September 2024
WIKIPEDIA
“Chicago” (often listed as “Chicago / We Can Change the World”) is the debut solo single by English singer-songwriter Graham Nash, released in 1971 ….
Backround
The title and lyrics of the song refer to the anti-Vietnam War protests that took place during the August 26–29, 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago and the subsequent trial of the Chicago Eight, where protest leaders were charged with conspiracy to incite a riot. The first line of the song, “So your brother’s bound and gagged, and they’ve chained him to a chair”, refers to Black Panther leader Bobby Seale, the sole African-American defendant, who was gagged and chained to a chair in the courtroom following repeated outbursts in protest of rulings by Judge Julius Hoffman. …
On the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young live album, 4 Way Street (1971), Nash dedicates the song to “Mayor Daley”, a sardonic reference to Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley, who was notoriously antagonistic towards anti-war protesters.
Though your brother’s bound and gagged
And they’ve chained him to a chair
Won’t you please come to Chicago
Just to sing
In a land that’s known as freedom
How can such a thing be fair
Won’t you please come to Chicago
For the help that we can bring
We can change the world
Rearrange the world
It’s dying … to get better
Politicians, sit yourselves down
There’s nothing for you here
Won’t you please come to Chicago
For a ride?
Don’t ask Jack to help you
‘Cause he’ll turn the other ear
Won’t you please come to Chicago
Or else join the other side?
We can change the world
Rearrange the world
It’s dying, if you believe in justice
It’s dying, if you believe in freedom
It’s dying, let a man live his own life
It’s dying, rules and regulations, who needs them
Throw them out the door
Somehow people must be free
I hope the day comes soon
Won’t you please come to Chicago
Show your face?
From the bottom of the ocean
To the mountains on the moon
Won’t you please come to Chicago?
No one else can take your place
We can change the world
Rearrange the world
It’s dying, if you believe in justice
It’s dying, and if you believe in freedom
It’s dying, let a man live his own life
It’s dying, rules and regulations, who needs them
Throw them out the door
Clearly, I am completely stuck in the 1960s, and not only in terms of the music I listen to. I cannot remember exactly when I bought the album 4 Way Street. I believe it was right after graduating from high school and getting ready to enter the Sorbonne University, i.e. the summer of 1979. I could go on and on about how similar as well as how different the 1968 and 2024 Democratic National Conventions in Chicago were. I believe it is extremely important to look at history for a better evaluation of what is happening today. A long time ago I studied the 1968 convention and everything that went on before, during, and after it. People forget the level of violence all over the USA, not just on many campuses. I believe all American citizens should study the history of the 1960s, especially the civil rights movement and anti-Vietnam War protests. The latter are illustrated once again by CSNY in the song Ohio.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_(Crosby,_Stills,_Nash_%26_Young_song)
Too many Americans do not know what happened in those days.
THE OLYMPIC GAMES HAVE COME AND THE PARISIANS HAVE GONE
Major events spark controversy, as everybody has a strong opinion about how they could have been organized differently. French elites have a high opinion of themselves whether in success or failure. I believe one striking success of the Olympics was to have the games in the middle of the city and in some neighborhoods far from tourist sites. One example is the cycling race that went up Rue de Belleville in the 19th arrondissement. Furthermore, a lot of the venues built for the games are outside the beltway called the Péripherique, in some of the poorest cities in the Parisian suburbs and possibly in France. This was a gamble but it may help pull these neighborhoods out of poverty, given the excellent quality of the sites, which drew not only athletes but also locals. As the games continue, more and more people visit these sites and the effort becomes more of a success every day. French political and cultural leaders are definitely elitist and enjoy showing off a wide range of knowledge. That is why the opening ceremony of the Olympics constantly referred to either French or Greek history and culture.
WHERE IS THE NEXT FRENCH CABINET AND PRIME MINISTER?
