hedleygb

This is complicated, but somebody might have some idea. I am a UK citizen, aged 78. My wife is a US national aged 48. We lived in France from 1996 to 2002, at which time we both had cartes de séjour and cartes vitale. Our daughter was born in France. I am retired and on a teacher's pension in addition to my state pension, and in 1996 this was sufficient to get me residence in France. We both loved living there and would like to return. Probably not a problem for me. My wife is a Local Government Officer, but works from home. Will it be possible for her to do this in Francefor more than 90/180 days?

cyrian

Hi Hedleygb
Welcome to the forum.
Do you intend to return to France full-time?
I see that you live in Ashford. Is it your intention to come to France for brief visits?
If your wife works in France then she needs to have a French business structure.
It is unlikely that Local Government would pay French social charges.
What will the rules be post-Brexit regarding working arrangements between the EU and the UK?
Ah - your wife is a US national. You need to check the working arrangements between the US and France.
If your intention is to move to France then your wife would be liable for French taxes and social charges from day 1 because that is the country where she lives.
Sounds complicated - living in France but being paid in the UK and declaring income in France and the USA.
How about healthcare?
If you move to France then you are no longer covered by the NHS.
Sounds complicated.

EuroTrash

If your wife wants to work from France more than 90/180, the first step should be for your wife to ask her employer if the arrangement would be acceptable to them. As Cyrian says, employing a French resident would potentially mean added expense and more admin for them because they would need to register her with URSSAF as an employee (bearing in mind that one way or another she would need to obtain the right to work in France, which as a US citizen she doesn't automatically have), ensure that her employment contract complies with French labour law, arrange a health insurance policy for her, arrange to pay French taxes and social security deductions on her salary, etc. It may be that there is a fixed policy on local government employees working abroad, or if not, they would have to make a decision in principle.

If they agree you can start looking at the mechanics of the move, but I think you to clear that hurdle first.

I don't know the position as regards working from France as a visitor on a regular basis. Normally, working isn't allowed on a tourist visa.

dmu

+1
You took the words out of my mouth (but formulated more clearly!)
@hedleygb - your wife's employment status should be settled before anything else.
How is your French after such an absence? I'm not far behind you in age, so can permit myself to suggest reading the "Growing old in France" and even "Death in France" threads in the Read-Me: Moving to Frrance FAQs above. You should be aware of all the French quirks in these respects....
Maybe a minor point, but is your daughter coming with you? AFAIK the fact of being born in France wouldn't make her a French citizen and she would have to comply with the conditions for UK citizens, but some one more in the know could advise if the question is relevant.
HTH

hedleygb

Much as I thought. My wife is on contract through an agency, so we'll ask the agency what it thinks. Daughter is now independent, so not a problem. My French has deteriorated from 'bilingual' to 'very fluent', so no problem there, at least. Looks as if we'll have to work on 90/180 at least for the moment.

EuroTrash

Ah OK, I had assumed she was employed directly by a local authority.
In that case, since the agency is her employer, it's up to the agency whether it wants replace her UK contract with a French contrat d'embauche. I suspect that most UK staff agencies don't have a clue about French labour law or what's involved in employing a French resident. If they say "Yes that's not a problem, we'll just keep you on the UK payroll and not change anything", tread warily because a person cannot (legally) be kept on a UK payroll if they stop being UK resident.
I have a notion that there might possibly be different rules for foreign agencies employing French residents. Maybe not, but I do know that under the EU posted worker scheme, an agency posting a worker abroad had to follow slightly different procedures from an employer posting one of their own staff abroad.
Do check what France's position is on visitors working whilst in France. I'm not sure you should just assume it will be OK. As I'm sure you know from having lived there previously, French labour law is more strict/restrictive than many countries'.