to address three principal issues here:

First, in mid-June URSSAF sent out a memo about how to declare the income generated from short-term rentals. If the annual gross income thus produced is less than 23,000 euros, all one needs to do is mention it on the standard income declaration form. Such rentals cannot be what is called location de chambres d’hôtes et de meublé de tourisme, although I have a hard time coming up with what else to calls such rentals.

If the annual gross income is between 23,000 and 70,000 euros, the owner must declare this as a professional activity. This means obtaining a SIRET number (tax ID number) and paying social charges on the profit made. But the activity can be done under auto-entrepreneur status.

The above concerns purely the fiscal side and says nothing about registering the activity at City Hall.

Second, on June 9th the Assemblée Nationale (lower house of parliament) voted to start the legislative process on a bill dealing with, among many other things, Airbnb-type rentals. As a result, several provisions will now be better enforced, and there are also new regulations. A primary residence can only be rented 120 days per year. The owner must make an annual declaration to City Hall on how many nights the place was rented out. Fines for non-compliance will be between 5,000 and 10,000 euros. Websites such as Airbnb must verify that every ad is legal, i.e., that the owner has registered the activity with City Hall. The companies managing Airbnb-type rentals can now be fined between 10,000 and 50,000 euros if there are ads without such registration.

“Our targets are individuals who buy apartments dedicated to short-term rental” (Notre cible, c’est ceux qui achètent des appartements pour faire de la location à court terme), said Sylvain Maillard, an elected official at Paris City Hall who belongs to President Macron’s party.

One last thing: city employees will have the authority to monitor the concerned websites and apartments.

Just to show the diversity of the topics covered by the bill, victims of domestic violence will not be liable to pay rent once they decide to move out to seek safety. The law states that the spouses are legally obliged to pay the rent unless a formal notice has been given to the landlord. In the case of domestic violence, the process that terminates the lease is respected, for obvious reasons. This is common sense, but a provision needs to be voted in to make it possible.

Owners renting out slums risk having their property confiscated and being prevented by law for five years from buying any real estate in France.

https://abonnes.lemonde.fr/politique/article/2018/06/08/locations-type-airbnb-l-assemblee-vote-des-sanctions-accrues_5311995_823448.html

Third, on June 23rd Le Monde published an article about landlords getting out of Airbnb-type rentals, even when it is done 100% legally.

There are several reasons. The main one seems to be the very high maintenance needed. Because guests stay for short periods, the wear and tear is much higher than with a normal rental. Furniture and appliances need to be repaired and/or changed frequently, as does the bedding. Paying for the cleaning lady, handyman and perhaps a manager to keep the place ready to rent is quite costly.

Also mentioned was the ever-present risk of one tenant destroying the place. Often the apartments used for short-term rentals are inherited, or the owners used to live there. Hence there may be considerable emotional attachment involved, in which the place is not an investment or a revenue source, but is loaded with memories. During the walk-through one might hear about three decades of family history!

Another complaint is one that I find very symptomatic of the French apartment rental sector: French owners do not want to satisfy guests’ wishes to the extent needed to get a good grade on the site and thus maintain good referrals. The French tend instead to feel that guests should be happy with what they get as long as the place is good enough for sleeping.

This shift is not yet obvious, as so many people still do Airbnb-type rentals. But for people who need a place to stay when they arrive with their immigration visa in hand, it helps to know that there are likely to be more and more apartments available for longer-term rental, three to six months at a time. Such places are vital for new arrivals, enabling them to take care of immediate needs such as securing the immigration status related to their long-stay visa, and being able to open a bank account with a stable address, to mention the most obvious ones.

https://abonnes.lemonde.fr/argent/article/2018/06/23/logement-les-limites-de-la-location-de-courte-duree_5320031_1657007.html

SUMMER VACATION: PERIOD THE OFFICE IS CLOSED THIS SUMMER
The office will be closed for less than a month, starting Friday, July 23rd. It will reopen on Monday, August 20th. 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. Prefecture appointments already scheduled will not be affected – I will be there.

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

Best regards,

QUESTION

CHOSING BETWEEN A CARTE BLEUE EUROPEENNE AND SELF-EMPLOYED IMMIGRATION STATUS

I am an American, working and living in Paris, who has been living and working in France with a carte bleue européenne visa (I have lived in France for 2 years). However, I am considering switching to the self-employed status, which will I think require a visa change to something like profession libérale or another visa.
Is this possible?

