News Digest: 2023 Property Declaration Bugs & Your Visa & Healthcare Questions Answered

The new 2023 Property Declaration of Occupation has run into a few minor problems, most notably bugs on the online system that were showing that property declarations as awaiting completion even after submission. This should now have been fixed, but if you are experiencing issues with this or have any other questions or concerns about filling in the form, you should use the online messaging service to contact the tax office and outline your issue.

The Connexion also recently spoke with Sandrine Majorel-Delage, head of the Property Declaration service, who confirmed that this year would be treated as a grace period and fines are unlikely to be issued for errors (read their full article here). She also advised that the most important thing was to declare the occupation of the property, rather than worrying about the smaller details, such as errors in the pre-filled descriptions.

This weekend is the first of May’s four long weekends (2023 is a good year for jour fériés in France!), but May 1^st – the ‘Fête du Travail’ or Workers’ Day – is also traditionally a day of protests and demonstrations. It’s little surprise, then, that the French unions, still reeling from Macron’s recent signing of the pension reform into law, have announced nationwide marches and demonstrations to voice their discontent.

With no further strikes announced (at least for the moment!), the unions are concentrating their efforts on this final ‘day of action’ with an anticipated 1 million people set to take to the streets. Although May 1 is a public holiday and many shops and services will already be closed, this isn’t a strike day, and trains and public transport should be running as normal. However, the marches might mean some disruptions or diversions to traffic and public transport in city centres, and holiday weekends always mean increased traffic on the roads, especially on motorways around major cities.

FrenchEntrée’s Moving to France: Long-Stay Visa Applications & Health Insurance webinar takes place this Thursday, 27^th April, and there’s still time to sign up for the free event!

Kicking off our new Moving to France webinar series, we’ll be focusing on long-stay visa applications and health insurance – the first steps to becoming resident in France. I’ll be joined by expert advisors from French Connections HCB and FAB French Insurance, who will be answering your most frequently asked questions on long-stay visas, the visa application process, and the health insurance requirements, with plenty of top tips and essential advice.

If you’re a non-EU citizen looking to move to France to work or study, plan to retire to France, or perhaps just want to enjoy a long stay at your French second home – this is your chance to put your questions to the experts! As always, you can send your questions in advance to me at [email protected].

Sign up for our free Moving to France: Long-Stay Visa Applications & Health Insurance webinar here on Thursday, 27^th April or click the button below.