France is experiencing a situation that has never existed in the country before. The Fifth Republic, which is the political system now in place, went into effect on October 4th, 1958 – not that long ago, all things considered, especially compared to how old the American constitution is.
General Charles de Gaulle, the father of the Fifth Republic, imposed his view of what the balance of power should be among the three branches of government. For the parliament, he envisioned one party or coalition of parties holding a majority of seats and forming a cabinet led by a prime minister, the leader of the party that won the general election. He also thought the president’s political party would have the majority in the parliament. In other words, the executive and legislative branches would be on the same side and the elected representatives in the lower chamber would always approve the president’s agenda. In De Gaulle’s mind, a government must be efficient.
Thus, within a few years after the end of the Fourth Republic, the French political spectrum radically changed as two blocs emerged: conservatives and progressives. There were no more centrist parties in power, as none survived the new system. The Radical Party, which had been at the center of power for about 80 years during the Third and Fourth Republics, evolved into the Radicaux de Gauche and Radicaux de Droite.
In many ways, the rise of Emmanuel Macron seemed to come out of nowhere. He started on the Socialist Party side as minister of the economy under Prime Minister Manuel Valls. In April 2016, he launched a new centrist political movement, En Marche !, which he claimed was “left and right.” In late August 2016 he resigned from his ministry post to stand as a candidate in the presidential election, running against candidates from across the political spectrum. He won the 2017 presidential election in the second round against Marine LePen.
Soon thereafter, a coalition led by his party won a parliamentary majority, as De Gaulle had envisioned. But in the 2022 presidential election, he won by a much narrower margin, and in the succeeding legislative election, he and his allies did not get a parliamentary majority. That was a clear sign that his hopes of having a centrist party govern France would not be fulfilled. The second sign was the European Parliament elections, which sealed his fate: The far-right Rassemblement National (RN) got 31.37%, his party Renaissance got 14.60%, and two progressive parties combined won 23.72%. This led President Macron to dissolve the National Assembly. A key unknown of the resulting legislative election was whether the progressive side would be able to unite to have a chance of winning a majority of the representatives, ordéputés. While they did not gain a majority (289 seats), they did unite, thus evoking the traditional opposition of conservatives vs progressives. It was the progressive coalition against the far-right RN, ignoring everybody else. The progressives got the most candidates elected. There are now three blocs that refuse to govern with anyone. The situation is therefore totally blocked.
The progressive coalition has 192 seats, Macron’s party 163, the RN 143 seats, and the traditional Conservatives 66.
President Macron keeps saying he will attempt to form the next French government after the Paralympic Games in September. In the meantime, he is clearly doing his best to ensure that the next Prime Minister will not represent the progressive coalition. This goes against all the basic rules of the French democratic system. We shall see what happens.
THE FRENCH POLITICAL SPECTRUM
During the 1789 Revolution, as the republic was emerging and political inclinations were allowed to be represented, four political groupings emerged. We might describe them as conservative nationalists, conservative internationalists, progressive internationalists, and progressive nationalists. During most of the Fifth Republic, those respective parties were the Gaullists formed by De Gaulle (conservative nationalist), the Union pour la Démocratie Française, led by the one-term President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing from 1974 to 1981 (conservative internationalist), the Socialist Party led by François Mitterrand (progressive internationalist), and the Communist Party (progressive nationalist).
This is of course way oversimplified. I just wanted to illustrate and explain the structure of the French political system. Although Emmanuel Macron started his political career as a member of the Socialist Party, his initial 2016 presidential campaign was an attempt to unify the conservatives and progressive internationalists and his first government had ministers from both sides. Over the years, his political positioning slid more and more onto the conservative side. This, among many other factors, may explain why the progressives got such a good result, which would have been unthinkable just six months before the elections.