QUESTION

WHEN RENOVATIONS VOTED BY THE OWNERS’ COUNCIL GO WRONG

I bought an apartment in Paris about 15 years ago as I thought I would be relocated in Germany. This did not happen but I still have it and am making the best of the situation. All these years the building has been more or less reasonably managed. A couple of years ago, the general meeting voted the renovation of the courtyard facade. The initial work started about a year later, to be stopped almost right away.
The property manager, i.e. the syndic, is now telling us it has JUST! discovered (as if this could be believable) that the structure of these walls is made of wooden beams and all of them are rotten. So, a new and now extraordinary general meeting has been called to approve the investigation of the condition of these walls, and there will be a need for another one to approve the renovation of the beams. In short, they have scheduled one year of work instead of four months and doubled the budget from 140,000€ to 300,000€.

What incompetent crooks! As a co-owner can I sue the syndic by myself? For sure they are not going to get my money just because they are incompetent.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Best regards,

QUESTION

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

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

QUESTION

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

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

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

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

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

QUESTION

DOES A SIX MONTH VISA GRANT IMMIGRATION STATUS?

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

“Ball and Chain” (also known as “Ball ‘n’ Chain” or “Ball & Chain”) is a blues song written and recorded by American singer-songwriter Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton in the early 1960s and best known through the version by Janis Joplin and Big Brother and the Holding Company, who first performed it at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967.

Some Americans have long looked at living in France with horror because of what they see as an absence of freedom and an omnipotent state regulating every aspect of people’s lives. This was never true, however, and the last 30 years have seen modernization of the French administration, linked to drastic changes in the legal system that have increased the rights of French citizens and others living in France.

Nevertheless, many see the protection universelle maladie (PUMa) as an imposition of this magnitude. Another vestige of the old view that the state knows best is the way French law and courts still limit rights regarding name changes. And there was a time when getting married with a prenuptial agreement was seen as being the prisoner of an institution – wearing a ball and chain. As for the other topics below, I will let you decide if there is a connection.

UPDATE ON PUMA, WHICH TURNED INTO A NIGHTMARE FOR MANY 
I would like to thank the Association of Americans Resident Overseas (AARO) for its help on this issue. They are on the forefront of this, and as far as I know are the only organization actively helping members deal with the problem and possibly lobbying in favor of a change. In particular, I would like to thank Eric Fenster, the AARO member who helped me draft this section.

We had feared that the new system would result in adverse situations after being implemented for about two years without collecting premiums for the coverage offered. In fact, the situation is even worse than I had expected. I would like to highlight some of the worst examples I know of (and I am not sure I have identified all of them).

1 – The 2016 premium came due after all.
In almost all situations, especially in the private sector, people expect to have to pay health insurance premiums on time. For over a year, the impression was given that the premiums for 2016 would not be collected. I was one of the few doubting that this would be true once the administration got its act together. Sure enough, it was announced that January 15 was the deadline to pay the 2016 premium. But this came as a surprise to many.

2 – People have been charged for coverage they do not have.
Since December 2017, foreigners who declare their foreign income in France while being properly covered by a private health insurance policy have received bills from URSSAF for 2016 coverage that they have never had. The reason is that URSSAF, instead of checking the database of the caisses primaires d’assurance maladie (CPAM) to find out who was covered by the old couverture maladie universelle (CMU, which PUMa replaced), got its information from the tax office and never checked if people were covered by the public system.

People who received the URSSAF bill had subscribed in good faith to private medical insurance, and no public authority had given any notice of an obligation to join the public system. Indeed, for nearly two years no one was even able to answer questions from those who had heard about PUMa.

When I learned from my AARO connection that many Americans had received the bill, we began to help them contest it on the grounds that it charged for a health coverage system in which they were not enrolled, even though French legislation stated that payment liability did not begin until the date of enrollment.

3 – People are not being charged for coverage when they need it.
This might sound like good news but it can have very adverse consequences. URSSAF was supposed to charge 8% of the global taxable net income for the year, payable per quarter. It took considerable work to figure out that some income, mainly retirement income, is exempt from this 8% premium calculation. For many foreigners who have retired in France, most if not all of their taxable income is retirement income. So they received a letter stating that they owed nothing.

The problem is that the prefecture insists all foreigners have comprehensive coverage from either the public system or a reputable company and also pay for health coverage. So foreigners who were covered by the CMU and now PUMa must show that.
First, they have sufficient assets or income from a foreign source and that the annual net income exceeds minimum wage (14,000€).
Second, that in the case of being covered by the public system, the income used for calculating the 8% premium exceeds 9,654 euros. If the income on which the calculation is based is less, the foreigner pays nothing for the health coverage.
In the past, the prefecture has always interpreted the absence premium payments, as indicating insufficient income, as they then expect a minimum income of 14,000 euros for the same period. In such situations, the prefecture systematically denies renewal of the carte de séjour based on insufficient funds entitling the foreigner to free coverage. It was somewhat logical to expect foreigners to pay for their coverage. Today, though, many foreigners have an income far exceeding this amount and yet the new way URSSAF calculates the premium results in their coverage being free of charge. The main reason is that pensions are not used in URSSAF’s cotisation subsidiaire maladie (CMS) calculation, i.e., the name of the premium paid for the public coverage.

