Some of our work
Here's what we've been doing.
Check out our Latest News section for updates
Meeting with the EU Commission
November 2022, members of the RIFT team met with representatives from the EU Commission.
Find out more about the meeting here.
Giving evidence
Assemblée Nationale Commission Spéciale, 2021
Evidence was requested for the Commission Spéciale of the Assemblée Nationale. This was to review the online process. RIFT was represented by James Brannan.
Gathering evidence
In 2021 we conducted 4 surveys to assess the progress of applications for the new Withdrawal Agreement Residence Permit (WA RP)
Find out more about the surveys here.
Reporting
RIFT sounds the alarm bell
On 2 March 2020 we published a report which details our concerns about the potential issues faced by many British citizens living in France following the UK's exit from the EU.
Reporting
The Impact of Brexit on UK Citizens Living in France
In October 2019, following input by RIFT members, our admin team representatives produced a 16 page report on the impact of Brexit on UK citizens living in France. They met with Paul Blomfield, Shadow Brexit Secretary (Labour) and Tom Brake, Lib Dem spokesperson on Brexit and presented the report and discussed our concerns. A chance meeting also allowed the admin team to present a copy of the report to Mark Francois, a member of the Conservative party and leading figure in the European Research Group (ERG).
Giving evidence
Public Bill Committee, Immigration and Social Security Coordination (EU Withdrawal) Bill, February 2019
On 14 February 2019 evidence was given to the committee - bill in the committee stage.
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Gathering evidence
Experiences of applying for a carte de séjour across France
In a series of six surveys carried out in summer 2018, we looked at members' experiences of applying for a carte de séjour in different préfectures across France, with the aim of identifying patterns of difficulty and recurrent issues so that we could take them up with the Ministry of the Interior.
We were able to identify préfectures with particularly long waiting times as well as those requesting documents that were not on the official list, and those incorrectly refusing to process applications.
We passed much of this information on to both the Ministry of the Interior and the British Embassy and are pleased to report that after the surveys we saw some considerable improvements and the introduction of some examples of good practice. We continue to monitor experiences at different préfectures.
Gathering evidence
Attitudes to applying for French citizenship
In January 2018 we asked members who had lived in France for more than 5 years and were therefore eligible to apply for citizenship what they felt about that prospect. The results were surprising: 40% of the 818 respondents said they would only apply 'as a last resort'.
Giving evidence
Assemblée Nationale Commission Spéciale, November 2018
Evidence was requested for the Commission Spéciale of the Assemblée Nationale. This was established to examine the 'projet de loi'. The project would permit the government to take contingency measures to protect us in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
Giving evidence
Exiting the EU Committee, January 2017
In January 2017, written evidence was given to the Exiting the EU Committee's inquiry 'The Government's negotiating objectives: the rights of UK and EU citizens'.
The evidence was selected for publication by the Committee and was referred to in the report that came out of the inquiry. You can read it here
Giving evidence
House of Lords EU Committee, January 2017
RIFT also gave written evidence to the House of Lords EU Home Affairs Sub-Committee inquiry 'Brexit: UK-EU movement of people'. We worked alongside Brexpats HOV to produce this evidence.
The Lords stated "We strongly support the Government’s intention to protect the entitlements that UK nationals currently enjoy as a result of EU free movement rules".
Marching
Our members have participated in many of the anti-Brexit marches and demonstrations both in the UK and France.
Page updated January 2023