Hi! I am a senior, retired American professional woman. I am visiting Aix on an exploratory trip, seriously thinking about living there. I would love to offer anyone who has been through the whole ”becoming a resident” process a free lunch, dinner, or apero NEXT week. I have questions about the visa, taxes, and health care. Please help! I will be in Aix from Monday, October 27 to Saturday, Nov. 1. Please contact me via DM Many thanks! funkyKaren
Hello Karen and welcome to SF. What an interesting offer. May I suggest, however, you remove your email and ask people to send a private message you. This is an open forum and unfortunately bots trawl for personal information, which means you may get spammed.
Good luck in finding your new life here.
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Hi Karen,
Welcome, you’ll find oodles of what you’re looking to find here in treads on each subject also plenty of Americans that may have the answers.
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My wife and I are Americans that made the move in April of this year. Sadly we are about a 4 hour drive away so will have to pass on meeting in person. But I’ll be happy to answer any questions you have
Hi Karen,
I’ve actually flagged your post because, as Sue says, having you email address in plain view is not a good idea.
You’ll find a wealth of info on here on all your topics of interest. Given your short period in Aix, I’d concentrate on evaluating the location and alternatives in the region that you might consider. The logistics, legalistic bits and paperwork can wait until later.
Thanks for the info! I appreciate it! Karen
Thanks! I appreciate it! I have decided now to wait until after my trip to Aix to see if that is really where I want to settle. If it isn’t, then I will need to stay focused on the apartment search first and worry about everything else later on. So–will keep you folks in mind for a little later! Thanks again, funkyKaren
Near the coast is totally different during the winter and summer months so keep that in mind
In my part of France (SW countryside) I say it’s important to visit OUT OF season.
One forgets, coastal places, it’s important to see them IN season. 
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@funkyKaren - I’ve taken the liberty of doing that for you. No need to give the scammers another way to find out your email and interests!
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Thanks! I appreciate it! Karen
Nice may be an exception. It’s pretty well in season year round 
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Hi Kaeren - Try Fabien at this email hello@fabexpat.com and ask to send you a Replay fo the webinar its exactly what you are inquiring about - cheers Peter
Be careful. I used to live down there. It gets massively hot in summer these days of climate change. Also, it is swamped with seasonal visitors. I now live in Mayenne. Much more comfortable. Are you escaping the clutches of Trump and MAGA? A lot of my American friends have gone to Spain and Portugal for just those reasons. Anything must be better than living in the USA à ce moment! Bon courage à vous et votre nouvelle vie en la Belle France!
Peter, you’re back 
G’Day Jono – yep back in Australia – was in France between March & September.
How are you keeping ??
Good Peter thanks.
He got a Huber?
Pertaning to the discussion of choosing a place to live in France, I was surprised to see this article in The Times about an area I think that quite a few SF members know
In response to the mounting fear, the mayor has called a public meeting between the villagers and the police force. In the community hall, a uniformed gendarme addresses an uneasy audience, warning them that the innocent days of blithely leaving the back door unlocked are over. “We can no longer say that in the Lot, or other rural departments, we’re safe, burglaries don’t happen here,” he says.
Of the types of crime which have increased in recent years, “home-jacking” is among the most feared. The anglicised term is used in France to describe violent armed robbery carried out while victims are in their home. A number of very high-profile incidents have drawn intense public interest in recent years, including a Paris attack in 2016 during which Kim Kardashian was bound, gagged and robbed at gunpoint in her hotel by an organised gang. The phenomenon, previously associated with the big cities and their peripheries, has started to extend into rural regions.
In some cases, British expats and tourists have become unwitting victims, adding to the annual tally of violence in France. Last month a report in The Times detailed a horrific home-jacking incident endured by Bernard Hayes and Celia Bridges, a retired British couple living in Lot et Garonne. Their peaceful lifestyle came to an abrupt end in 2022 when three men wearing balaclavas and carrying knives broke into their house, beat them viciously and made off with jewels and cash. Soon after, they abandoned their provincial dream and went back to the UK. In late September they returned to see their attackers convicted in a French court.
There’s been no such resolution, however, for the husband and children of 65-year-old Karen Carter, a British-South African pensioner who lived in a quaint hamlet in the Dordogne. Carter was found collapsed in her driveway with multiple stab wounds in April. Her killer is still at large.
The gendarme exhorts villagers to equip themselves with high-quality doors, locks with chains and spy holes, movement-detection lighting and alarm systems as a defence against “highly organised” burglary gangs now operating in the area. Large investigations targeting drug dealers and covering multiple departments have become common. Arrests for driving under the influence of cocaine used to be virtually unheard of here; now, he and his team are averaging “one a week”.
I don’t live near the Lot area but seems something new members currently searching where to live may want to know.
I hadn’t heard about either, the 2nd being in Dordogne 