I have no idea how the prefectures will address this issue. If they do not get new guidelines, I fear the worst, i.e., refusal to renew cartes de séjour. I really feel that one part of the administration is not keeping another part informed, and the refusal to renew the “visiteur” immigration status will come as a very nasty surprise. One can hope that properly documenting the way the CMS is calculated should force prefectures to reconsider their procedures in view of this radical change.

4 – Some people previously covered by CMU never declared their income to France.
Holders of a carte de séjour visiteur can have the card renewed without showing a French income tax statement. I advise my clients nevertheless to show the two first pages of their last #1040 to the prefecture just to prove that they had made an income declaration. But whether these people have complied with French fiscal law is irrelevant here.

Because URSSAF got only tax information from the French tax office and not CPAM, such people never got a letter and were never charged, but they continue to be covered, as CPAM does not verify whether the insured is paying into the system.

How long will this situation last? What are the likely consequences regarding the premiums owed and not paid? I ask the same question about the fact that there was no filing in France even though the person was clearly a French tax resident.

I fear the worst, as URSSAF can easily and rightfully consider this as tax cheating. In this specific instance, to help understand the gravity of the situation, I would compare URSSAF to the American Social Security.

SOUVENIR SOUVENIR – I SERVED IN THE FRENCH ARMY AS AN OFFICER
Even though I lived some years in the USA, as a Frenchman I clearly see several topics with a non-American eye.

I did my military service as an officer, having the rank of lieutenant when I left. I trained a platoon through boot camp. I was on active duty for nine months in a military academy, mainly as a juriste, but doing all the chores like any other lieutenant.

My military specialty was firearms. I trained many soldiers on the full range of firearms, from the traditional long rifle to the fully automatic machine gun.

Anyone who has been in the military has a similar experience of having been surrounded by firearms – that is the norm.

There is one experience I would like to share. The officer of the day, who is on security duty for 24 hours straight, sleeping next to the main gate, is obliged to carrying a loaded handgun at all times. The lieutenants, the youngest officers, most often served as duty officer. We were trained to be tough, and on we duty we knew what to do; military discipline ran our life, especially at such moments.

I can still remember, over 30 years later, the heaviness of this responsibility. It felt like I had about 20 pounds more on my shoulders. I took the duty seriously; in retrospect, I believe that carrying a loaded gun all the time and being the one allowed to use it in case of danger added to the weight. Of course, I never had to use it, but living with this responsibility makes one act in a more responsible, more controlled way.

The day I was discharged was the last day I operated a gun. In all my years of living in the USA, I had many opportunities but I never fired a gun. In my mind and in my life, guns are associated with a military uniform.

I know very well that the US constitution is understood to dissociate the right to bear machine guns from being in the military.

My point is that anyone who carries a firearm should be well trained, should handle the firearm responsibly as it is lethal in a manner of seconds, and should comply with security guidelines. My point of view – which I admit is a French point of view and could be completely irrelevant in the USA – is that the issue should be about the training. Getting a gun license should be like getting a driver’s license. I would go so far as to say that, just as there are several types of licenses, for driving vehicles ranging from a motorcycle to a 16-wheel tractor-trailer, there could be a similar range from permits allowing ownership of traditional hunting guns up to fully automatic machine guns.

FBI CHECK FOR VISA PURPOSES
Asking for French immigration status requires submitting proof that one does not have a criminal background. The French administration asks applicants to prove that there are no criminal convictions on their record.

In the USA, this is done through an FBI background check. The problem is that it used to take a few weeks. Now it takes several months. But in immigration visa requests, the applicant often has just a few weeks in the USA to get such documentation. Many have already settled in France in order to have everything ready to submit solid proof of an address in France and to make it easier to obtain the visa. Therefore, some private companies have managed to speed up the process.

More information can be found on the FBI website:
http://www.fbi.gov/services/cjis/identity-history-summary-checks
http://www.fbi.gov/services/cjis/identity-history-summary-checks/list-of-fbi-approved-channelers-for-departmental-order-submissions

AARO RECORDED MY 2-HOUR PRESENTATION ON DECEMBER 18
The presentation, on “Coping with French Administration,” is now accessible from my website, too, at http://www.jeantaquet.com/aaro.

