2nd Home In France
Introduction
French second home owners have received letters from deputes sympathetic to their situation and the communes in which they live. All the campaign team have second homes in France so after five months of hard work we have decided to focus our time on the issue of streamlining the visa process for those with second homes in France.
Over the last few weeks the team have been looking at a Plan B for second homeowners. As part of this work we surveyed some 340 people from within a group of 6500 UK citizens with second homes in France. The survey data points to a massive surge expected in visa applications in spring 2021 with people unfamiliar with the process dealing with an organisation that would have had to rapidly expand to meet the demand.
To mitigate this we have explored the benefits of streamlining the application for a VLST 4-6 month VISA.
Why our approach is to streamline the application for a VLST 4-6 month VISA
Our planning work in March 2020 indicates that for practical reasons people should apply for a visa before their major stay in France. This is our current recommendation.
Some 1200 long stay visa application were processed by the French Consulate in the UK in 2018; 100 per month.
Our survey in July of showed that 21% of people will apply for a visa in 2021 and a further 24% are undecided. Some in this undecided group may subsequently choose to apply for a visa. If this indicative behaviour was replicated by the 200,000 UK citizens with second homes in France, this would result in ten thousand applications being made in a springe surge. Handling (including face-to-face interviews and passport management) an EXTRA 1500 visa applications EACH WEEK over a period of 6 to 8 weeks carries considerable risk for all involved. The risk of gridlock is high. More details of our analysis is provided here
We struggle to see how the complex process with a face to face interview can be scaled up to meet this demand. We therefore suggest a streamlined approach that:
minimises the scale of change
minimises the process steps
excludes exceptions at the outset, these will need to follow the normal process
takes into account that people will not need a visa until late March
One possible solution would be for a 6 month VLST to be issued to all second homeowners on request where the homeowner can produce proof of ownership through, for example, taxes d’habitation etc. without the need to demonstrate income or an insurance policy covering the whole period of the visa.
We have shared our concerns with the French Consulate in London, the detail is here
Letter to députés about a streamlined application for a VLST
Some députés have recently written back with replies that are sympathetic to our cause. We want to capitalise on this by sharing the idea of a streamlined application for a VLST visa. This could be the most important 180 day campaign letter you will write this year! Please see the detail here.
Contenu rédigé en français
Afin de permettre à ceux dont la langue maternelle est le français de mieux comprendre la situation dans laquelle se trouveront, dès 2021, les Britanniques ayant une résidence secondaire en France, nous avons fourni une partie du texte en français. Certaines pages ont été traduites professionnellement par Lynn Whitmore, d’autres en utilisant un traducteur automatique, indiqué en bas des pages concernées.