June 2025
During World War II, Churchill supposedly asked Stalin to respect religious freedoms in Eastern Europe because not doing so could upset the pope. Stalin is alleged to have replied, “The pope. How many divisions does he have?” This was meant to show the military powerlessness of the Vatican, a state with a surface area of 0.44 square kilometers and 800-some inhabitants. But even if the pope carries no military weight and little diplomatic influence, he does have an extremely powerful symbolic impact.
WORD HISTORIES WEBSITE
1943: FIRST OCCURRENCE OF THE QUESTION ALLEGEDLY POSED BY STALIN
The earliest mention that I have found of this question is from Time: The Weekly Newsmagazine (New York City, N.Y.) of Monday, 27th December 1943:
Raconteur
Prime Minister Jan Christiaan Smuts of South Africa set the week’s best Teheran story in motion. His version: “Winston Churchill suggested to Stalin the possibility of the Pope’s being associated with some of the decisions taken. ‘The Pope,’ said Stalin thoughtfully. ‘The Pope. How many divisions has he?’”
https://wordhistories.net/2019/08/23/how-many-divisions-pope/
WIKIPEDIA
The Pontifical Swiss Guard, also known as the Papal Swiss Guard or simply Swiss Guard, is an armed force, guard of honor, and protective security unit, maintained by the Holy See to protect the Pope and the Apostolic Palace within the territory of the Vatican City State. Established in 1506 under Pope Julius II, it is among the oldest military units in continuous operation and is sometimes called “the world’s smallest army.” … As of 2024, there were 135 members.
A new pope was elected a few weeks ago: Leo XIV, born Robert Francis Prevost, an American-Peruvian dual national with some French ancestry, as his last name shows. Throughout recorded history, some leaders and rulers have thought that power is what governs the world, and that fighting capacities determine who gives orders and who submits to them. Whether the Stalin quote is true is beside the point. As the end of WWII neared, Stalin was among those who thought strictly in terms of the military forces each country had. He dismissed all leaders who did not have an army comparable to that of the USSR, which almost single-handedly defeated the German Army at a critical point of the war with the victory at Stalingrad and its aftermath, until D-Day, when a Western front was opened. He was not the only ruler to think that way; many heads of state follow the same logic today. Around the world, more and more countries are adopting or leaning toward autocratic leadership, and I would put France in that category.It is my belief that, since the early 1960s, the Roman Catholic Church has evolved in such a way that the pope is seen as a moral authority. Each pope since Pope John XXIII has followed this evolution, adapting it to his personality.
WIKIPEDIA
“The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the Second Vatican Council or Vatican II, was the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City for sessions of eight and twelve weeks.”
One definitive illustration of this evolution was the papacy of Pope John-Paul II, sovereign of the Vatican City State from October 16th, 1978 until he died in 2005. He is considered to have played a major role in the collapse of the Soviet regime and the dissolution of the USSR on December 26th, 1991. History can have a powerful sense of humor, as demonstrated by the fall of Stalin’s country.
It feels like the media around the world are stating in unison that Pope Leo XIV will follow a similar path. I may be over-optimistic in thinking that he will be instrumental in restoring a more humane and democratic way of governing countries, organizations, and so on. Maybe it is time now to measure the influence of the pope and other spiritual leaders, not by the size of their respective armies, but by the number of their followers, the people who pay attention to their message, and the real impact these leaders have on the world’s population.
The rise of autocracies may be balanced by moral leaders strengthening soft power. It is possible that counting on armed forces to secure power and wealth is a losing proposition, given the forces aspiring to ethical rulers and leaders complying with the constitutions of their countries and the rights of the people. I believe that the question “How many divisions does the Pope have?” is a thing of the past, with no future in the long run. I suppose that might make me an unreasonable optimist.
I RECENTLY STOOD ON OMAHA BEACH
The movies, pictures, and descriptions of Allied forces taking the beaches of Normandy often show high cliffs, a struggle to climb, and so on. Looking at photos and watching the movies gives the impression that they were extremely difficult locations to capture.
Then I stood looking at Omaha Beach. Where I was, there was no cliff; it was a normal sandy beach. But this was where the bloodiest battle occurred. It felt counterintuitive. Then I analyzed the situation militarily. A lot of things added up to create this situation. Something obvious came to mind. Firearms that are put on a stand shoot horizontally and up in the air. They cannot shoot downward. So a low-slope beach is an open range for these weapons. This is not the case with high cliffs. The next thing was that the American bombing of the German defenses reached their targets – except on Omaha Beach. The last thing was that, due to strong winds, the American troops reached that beach behind schedule when the tide was lowest. The beach recedes so far at that moment that there is a huge stretch of sand before dry land is reached.
