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WE LOOK AT WHO DOES AND DOES NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO A FRENCH CARTE DE SÉJOUR READER QUESTION: WE ARE A MARRIED COUPLE IN OUR 70S AND HAVE VISITED FRANCE EACH YEAR SINCE 1994 FROM APRIL TO

SEPTEMBER. IN 2021 AFTER BREXIT WE WERE GIVEN PERMANENT _CARTES DE SÉJOUR_. WE ARE RETIRED AND FINANCIALLY SECURE. WE NOW STAY WITH FRIENDS EACH YEAR AND WONDER IF THE _CARTE DE SÉJOUR

VISITEUR_ WOULD BE MORE SUITED TO OUR SITUATION? Firstly, we should point out that if you were only visiting France and had not settled permanently in the country you should not have applied

for Withdrawal Agreement (WA) residency cards as these protect the rights of Britons living (ie. main home) in France. The application website, for example, asked people to give the date

they moved to France. We are not aware of any ongoing investigations into situations such as yours but you could potentially run into complications, for example, being asked to explain at

the border why you have this card and a UK-registered car or, possibly, why you are not making annual income tax declarations to France. There are serious penalties in France for obtaining

residency cards under false pretences although we have not heard of any cases where this has been applied against holders of WA cards. Somewhat confusingly, given the name, a _carte de

séjour ‘visiteur’_ is also for people who have moved to France. It is for non-EU citizens who want to live in France, supporting themselves and not working. The ‘visitor’ status is a

catch-all for those who do not fall into other categories such as employee, self-employed person or student. Actual ‘visitors’ who want to keep their main domicile outside France are,

depending on country, usually able to stay for up to 90 days in any 180-day period. If they want to stay for up to six months at a time, they should apply for a one-off _visa de long-séjour

temporaire_ VLS-T. RELATED ARTICLES EXPLAINER: COMMON VISA OPTIONS FOR VISITING AND MOVING TO FRANCE CAN WE STILL RETIRE TO FRANCE? ARE CERTAIN INCOME LEVELS NOW REQUIRED? CAN WE RENEW A

CARTE DE SÉJOUR ONLINE IN FRANCE?