The France Rights team has taken a leading role in citizens' rights information and advocacy since the end of 2016, when two of its founders, Kalba Meadows and Kathryn Dobson, were working with and building up the Facebook group Remain in France Together - so we bring not only our professional skills and contacts but 3 years of experience in the field. Having grown RIFT to 15k members through the provision of trusted, legally based information, we have now moved from that group in order to provide a dedicated information platform that will reach even more people; at the same time we continue working with our contacts in the UK and EU as well as in the Embassy and in the various government departments here in France responsible for the implementation of post-Brexit procedures.
This page will give you a flavour of just some of the things we've done over the last 3 years.
This page will give you a flavour of just some of the things we've done over the last 3 years.
Giving evidence
Exiting the EU Committee, January 2017
In January 2017, we submitted written evidence to the Exiting the EU Committee's inquiry 'The Government's negotiating objectives: the rights of UK and EU citizens'.
The evidence was written and submitted by Kalba Meadows, and looked at the psychological effects of living with the uncertainty that Brexit had caused for British citizens living in France.
The evidence was selected for publication by the Committee and was referred to in the report that came out of the inquiry. You can read it here: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201617/cmselect/cmexeu/1071/1071.pdf
The evidence was written and submitted by Kalba Meadows, and looked at the psychological effects of living with the uncertainty that Brexit had caused for British citizens living in France.
The evidence was selected for publication by the Committee and was referred to in the report that came out of the inquiry. You can read it here: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201617/cmselect/cmexeu/1071/1071.pdf
House of Lords EU Committee, January 2017
In the same month Kalba also gave written evidence to the House of Lords EU Home Affairs Sub-Committee inquiry 'Brexit: UK-EU movement of people'. We worked alongside a sister group, Brexpats HOV, in compiling this evidence.
The evidence, which was selected for publication, looked at human aspect of the loss of freedom of movement for British citizens, using as illustration the situation of cross-border families. In their conclusions the Lords stated this "We strongly support the Government’s intention to protect the entitlements that UK nationals currently enjoy as a result of EU free movement rules".
You can read the report here.
The evidence, which was selected for publication, looked at human aspect of the loss of freedom of movement for British citizens, using as illustration the situation of cross-border families. In their conclusions the Lords stated this "We strongly support the Government’s intention to protect the entitlements that UK nationals currently enjoy as a result of EU free movement rules".
You can read the report here.
Exiting the EU Committee, June 2018On 6 June 2018, British in Europe were called to give oral evidence at a hearing of the Exiting the EU Committee. Kalba Meadows joined fellow British in Europe Steering Committee members Jane Golding, Fiona Godfrey and Michael Harris to answer questions put to them by the MPs on the Committee.
You can watch the hearing and hear what we had to say: click on the image on the right to open the session on Parliament TV, then scroll to 10h28 if you want to jump straight to our evidence. |
Assembléé Nationale Commission Spéciale, November 2018British in Europe were invited to give evidence to the Commission Spéciale of the Assemblée Nationale formed to examine the projet de loi that would permit the government to take contingency measures to protect our rights (and other things) in the event of a no deal Brexit.
Kalba Meadows and Kathryn Dobson were joined by fellow British in Europe Steering Committee member Christopher Chantrey in Paris where we met the rapporteur Alexandre Holroyd and others. Much of what we said was carried forward into his report and into later debates. |
Public Bill Committee, Immigration and Social Security Coordination (EU Withdrawal) Bill, February 2019On 14 February 2019 British in Europe were asked to give evidence to the committee considering this bill in its committee stage. Kalba Meadows was joined by colleague Jeremy Morgan from British in Italy to answer questions put to them on various questions concerning immigration and social security issues faced by British citizens in Europe.
You can watch us in action: click on the image to go to the session on Parliament TV, then scroll to 15h59 for the beginning of our evidence. |
Exiting the EU Committee, July 2019On 3 July 2019 British in Europe were once again called to give oral evidence at a hearing of this committee, headed by Hilary Benn MP. Kalba Meadows attended to represent France, along with four others from British in Europe: Jane Golding (Germany), Fiona Godfrey (Luxembourg), Jeremy Morgan (Italy) and John Richards (Spain).
Kalba drew specific attention to the reciprocity clause included in the French no deal legislation and the fact that this extended beyond citizens' rights into transport issues - which seemed to surprise committee members! You can watch the entire session on the video on the right. We also submitted comprehensive written evidence, which was highly praised by the chair and which you can read here: data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/exiting-the-european-union-committee/the-progress-of-the-uks-negotiations-on-eu-withdrawal/written/103421.pdf. |
|
Fact finding: surveys and polls
Over the last 2 years we've carried out a number of anonymous surveys and polls on various different subjects and issues, including:
Attitudes to applying for French citizenship
In January 2018 we asked members who had lived in France for more than 5 years and were therefore eligible to apply for citizenship what they felt about that prospect. The results were surprising: 40% of the 818 respondents said they would only apply 'as a last resort'.
