France has extended its 30 June application deadline for new post-Brexit residency permits, allowing thousands of British nationals an extra three months to secure local healthcare, employment and other rights.
A French interior ministry spokesperson said on Thursday that the deadline to apply for the country’s withdrawal agreement residence permit had been extended until 30 September “for the whole country”, following earlier statements by the Côtes d’Armor prefecture in Brittany and other local authorities.
The British embassy in Paris cautioned that it had not received an official announcement of any extension and advised Britons in France who had not already applied for the new permit to do so before 30 June.
The move, called for by the Foreign Office (FCDO) and rights campaigners, follows a similar extension by the Netherlands last month amid fears a large number of British citizens legally resident in the EU on 31 December last year risked falling off a rights’ cliff edge at the end of this month.
Kathryn Dobson, of the France Rights and British in Europe campaign groups, said: “We are delighted to hear the French ministry has listened to our pleas for more time given the pandemic. An extra three months would allow many more people to be reached, as well as more details to be shared on what will happen to those who do not apply.”
According to the British embassy, 135,000 Britons in France have so far applied for post-Brexit residency out of a population estimated at 148,300, leaving at least 13,300 at risk of losing access to healthcare, pensions, property rentals, jobs and mortgages.
Officials say that because France does not require EU nationals to register as residents, the true number may be much higher. They are also harder to contact than in countries, such as the Netherlands, with longstanding compulsory registration.
A 30 June deadline remains in force in three other EU states: Latvia, Luxembourg and Malta. According to the latest figures, 8,300 of 13,600 Britons in Malta, 3,600 of 5,300 in Luxembourg, and 420 of 1,200 in Latvia had applied.
Under the terms of the Brexit withdrawal agreement, UK citizens who were legally resident in one of the EU’s 27 member states at the end of the Brexit transition period last year are eligible for permanent residence, protecting their basic rights.
Fourteen countries, including Spain, Germany, Portugal and Italy, opted for systems that automatically confer a new post-Brexit residence status on legally resident Britons, with no risk of losing rights if any administrative deadline is missed.
The other 13 chose a constitutive system under which Britons must formally apply for a new residence status, including five – France, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta and the Netherlands – that initially set a 30 June deadline.
The FCDO and campaigners representing British residents in the EU have urged people to apply and pushed for the deadlines to be extended, warning many risk falling through the net.
British in Europe has said it is worried about several categories of British citizens in the EU, including older people who have lived on the continent for decades, perhaps married to EU citizens, who may not realise they must act.
Similarly, some younger people who were born and grew up in an EU member state and now have EU spouses and children of their own are so well integrated that they “simply do not think of themselves as British”, the group says.
Others at risk of losing their rights may be in care homes; living “under the radar”, and offline; or fearful of failing a possible minimum income test. Many who have residence permits do not realise they must be replaced with a post-Brexit version.
