British expats in France and other EU countries

I’m sure that the seriously resident British migrants will have formalized their residency long ago ready for full citizenship of their chosen EU country.

...and that Macron said these rumors were fake news.

Without foreign workers the UK will grind to a halt! Many employers find it almost impossible to find Brits who are willing to do the cold, wet, hard and dirty jobs, even when they are offered decent wages. We have become a nation of cissies!

Please do take into account that laws differ in the various countries that make up the EU. Here in Denmark, you cannot have dual nationality, nor may you drive a car that is registered in another country if you hold a Danish driving licence, but you may drive your own Danish registered car in another country.
You can however easily exchange a foreign driving licence for a Danish one, and don't usually have to resit a driving test.

Applying for Danish citizenship now requires a test much like that Mamie describes in France.

Mabon1, that is harsh to those British people who live in EU countries. My son met his Spanish wife when she was over here working. Their first child was born in England but she missed her mother and they moved to Spain where my son now works. They now have two more children born in Spain. This was all perfectly easy when in the EU. but what happens now? As I have mentioned before, he and his children cannot get dual nationality. What happens about health care? His pension? He built up a portion of pension working in the UK that will now be worth next to nothing when he needs it. He is worried and so are we.

My understanding is that a citizen of any EU country can legally move to another and any doctor's fees or hospital charges will in part or entirely be paid by the health service of the country that person is a citizen with a passport and valid health insurance from. That was certainly the case when my husband was hospitalized in the Netherlands two years ago.

Citizens of a country that is not a member of the EU need residency and work permits in the country they move to, and are not automatically covered by any health insurance that they have in their home country.

Once Britain leaves the EU, obviously British people who want to live in a EU country will be treated in exactly the same way as people from any other non-EU country. Conditions may well vary in the various countries that form the EU.

Britain will have a similar right to determine who may obtain work or residency permits in the UK and whether the NHS covers them or not, plus whether their driving licences are legal in Britain and all the other concerns expressed in this thread.

I realise that there have been mixed messages from the politicians over Brexit, but frankly any adult should have realised that opting out of the EU would have all these consequences.

As an expat/immigrant living in Spain, I think the only folk who may be worried are the ones living ‘under the radar’. The ones who don’t pay taxes in either or both countries, abuse the health systems in both countries and so on. All the folk who are registered on the padron and have all the correct legal paperwork are just getting on with and enjoying their life here. What will be will be and there’s no point in getting worked up about things outwith your ability to change them.

I couldn't give two hoots about these ex-pats, that's exactly what they are ex-pats. They want the best of both worlds and guess what? You can't have that.

evianers there has been plenty of expert legal opinion that says that the Vienna Convention does not, in fact, protect our rights.
I am not sure what you mean by "not as simple as Macron would like to make out". The established rules about residency, which are enshrined in French law, are pretty clear I think.
We are all getting on with our lives, which includes making sure that we have Titres de Séjour!

Saw a European national friend this week who has lived here longer than in her own home state, has 2 Brit children and has always worked in public sector with children. What was being described breaks my heart. What a shambles.

We here in this idyllic corner of France are not panicking! We continue our lives living to the full as we have always done. OP, what about the Vienna Convention
which "protects the acquired rights of individuals in situations of treaty change"? And what about the rights of those of us who have lived here for more than 5 years?
Not cast-iron of course, but not as simple as Macron would like to make out.
Although some of our friends are taking out French nationality, the rest of us continue quietly with our lives.

Nonody seems to have answered PaddyAnne's question. Those of us who have moved abroad to live permanently are not "Expats " but immigrants just the same as those who have emigrated to live in the UK. Exoats used to be someone who moved abroad for a certain time for work but would be returning to their home country at the end of their contract. Think the people wjo went to manage the tea plantations in India or the oil workers in the Middle East. We who choose to live abroad are immigrants.

It does depend on the U.K. though treating the French fairly
I think they will as many French people live and work in the UK, particularly London, Welshwife.

Fennel - how old do you think you have to be to retake a driving test? A driving licence was a straightforward French to UK exchange for a 78 year old simply applying to the DVLA. No test required.

Well you know what they say, money talks. I think it’s highly unlikely that France, and even more so, Spain and Greece, will want to give up the lucrative holiday trade from the UK. However, whilst British expats living in these, and other EU countries, must be lucrative in terms of where the money is spent, I would think some form of residency document will be required. Presumably the same will apply here. But I’m not an expert, I don’t live abroad, so I can only conjecture.

No - it was corrected in the French press straight away and I believe that it was a slip up - it was at the end of a long day - everything else he or a French Govt spokesman has been the opposite.
It does depend on the U.K. though treating the French fairly. He has also said that U.K. citizens will not need visas for holidays. In legal terms though I think we will be 3rd Country Citizens as no longer ,embers of the EU.

Visas, of course, are only relevant to people travelling to and from the country. Those of us who live here will still need to establish rights to residence. The announcement about visas is nothing to do with the "third country" arrangements for residents which were issued by the French government at the beginning of October and 'discovered" by the British press just before the summit.

Well if that’s right, it will certainly save a lot of people a lot of fuss. Thank goodness for common sense.

Moi?
Mais non

Gosh you're sooooo cynical Jalima!

I must admit I was surprised.

It's taken a couple of days for the second language "slip-up" to be noticed!

Hastily back tracking IMO Jamilla or perhaps he's taken to heart Junker's speech following the referendum result that English is no longer a relevant language.

Dunno Jalima but the excuse given is "^His team now say it was a case of a "second language^" slip-up, and that President Macron meant to say "we will not start visas for British people

Faux pas or hastily backtracking?

I heard it described on the radio today as 'Macron embracing Trumpism'.

Brexit: France's Macron makes English faux pas over visas BBC News:

French President Emmanuel Macron made a faux pas by saying in error that UK visitors would need French visas if there is a no-deal Brexit, aides say.
He had meant to say that British people would not need visas in such circumstances.
The confusion came as Mr Macron was speaking to the media in English at the end of an EU summit in Brussels.
Instead of "we will not stop visas" he meant to say "*we will not start visas*", the Elysée Palace explained.