I have been happily surprised by the number of people who have contacted me after watching it. I thought that a 2-hour recording was quite long, but these people did not seem to agree.

Here is AARO’s introduction to the video:

French Logic
Jean started the talk by telling the audience that France is logical. This got a good chuckle, but he continued to explain exactly how that logic works. It starts with the French Revolution and having to deal with the old elite (aristocrats) and establishing a fair system for all to be equal under the law. This was achieved with the Napoleonic Civil Code. The way that France can maintain its republic is by treating all equally and that means through identity, not aristocratic rank. Identity is established by name, date and place of birth, domicile, and profession. Your name, your birth certificate, and proof of where you live and what you do. (Reporter’s note: In France, the extrait d’état civil, which is the birth certificate document, contains more than just your birth information, which is why the administration frequently wants to see a recent one.) That is the logic behind the constant request for documents.

The video is accessible on the AARO website at:
https://aaro.org/events/event-reports/641-coping-with-french-administration

Best regards,

QUESTION

WHAT DOES A PRENUP DO?

I am American and intent to marry my French fiancée in France.
We are signing a prenuptial agreement with two major components in mind. First, my business is to remain my property after the marriage to protect the accounts of my spouse from debt and creditors. All earnings and debts will remain with me.
Second, to protect our inheritance from our parents, we both wish our inheritance to remain our own; assets are to remain the property of the inheriting spouse.
Which marital regime would best suit these provisions? Can a regime be created to address ONLY these two issues?

QUESTION

WHAT HAPPENS AT OFII DEPENDS ON IMMIGRATION STATUS

I have a question about the renewal of my titre de séjour salarié. In the list the prefecture gave me to renew my carte de séjour, one of the last things that is listed is a bilan de compétence. After doing some research, I have found that the OFII sometimes does not require this. How do you know if you need it or not? If I do have to do it, it is very expensive. … My job does not require me to do this so it means it would be up to me to pay for it. I have seen prices up to 1300 euros.

QUESTION

AS A MARRIED WOMAN, WHAT IS MY LEGAL NAME IN FRANCE?

While in Brive in the South of France with my husband, I got a message from my son who was staying at our apartment in Paris saying that the prefecture called and said there was a problem with my visa. My son understood they wanted to put both names on my visa, but I only need to have my late husband’s last name as my legal name on my US passport. So, anticipating some serious problems, I asked my sister back in Seattle to get a copy of the death certificate of my late husband. I am afraid that I will need to show them an original document with a seal. The states are so afraid of identity fraud that they make records difficult to access and she might not be able to get it.
Is it possible to convey to them that my last name is the one on my passport and leave it at that? What’s wrong with these people? Can’t they accept that a passport is an official legal document, which should not be questioned?

The album A Space in Time was released in August 1971 by the British blues-rock band Ten Years After. I am a fan of the music of this period, as you can tell from the number of issues that take their titles from it.

This month I continue to address the statement I made last month that France, as a nation, « runs on grey » by sharing a couple of interesting comments I received. The « grey » French way of life can also be defined as getting some space or tolerance to make things happen. Foreigners have a hard time understanding when this grey area is available. It is clearly possible to negotiate before any definitive decision is made; after that, the official process starts which seals a given situation. Several foreigners have experienced this while submitting their requests submitted to the préfecture or the consulate.

One of the illustrations there is of what I mean by France, as a nation, « runs on grey » is, in effect, the use of this “wiggle space” at the right time, not too early and not too late. That is how I came up with this month’s title.

TWO READER’S COMMENTS : ON FRANCE, AS A NATION, « RUNS ON GREY »
1. As one who has lived between France and SE Asia (Malaysia and Indonesia) I am quite comfortable with grey, but I find so many others, particularly Americans, very uncomfortable with not doing something that they believe the law says. Of course, most Americans are naive about their own country and its history, yet they have trouble releasing these feelings and hence get frustrated with life abroad. Well done, Sir.

2. Fascinating. Do the bureaucrats have a school to go to, to learn how to be « grey »?
MY RESPONSE
My answer to the latter question could be,  French people learn « grey » from the cradle onwards! Every aspect of French life has a « grey » aspect. French children generally learn “grey” first at home, then in kindergarten.

In French, it’s called le système D, where D stands for « débrouille. » A reasonable translation of this would be artfulness, since it has a somewhat devious connotation.

Interestingly, the specific training French civil servants get, focuses exclusively on the technical aspects of a job and explains little if anything about management, team cohesion, or problem-solving techniques, since individuals do not count only the system matters.

