Applying for Your Prime d’activité Read On.

READERS applying for the new prime d’activité should be aware that they should not be asked to show a carte de séjour residence permit if they are from the UK or another EU country. 

This comes as one British reader contacted us, confused over a request to faire valoir votre droit au séjour (prove your right to residence) in order to claim this benefit which assists those who work but have modest incomes. 

EU citizens working in France (or retirees on state pensions) have an automatic right to live in France, as long as they are working. 

After five years’ continual residence (which usually means you are in France most of the year) a European then obtains the right to permanent residence whether they are working or not. They can, if they wish, to apply to their prefecture for a carte de séjour EU – séjour permanent which is one way to formalise and prove this acquired right. 

If the Caf (family benefits office) is asking for proof of your residence rights, they are not allowed to ask to see a residence card, however it is possible they may be referring to providing proof of working in France (such as a work contract or pay slips). 

They may also wish to see proof of stable residence (eg. with utility bills), which for purposes of the prime d’activité means you have lived in France more than three months and then, usually, that you have not spent more than three months out of the country in any given year when you are claiming the benefit. 

If a stay abroad does last longer than three months, the benefit is only paid for whole months which you spent in France. 

So, if you are told to ‘prove your residence rights’, you should check exactly what documents your Caf requires, always bearing in mind that they have no right to ask for a carte de séjour. - See more at: http://www.connexionfrance.com/CAF-prime-activite-proof-residence-carte-sejour-12192-news-article.html#sthash.MOhfMXFp.dpuf