One year on, we ran a similar poll to see how, if at all, attitudes have changed.
You can read the report written after the 2018 survey here: Not a panacea: attitudes to French citizenship amongst British people in France. This has been used by British in Europe for advocacy purposes.
One year on, we ran a similar poll to see how, if at all, attitudes have changed.
You can read the report written after the 2018 survey here: Not a panacea: attitudes to French citizenship amongst British people in France. This has been used by British in Europe for advocacy purposes.
Freedom of movement
In May 2018 a total of 1621 people in France took part in a survey on freedom of movement organised by British in Europe across all the EU27 countries. The aim was to understand the significance of freedom of movement to British nationals and what their views were on the potential loss of this right post Brexit.
Almost all the respondents declared that they either were or could be affected by the loss of their free movement rights. We have used the results of the survey extensively in advocacy with both EU and UK.
You can read the report written after the survey here: The importance of freedom of movement to British citizens living in the EU27.
Almost all the respondents declared that they either were or could be affected by the loss of their free movement rights. We have used the results of the survey extensively in advocacy with both EU and UK.
You can read the report written after the survey here: The importance of freedom of movement to British citizens living in the EU27.
Experiences of applying for a carte de séjour across France
In a series of six surveys carried out in summer 2018 we looked at members' experiences of applying for a carte de séjour in different préfectures across France, with the aim of identifying patterns of difficulty and recurrent issues so that we could take them up with the Ministry of the Interior.
We were able to identify préfectures with particularly long waiting times as well as those requesting documents that were not on the official list, and those incorrectly refusing to process applications.
We passed much of this information on to both the Ministry of the Interior and the British Embassy and are pleased to report that after the surveys we saw some considerable improvements and the introduction of some examples of good practice. We continue to monitor experiences at different préfectures.
We were able to identify préfectures with particularly long waiting times as well as those requesting documents that were not on the official list, and those incorrectly refusing to process applications.
We passed much of this information on to both the Ministry of the Interior and the British Embassy and are pleased to report that after the surveys we saw some considerable improvements and the introduction of some examples of good practice. We continue to monitor experiences at different préfectures.
What did you know about legal residence in France before moving here?
From our work on social media, we found ourselves aware that a relatively large number of people weren't fully aware before moving to France of what the conditions are to be legally resident here. We wanted to investigate what people did (and didn't) know and/or understand before arriving, how they did their research before moving here, and how they learned about what they needed to do to be a legal resident.
990 people took part, of whom 40% moved to France between 10 and 20 years ago. A very surprising 66% of all respondents said that they didn't know anything about the need to meet conditions in order to be legally resident / exercising free movement rights. 63% of those have since learned about the requirements from this website and from information provided via social media.
35% of all respondents had consulted books on 'how to move to France'. None of the books in current usage mentioned free movement rights or the conditions to meet for legal residence. A similar percentage had done their research using magazines such as 'French Property News' or 'Living France', which also did not / do not cover the subject of legal residence.
We are using the results of this survey to advocate with both the British Embassy and the Ministry of the Interior for a comprehensive outreach service to reach British residents in France as soon as a new registration system has been put into place. The survey results also formed the inspiration for the 2019 rewrite of this website, so that we can better inform the British in France.
990 people took part, of whom 40% moved to France between 10 and 20 years ago. A very surprising 66% of all respondents said that they didn't know anything about the need to meet conditions in order to be legally resident / exercising free movement rights. 63% of those have since learned about the requirements from this website and from information provided via social media.
35% of all respondents had consulted books on 'how to move to France'. None of the books in current usage mentioned free movement rights or the conditions to meet for legal residence. A similar percentage had done their research using magazines such as 'French Property News' or 'Living France', which also did not / do not cover the subject of legal residence.
We are using the results of this survey to advocate with both the British Embassy and the Ministry of the Interior for a comprehensive outreach service to reach British residents in France as soon as a new registration system has been put into place. The survey results also formed the inspiration for the 2019 rewrite of this website, so that we can better inform the British in France.
Working with British in Europe
France Rights is a core member of British in Europe, taking over that role for France from Remain in France Together, which is now a wholly independent group with no connection to British in Europe. See more on this page.
On the British in Europe website you can find out more about the advocacy work we do and read some of our many publications.
On the British in Europe website you can find out more about the advocacy work we do and read some of our many publications.