READER’S COMMENT ON FRENCH BANKS
My introduction
This is an interesting comment since it comes from a senior lawyer. Even this legally-trained reader acknowledges signing documents without reading everything, and discovers that unpleasant consequences can follow. It might not make people feel any better to learn that this reader got treated in a « slimy » way and could even be challenged. Indeed, should an employee’s loyalty be with the employer or the client? Until recently this question was not conceivable in the USA. More and more often, clients are confronted with situations that give the impression that customer satisfaction is nothing more than a slogan in commercials aired on TV. This is true in France, and increasingly in the USA as well.

THE COMMENT
Just as your column came out, I was writing a short note to my charge de clientèle, who phoned me for an appointment to get to know me usually a banking euphemism for trying to sell you another product.

After nice beginnings, things turned sour for me when I made payments to the US FICA/SSA as a freelancer in the 1980s. My instructions clearly indicated that the bank, which issued the check and sent it directly to the IRS from NY, should put my SS number on the check. At the time of signing the request for the third transfer, I thought to ask the clerk (the same one as for the others) to make sure that the SS number would be on the check. « Ah, no, » she replied, « that’s not possible on a French check; there’s no space. » Well, having used French checks for more than a decade, I knew that that wasn’t true. I reassured myself by asking whether my order was in fact transferred to their agent bank in NY, in which case they «  as Americans or at least US-based »  would certainly know the importance of putting the SS number on the check. Yes, she said.

Well, a few months later when I was back in the bank, the same clerk said, « Oh, Mr. xx, this message in English came in a while ago; it might have to do with your transfers. » Indeed, the IRS was asking my bank from whom these payments were coming, and they requested a reply by a certain date, which had already gone by. And of course the clerk hadn’t thought to use a telephone to call a client whom she knew well. (She wasn’t my chargée de clientèle.) I managed to clear up the matter, and soon moved my major account to another bank, Citi, later to be disappointed by them. As banks do.

But I maintained accounts there because a checking account is supposedly free if you keep a positive balance (not true nowadays), and the chargée de clientèle had had me buy into a couple of privatizations of 1986-88 (public corporations going privately owned), which were being held at their bank. So I continued to use this bank to participate, very marginally, in privatizations as they came up. Even when my bank wrote to me about various things related to my stockholdings at their bank, the letters always said to contact my branch for further information. On the few occasions when I did this, the agency said they didn’t know what I was talking about, and would I please fax them the letter from their own bank.

After a while, they started charging droits de garde for the stock that they « helped » me buy. In fact, their advice was wrong on one particular privatization, when I told them I wanted 100 shares, got eight, and was told that if I wanted 100 I should have asked for 1000 or more. That’s the kind of advice one would like from a bank that’s charging you for holding your shares.

After several complaints about paying a quarterly fee for a checking account and droits de garde (except on the shares of the bank), they finally came up with a « solution » for me which was to change the other shares into SICAVs issued by the bank, for which there would be no droits de garde. But they « forgot » to say that the droits d’entrée for purchasing the SICAVs was equal to about 1.5% of the value, or about two years of droits de garde for a 1275 purchase. The same week, my US bank, which holds shares and makes purchases and sales following advice from my local financial adviser, bought a bunch of mutual fund shares and the charge was $9 for about a $22,000 purchase.

In any case, my new chargée de clientèle had been quick to point out my savings on droits de garde, without informing me of the droits d’entrée, whoops! And, as to the charges for keeping a checking account (where I almost never draw checks), she’d cut that in half for one year, she said, but couldn’t promise more.

As you point out, there were forms of long texts to sign for this, and somewhere in there was certainly this thing about droits d’entrée. I nearly joked with her as I was signing the various pages, along the lines of Of course, I’ve read all this before signing. But I refrained from making that « joke. » I have just sent her a note, though thanking her for her welcome and advice (on avoiding droits de garde), but pointing out the difference in acquiring shares between the cost in the US and in France, adding that this might perhaps explain French aversion to being share owners, whereas Americans (50%) are quite happy to own stock. Oh, well.

THE FRENCH LOCAL TAX – TAXE D’HABITATION
There is a lot to say about the local tax since it is tied to so many things. This tax is levied on the primary or secondary residence of the inhabitant on January first and must be paid for the entire year. It is not paid on resorts, vacation places, or hotels. The primary residence is supposed to be the one mentioned on the previous year’s French income tax declaration. On the first page, there is a box to declare if the taxpayer moved before January 1st and a different one if a move occurred after that date. This is the most common way the tax authorities determine whom to tax for which lodging.

