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Letters: Visas are so much trouble that we will not visit our second home in France
Connexion readers share frustrating visa challenges to access their French properties
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'My French property is overwhelming me and I may leave'
Columnist Cynthia Spillman advises a reader whose French dream has turned sour
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Letters: People in France must stand up to Trump's tariffs
Connexion readers say boycotting US-made goods is the best way to respond
France/UK cross-border workers have been ignored
I live in France and work in the UK (as a cross-border worker).
There has been very little consideration of people in my position, and articles in Connexion seem to ignore us too. We are not posted workers (which has a specific definition), just people who live in France but work in the UK.
For example, I live in Lille and take the train to London.
I pay tax and NI in the UK (as I am obliged to – I am not entitled to pay in France under the terms of the dual taxation treaty) and am about to lose all rights to healthcare in France.
I cannot easily go back to the UK as I have three children at school here (who have lived here all their lives) including one who has exams this year. The situation for cross-border workers is as bad as that for pensioners (it’s worse in many ways, as we are obliged to pay full tax and NI to the UK but get nothing in return).
It would be good if our situation could be looked at as part of the S1 issue.
Lydia Seymour, Lille
We reply: In the “dealâ€, frontier workers are provided for. The French no-deal law says that Britons living in France with their healthcare paid for by the UK (ie with an S1) would maintain rights for two years pending negotiations about reciprocal deals.
The UK has also made no-deal plans regarding those whose healthcare it pays for in the EU (see here ).