“WHO SHOT THE SHERIFF” IS A SONG ERIC CLAPTON COULD HAVE COMPOSED
Below is a link to Eric Clapton’s recorded reaction to the death of the English bluesman John Mayall on July 22nd, 2024. Most artists who reach worldwide stardom have had a teacher or mentor who was critical in their life and who often is unknown or much lesser known. I must be one of the few people who are true fans of John Mayall and not of Eric Clapton. In addition to Clapton, Mayall helped launch the careers of Peter Green, Fleetwood Mac, Mick Taylor, and many other artists who, while still lesser known, were more popular than he was.
The main origin of the blues is the African American genre known as spirituals, most of which began as religious-themed work songs and, after emancipation, evolved into hymns sung in Black churches and eventually far beyond the churches. The Chicago electric guitar blues and the jazz of the same period both had their roots in Black music. I find it fascinating that many British male teenagers in the late 1950s and early 1960s listened to that music, were inspired by it, and wanted to play it. The vast majority of British bands of the 1960s and 1970s are blues-based.
For French audiences, when Louis Armstrong sings and plays “When the Saints Go Marching In,” they consider it jazz. But it is still sung today in some Black churches as a traditional hymn.
Early African American music expressed the hard living conditions, pain, and suffering of Black people. British youth of the 1950s, while not claiming a direct comparison, felt that this music resonated with what they were living. Most of the musicians came from the working class. Their music and lyrics continued the tradition of describing their hard lives and those of the people around them.
The editorial angle of the first section of my column often changed throughout the summer, but I finally chose to stick to what I consider to be my music while paying attention to its lyrics. Some 60 years after the rise of British bluesmen like John Mayall, has the world changed all that much? Has hardship disappeared with the abundant wealth created during all those years?
RENEWING THE CARTE DE RÉSIDENT
This immigration ID is valid for ten years and grants an unrestricted right to work in France, excluding only posts that are restricted to French citizens (emplois dits de souveraineté). To obtain this ID the first time, the applicant must show five French income tax documents proving an income of at least the French minimum wage and must show that they have at least an A2 level in French.
Many think a similar file is required to renew this card, but French law states that renewal is automatic and eligible foreigners are legally entitled to it. The law puts the onus on the state to prove that an applicant is not qualified to have the card renewed. There are only three situations the state can cite to block renewal:
Serving jail time in France
Engaging in terrorism
Living outside France for more than three years.
All that applicants need to prove to renew the card is that they reside in France. This is why I tell everybody that, aside from the passport and the expiring card, the minimum needed is proof of address. If the person feels this is not enough and fears that their request will be refused, I advise adding the last French income tax document. This definitively proves that the fiscal, and therefore actual, residence in France matches the address found on the proof of address (usually a utility document or internet provider bill).
Until recently, renewing the card required making an appointment at the prefecture and giving the file to a civil servant. This summer the procedure was changed. It is now done on the internet at the website
administration-etrangers-en-france.interieur.gouv.fr
The office handling the procedures submitted via this site is the Agence Nationale des Étrangers en France (ANEF). The change took effect on July 10th.
THE ARTISTS MENTIONED IN THE MAY 2024 ISSUE GOT THEIR RENEWAL SWIFTLY
In the May issue, I described difficulties renewing two cartes de séjour artiste since I could not describe how they were artists and what their global artistic project was. Therefore I put all my attention on the projects they were involved in, who created them, where they were performed, who bought tickets to them, and what the artists’ personal interactions were. ANEF took fewer than three weeks to approve their request, which is exceedingly fast. I am not sure I will do it like this all the time, as it is rare to collaborate with such famous people. One thing is certain, the amount of money earned as an artist and who you are working with are the two most important elements in those files. I knew it before, and I know it even better now!
INPI ROLE IN THE REGISTRATION AND CREATION OF A BUSINESS
As I mentioned a long time ago, the Institut National de la Propriété Industrielle (now usually just known by its initials, INPI) took over the task of registration of businesses. Self-employed consultants and other professional jobs that were part of the profession libérale status, however, could still be registered with the CFE URSSAF, which was simple, easy, and fast. INPI offers one form that supposedly fits all but is really aimed more at corporations rather than tiny self-employed activities. Now URSSAF has stopped processing such registrations, which is terrible news for those affected.
