no it was true.
'The rule, which has applied to British travellers since the UK left the EU, requires anyone in France hosting non-EU nationals to complete an
attestation d’accueil étranger form and submit it for approval to their town hall, a process that can take up to a month. Once stamped and returned, the form, which costs €30 (£26) and requires supporting documents such as proof of address, income and right of residence, must then be forwarded to the guest so they can show it at the border if asked to do so..'
Bahnhof Strasse hope you're not telling yr customers its all scaremongering bolloxs, like you were telling us, and sending them off to stay with their friends without the correct paperwork.
People in France hosting non-EU nationals need to submit £26 form to their town hall as part of post-Brexit changes
www.theguardian.com
I can vouch for this, as I was looking into this very scenario. It's called the "
attestation d'accueil", and is actually a rule that has been in place for a long time for non-EU citizens, which of course UK citizens now are. There are a lot of expat Brits in France who are very used to ad hoc visits from friends and family - it's something I have made full advantage of over the last 15 years - and many of them are discovering, with some surprise, that what was a simple, casual arrangement is now something of a bureaucratic nightmare, particularly if you are an essentially non-French-speaking resident.
France has a lot of strict and onerous laws, and a culture of disregarding those it thinks are silly (eg the requirement to carry two single-use intoximeters in your vehicle at all times - which the French routinely ignored, and has now been abandoned). The problem is that, if you disregard the rules, and they
do come after you, fines are often swingeing, which rather naturally discourages people from doing so...particularly people who aren't already ingrained in French attitudes and culture.
While this rule was clearly not designed to punish Brits specifically - given that it existed long before Brexit was even a twinkle in a gammon's eye - I think it would be reasonable to expect that it is unlikely to be one of those that is applied more in the breach than the observance, at least as far as UK citizens are concerned. I mean, if I were a French government official, looking across the Channel at the way the UK is treating EU citizens in this country, I don't think I'd be feeling inclined to cut UK citizens the slack the UK clearly isn't cutting for EU citizens here.
And that is not the only problem. At the moment, the department responsible for issuing French driving licences to licence holders from other countries is overwhelmed, and in the best traditions of French bureaucracy, they appear quite happy to let the process trickle through without increasing the capacity of the system. I hear that the turnaround time is around a year, and this is posing significant problems for older immigrants, whose licences become invalid at age 70, and no longer eligible to be exchanged for a French licence. In that situation, the only option is to take a French driving test. Which requires knowledge - in French - of the rules and laws governing driving, and the ability to complete - in French - a practical driving test, after a minimum of 20 hours' tuition...also in French. A lot of things expats had always been able to take for granted are turning out to be concessions that, post-Brexit, no longer apply.
Regardless of my own views on whether we should have left the EU, it does seem remarkably short-sighted of the UK government not to have investigated, and publicised, the likely impact on UK citizens - including expats - of Brexit on their lifestyles and status abroad. That would have been the honest, and transparent thing to have done, which is why I am not remotely surprised that it didn't happen. After all, when those campaigning against Brexit pointed out even the most minor drawbacks of leaving, it was quickly written off as "Project Fear".
Well, the fear is here now.
ETA: Corrected the name of the
attestation.
)
www.bbc.co.uk
.
