I've just nicked that title from Tracy Thurling who suggested it as a potentially helpful post.
What mistakes did you make when you moved to France, and what are your top tips for the move, if you didn't make any let's hear from you too!
Thanks
James
Would love to know if I run a “micro enterprise” and pay my cotisations to RSI, my yearly Company tax, taxe foncieres & taxe habitation… Am I done ? Is my income tax inside that because of my company set up ? Yours HOPEFULLY !!!
Thank you Debbie for your recent post on opening bank accounts. I can show 30 years of utility bills in California - all in my wife's name - to the bank manager. He will not be amused, although maybe our livret de famille will prove I'm bona fide (or am in California). It's encouraging that your bank manager accepted your gite address as a domicile; I'll be in a chambre d'hote in Chatellerault while I find a place to rent. So perhaps I won't have to haul around wads of cash while I establish myself. Much obliged.
You also need to register caravans independently.
Nick Allbeury - how wise you are! Agree 100%. As for remaining invisible as some are suggesting, well it depends whether you wish to be part of a fearful underclass or whether you wish to participate fully in the life of the country you have chosen as home. Yes, indeed there are aspects of French life which are emmerdant - but that's true of all places, n'est-ce pas?
One other Top Tip: don't move to France until you're retired - the French are very nice to retirees!
The German Schuko-system plug (CEE 7 standards and Europlug) was patented by Albert Büttner in 1926. The UK BS 1363 plugs and sockets first appeared in 1946 and the BS 1363 standard was first published in 1947. By the end of the 1950s, it had replaced the earlier BS 546 with round pins in new installations, and by the end of the 1960s most installations were BS 1363 - well except the BS 4573 Plug (UK Shaver). My German made electric toothbrush has the latter, it is about 1.5 mm narrower than the CEE 7 socket... Grrrrr. I think half the problem there is nobody has ever agreed any standards that cover ALL of Europe and the plug patchwork drives me nuts. It includes our Swiss bought things... oh yes, plus some of the Portuguese ones and probably... but like Mary is suggesting there should be something far more systematic!
If you have a LARGE trailer you need to register it here like registering your car. Did we know this? No. Did it take over a year, plus a lot of hassle and cost with Ifor Williams in the UK, Dreal here, and the Prefecture here? Yes!
We opened our French bank account before leaving the UK. Credit Agricole have a Britline and that makes it easy. Look on --line for that.
Biggest unforeseen cost....little item...changing plugs on all our appliances! There should be a depot in Calais where people moving here/leaving here could go and swop one plug from one country for another for the county you are going to.
Merci beaucoup Nick Allbeury :)
Piggybacking on Tracy's comment yesterday about banking, I'm in a bit of a dither about how to open a French bank account. I'll be arriving in France from Ireland with cash euros to look for a house to rent. It's my understanding that the bank will require me to show a lease for my French residence in order to open an account. How have other people handled this problem carrying cash while establishing themselves? I'm not resident in Ireland so cannot open an Irish account; Irish bank to French bank transfer won't work for me.
1. Learn French. 2. Learn French. 3. Develop friendships with French neighbours. 4. Go to the pub and chat with the French locals. 5. Learn French. 6. Read French newspaper. 7. Get French TV. 8. Join Clubs and Associations - French ones!. oooh and did I remember to say - learn French. 9. Use Orange.fr or other French ISP for your PC - and use it in French. 10. Invite nice neighbours for lunch/supper and if all goes well start up a regular "supper club" at each others houses - over the dinner table with a few glasses of wine is the best way to learn as well as find out all the local gossip, attitudes, customs etc.
We lived and worked in Toulouse for twelve years before we retired to the Charente. When we arrived, the other English people here assumed that we had just got off the boat and tried to rip us off, left, right and centre. Because we already spoke French, doors have automatically opened for us. We didn't speak French when we initially arrived the first time but when we went out on a mission, we looked up the key words in a dictionary. Something that people don't do nowadays. What I don't understand is that the people who complain about immigrants in England forminh ghettos and refusing to learn the relevant language, do exactly the same thing here.
Candice - don't get caught ;-)
I am a freelance journalist for 4 American magazines/papers so I will stll work. Don't tell!
I'll second that on the survival and admin. I just did my URSSAF stuff today and how many people have noticed that they have tweaked the site so that you now have to play a silly searching game to get to the payment THEN they robbed me of €7 for doing it all for them - the admin charge!
I agree language is very important and I under-estimated how long and how much effort it would take me.
Also, if you work self employed don't think you will lose the stress by moving here. Its as bad if not worse. Forget earning a good living by working long hours, that equates to breaking even here. And you need the patience of a saint to get by with the administration.
Thanks for the tips!
and the top tips are......
Good discussion; thanks for sharing. As a visual person, I'd like to see some wordsmith create a list of all the issues rasied in this conversation - a simple list that each person can add to. c'est possible?
The main points I see are: learn the language, learn the language, learn the language, and ......stay hidden. True?
Top tip: assuming your French is adequate - if you need help, ask a French person! In my experience they are almost invariably friendly and helpful. On the other hand, I have been given plenty of inadvertently false information by British expats!
Unless you enjoy stress, do not buy an ISMH building with a view to renovating it yourself. The French have a different view of ownership to any you may be used to when it comes to buildings they consider part of their Patrimoine"... You will be prevented from doing anything at all, apart from defending yourself against spurious accusations and paying "experts" to prepare "projets", while your building collapses. Meanwhile, in a neighbouring commune, a French person will be riding roughshod over any ABF guidelines. Otherwise, in my view the pros outweigh any bureaucratic cons.
Yes, Candice, keep your U.S. bank accounts. We have an account at a bank here, as well. Just be sure that when/if you open up an account at a bank here in France, that there is an agreement or partnership between your U.S. bank and your French bank. This way, you won’t have to pay to take money out of your U.S. account at a French ATM. BNP Paribas, for example, has a partnership with Bank of America. I bought my Kindle here in France, but use my American Amazon account to buy books and magazines. I really missed magazines from home before I did this.