First, doing anything on the INPI site requires having an identité numérique, which the authorities say is a wonderful form of ID allowing access to nearly all the websites of the French administration. Theoretically, that is true, but the experience in my office is that it is really complicated to get. The procedure starts at the post office but the decisions are made in another, unreachable office, and the people working on it do not seem to know much about how it is done, what the procedure really is, and what documents are really needed (it is not just the one mentioned on the list).
To start with, there is a section on La Poste’s website to create the file. Several pages of information are gathered. Then there is facial recognition, which in our experience does not work well. The alternative is to go to the post office with the file and the ID asked for so the file can be validated. It seems the communication there is poor.
Sarah, my assistant, has been able to get her identité numérique, and she now handles the business registrations, modifications, and terminations for our clients.
This is how INPI sells the identité numérique. Access hundreds of sites with a single login
No more headaches about managing multiple accounts and passwords! Digital Identity is all you need.
Save time with online procedures
No need to fill in long forms and send in your ID to prove who you are. You’ve already done it by creating your digital identity.
Protect yourself against identity theft
You’re notified every time you try to log on. Is it really you? You validate. Suspect fraud? Block it.
URSSAF INCREASES THE RETIREMENT PART OF THE SOCIAL CHARGES
URSSAF has notified all auto-entrepreneur self-employed people that their social charges increased on July 1, 2024, from 21.2% to 23.2%, which is an increase of 2 points. CIPAV has decided to implement this increase in order to strengthen the self-employed’s rights to retirement and disability as well as death benefits.
SHIP STUDIO IS AVAILABLE FOR RENTAL STARTING NOVEMBER 1ST
SHIP studio is currently available to rent on November 1st. There is a dedicated website for this studio detailing all the services and benefits offered and the link is below. The monthly rate is 1,400€.
https://www.jeantaquet.com/home-in-paris
Best regards,
QUESTION
WHAT IS THE DATE D’ENTRÉE EN FRANCE?
We arrived on Sept. 19, 2019, relocating to France from the USA, and have not been out of the country since, mostly because the COVID pandemic kept us grounded in France, so it was not planned that way.We thought that we held a year-long renewable tourist visa. But it was a nonrenewable one!A year later, amid the COVID pandemic, we requested permission to stay in France from the prefecture, hoping to get a temporary immigration ID. The prefecture made us apply for a titre de séjour visiteur without having to return to the US to do so. Our cards have been renewed three additional times since then. In short, we will be five-year residents of France come Sept. 19. Two years ago we purchased a home in our remote countryside and have begun restoring the garden and house.Here’s the question: are we now eligible to request a multiple-year card or residency permit? I have read alternative opinions, namely that the right to request such a permit begins five years from the arrival in France or after having held five successive titres (visas not counting)?
ANSWER
Your question deals with the date d’entrée en France (date of entry into France, or DEF). This is the date the French administration considers your first day in France as an immigrant.
Here are the most common situations.
1. The foreigner lands in France, goes through customs, and gets the date of the day stamped in the passport, ideally next to the visa stamp.
2. The foreigner lands elsewhere in the Schengen area and the passport is stamped by the authorities of the arrival country. In this case, the best way to document the date of entry into France is to keep the plane, train, or bus ticket showing when they entered France.
Sadly, it can happen that the foreigner landing in France does not get their passport stamped. Keeping the plane ticket and boarding pass is important in that case.
Your situation is unusual. The prefecture has to give you an official DEF as an immigrant. The choice is between September 19th, 2019, and the day the prefecture received your file in the autumn of 2020. The first is when you entered as a tourist, so it could work from a legal point of view. But the prefecture is only certain of the second one as you are requesting a legal stay, so while legally it also works, it overlooks the fact that you lived in France as a resident a year before that. Only the first interpretation makes it five years in September 2024.
