On 2 March 2020 RIFT published a report which details our concerns about the potential issues faced by many British citizens living in France following the UK's exit from the EU. 

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Executive Summary (Also in French within report)

In 2003, unlike most other EU member states, France stopped requiring EU citizens to register as legal residents. This situation has created two problems.

 

First, nobody has any clear idea of how many British citizens are resident in France. The fact that current estimates vary from 150,000 to 400,000 is an indication of the lack of basic information.

 

Second, this lack of registration has now resulted in many UK residents fearing that they may not meet the requirements in order to remain in France if the Withdrawal Agreement (WA) is rigidly applied by the French Government.

 

Many believe that they could face deportation and may not be able to continue to live with their family. That is how bad the situation is today.

 

And, in the background, there has been poor communication on how citizens should correctly exercise their treaty rights for almost two decades.

 

This qualitative analysis of our members’ concerns is part of RIFT’s ongoing monitoring of its 17,000+ members, the largest organisation of British residents in France.

 

And this report is truly shocking; we are looking at a potential humanitarian emergency in France.

 

As well as the nitty-gritty and sometimes harrowing detail that underpins this report, we offer our recommendations on how to help avoid this potential crisis. All our recommendations are firmly based on the written concerns of our members as expressed to us very recently indeed. 

 

RIFT stands ready to work constructively and in a positive way with the French, British and EU authorities, and particularly the French, who hold the future of the British community in France in their hands.