We own property in France, what are our options to stay longer than the 3 months dictated by Brexit

eDicky

TELLIT01 said:

Check for any Irish ancestry and apply for an Irish passport?  Only said partly tongue-in-cheek.

It's actually a real possibility for many British citizens, and many have already salvaged their EU citizenship by doing so. Sadly, I cannot.

village_saver

Thanks for the advice.

We looked into Irish passports with our surname of Farrell but unfortunately not do-able as it was o/h great great grandad who came over from Ireland. 

Just seems so unfair as we’re paying french council taxes etc etc  for 12 months yet can only go out there for 6. 

Wonder what we would need to do to become residents full time? 

Grumpy_chap

I understand it is possible to buy residency permit for Malta and that gives you unrestricted access to EU and Schengen area.

Worried_fool

Grumpy_chap said:

I understand it is possible to buy residency permit for Malta and that gives you unrestricted access to EU and Schengen area.

There is also a simple process to get residency for Portugal (basic requirement is a monthly income of at least a thousand Euro).

CKhalvashi

Worried_fool said:

Grumpy_chap said:

I understand it is possible to buy residency permit for Malta and that gives you unrestricted access to EU and Schengen area.

There is also a simple process to get residency for Portugal (basic requirement is a monthly income of at least a thousand Euro).

Same for Poland (local company required) and Germany if OP wishes to freelance and can meet certain income requirements, others are probably available but I've seen these specifically in a Facebook group.

The issue with that though is that they'll still be limited to 90 in 180 in France, so this doesn't help them.

eDicky

Residency in any of these EU countries, as a non EU citizen, does not give you unlimited access to the other EU countries. The national id card issued to you is not valid outside the country of residence.

Lostintheclouds

eDicky said:

Residency in any of these EU countries, as a non EU citizen, does not give you unlimited access to the other EU countries. The national id card issued to you is not valid outside the country of residence.

But one could still spend 90 days out of 180 in (all) the rest of the EU (Aside from their EU country of residence) couldn´t they? Like as a tourist . . .

Additionally I´m not up to speed on the border controls. But if one, say got residency in Portugal what would stop them spending more than 90 days in Spain (for example) if they cross open borders by land?

eDicky

Lostintheclouds said:

eDicky said:

Residency in any of these EU countries, as a non EU citizen, does not give you unlimited access to the other EU countries. The national id card issued to you is not valid outside the country of residence.

But one could still spend 90 days out of 180 in (all) the rest of the EU (Aside from their EU country of residence) couldn´t they? Like as a tourist . . .

Additionally I´m not up to speed on the border controls. But if one, say got residency in Portugal what would stop them spending more than 90 days in Spain (for example) if they cross open borders by land?

It's true, you could officially have your 90 days elsewhere in the EU, but using your passport, not your residency card.

That's a good point about the Schengen land borders, which are totally open, also by air there are no immigration checks. But there are likely to be problems for someone like the OP if they are found to be overstaying, which could include deportation with a ban on re-entry.

village_saver

Thanks for all the advice.

Is it possible to spend the last 90 days out of 180 and then the first 90 days out of the next 180 ie 180 together out of the 360 ? 

Lostintheclouds

village_saver said:

Thanks for all the advice.

Is it possible to spend the last 90 days out of 180 and then the first 90 days out of the next 180 ie 180 together out of the 360 ? 

From everything I´ve read (and I have also been researching something similar) you cannot do that as it appears the 90 day in 180 day thing isn´t set according to a year (like say a tax year). It´s rolling and consistent. This is why many of the so-called "swallows" who wanted to spend the winter (say 4-5 months) abroad and then return to the UK during milder times (including summer) can no longer do that due to Brexit.

As I understand, If you did spend October, November and December in France you would not be able to return until at least 90 days had past (so say 31st March or 1st April).

if you stayed November, December and the whole of January (the following year). You then couldn´t return until the first day or three of May etc.

On another related note. I was going to start a thread about the subject of overstaying and what (if any) penalties were dished out. As we are almost 10 months into 2021 (well into post Brexit times) it´s likely that some may have fallen foul of the 90 in 180 day rule already.