How to Relocate to France

Here are 7 important tips on how to relocate to France. Start with the obvious; learning the language if you don't already know it. The first thing to do is to go visit the area of France you are thinking about moving to. If you are married, bring your spouse. Explore the area you want to live, check out some houses for sale, look for shopping conveniences and the costs associated with living there.
The second tip is to find out if you need a visa, or passport. If you need a visa, check with the French Consulate to determine if you need a student visa, a long-stay visa or a work visa. It takes about 8 weeks so be sure to apply early enough. You have to apply for your visa from your country of residence.

Third, make sure you have all the required documents; you have to prove you have enough money to support yourself; at least 1000 Euros per month should be sufficient. Save copies of all documents you used to apply for your visa, you'll need them to apply for your resident card (carte de sejour) when you arrive in France.
The fourth tip on how to relocate to France is to start making arrangements for your furniture and other household goods to be moved. Or have a great yard sale so you can buy brand new French furniture! Appliances are best purchased there anyway as France's power is different than the US.
My fifth tip is to close your accounts, cancel memberships, newspapers, and change your address for magazines and other periodicals. You will also need to notify any credit or loan companies of your move; I suggest paying them off before you relocate to France so you can start with a clean, unencumbered slate.
Next is the sixth tip; have your accommodations planned well in advance; have the house cleaned, utilities turned on, including the phone. If you're renting, same as getting a house ready except make sure the rent & deposit is paid and your furniture arrives on time.
The seventh tip I have to offer before you relocate to France is actually several bits of miscellaneous information; France has three time zones, they use the Metric System, speed is registered as Kilometers per hour (KPH), imperial gallons are used, time is in military format, not am or pm and the temperature is in Celsius not Fahrenheit.

France

More and more people are moving abroad these days and France is one favourite destination. Its not surprising people are choosing France as the country has a style and look of its own and is steeped in history, it is also well known for its love of the arts and architecture. The country has a population of 64.1 million with 51% being catholics the other half pretty mixed. Its economy is the sixth largest in the world, the currency being Euro or French Franc and the size of the country is 674,843km2.
France has a significant English speaking expat population, which mostly consists of retired and so called inactive expats which are people below retirement age but not working.
France has plenty to offer families and singles wishing to emigrate to the country. It is an exciting place to live but not easy unless you learn the language. The French take pride in their languages and foreign languages are not commonly spoken. There are bilingual schools but even so you should really be thinking about teaching your whole family the language. There are plenty of French language schools offering courses to foreigners.

With regards to employment there are plenty of opportunities however you really will have to learn the language. The French government (Unitary Republic) are very committed to encouraging the unemployed back to work. The French state benefit is one of the most lucrative of the developed world. The jobless in France are very well compensated for when out of work. If your planning on moving to France you can be safe in the knowledge that you will be looked after by the state if you were to lose your employment in the future.
If you are looking for property in France then you will find your money will go further. Property prices are on average substantially lower than property in the UK. Location makes a large difference on pricing as does the age of a house. Newer houses are a lot more expensive than older houses and property in the city's are a lot more expensive than those in the country side. In fact you can live a good life in France for much less than it would cost you to have a similar lifestyle in the UK. That and the lower property prices are nothing but enticing.
France has an excellent healthcare system but you will have to register with their mairie within 3 months of living permanently in the country. This is to provide evidence that you have financial resources to live there. You will also need evidence of personal medical insurance.
While France has many attractions to foreign nationals looking to relocate, there are a number of areas which need to be addressed. While there are genuine gaps in the employment market which can be exploited by overseas workers, the downside is the taxation situation.

Moving Overseas?

As soon as you know where you are moving to and an idea on timescales you should contact 2 - 3 reputable removal companies that have experience of overseas removals. They will ask to visit you and property to do a detailed quote, make sure you are prepared in advance and ensure you know exactly what you are taking with you, what is going into storage, what is being dumped etc. Due to moving and shipping costs they will need to know exactly what needs to be moved, try and create an inventory which you can keep up to date. And don't forget to tell your removals firm of any updates!
Things a removals firm may ask;

• Where are you moving and what is the completion date?
• What is the access like at your current and new home?
• Will people be moving in / out on the same dates as you and in what timeframe?
• What additional services will you require? Packing service, Packing materials, storage?

When you do ask for quotes, make sure you ask them all the same questions and give them all the same information. If you fail to do so then it will be hard to compare the quotes like for like.

Ask as many questions as you can, no matter how small or silly. You need to know everything! Standard questions you may want to ask include;

• Insurance
• What insurance does the company offer, what does that include and is there any excess?
• Experience
• Ask about previous overseas removals and references
• Are they a member of any trade associations?
• What qualifications / criteria do they meet?
• Logistics
• When will the removals team arrive and how many people will it include?
• How long will it take to pack all of the belongings
• Where will the goods be stored while waiting for shipping / transport?
• Customs
• Does the firm provide customs forms and information?
• Will they help you fill out the forms?
• What restrictions are in place for said country?
• Costs
• What does the quote include? Taxes, port charges, customs etc.

Office Moves

Not all office moves are problematic especially if they are coordinated and handled correctly. Office moves happen every day and some are more successful than others because of the pre-planning that has already happened before the move.

How do you pre-plan a move? The first thing to do is decide exactly what day or days the move is going to take place. Does the office need to be up and running until five PM on Friday evening and then reopen exactly at nine on Monday morning? Then the move will have to be scheduled on a weekend.
Next you would want to take an inventory of exactly what office equipment is being moved. Sometimes if you need office machines moved, often the company, who supplied them, if on a lease, will arrange to have them moved for you. This would have to be scheduled in advance. But you will still need to know what office machines are being moved. These can be as simple as a copy machine to office computers. The equipment may have to be broken down if it has to fit in a freight elevator or has to be moved up or down stairs. It could even be more complex machines so they would have to be broken down before the move.
Then you would consider what office space has to be moved. This could be cubicles or work areas. Some of this office furniture would also have to be broken down. This would have to be done after five on a Friday evening so it is ready to move on Saturday morning. This would mean you may have movers in the office at office closing time on Friday evening and someone would have to stay with them to make sure everything got done.
Of course the moving company would put on a full crew to make the move happen over the weekend. Office moves take an effort to coordinate them properly.
You would then need to consider the file cabinets. They can be moved as is with no further packing except perhaps wrapping them in a movers blanket to protect them. The same would be true of large office chairs or other cabinets. But if there is anything that requires security then the file cabinets should be the locking kind.
Any books cases and any other items that can go in book boxes needs to be sorted. This is a good time to go through the things you are getting moved to insure there is nothing that does not need to make the move. Discard it and save the money it would take to move it.