As often, everyday life rarely fits those forms. My daughter finished her bachelor’s degree last September with an exchange program between her French school and a university in the USA. She had rented a studio for the previous years and we paid her taxe d’habitation for the years she was there on January 1st. It happens that the second semester started on January 3rd so she left Rennes, where she went to school, on December 23rd to celebrate Christmas with us, and left France on Dec 27th and did not go back to Rennes for school for the rest of the year except for two days in June for administrative issues. As a young adult who was very rushed to get everything done, she did not terminate her lease and give the keys back to the landlord. On January 14th my wife did the inspection of the place and turned turned in the keys.

When the 2013 taxe d’habitation bill came, I contested it, providing the plane ticket, the registration with the American university and her transcripts. Clearly she did not have her primary or even secondary residence in Rennes. The tax office asked me for the état des lieux de sortie, which is the final walk-through document, and the last electricity or phone bill. Since this happened in January 2013, my request was denied because my daughter had kept the usage of this place and she could have come back to it regardless of the distance.

As often happens with French administrative decisions, at the end of the letter there was an explanation of the various ways of appealing the decision. I chose the most amicable one, writing to the conciliateur fiscal, a mediator, who is part of the French tax administration. My strongest argument was that my daughter had taken everything that belonged to her out of the studio so how could it be her residence? After a while, I got a positive answer. Nevertheless, the opposite argument was just about as valid: as long as the landlord does not have the keys back, the tenant keeps the ultimate right to use the place.

The sticky issues with this tax are most often related to moving in late December or early January, especially for those who move out of France. Indeed, anyone who moves within France does not mind paying for such a short occupation of one residence, since the new one is exempted until the following year.

FRENCH INTERNET PROVIDERS
This is another of those situations where the client feels trapped, and rightfully so. Most Internet contracts are for either one or two years, and the client cannot get out of the contract without severe penalties. According to the providers logic, clients do not need to terminate the contract even when they move to a new home.

The main penalty is having to pay, in one lump sum, the monthly fees until the end of the contract. So, changing providers becomes costly unless you are patient and focused enough to do it at the right time.

There are several legitimate reasons to cancel your contract without penalty, but the client has to prove, the French way, his or her compliance with these. The most common grounds are:

• 1 – Moving to a foreign country
• 2 – Bankruptcy (surendettement).
• 3 – Unemployment
• 4 – Long-term medical care

Each provider has its own contract that offers more or fewer of such conditions. So you should read the contract very carefully before giving notice, which must be done by registered letter. When this exceptional request is approved, the notice period only lasts for ten days from the day the letter arrives. Then there is the issue of returning the equipment to the company, when often the client has left France by then. The alternative is to terminate the contract several weeks before departure to take into account the ten-day period plus the postal delay for sending a registered letter and receipt of the documentation the company sends so the equipment can be sent back.

The real problem involves what each provider expects as proof, especially for moving out of France. Some ask simply for a document that proves the use of an address in another country, such as a utility bill or a bank statement. Others, including Orange, ask for proof less than three months old, establishing not just that you have secured the address but that you actually live there such as the first page of the IRS 1040 form. Bringing this proof when you are in the process of moving back to the USA, for example, is impossible; it takes a few months to gather these types of documents and sometimes longer if you are staying with friends or family members at first, which happens quite often.

In other words, these corporations are violating their own contracts by making it almost impossible to comply with the level of requirements they have established. The client moving out of France needs to determine what is the cheapest and simplest thing to do: pay for the contract until its expiration date or have the residency in the USA fully secured at least a couple of months before moving there.

American internet providers do not have a good reputation, and the French ones are not really much better. Through my clients I have some experience with several of them when it comes to cancellation, and there is a wide range in the quality of their services.

Best regards,

QUESTION

ANY TOLERANCE WHEN SPEEDING IN FRANCE

Anne-Claire Bocage, founder of www.MyAmericanMarket.com, an online grocery for hard-to-find American products in France, asked me about four years ago if she could publish excerpts from my column in the MyAM newsletter. I received this question through her.

I got a ticket for doing 91 km/h in a 90-km/h zone. Isn’t there any margin at all? Can this be contested? Seems pretty ridiculous as I thought I was doing exactly 90 (according to the setting on my cruise control).

QUESTION

LENGTH OF STAY ON THE VISA APPLICATION BOX #27

I am an American and I am getting ready to ask for a long-stay visa to come to France. Does it matter what we put in box 27? We intend to stay only five or six months each year. Maybe I should check the box that says six months to one year?