The other D-Day beaches, comparatively, have a safe and secure space at the foot of the cliff, and the beach is quite narrow. So they ended up being easier to take.
Standing there looking at the beach at low tide, I could easily imagine how there was such a bloodbath on this beach. Looking again, I saw children playing, families strolling, everybody enjoying the sunshine on a nice day. Omaha Beach is not a shrine. There are monuments celebrating and memorializing what happened in 1944. But today it is a beach like many others in the region and popular because of its size. After all, this is for the better, and I believe many think so, including the veterans who fought there and who come back as if on a pilgrimage.
MORE SCRUTINY REVIEWING THE NATURALIZATION PROCEDURE
French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, citing a provision of the immigration law championed by his predecessor, Gérald Darmanin, is asking prefects to pay close attention to the level of French language proficiency, as well as allegiance to the values of the Republic required to obtain naturalization. He has also drawn up a list of criteria that would show “the exemplary nature of the applicant’s background.” The list addresses, among other things, whether the applicant has been an undocumented resident. Then the procedure requires having lived in France for a minimum of seven years instead of five.
The applicant’s financial means are also heavily scrutinized. The last five years must be reviewed, and the earned income must prove a successful “professional integration.” The review must now meet a stricter threshold. This implies that applicants must provide proof of “sufficient and stable resources,” excluding social benefits. In other words, they must not rely even partially on welfare to live. Prefects are required to submit a report on the application of the Retailleau circular to the minister within three months.
This latest crackdown raises two serious issues, proving that political decisions are too often out of touch with the reality of the people being governed.
1. Relying on welfare
The Caisse d’Allocations Familiales (CAF) pays a large range of subsidies. Most of them cannot be considered as relying even partially on welfare to live. One of the best examples is the lodging payment, the Aide Personnalisée au Logement. To keep it simple, when the income of a family is considered too low compared to their rent amount, CAF pays a fraction of the rent either to the individual or directly to the landlord. It affects over six million households, or about 12.6 million people. Another example is the Prime à la naissance. This subsidy is received right after the birth of a child, pretty much regardless of the family’s income. So it is critical to define carefully which subsidy paid by CAF can block naturalization.
2. Undocumented individuals must have resided in France for 7 years instead of 5 to comply with the requirements
Everybody is complaining about excessive delays linked to immigration status renewal. Normally, the applicant for naturalization must at all times have a document proving their legal stay in France. The reality is different, however, and it is not unusual now for people to go several weeks or even months without documents. The prefecture does not consider such people to be in France illegally, but it can feel that way to those individuals affected if the reality of their daily life causes them to lose their job, financial support, health coverage, and so on. This can happen at various stages of the procedure, especially when the renewal is submitted online.
Currently, when the prefecture issues a negative answer to the submitted request, it may result in the applicant receiving an Obligation de Quitter le Territoire Français, with its expulsion order. Both the prefecture and the applicant can make mistakes; however, a standard in-house appeal might fix the situation. What is happening now is that all refusals come with an expulsion order, which, of course, is not obeyed and is never enforced when the appeal is accepted. The lowest level appeal, called recours gracieux, is sent to the prefecture explaining the way in which the initial presentation was wrong and expressing hope that a new, more pertinent presentation will lead to the decision being changed.
But now the statement mentioned above from the Ministry of the Interior indicates that such a situation would make it a lot more difficult to obtain naturalization. There are also court decisions in favor of the foreigner sanctioning the prefecture for wrongdoing and summoning it to reinstate all the plaintiff’s immigration rights. Given how long court rulings take to be delivered, it is certain that in such a case, the foreigner has been staying illegally in France for several years. It would be absurd for the prefecture to argue that such years of illegal stay prevent the foreigner from becoming French after a five-year stay, when it was the prefecture that lost in court!
I do not want to appear cynical, I just have a hard time with the current government, including the minister of the interior, and am not sure I trust them to be fair after seven years and not hold such situations against the applicants.
Thus, the talking points of the French government create a huge distortion, giving the impression that only so-called good, upstanding, and well-integrated candidates are being considered, and casting shame on those who have lived off public money or been delinquents. The reality is very different, and the unfairness of the government’s decision is illustrated here. The existing requirements for naturalization already allow for the denial of any request by an applicant receiving RSA, which meets the definition of welfare. On the other hand, currently, those who have been so-called delinquents because they have regularized their stay in France get the same treatment as any others.
THE GOVERNMENT IS CLOSE TO ABANDONING ITS PLAN TO LOWER THE VAT THRESHOLD FOR AUTO-ENTREPRENEURS
The government has decided to postpone the proposed VAT (TVA) reform for auto-entrepreneurs and looks likely to give up on it entirely. The original plan was that on March 1st, 2025, the threshold of the TVA exemption would be lowered to 25,000 euros of annual sales, compared with the previous level of 37,500 euros.
