Top ten steps to living and working in France

The biggest challenge when I first came to France was opening a bank account because I had not been here 3 months no one would take me. Eventually I managed to open a euro account with HSBC in Menton without the need for the 3 months. So maybe HSBC can help with a bank account if all else fails

If you are changing to be a French tax resident and you have tax free investments in another country (ISAs for example), cash them in before you become a French resident.

1 Like

Don’t have to cash them in, especially if paying decent rates of interest. But you do have to declare them here.

Don’t have to cash them in, but if you cash them in after becoming a French resident, you are supposed to declare the capital gain, and that will be very heavily taxed in France

1 Like

Really depends on how productive your ISA is, when you might want to use the funds, and whether you have anywhere else to put them. Basically a personal choice about financial planning. I only make this point because it’s not always automatic that the best thing to do is to cash them in.