Immigration to France for my elderly mum

Hi Everyone,
I am new to this forum and desperately seeking advice. My Nigerian mum who is 70 years old was issued a 2 year visitors visa to the UK. She had visited quite regularly previously and had never exceeded her 6 months deadline. Well, sometime in June, we took a family trip to Lille. On returning, my mums visa was cancelled on the basis of suspicion of not returning to Nigeria and use of public medical funds. So, currently my mum is in Paris. These are my questions:
1. Would it be easy to relocate my mum in France based on EU directives? 3 of her sons are British citizens and my older brother is planning to relocate to France at the end of August?
2. Will my mum be considered illegal in France? She wasn't issued any visa while accompanying us (2 British citizens ) through the border and has been in France by herself since we had to return to work.
3. Will the cancellation of her UK visa impact on her application for French residency?
4. Will it be considered an abuse of the French system and EU directive? I and my brother had to return to work in England while my mum remained in France.
5. What requirements will lead to her getting a successful residency permit? My brother has sufficient funds in his account but may not get a decent salary out in France.

I appreciate your responses and input.
Kind regards,
Ben

Hello,

1 - Your brother has to be actually in France exercising Treaty rights in order to use the Directive to try to get an EEA residence for your mum. It may or may not work and it could be a lengthy process. But in any case, your brother has to show that he actually lives and pay taxes in France. I know French authorities : it' not possible to just rent something in France for them to accept that you are present there. They want to see proof of that. Often, they let months pass then they contact again asking for fresh documents again.

2 - Yes she is illegal and has always been. The British visitor visa is not valid for Schengen States. You can travel to EEA countries with a non-EEA relatives but that relative has to hold a residence card indicating a "Family member of EEA national".

3 - If they put a cancellation stamp in the passport, that would trigger more scrutiny to the application and can cause rejection.

4 - EU direction doesn't allow you to live in a country and bring your family to another. In this case, your mum is not eligible to invoke that Directive. It's not an abuse really. She is just not eligible under that Directive.

5 - I live many years in France. I know very well the immigration system there. I am afraid her chances given the circumstances you describe are really nil.

On a side note, I would be very slow to advise anyone to submit a 70 old women with health issues to an immigration ordeal in France. This is a promise of years and years of fighting with French authorities and could take a serious toll even from young and healthy men.

If you think the UK visa was canceled for the wrong reasons and can demonstrate it, you can appeal their decision and get her back to the UK.

Benzino78 wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 29, 2019 12:59 am

She wasn't issued any visa while accompanying us (2 British citizens ) through the border and has been in France by herself since we had to return to work.

Somehow I am disinclined to believe this statement.

Firstly, I would find it strange that the French PAF did not stamp your mother's passport when she entered France, if only because that can have serious consequences not only for France if people can enter without a visa, but the whole Schengen Zone.

Secondly, out of curiousity, when she entered France, how did they verify that she was indeed your mother?

For your brother to get her to stay in France under the EU Directive, he will need to move to France on a permanent basis, for at least five years AND prove that your mother was dependent on him (and not her other sons).

If he is moving on a self-sufficient basis (on the basis of his funds), he will need to purchase private health insurance for both himself and any family members (such as the mother). Given her age, that may be expensive. Again, he still needs to settle in France for at least five years.

After five years, both your brother and mother will have acquired PR under the Directive and your brother can then return to the UK.

secret.simon wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 29, 2019 5:00 pm

Benzino78 wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 29, 2019 12:59 am

She wasn't issued any visa while accompanying us (2 British citizens ) through the border and has been in France by herself since we had to return to work.

Somehow I am disinclined to believe this statement.

Firstly, I would find it strange that the French PAF did not stamp your mother's passport when she entered France, if only because that can have serious consequences not only for France if people can enter without a visa, but the whole Schengen Zone.

Secondly, out of curiousity, when she entered France, how did they verify that she was indeed your mother?

For your brother to get her to stay in France under the EU Directive, he will need to move to France on a permanent basis, for at least five years AND prove that your mother was dependent on him (and not her other sons).

If he is moving on a self-sufficient basis (on the basis of his funds), he will need to purchase private health insurance for both himself and any family members (such as the mother). Given her age, that may be expensive. Again, he still needs to settle in France for at least five years.

After five years, both your brother and mother will have acquired PR under the Directive and your brother can then return to the UK.

It's crazy how she managed to get there without a proper Schengen visa. But even if we assume the French PAF agents didn't control that day, were lax or missed her situation, she still gained illegal entry to France.

That's probably what aroused suspicion of the British authorities when she tried to come back to the UK. They probably didn't miss the fact that she was illegal in France and even if her UK visa was valid, they dig further and canceled the visa.

Zerubbabel wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 30, 2019 12:45 pm

That's probably what aroused suspicion of the British authorities when she tried to come back to the UK. They probably didn't miss the fact that she was illegal in France and even if her UK visa was valid, they dig further and canceled the visa.

It think there may be a different reason for cancelling the visa.

Apart from the six months that the visa is valid for per visit, visitors are also not allowed to reside in the UK in the guise of a visit visa by frequent and successive visits. The Border Force agents would also look at whether she is spending more time outside her country of habitual residence than inside. Therefore (assuming that she used to reside in Nigeria), if she is spending a substantial amount of time outside Nigeria, that would cause alarm bells to ring. That, coupled with six month long stays in the UK, may be considered by the Border Force agents to violate the rules of visit visas and cause its cancellation.

It is not improbable that you may be partially correct in that the absence of a French stamp may have added to the red flags when the mother tried to reenter the UK.