Well, there’s the freedom of movement in Europe thing as well.
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and how you feel about the whole nationality thing too 
This only works if you have no French children, surely?
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I am seriously considering applying for French nationality for the freedom of movement in Europe and to be able to vote. I have no ties with the UK, except for my foster family and haven’t done for over 10 years. I always said that if I left France I would move to The Netherlands or Canada.
With Brexit moving to The Netherlands to work is somewhat more complicated as I do not have a long term partner there and my skill set means that I couldn’t get sponsored by a potential employer.
I am aware that with the CDS, I can go for 3 months but as Dutch employers practically only ever start with CDD’s that can be renewed before moving to a CDI, obtaining permanent residency could be tricky.
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Go for it, Deedee, it takes a whole weight off your mind and makes you feel more settled and part of the country + the other benefits that you’ve pointed out. I still don’t know if I should have chosen Italy rather than France (50/50 and France came out the more “rational” choice). Now I have French nationality it means that possibility is back again, although kids are here and 100% French so I’m a little tied!
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Thanks Andrew, I am going to start the process. I’ve set myself a 2 year goal to either move to the Netherlands or stay put, so either way it will be a good thing and hopefully should be sorted within 2 years.
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Good luck…after nearly 2 years I have yet to get a reference number. I hope you are not Montpellier, as that seems to be 4 years!
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Fingers crossed for you, Deedee. Just to give you an idea as you’ll be going through the same centre in Toulouse : it took me 3 + years through the said immigration centre in Toulouse (which takes applications from the whole of the Midi-pyrénées, préfectures no longer deal with anything 
)I started getting everything together à la rentrée 2017, in December I finally got a RDV for the interview the following May 2018, everything went well and I was told there would be no problem but that I’d just have to wait… … … finally in the JO in August last year 2020, Confirmation paperwork (attestation de naturalisation signed by Castex et al.) early this year and carte d’identité a month or so ago.
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Thanks Jane. Things seem to move pretty quickly here. My CDS came through in just a few months so fingers crossed I get lucky again.
I was going to ask how it all panned out for you. I do have a contact at the conseil regional who is happy to help as she’s a fan of our valley and the town music union that I am involved with. She helped a friend’s husband with his CDS and it all went very fast so fingers crossed.
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Edit…Andrew mentioned you are Toulouse… not as speedy as Paris, but not as slow as others. And not same team as the CdS. After the local/regional stage your dossier goes to the centre anyway.
(My CdS came through in a few months, so can’t really use that as a judgel!)
This was a CDS for a non EU citizen who had been deported previously. Trust me, it was amazing the way things got turned around.
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Well let’s hope you get same admin person dealing with your dossier!
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If only I were that lucky lol. 
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I found that one way I decided that I would apply (time not up yet but getting the dossier ready) was thinking about the English things that don’t make sense to me any more. No habit of greeting people as soon as you enter a shop; no shaking hands or bise (or the elbow thing, these days); not having shutters; class demarcation of different kinds of food; putting milk in tea; Nescafe instead of Nespresso; politicians who have no ability to speak good, elegant, meaningful English.
However, I cling to my mint sauce 
I will never make up for the 8 years that I didn’t speak French. My first words were Mummy and Daddy not mama et papa. So I’m always going to be an immigrant, and some days that makes me feel stupid (like when I was in a carpenter’s workshop and said ‘ça sent le sapin’ because well, he was working a piece of softwood at the time), and some days I’m happy to have my little piece of Frenchness.
I belong to Norwich. If Norwich issued passports, I’d have one. But I don’t feel as English as I did.
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You won’t regret it!
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@Andrea_Kirkby
I totally hear you there. I was born in Germany but raised mainly in the UK, and a short while in the Netherlands, but I have spent the majority of my adult life in France. I have just started the process for obtaining French nationality but I can’t wait to be European again and to be able to vote. I only go back to the UK to see my father and not that often at that. The 4 days I spend there seem ‘interminable’ and I always arrive and think ‘in 4 days I’ll be back home’.
My neighbours often say to me that I am more bigourdane than some French people, which to me is a huge compliment. If I ever had to leave France I would move to the Netherlands. There is nothing I miss about England. Vive la République, vive la France!
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As a proud Yarmouthian , Norwich is definitely my favourite English city.
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A fine city indeed it is! Thanks for that charming flashback to my childhood - I remember every time coming back to Norwich there were two exciting things, seeing the cathedral spire and seeing the sign.
Have you seen the unofficially adapted version of the sign which ironically celebrates “Norwich, Alpine City”… they must be talking about Gas Hill
Yes , it can only be Gas Hill though I do recall the kids tobogganing on Mousehold.