Many Connexion readers have written in to express dissatisfaction with the long-stay visa process after the former interior minister claimed the process is fast and effective.
Gérald Darmanin said applicants in the UK wait 3.5 days on average for a meeting with the consular service’s contractor, TLS-Contact, then consular staff process dossiers in an average of eight days.
He made the comments in a letter to Senator Martine Berthet, who is asking for the process to be simplified.
Senator BerthetPhoto: Martine Berthet
In particular, Senator Berthet is campaigning on behalf of British second-home owners, most of whom bought as EU citizens before Brexit, who are now unable to visit for more than three months at a time without renewing heavy visa formalities every year.
She led an initially successful bid to have easier rules for them included in last year’s immigration law, which were struck out on a technicality.
Reader Huw Thomas said that “far from improving, the situation is deteriorating.”
He said it had been easier to obtain an appointment at TLSContact Manchester than before but he was still waiting for his passport more than a month later.
“A phone inquiry revealed it is taking five to six weeks for the consulate to process applications. Last year, it was just under three weeks,” he said.
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'They lost my passport'
Simon Reid, also a user of TLSContact Manchester, said his experience was “dreadful’’ after staff said they had lost his passport when he queried why it was taking longer to process his dossier than his wife’s. Her visa was supplied 10 days after submission at TLS.
“I had to go to Liverpool to get an emergency passport and then go to Manchester the next day to start the application all over again.”
More than a month later, the ‘lost’ passport was returned to him with a visa in it, he said. “It felt like a shambles, with unnecessary anxiety and inconvenience.”
Viv Christianson said the initial online part of the application is efficient but it is hard to get to one of just three TLS offices in the UK. “By car, it took about 16 hours, all told, from East Anglia, which isn’t that far from London.”
At the office you have to queue, even with an appointment, and it takes up to three hours, she said. You then have to repeat the trip to collect the visa if you do not want to entrust your passport to a courier for an extra fee.
Potential special status
“It would be interesting to know how much revenue is lost to French hospitality providers and commerce by this ridiculous 90-days rule.”
Ms Berthet has renewed her calls for help in a letter, and face to face, to new Interior Minister Bruneau Retailleau, a fellow member of her Les Républicains party.
“In my department, Savoie, as in many others, these homeowners play an active role in the dynamism of the economy. The difficulties they face in spending time at their homes since Brexit are being felt in our local areas,” she said.
She asked him to consider the creation of a special status for this group, and also asked if it would be a good idea for her to submit a proposed law on this point.