This plan might still be discussed as part of the 2026 budget if the government maintains its desire to lower the threshold. But several of my sources believe this will not happen. There is a real issue regarding craftsmanship that should be properly addressed. There are craftspeople (artisans), fully registered as professionals in their field, who pay the standard social charges and collect TVA. And then there are people similarly engaged who register not as artisan but just as “auto-entrepreneur”, paying lower social charges and no TVA. In theory, this situation should please everybody: the highly skilled professionals charge their clients the appropriate rate, and the others cannot compete and charge a lot less. But in reality, they compete for a large portion of the work. Clients are increasingly asking non-professionals to do things like fix a basic leak, change a gasket, paint a room, or add a couple of electrical sockets. The clients do so because they think such tasks do not require much expertise.
This problem has existed for years and is difficult to address. The crafts trades, i.e., the artisanat, have a de facto monopoly when an insurance company, landlord, syndic, etc., demands a professional invoice with a statement of good standing related to the TVA collection. There are too few people doing those jobs. This is why many now believe that lowering the threshold for everybody is not the solution, and so the government has given up on this idea. Therefore, profession libérale auto-entrepreneurs may be reassured that the problem is probably fixed as far as they are concerned.
A SOPHISTICATED SCAM RELATED TO PAYING RENT IN FRANCE
I have been hearing about a simple but effective scam that involves sending fake emails that claim to come from rental management companies. The messages inform the recipient that a rent payment has been missed and that new bank details must be used to make the payment. Sometimes the scam is presented as a technical error on the landlord’s account. In both cases, the tone of the message is designed to generate stress, encouraging the victim to pay quickly, without verifying the information.
The scammers use temporary bank account numbers (IBANs), which they regularly replace after a few transactions. Even though French tenants tend to be suspicious and rebellious toward landlords and agencies, this scam has been working. Attention, foreigners tend to worry that something is wrong and it is their fault. That makes them ideal victims who comply with the email’s request.
Therefore, let me put it this way: I advise all my readers to respond in the way a typical French tenant would: contact the landlord or the agency, and blame them for the situation. Clearly mention the email you received. If it is a scam, they will debunk the situation right away. Also, never change the bank account to which you pay your rent unless you have carefully confirmed that it is genuine. Once again, be French: ask that the request be sent by postal mail. It is extremely difficult for a scammer to send postal mail that really looks genuine.
TRAVEL WARNINGS AGAINST THE USA
For decades now, I have seen the notices that the American Embassy sends to Americans living abroad, warning them about travel to specific countries. On a few occasions, the embassy in Paris has even mentioned a need for caution when there are demonstrations and unrest in parts of Paris or other cities in France. This keen attention to the safety of Americans living abroad is well known.
Now, several countries are warning their citizens against visiting the USA as tourists. On the day I wrote this section of my column, this was the list of countries making such warnings:
Canada
Germany
Denmark
U.K.
China
Ireland
France
Finland
Netherlands
Norway
Sweden.
The issue, as I see it, is not whether the situation in the USA related to border control merits these warnings. Whether the foreign governments are right or wrong, it is shocking to find the USA on a list of dangerous countries to visit as tourists.
The American media and the media of other Western countries have relayed numerous stories of people detained or expelled at the border while trying to enter the USA. For example, the French media covered at great length an incident in which a French researcher was turned away at Houston after trying to attend a conference.
www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2025/03/22/le-refoulement-d-un-chercheur-francais-aux-etats-unis-tourne-a-l-imbroglio-diplomatique_6584561_3210.html
THE SHIP STUDIO IS AVAILABLE FOR RENTAL THIS SUMMER
The SHIP studio is currently available on August 1st. I am finally getting a lot more requests and have had to refuse a few lately as it was already rented. When people contact me about renting it, I send them to the website. I hope it shows how cozy the accommodations are. The monthly rent of 1,400€ is all-inclusive. While I continue to favor rentals lasting between two and six months, under certain conditions I have accepted one-month rentals.
https://www.jeantaquet.com/home-in-paris
OFFICE CLOSED FOR SUMMER VACATION
The office will be closed for seven weeks over the summer holidays, from the evening of Friday, July 4th to the morning of Monday, August 25th. As always, I will be reachable by email for emergencies and important matters. The service I offer of receiving mail for clients will continue while the office is closed, and Sarah or I will honor prefecture meetings already scheduled, as well as a few other engagements. Like last year, I should be away from the office for most of that time but I will stay in France.
Best regards,
QUESTION
WHEN CAN I START TO WORK IN FRANCE?