I am certain that you received a document early on, when you submitted your first request for a carte de séjour, that states the decision of the prefecture regarding this matter. Since you should keep every document issued by the prefecture, you should be able to find that information.
When the prefecture regularized your immigration status a year after your arrival in France, it likely took into consideration the fact that you were stuck in France. I am pretty sure your official DEF as an immigrant is September 19th, 2019. The prefecture’s de facto assumption was that your first year in France was an immigration stay.
The other key element the prefecture wants is proof of five fiscal years in France, documented by five avis d’imposition issued after you started declaring your worldwide income to France. You do not pay French taxes on American income. If you do not have those documents or if you are missing a few, do not give up hope. There may still be ways to prove a stable stay and satisfactory integration in France to comply with the requirements as defined by law.
Here is Article L. 426-17 of the CESEDA (Code of Entry and Residence of Foreigners and of the Right to Asylum):L’étranger qui justifie d’une résidence régulière ininterrompue d’au moins cinq ans en France au titre d’une carte de séjour temporaire ou pluriannuelle ou d’une carte de résident, de ressources stables, régulières et suffisantes pour subvenir à ses besoins et d’une assurance maladie se voit délivrer, sous réserve des exceptions prévues à l’article L. 426-18, une carte de résident portant la mention “ résident de longue durée-UE “ d’une durée de dix ans.
Les ressources mentionnées au premier alinéa doivent atteindre un montant au moins égal au salaire minimum de croissance. Sont prises en compte toutes les ressources propres du demandeur, indépendamment des prestations familiales et des allocations prévues à l’article L. 262-1 du code de l’action sociale et des familles ainsi qu’aux articles L. 5423-1, L. 5423-2 et L. 5423-3 du code du travail.
“Subject to the exceptions set out in article L. 426-18, foreign nationals who have been legally resident in France for at least five years on a temporary or multiannual residence permit or resident card, and who have stable, regular resources sufficient to meet their needs, as well as health insurance, will be issued a ten-year resident card bearing the words ‘long-term EU resident’.
“The resources mentioned in the first paragraph must be at least equal to the minimum wage. All the applicant’s own resources are taken into account, independently of family benefits and the allowances provided for in article L. 262-1 of the Code de l’Action Sociale et des Familles and articles L. 5423-1, L. 5423-2 and L. 5423-3 of the Code du Travail.”
Keep that definition in mind. You are asked to prove that you have an income of at least the French minimum wage, known as the SMIC, which currently corresponds to 17,000€ in annual net taxable income. The law does not state how this must be proved. Later, an additional requirement of at least an A2 level in French was added. This reinforced the idea that it is the integration that is being evaluated, and the French tax documents are only one way of proving it.
QUESTION
PROVING ALLEGIANCE TO FRANCE WHEN REQUESTING NATURALIZATION
After almost ten years of living in France under several different immigration statuses, I want to become French. I have countless reasons for wanting to do so. I feel completely estranged from my country of birth. My professional and romantic life is grounding me in France. Because of my work, I am often in contact with elected officials at the city level as well as in the French parliament. I want to be fully involved in the life of the city where I live and maybe become a French elected official. I have two major concerns:1. I have written a cover letter attempting to focus on several key points, namely:- Close ties to my family living here (my siblings and their spouses all live in France)- The solidarity I experienced living through the COVID pandemic in a small city in the Parisian suburbs. Specifically, the solidarity within the school I went to, my involvement in the community, the families I lived with there, and our commitment to working together at a local non-profit helping people stranded in their homes.- In Paris, my involvement in local organizations (volunteer theater work, participating in other associations/groups like soup kitchens, and assisting often lost and destitute foreigners.So, how can I describe all this while keeping the letter reasonably short? The current draft is six pages long and I am not done with everything I want to say.
