WARPs/CdS for Non-residents

[ajm]

What's the score if I,a Brit. living in France with a French CdS, want to overwinter in say Spain ?

Do you hold a British or French passport? - guess that is the difference?

Are passports checked entering Spain from France?

[p4psb]

@Bayleaf Is this of any help?

https://www.frenchentree.com/brexit/eu- ... -it-works/

Thanks Sparkle. But I still wonder how non-residents are managing to get Residency Permits.

They can apply for VLS-T or VLS-TS visas.
VLS-T are temporary visas and cannot be renewed without having a break, so can only be applied for anew each time.
VLS-TS visas are for those TCNs (i.e. non-EU citizens) who wish to apply for residency. These become residents permits once validated after 3 months in France and become a CDS and can be renewed annually.

[Sparkle]

Taken from https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advic ... quirements

Passport stamping

Check your passport is stamped if you enter or exit the Schengen area through Spain as a visitor. Border guards will use passport stamps to check you’re complying with the 90-day visa-free limit for short stays in the Schengen area. If relevant entry or exit stamps are not in your passport, border guards will presume that you have overstayed your visa-free limit.

You can show evidence of when and where you entered or exited the Schengen area, and ask the border guards to add this date and location in your passport. Examples of acceptable evidence include boarding passes and tickets.

At Spanish border control, you may need to:

show a return or onward ticket
show you have enough money for your stay
show proof of accommodation for your stay, for example, a hotel booking confirmation, proof of address if visiting your own property (e.g. second home), or an invitation from your host or proof of their address if staying with a third party, friends or family. The Spanish government has clarified that the “carta de invitation” is one of the options available to prove that you have accommodation if staying with friends or family. More information is available from the Spanish Ministry of Interior

[L Austin France]

What's the score if I,a Brit. living in France with a French CdS, want to overwinter in say Spain ?

Do you hold a British or French passport? - guess that is the difference?

Are passports checked entering Spain from France?

We've driven our French reg. car to & from Spain from our home in France on many occasions pre Brexit & as far as I can remember, if we've ever been through a 'full on' border crossing, our British passports have never been asked for. Dunno if this still applies after Brexit although there used to be umpteen unmanned border points on minor roads which presumably still exist.

[exile]

Sparkle
Posts: 1001

Taken from https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advic ... quirements

Passport stamping

Check your passport is stamped if you enter or exit the Schengen area through Spain as a visitor. Border guards will use passport stamps to check you’re complying with the 90-day visa-free limit for short stays in the Schengen area. If relevant entry or exit stamps are not in your passport, border guards will presume that you have overstayed your visa-free limit.

But if you start in France with a TdS, you are not entering the Schengen area because you are already there.

[Sparkle]

@exile - I may well now have lost the plot but doesn't this go back to what passport you are holding ie French or British?

[AmandaJ]

@Bayleaf Is this of any help?

https://www.frenchentree.com/brexit/eu- ... -it-works/

Thanks Sparkle. But I still wonder how non-residents are managing to get Residency Permits.

I think the burden of proof and paperwork required for a permanent 10 year warp cds wasn't very difficult to achieve (ie no copy of tax return basically just id and something like an edf bill to show you'd been 'living' in France - I can't remember the exact details because we followed the guidelines for less than 5 year residency pre-brexit which included proof that you had enough income (ie avis d'impot) and loads of other paperwork).

I think the danger for anyone who followed the easy route despite not being resident is that eventually French officialdom might notice that Fr tax returns haven't been submitted for the last few years.

I also understand that there a few people who are genuinely resident in France for more than 183 days a year but using the statutory residence test tie breaker, still tax resident in UK. A situation that would require good professional guidance I would think as it's complicated.

[exile]

@exile - I may well now have lost the plot but doesn't this go back to what passport you are holding ie French or British?

Yes and no.

A British passport owner living full term in France with a TDS entering Spain should try and get it stamped on entry so that in the event of a check they can prove they have been in Spain for less than 90 days. They should also try and get an exit stamp as well.

A French passport holder is strictly speaking also held to a 90 day stay*. The difference being;
1. This is 90 days per visit and not a 90 days in any rolling 180 days.
2. After 90 days they can apply for a Spanish residency permit. Easy to get for EU nationals.

* Quite how that would be policed I have no idea and I do know of Brits who pre-Brexit spent the entire winter in the South of Spain as a cheaper alternative to staying at home and heating the house.

[Spardo]

@exile - I may well now have lost the plot but doesn't this go back to what passport you are holding ie French or British?

The OP definitely mentioned 'as a Brit' so I assume with a British passport. With a French passport the question wouldn't arise as the holder would have freedom of movement as an EU citizen. Personally speaking I have never, ever, been asked to show my passport between France and Spain, in many places there was no-one to stamp it anyway, and sometimes wasn't always obvious where the border was.

I don't do long distance driving any more but I had wondered how I would have gone on with my previous multiple trips to Spain to collect dogs in the past. I suppose the evidence of recent French purchases might be sufficient.

[Liz]

Googling '90 day calculator' brings up loads of help, there's even an app for it