Last year, I got my visiteur visa from the DC consulate. A couple of months ago, I submitted the request to renew it, and I have not heard yet from the prefecture. My visa expires very soon. I am setting up my company with my daughters, who are French nationals. I have been managing rental property in Paris, and I want to do international business development with my background in finance and tech. How do I change my status, and do I need to wait for their answer?
ANSWER
You are asking about two completely different issues, one concerning the creation of a corporation to start the business, and the other about your immigration status, which eventually needs to be changed.
You can create the French corporation right away. The three of you own the shares. Your two daughters are the managing directors, and you are officially a silent partner. You can be active and work with them, but you cannot be paid while holding your current immigration status. However, a dedicated account can be set up, with no name on it, for your future compensation.
The bylaws of a corporation can define as many activities as you wish, but be careful not to include any that require a license. “Managing rental property in Paris” can mean a lot of things. The activity, as you phrased it, requires a real estate license, which I assume you do not have and have no intention of getting. You have been doing it without even having a French immigration status, i.e., basically as an American tourist in France. But mentioning consulting, advice, and analysis as your activities in this field would be the right way to put it.
The same wording should be used for your “international business development”, which is by nature a consulting activity. There is nothing to worry about here. Also, for these two activities, there is no need to show any diploma or indeed any expertise of any kind when creating the corporation.
To avoid trouble in the future as much as possible, have the bylaws drafted by a professional.
Regarding your immigration status, you have already requested the renewal of your visiteur status, which was the only thing you could do. There is no reasonable way to change this. So you will need to continue pursuing this procedure until you receive the related carte de séjour. If you had requested a change of immigration status at the time of the first renewal, the French administration would think you committed perjury when you asked for your first visiteur visa about a year before. This is grounds to refuse the request, and you would lose all rights to stay legally in France, which, of course, should be avoided. So wait and ask for a change of status at the end of the second year, when it will be accepted. It will be linked to the business created earlier, which by then should show some success.
As a reminder, here is the choice of immigration categories French law offers:
• visiteur
• étudiant
• salarié
• vie privée & familiale
• commerçant & artisan
• passeport talent.
The passeport talent has 10 sub-categories:
• jeunes diplômés qualifiés salariés ou salariés d’une jeune entreprise innovante
• travailleurs hautement qualifiés (carte bleue européenne)
• salariés en mission
• chercheurs
• créateurs d’entreprise
• porteurs d’un projet économique innovant
• investisseurs économiques
• mandataires sociaux
• artistes interprètes
• étrangers ayant une renommée nationale ou internationale (domaine scientifique, littéraire, artistique, intellectuel, éducatif ou sportif)
From this list, the fifth one – passeport talent créateurs d’entreprise – seems to be the best one for you.
Créateurs d’entreprise
Obtaining this status involves complying with three key requirements:
1. Either you have a master’s degree in any field, or you have more than five years of experience in the business that sustains your request for this immigration status. Based on what you said, one can assume that you have this kind of professional experience.
2. In its first year, the business needs to spend a minimum of 30,000 euros, as detailed in a business plan, or in your case, in the accounting of the corporation; either you or the business has to have the means to spend this kind of money.
3. You should personally earn at least the annual French minimum wage, which is about 17,100 euros in net taxable income. In the business, it should be easy to show that the corporation has the means to pay your salary and the related social charges.
So you should work on preparing all this with an accountant after having received approval of your renewal request. This kind of file takes a lot of time, as it requires submitting many different documents.
The first section of the file is about you, your diplomas, your experience, and proving you have what it takes to fill this position.
The second part is about the business itself, showing that it will be successful. Even if the business was created before the change of status request is submitted, the track record of its first months is not enough. Thus, the file should contain your original business plan before the business was created, and an updated one tailored to the immigration procedure requirements.
The third section is about the financials, a three-year projection, and specific supporting documents. Those documents should be in the business plan as well as in the accounting, using the billing done so far.
You must wait until you have your carte de séjour before submitting the change of status request to ANEF. Picking up the card closes the cycle opened when you submitted the renewal request. The system will block you from submitting anything else in the meantime, and doing so can even harm your immigration status if you persist before you have the card. Once you do submit a change of status request, there will be the usual exchange asking for more documents, explanation, and so on. Eventually, you will get the approval and will pick up the new carte de séjour about three months later.
To sum up, such a project takes a long time, the file is complex to put together, and the review is slow.
DISCLAIMER
Please forward this message to all those who would be interested in its contents. The information contained in this newsletter is intended only as general information. I strongly urge readers to seek professional guidance concerning the legal and tax matters mentioned. This newsletter is intended as a general guide and is not to be taken as professional advice.