2. I am also stuck regarding the net worth declaration, as there is no form to fill out. The prefecture is asking for this:
– Déclaration datée et signée précisant la nature, l’origine et l’évaluation de votre patrimoine.
– Attestation bancaire précisant le montant des revenus mobiliers et/ou immobiliers en provenance de l’étranger, ainsi que la périodicité des versements. (Dated and signed declaration specifying the nature, origin and valuation of your assets. (Bank statement specifying the amount of foreign income from movable and/or immovable property, and the frequency of payments.)
I am not sure how much detail I need to give. I’m aware that everything should line up with the information given on my avis d’imposition. I would like to avoid having to get pages of bank statements etc. translated unnecessarily, but also want to avoid requests for further information, as this could slow things down.
ANSWER
People see the French naturalization procedure as a complex file to be put together, with many different documents making no sense, like a patchwork that does not fit. When putting together these documents, there are just things to keep in mind so as to understand what purpose they serve.
1. The first aspect is proving that you give full allegiance to France, i.e., proving either that you are sufficiently integrated in France or that you are in full compliance with French law.
2. – The second thing to recall is that the French equivalent of the FBI does a complete investigation, which is greatly facilitated by the documents submitted.
The exception to this above description involves the documents proving your identity. These include your birth certificate, your marriage license (or licenses if you have been married more than once), and for some people the divorce decree or decrees, and any court decision regarding a name change.
DESCRIPTION OF THE COVER LETTER
The official list does not mention a cover letter, but given what needs to be proved and how strong the requirements are, I strongly advise writing one. Its focus needs to be proving allegiance. There is a huge difference between what the foreigner feels is important in their life and what matters to the prefecture. Many foreigners say they fell in love with Paris or France and love the food and quality of life, but such statements are made all the time. Repeating them is actually counterproductive, as they indicate that the foreigner is not “French enough.”
Most people have three types of ties in life: work, family, and leisure activities. Can you present each of these in a way that shows integration? For example, visiting your siblings and their families does not show anything that indicates a level of integration. But if you participate with them in what is considered to be “French activities and events”, this brings you closer to being assimilated into French society. Another example is what you do with your leisure time. Being exclusively active in expat communities and having a great time with your friends is different from belonging to a French-speaking association involved with sports, volunteering at a soup kitchen, and so on.
DECLARATION OF FOREIGN ASSETS AND INCOME
One aspect of allegiance to France is rarely spoken about and thus not generally known. The applicant must have more income and assets in France than in foreign countries, which is quite often their home country.
Many foreigners with a decent French salary and some savings in a French bank account would seem to have the perfect profile for obtaining naturalization. However, if considerable assets are held in the country of original citizenship, the prefecture is likely to deny the request. Perhaps a parent died wealthy, bequeathing a lot of money and some real estate to the applicant. The applicant may pay little attention to it as it is professionally managed and not needed to sustain their standard of living in France. But if these assets and probably passive earnings are more than the applicant has in France, it demonstrates insufficient allegiance to France in terms of wealth management.
The first document to supply is a list of any real estate you own outside France, with a small description. There is nothing to worry about here.
The second request is a tad more complicated. You have declared your worldwide income and your foreign bank accounts, portfolios, mutual funds, and life insurance policies. Now all you need to do is to give a recent statement for the investments and the latest report about your insurance policies. If you are worried that it is not clear enough, print the most recent foreign account declaration and staple it to the foreign statement. This way the prefecture can associate what was declared with the related statement.
It is obvious from all this that your French income declarations must have been perfectly filed. The French investigators can easily get the information they need from the IRS. You need to be really transparent about your fiscal obligations.
DISCLAIMER
Please forward this message to all those who would be interested in its contents. The information contained in this newsletter is intended only as general information. I strongly urge readers to seek professional guidance concerning the legal and tax matters mentioned. This newsletter is intended as a general guide and is not to be taken as professional advice.