My mum lives in France. Thinks Brexit won't affect her. AIBU to think she's 100% wrong

[GunpowderGelatine]

My mum is British, born and bred in UK, British passport etc and has lived in France for about 15 years. I've asked her how Brexit will affect her living there. All she says is "It won't".

AIBU to think she's completely deluded and needs to prepare for the worst come March?

Does she work and pay tax there or is she retired?

She’ll probably need to apply for settled status in France.

Of course it will affect her. Does she have a British driving licence/pension? Does she use the french health service? She should be looking into getting all her documents up-to-date and in order at the very least.

A few schoolmates who emigrated there are pretty confident it will work out (though they have partners with EU passports to be fair).

One moved his whole business over (does very little trade with the uk anyway) the other works for an EU agency. If she has secure employment I expect she will be fine.

Nahhhhhh it'll be alright

Of course it will be ok

She'll have paperwork to do.

Also some meds come from the UK to France and some French patients are concerned but they shouldn't be as concerned as us!

@BarbarianMum none / doesn't work or pay tax but isn't retirement age. She's a "housewife" apparently

If she is a housewife to someone allowed to be there she will be fine, just like every non British ‘housewife’ here.

No he is British too but works over there self employed

She'll need to apply for carte de séjour.

Does she have a French partner? I assume she's in the French healthcare system?

And she needs to swap her UK driving licence for a French one.

No French driving license and yes she registered for healthcare

Yy to the driving licence swap!

She should ideally apply for a Carte de séjour... It takes a while, depending on her area. To do this she will need to show how she is supported (financially), and provide a whole host of documents to prove how long she has been there-I work, pay tax in France, am married to a French person (we have 2 French children) and it was a massive PITA (especially as house bills are only in dh's name...) I'm still waiting for the actual card... Did I say it takes ages?!

No panic yet, but I would advise her to get in the system! Loads of brits I know haven't bothered yet though.

She needs to get a carte de séjour and swap her licence. Could be long waits for both depending on where she lives, but if she has a partner who is working and she's already in the system she should be ok.

I'm based in France. Our company has a huge international presence, including the UK, and large numbers of expats in both directions.
We've been getting regular updates on what's happening and the impact on us.
I'm genuinely not worried. Nor are any of the other Brits I know here.
We will almost certainly have to apply for residency and change our driver's license but we're pretty confident there will a grace period to allow this.
Only issue may be access to medical care but even then all the reassurances seem to be that whatever they decide to do we will be given time to do it.

How easy it will be probably depends where you live as some prefectures are more jobsworths than others. When we moved here in 1998 it was a big hassle to get a resident's card in our département yet they handed them out like sweeties in the neighbouring département. I had to marry my (British) OH before they would give him residency. Won't be like that now but anecdotally there are massive differences in how long the procedure will take depending on where you are. I have heard of people getting appointments for 2020!

If she's been legally resident in France for 15 years and can justify that then whether or not she is an EU citizen she can stay. French law states that someone who has been legally resident in France for over ten years cannot be kicked out unless they have committed a serious crime, EU citizen or not.

Health care in France is based on residency and taxes, not citizenship.

She may or may not have to swap her driving licence - there are non-EU driving licences that are valid in France. The swap is not hugely onerous.

She'll have extra paperwork to do but it probably won't hugely change her situation.

Non EU driving licenses have to be swopped after 12 months in France.

I applied to swop my UK one in August. Heard nothing. Rang up in December - they were treating applications from March so I was told to be patient a few more months!

Health care in France is based on residency and taxes,

You do have to be able to prove legal residency though.

I volunteer in a support group for British parents in France and at the time of the referendum there was a rash of people getting asked (wrongly) for a carte de séjour by the CPAM (health insurance) and CAF (family benefits) people. It all went quiet, but this week I've heard of someone who was asked for a titre de séjour for her teenager who is turning 18.