Moving to fRance for three years - things to consider?

Voyager2002

Don't forget that if your house in the UK is let, you will need to inform your mortgage lender and insurance company. You may well find that you need to pay significantly more than at present for both. And what will you do with your furniture?

For banks and credit cards, there will be no problem at all about asking them to send statements and replacement cards to your address in France. As for your telephone contract, why would you want to retain a UK telephone while in France?

sunshinetours

1. Definitely learn as much French as you can before you go to help fit in. IMO you will have no chance of any employment unless you can speak the language and speak it well
2. Sell the car and caravan and buy out there. They are only possessions and it again will surely help you fit in if you buy locally. Even aside from tax an insurance likely issues of having a UK vehicle
3. See it as a short term change of lifestyle and go with it - Paris isn't the other side of the world and if it doesn't work out then you can come back. Do it before you have kids etc as its much easier

Ignore the uninformed comments of certain posters - to tar a whole country with the same brush shows a certain level of intellect IMO
Best of luck

PS if you are worried about tax issues etc then seek professional advice. Its a complicated area that is constantly changing. As a solicitor i am sure you understand the importance of good professional advice

Mark_Hewitt

Learning French to a good standard will be your absolute number 1 priority before you go.
Try to immerse yourself as much as possible e.g. only watch French TV, only read websites / newspapers written in French. You'll also need to book yourself on some decent intensive courses.

Does your partner speak good French? If so get them to speak to you in French *only*, this is probably the best way to go, you'll be forced to use French every day, and it's important to keep it up when you are there.

Learning a language is a big big job and one which is very tiring, but in your situation, it's absolutely vital.

Riablo

Thanks for all the replies the help really has been invaluable!

We are hoping to keep our house in England but the the mortgage will be a big issue. We only have around 10% equity in the house so if they class us as buy to let then we will have insufficient equity to take on a buy to let mortgage. Need to contact them asap and find out how we stand on this as really do not want to sell up and get off the property ladder after working so hard toget on in the first place.

My boyfirend's company will pay a certain amount to ship our furniture over. We will keep some items in storage in the UK as don't want to let the house furnished. Also have a small budget for items to furnish the house when we are there.

Feel happier now we have realised we should be able to rent a bigger house than we have in the UK with a bigger garden, so hopefully nicer standard of living and plenty of room for family and friends to stay.

Thanks for the info on the car. I think I will see how it goes for the first few months, look for a new car out there but if I can't find something in my price range pay to have mine re-registered and then by the time we come back I would probably sell it over there. At least I have 6 months to decide.

Hadn't realised about caravan problems, will have to find out more info. Again only just bought the caravan after months of looking and lots of work to it as a low budget meant we were struggling to find something that wasn't rotten. Money is going to be even tighter for us in France with me not working so I'm cautious of having to buy expensive things over there, especially as I may be deemed as an easy to con ex-pat (it was bad enough in the UK!).

Thanks for the tips about the free sat!

One question about bank accounts - my boyfirend will be paid direct into his UK account in pounds. Will we be able to pay things like household bills etc in France out of the UK account (and will we be charged extra?) or would we have to transfer a sum each month to a French account. Someone told me this would cost about £15 a time. What is the advantage of a Nationwide Flex account?

Glad credit cards shouldn't be a problem.

I don't want to keep the UK phone but signed a two year contract so going to be lumped with it for a while.

I am worried about the language aspect of things. I have always struggled with languages and hoping it will fall inot place when I'm using French everyday. Trying to read French websites rather than using translator. Really hope the lessons will help.

My boyfriend's French is worse than mine. He works in a multinational company who's main language is English. He's worked all over Europe on different projects and never had to learn any other languages! He therefore doesn't see my problem! There is a chance I could office work with them but I would obviously rather take theopportunity to learn French and make the most of our time out there.


Also my boyfriend's company will pay for us to receive tax advice so hopefully we will be sorted on that, just need to make sure they help me as well as him.


Thanks so much for the insights...really useful!!

KeithP

Lots of good advice here, OP.

Have you thought about asking specific questions on a more expat dedicated forum?

Maybe something like Britishexpat.com. There are others.

Of course you questions may have already been asked and answered there. :beer:

knightstyle

Have replied to your PM and just thought of a couple of points that need covering. Your UK car will be illegal after it has been in France for 6 months, so you must register it here in that time. Same with the caravan and you cannot tow a UK caravan with a French reg. car. However you do not need to change your driving license.
No you will not be able to pay French bills by standing order from a UK account, some UK banks say you can but in practice you cannot. Open a French account.
New cars are not too bad but no big discounting. Just helped a friend who wanted a new small car, ended up buying a Hyundai i10, mid range model for just under 10,000€
Computers can be a problem as they don't use the standard qwerty keyboard. Similarly French TVs use a different system but satellite boxes working through scart leads are OK. All your electrical things will function OK. Bring a washing machine as French ones seem expensive and have low spin speeds, 800rpm is normal! Do you listen to the radio a lot? If so consider a Sky Gnome to plug into a Sky box, I find mine indispensable.
Finally, never give a chrysanthemum to anyone, before all Saints day the shops are full of them, they are to put on graves!!!