There are rules for third-country nationals visiting France. These are not new rules. They are standard rules. You will need to comply with them if you are planning to come on holiday to France. I set them out here to help.
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At the border, you may be asked for three pieces of information:
1. Motive for your stay in France
This can be satisfied by:
- for tourism: a hotel or other accommodation reservation
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- in the absence of a hotel reservation, the traveller has to prove that he possesses means of living of at least 120€ per day – see point 2, documents from a travel agency;
- for a professional visit: letter from the employer, invitation from a French firm or org;
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- for a private visit for example to visit and stay with a friend: “attestation d'accueil” delivered by the “mairie” (more on this below)
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2. Means of living (cash, traveller's cheques, valid international credit card) along with an insurance certificate covering all medical, hospital and funeral expenses, which may be incurred during the entire period of your stay in France, inc medical repatriation costs;
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3. Guarantees of return: return ticket.
Just to remind you, these are standard rules for third-country nationals and nothing particularly to do with Brits.
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Basically, if you are staying with friends, you need to be registered with the town hall of the commune that you will be staying at PRIOR TO ENTERING THE COUNTRY.
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The person housing you will need to provide a chunk of information (including proof of ownership of the property, proof of residence at the address, ID documents, proof of revenue, commit to supporting you financially if required and so on).
There is a 30€ fee.
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The relevant town hall can take up to one month to respond.
The applicant will be issued with a certificate which they will then need to send to you for you to be able to enter the country.
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Now, I'm sure somebody's forehead vein will be twitching as they type to respond to this but, here's the deal >> you voted for this. France is a sovereign country and it protects its borders. These are literally the sorts of rules your government loves.
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Bottom line - You were European but you decided to go it alone. You're just another one of the other non-European countries now &, as such, you have to submit to the rules.
Do not think for a moment that this is unique to France. This is your new normal.
ADDENDUM 2 - Thanks to @NachoQuesado for confirming that the same applies in Spain (although more expensive). Logically, it will be the same across Schengen.
If you're one of those gammons who caused this shitwittery, you should help me pay for all the docs I've had to have translated to stay living in the EU. Buy me a coffee to say sorry > buymeacoffee.com/jamesmb
It seems that there are options for people who arrive without pre-booked accommodation. You would have to show proof of funds of 120€ per person per night. For a family of 4 for a week, that is 3,360€. With accommodation, it's 65€ a night or 1820€/family/week.
ADDENDUM 6
This.
ADDENDUM 7
I write an occasional free email newsletter about stuff including France, Europe, Croatia, EVs, tech, anything else that I fancy rambling about.
We're almost at more addenda than original tweets!
Here is the link to the relevant bit of the British Embassy in Paris guidance. Not that it's their decision but it seems some people prefer to see what the UK government thinks... gov.uk/foreign-travel…
ADDENDUM 9
A further update on the Spanish equivalent of these rules from @NachoQuesado - who is now the official Spanish Correspondent on this thread!
1- have party 2- wait 3- get caught 4- appoint someone who was at party to investigate party, thereby causing delay 5- replace person with another person 6- person writes report and finds criminality 7- person sends list of crimes to police, thereby causing delay
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8- police ask for redactions to report so they can investigate, thereby causing delay 9- bits of report published 10- cultists say we need to wait for police investigation, thereby causing delay 11- police investigation finds police knew all along
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12- police announce no action until police investigation into police is concluded, thereby causing delay 13- police investigate police 14- police investigation gets complicated when senior ranks found to have been involved
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You might not want to listen to me. I used to be a Tory. Like, I used to work for them. I like to think that it was at a time when they were moderate but we can argue about that some other time.
Last time around, I was vehemently pro-No.
But they lied.
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They lied when they told you that Scotland's place was as an equal partner in a UK at the heart of Europe. I can see that now. And looking back, I am sorry to say that I did not see it before. But it has been a lie for a long, long time.
Scotland is a trophy, not a partner.
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Scotland has been the English magic money tree for a long old time. They took the oil revenue and 'spaffed it up the wall'. The idiots didn't even invest it for the future. They literally wasted it.
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Today is significant for Britain but not for the reasons you're thinking
In the late 69s and early 70s, Britain lost the final bits of its empire. They were faced with two questions "Who are we and what is our place in the world?"
Concerned at the potential economic strength of the fledgling European community coming together on its doorstep, rather than coming to terms with the answers to those questions, it sensibly decided to join them.
Today is the moment of reckoning. Britain must come to terms with its new position in the world.
Small.
Alone.
Entirely under the control of whichever large trading bloc it ends up submitting to.
As Brexiters are keen to point out, the EU Budget will be massively hit once the huge financial contribution made by the UK has been removed.
To help you understand the extent of the problem, I have created an explainer.
THREAD
Here is the daily extra contribution that EU citizens will need to make as a result of the UK leaving.
5 cents.
However, EU budget contributions are proportionate to economic activity/size. So this presupposes that the EU does not find a way of replacing the trade it does with the UK...