QUESTION

CARTE DE SEJOUR COMMERCANT & K-BIS

I work for a small multinational and I have been appointed the Senior Manager of the French branch located in Paris. I asked for a long-stay visa at the French consulate in Chicago, and after several trips there, waiting a long while and giving an impressive amount of documents, I finally got it. Upon my arrival in France, I had to redo exactly the same thing, giving the same documents but this time to the préfecture. The French staff helped some. I thought the last meeting would be the final one but the préfecture stated that I needed to come once again with an updated K-Bis. I do not get it  the current one has my name on it and the address of the company’s headquarters in France where my office is. What more do they want?

« A Horse with No Name » is a song written and first recorded by the British band America. It was released in early 1972.
The lyrics are very poetic and describe an epic journey in a desert. This line is repeated numerous times through out the song: In the desert you can to remember your name
I associate dealing with the French administration and numerous other large French corporations with being confronted with the desert. This comes from the sense of dryness, the absence of human connection, the frightening feeling of dealing with an organization of gigantic size that moves with a lot of power.
Almost all the topics this month are related to this aspect of French life. There are objective reasons why the initial contact is so cold and distant, why the service rendered feels so overwhelmingly anonymous.
At the same time, we have all at least once experienced unexpected relief at the moment when a civil servant steps out of his glacial attitude and becomes really helpful, showing care and concern, becoming surprisingly eager to fix the problem, to find the solution, even asking his colleagues, who are also happy to get involved. These people are now functioning under the “French grey area rule” – strict compliance with the regulations is temporarily not applicable.
France, as a nation runs on grey, which is very scary for foreigners who can only feel safe when they know that they are obeying the law. France needs a minimum of informal flexibility and, currently, this can only come with a “grey” approach.
Mastering the art of living safely in the grey area is an essential skill to acquire in order to enjoy the beauties associated with a certain « joie de vivre » in France, and, therefore, with the French way of life.
Until then, foreigners often find themselves obliged to listen very carefully, while waiting anxiously to be called, hoping to remember how the French pronounce their names or the numbers they are holding as they wait for their appointments.
My last issue spurred a lot of vehement reactions of very different kinds badmouthing the French banking system, standing with the French against the French bashing that Americans often do, and so on. I chose one negative and one positive to illustrate this as well as to show how misconceptions can be hurtful.

READER AS COMMENT ON FRENCH BANKS
“I always enjoy your explanations of French ways that so mystify the Anglophone. This time, however, you’ve done your countrymen a great disservice.

“In justifying the way this man’s bank handled his rental security deposit, you state that a caution through a bank is simply a lien on an asset. So far, so good. Next, you say the bank charges a fee for providing this service. Fine. But that is where it all falls apart.

“Fees should be clearly spelled out in any documentation. And, a lien is simply a legal document that requires no ongoing management. Presumably, then, the fee for a bank to handle a caution should be a nominal, one-time charge. Whatever the fee was, it should have been made clear at the outset and there should have been no surprise at the back end.

“You rationalize what happened to this tenant by saying expressly that as far as the bank was concerned,; everybody knows how the system really works so they didn’t need to tell him. On that basis we can rationalize all manner of mischief, can’t we? Anyway, this man was obviously a foreigner. If his language skills weren’t a dead giveaway, how about the fact that he needed the bank to handle his caution in the first place? A bank is a highly sophisticated institution. Caveat emptor doesn’t wash here.

“Perhaps if you are French and understand how French banks really work then you are better equipped to deal with this sort of situation … although as you point out it’s a situation a French person by definition would never encounter. But you are far more sophisticated than the average French person. Dollars to donuts (as we Americans say), the average French person would have no idea the money they understood to be safely on deposit was actually being placed in a CD or money market fund at risk of personal loss to them.

“The facts presented by this man are that he requested no investment, and that the contract specified no investment. You are arguing that the contract didn’t really mean what it said because, well, this is France and everybody here knows that things work differently. Is that the message you really wanted to convey?”

MY RESPONSE
The origin of this painful situation was that this foreigner did indeed sign documents that he/she did not understand. This is a bad thing to do and everybody knows it. However, almost daily we engage in contractual agreements that we have not read, and therefore we operate on pure assumption. Most of the time, this does not create serious problems because the odds are that nothing bad will happen and the normal line of action is simple, not to say basic. Think of going to the grocery store and walking out after having paid for what you wanted to buy: in 90% of cases this is all you need to know. The same thing can be said about, using public transportation, ATM machines, phones, etc. The truth is that we all live in societies where business agreements are neither negotiated nor signed. The few times there is a real need for signature, the common thing done by huge corporations is to give you a form to sign with clauses on the back in small print that are virtually impossible to grasp even by an average native speaker. A foreigner in such a case is totally trapped unless someone goes over the clauses and explains them. The professional should do this in order to be fair, but how often is this done?

