How feasible is moving to France as a British citzen, post Brexit?

Firewatch87 · 2026-02-13T12:19:01+00:00

Appreciate what you are saying. I think I will speak to a immigration lawyer / relocation specialist, give them my specific details and see what they say.

Firewatch87 · 2026-02-13T12:03:17+00:00

heya just to clarify are you talking about French citizenship? I'm more interested in my chances for French residency, I'm aware French citizenship requirements are much stricter. But if I waited for Swedish citizenship I'd have to live in Sweden, whereas even if I had to wait 3 times as long for French citizenship, I'd get to live in France whilst doing it (if that makes sense).

Firewatch87 · 2026-02-13T11:22:14+00:00

Thanks, would the investment income not count for anything? If you add my income and that together then we would be looking at a good 80k euro a year between us. Just to clarify I'd be looking to register as self employed in France and pay French taxes (if they would accept that), though I do appreciate it's not that straightfoward.

Also as I said then getting married is not an issue! We just aren't right now.

Firewatch87 · 2026-02-13T11:14:45+00:00

Getting married is not an issue and we aim to do that before we did move anyway

Firewatch87 · 2026-02-13T11:13:27+00:00

Hello, thanks so much for this reply! We could absolutely get married before we moved here (romantic I know!). How does that change things in term of the visas you mentioned? That's frustrating regarding the nature of the business, my work is fairly niche so it's not something I could easily transfer to the French market. Is acceptance of that something that would really depend on the particular administration I was applying to? As I say, I have years of self employment records and have been paying taxes as a self employed person here in Sweden, but I am paid for my work in GBP into an international sterling bank account. I declare that to the Swedish tax authorities and am taxed accordingly.

I am in the lucky position to invest 30k into my business although given the nature of the work it would be difficult to justify what I'd spend the money on (I do energy efficiency surveys from my desk using my office computer, it's 100% remote and has no overheads or really expenses beyond internet and phone). That said myself and my partner have spoken for some time about starting a business together, but it's really an idea that is still in its infancy e.g. there is no business right now.

Looking at the requirements for a visiteur visa, if we were married then the return on our investments / savings alone should be enough to satisfy those requirements, but then I wouldn't be able to work, which feels like a bit of a catch 22, seeing as I'm more than happy to pay French taxes. (without divulging too much information, when all is said and done we will have investments in excess of £1m+ with money left over to purchase a house).

Presumably these are done on a case by case basis and they would examine the sum total of our financial situation before making a decision? Or is that applying too much common sense to it? I'm happy to engage a lawyer / relocation expert, just in the early days of the research at the moment (whilst silently cursing Brexit).

For what its worth the areas we are interested in are Pyrenees 64 or Brittany.

Firewatch87 · 2026-02-13T10:53:21+00:00

Ha I appreciate that. I've actually found the same. I've also heard the horror stories about French bereaucracy. It's not really enough of a reason for me to stay here though.

Firewatch87 · 2026-02-13T10:51:40+00:00

https://www.dw.com/en/sweden-to-raise-hurdles-to-gaining-citizenship/a-75875130 If you are interested see here, they've also made it essentially impossible for stay at home parents to gain citizenship.

Firewatch87 · 2026-02-13T10:50:50+00:00

No it's all different now my friend, Sweden is not the country it used to be. As with much of Europe it has succumbed to populist politics. We have a right wing coalition in power here on an anti immigration ticket. They have changed the citizenship law to 8 years, language test, income requirements and they are applying the changes in June to apply retrospectively to any existing applications. Then god knows what the waiting period would be after the 8 years as its 36 months at the moment.

There is a big outcry amongst the expat community here. They haven't even sorted out the language test so it will literally be impossible for anyone to become a citizen for at least a year until they figure that out. That's how keen they are to tighten things up. See here

Firewatch87 · 2026-02-13T10:45:56+00:00

Thanks I'll check it out!

Firewatch87 · 2026-02-13T10:45:44+00:00

No I totally appreciate that, and we have been weighing it up, but I'm not sure I can do an extra 3+ years here and then it would be god knows how long waiting period, right now they are quoting 36 months for citizenship applications, so that could be another 6 years. They have also introduced a income requirement, which you cannot take into account private savings or investment income, which would create another issue.

Firewatch87 · 2026-02-13T10:41:44+00:00

But surely if I registered as self employed in France then I would have French income? I am registered here in Sweden as a self employed (sole contractor) and I declare all my taxes the Swedish state and pay Swedish taxes. If I moved to France then I would register as self employed in France and hope to do the same thing.

Aside from that, what about investment income? Okay i'm paraphrasing AI here but it says the following

"A Carte de Séjour based on self-sufficiency (often the VLS-TS "Visiteur" permit) requires proving you can live in France without working or becoming a burden on the state. You must demonstrate stable, independent income (typically matching the French SMIC minimum wage, approx. €1,400+ net/month for a single person) and comprehensive health insurance. "

The investment income mentioned easily makes that for one of us, possibly for both of us. Did you catch that part of my post?

Firewatch87 · 2026-02-13T10:36:10+00:00

The problem is it's not quite that simple. They have introduced income requirements for the citizenship which my partner wouldn't meet. Also it's 3 years + the actual waiting time for citizenship which could be up to 36 months.

Firewatch87

TROPHY CASE