News Digest: No More Car Insurance Green Cards & Could Your UK Passport Be Refused in France?

As of yesterday (April 1st), the small green paper squares that were required to be displayed in car windows as proof of car insurance are no longer legally required in France (and, no, it’s not an April Fool’s joke!). In a bid to prevent paper wastage and protect against falsified insurance documents, police will now follow a simplified administration check, allowing them to check a vehicle’s insurance on the official Fichier des Véhicles Assures (FVA).

However, this doesn’t mean that you don’t need car insurance! The rules around car insurance have not changed – in France, all motor vehicles in circulation must be insured. Read our guide to car insurance in France for more.

From now on, drivers will receive a Mémo Véhicle Assuré (MVA) from their insurer instead, and you must keep this document (or a digital copy of it) on you when driving in case of an accident. Read more about this in our full article here.

France’s Chèque Énergie or Energy Cheque is a government aid voucher sent out to low-income families, which can be redeemed against your energy bills. Households that earn less than €11,000 per unité de consommation or UC (energy consuming units, calculated based on the number of people living in your house) are eligible to receive the cheque in 2024, and this year, they will start being sent out from today – April 2nd.

Cheques are sent out automatically, but it’s up to you how and when you use them (vouchers should be valid until March 2025), so check out our article below for more details.

France’s Chèque Énergie: Who is Eligible & How to Use It

Reports of more British holidaymakers getting caught out by the EU’s “10-year validity rule” have made the headlines again over the Easter holidays, so here’s our friendly reminder to all Brits to check your passport now! Post-Brexit, UK passport holders now fall under the same rules as all other non-EU countries, meaning that on the date you enter France (or any other EU country), your passport:

• Must have at least six months of validity left
• Must have been issued within the last 10 years

It’s the latter point that is causing confusion due to a quirk of UK passport issuing, whereby, prior to 2018, it was possible to apply for a passport renewal in the UK up to nine months prior to its expiration – and the “extra” months would then be added to the validity of your new passport. Designed to encourage passport renewals at quieter times throughout the year, the rule led to many passports being issued with up to nine extra months of validity.

In these instances, your UK passport may have a validity period of 10 years and nine months. However, after the 10 years is up, you will not be able to enter France or any EU country with this passport even if it is still more than six months before the expiry date.

How can you make sure you aren’t caught out by this? First, check your passport and look at:

1. The expiry date: This date should at least six months after the date that you wish to travel to France or another EU country.
2. The issue date: if this is after 2018, then you only have to worry about the expiry date above. However, if it’s issued prior to 2018, then you should calculate 10 years from this date, ignoring the expiry date. For example, if the issue date is 10^th March 2017, then you will need to renew your passport before 10^th March 2027 in order for it to be valid for travel to France/the EU.

If you’re looking to move to France and have questions about visas and residency, then make sure to sign up for our free webinar. I’ll be joined by expert advisors from Lexidy, English-speaking France immigration lawyers, and FAB French Insurance for a comprehensive look at the road to permanent residency in France.

We’ll be covering everything from that initial visa application to applying for your Carte de Sejour, ensuring you have all the latest information and advice for a smooth transition to France in 2024.

As always, you can send your questions to me in advance at [email protected], and you can sign up for the free webinar here:

Visas & Residency in France: Making the Move in 2024

Thursday, 18^th April, 16.00 BST (17.00 French time)