My husband is British and I am Belgian and we are considering taking our kids to France for half a school year to immerse them in the language. They already have basic (my 2yo) to good (my 5yo) understanding of French. We all have EU passports (husband’s got Irish nationality too) and there is not much keeping us in the UK, as both our jobs are fully remote. My children would be 3 and 6 when we would take the plunge. I’d like to know if people have had experience of short term move to France, especially around school, language learning, and accomodation. We would move in January and stay until the end of the school year. The main reason for a 6 months stay is that it allows us to keep our current domiciliation without changing anything to our legal/tax status in either countries.
Another consideration is that we have a cat and will travel with her no matter what.
French is my first language so I’m not too worried about general admin in France, but I’d love to hear more about first hand experience in such a move for an English speaking family with a beloved pet.
Hi! Yes for now we are considering Hauts de France, it borders the UK and Belgium, and I’ve spent a lot of my childhood school breaks in the region (specifically in Wimereux where my grandparents used to own a place). We would be looking at renting, but I find the online research isn’t particularely helpful. I was also told that to get a rental via an agency you needed a pretty solid case file. It’s still a pretty new idea, but we are spending a week there in May so planning on prospecting estate agents and schools in the area.
Absolutely, I know there is complexities on this and would get advice from accountants in both countries before commiting to anything. I’m hoping the 183 days rule would apply at least to some extend.
I haven’t travelled with an animal since Brexit, but before we moved I used to spend six months a year here with our dog and it was easy once the paperwork was in place. Hopefully that hasn’t changed too much.
ETA: you haven’t said which country you’re in but these are the rules for UK animals.
We’re in the UK, and yes I always see some dogs on the ferry across so assumed it’s fairly easy to take them along. Will probably need to get her a passport and be up to date on vaccine.
Depending on how much you may get charged by your vet for an animal health certificate, there is a vet about 10-15 mins from the tunnel and he charges £99 for the first pet and returning visits are currently £69.
Yes, 183 days is an urban myth. The French fisc believes your fiscal residence is based on where the centre of your interests is, ie family, job, house etc. France does not welcome digital nomads as they would prefer you to contribute tax and social charges from the first euro you earn with your backside on French soil. After all you will likely be using French state education and healthcare? If your youngest is over 3 when you arrive they legally have to go to school, and home schooling is another thing that is not loved here.
Having said that I’m sure hundreds of people do this it just depends on your appetite for paperwork v risk.
I had a non-francophone Scottish cousin* come and stay for 5 months, she put her children in my local primary school. All went v well. Her eldest who was 10 and turned 11 during their stay is now reading French and Spanish at Cambridge, so it seems to have had a positive effect.
Getting them into the local primary school was v easy, I went to the mairie, signed an attestation that they were living with me and as school has a duty to take children of the right age living in the commune they started straight away after the winter holidays.
I must admit I’ve been wracking my mind to see how this could work, practically, from a tax/social security point of view. I’m not optimistic this can easily be done - at least compliantly - without significant complexity for you. As @JaneJones hints at, I suspect you would not be the first, and certainly wouldn’t be the last if you chose to “minimise“ the tax paperwork this side of the Channel…..