Therefore, I can easily see how this client of the bank signed, trusting the professional working there, without checking anything for him or herself.

Now, the most fundamental jobs of a bank are to safeguard the money clients deposit in their accounts, and to lend money to clients who need it. The loan can be secured or unsecured. This is banking 101. Ever since the first bank was created, this is what the banking industry has done. A bank guaranty is nothing more than a promise to pay money in certain circumstances, the promise being secured by a lien, on the car, or on a portfolio, or a mortgage, which is the specific one for real estate. The bank guaranty is a mechanism very close to a loan. There is nothing complicated here for a bank. The client may be confused because this is not commonly done for individuals. The best way I can explain this is by using the comparison with buying a car with borrowed money. As long as you pay, you keep the car. Should you stop paying the loan, the car is repossessed. That is what a secured loan is.

I am really not sure that the client had a problem with this set-up as such. He/she understood the lien and the need to leave money in the bank. I believe that what he/she did not understand was that the bank charged a fee every year, a tiny percentage of the amount of the guaranty, and that the money would not be in a traditional savings account but invested in a mutual fund, called a SICAV in French.

To specifically address your question:
The facts presented by this man are that he requested no investment, and that the contract specified no investment. You are arguing that the contract didn’t really mean what it said because, well, this is France and everybody here knows that things work differently. Is that the message you really wanted to convey?

What I am saying is that a bank in France offers a range of services that Americans are not used to, even though the evolution in the USA is going in that direction. This means that at your local branch in France, the client has access to all basic banking services, and can also trade on any market, give instructions to the portfolio manager, invest in mutual funds, invest in annuities, and buy homeowner, health and car insurance policies. Most foreigners do not expect such a large range of services to be available at a local branch. Furthermore, in our case, the client never gave written instructions not to invest money, and I am sure that the bank had given this client all the documents needed to set everything up and that all the information was there, provided the client had the ability and the time to read all the fine print.

So yes, it is very clear that, for numerous things, things are done differently in France, just as in most countries.

The message I wanted to convey when choosing this topic was that getting all the information is critical for foreigners living in France, or any other foreign country, for that matter. Making assumptions in a foreign country is an extremely dangerous thing to do. This sad situation would have never happened if the client, before signing, had asked all the questions needed to understand the mechanics and the steps that a bank takes to implement a bank guaranty in France.

SECOND READER IS COMMENT REGARDING PARDON MY FRENCH
Thanks as always for your great column. I read this one with great interest because I often hear this expression in the USA. This drives me crazy because it perpetuates an unfair stereotype of the French. My husband and I purchased a home in Menton two years ago and plan to retire here just under 6 months every year. The rest of the time we live in Florida. We have found our experiences with the French to be wonderful. From visiting our bank, to working with our real estate agent, to renovating our apartment while still living 5000 miles away in the USA, we have had great experiences. Sure, once in a while we encounter a rude person, but that certainly happens in the US as well. It is the exception rather than the rule.

For the past several years, whenever someone says pardon my French to me, I stop them in their tracks by simply saying, I did not know you spoke French and then I start speaking to them in French. It really makes them think twice about what they are saying. Sometimes folks just do this out of habit, other times out of ignorance. Either way, it is wrong and I hope someday this will stop. After all, imagine if people said, Pardon my English prior to using an expletive – Americans and Brits would be up in arms!

Keep up the great work on your column! And no, you have nothing to apologize for in being French. The French are magnifique!

Best regards,

QUESTION

NO NAME TAGS IN FRANCE WHY?

It’s always with great interest that I read your newsletters. They are very informative. One small question that you may want to address in the future: why are French employees always so reluctant to give out their names? They often look offended and will refuse to do so. I always like to keep track of people’s name for my records and, as you know, it’s a very common practice in the US. In fact, many employees have name-tags, which is probably illegal in France  French employees may not want to give out their names but if you call back and say, “someone in your office or on the phone told me ,”, they will immediately ask you “Qui vous a dit ça ?” = Who told you that?

QUESTION

WHO MANAGES FRENCH RETIREMENT FUNDS?

It’s always with great interest that I read your newsletters. They are very informative.I have been working in France for a large corporation for several years now and once in a while I receive documents I do not understand. A couple of times I asked my colleagues what it was and their answer was,It is for your retirement, without any more explanation. My problem is that it comes from many different sources. I have identified two, C.N.A.V., and Malakoff Médéric. The last thing is that my employer opened a bank account without my permission, and I get a statement once a year. I still cannot make any sense of all this. Can you help?