Here’s a link to Advice France. An English-speaking accountant who will do all paperwork necessary to set up businesses and carte vitale… worth every penny! Her name is Sarah Vedrenne. http://www.advicefrance.com/
Hi Sheila
As in everything you need to ask at the Mairie. CPAM will advise on a Carte Vital - that depends on your age - after 60 I think the UK folks in Newcastle issue a form which gives you 2 years cover in the French Health system. RIng up Newcastle NI office - they are wonderful.
Post questions on WoW - might help. WOW also lists Anglophone organisations you might find useful like AFAL. See www.heraultwhatson.info
Good luck
Try to avoid being a registered RSI person - the taxes are horrid - best to work “on the black”!
Hi Sheila,
Have a look at the Siddalls website - they have a “checklist” which is very helpful.
Bonne chance!
Debbie
Manana is supposed to be Spanish, but the French are exceptionally good at it too, particularly here in the South. You’ve just got to live with it!
The languedoc guide is indeed a super site. The chap who runs it lives close by, and he is very knowledgable and sympathetic. The forums are good and useful, even if they are mainly from people who have lived for some years in France.
“Start a business” I am not familiar with, but I wouldn’t even DREAM of paying one penny for information with the enormous amount of FREE information and assistance available online.
There have indeed been changes very recently. It’s best to go to the SS (Sécurité Sociale)- you’ll probably have to make an appointment, and do NOT expect the people to be able to speak English so if you don’t feel at ease, try to take someone who speaks both languages with you.
Hi Sheila another great site which has loads of resources guides helping you with your move is http://www.guide2languedoc.com if you go to regional info you will find loads of info including, guides to buying property, roles of the notaire, health info and even town and village guides
Re start a business in France - that's a really good site but you now have to pay 50€ a year i think to be a member and i must admit i have tried to private message Valerie on many occasions when using the site and her inbox is always full and so the message won't send so you can't ask her anything direct you can only use the forum or pay for hourly help .
I dont know if the rules have changed since we moved, however, we had two years carte vitale automatically as we had paid national insurance in the uk. We took an E 106 form that we got from dept of pensions in Newcastle.
We presented this to our social security office, et Voila, a carte vitale, for the whole family, which was valid for two years.
This gave us time to get some work, so that we entered the official french system
Hi Sheila, well hope you settle in ok and find a house to buy eventually. As for advice on stuff, don’t worry, after posting that you will be inundated with help and advice from all angles! Just take it bit by bit and don’t get stressed thinking it all has to be sorted straight away. One thing living in France has taught me is , do it in your own time just like they do! good luck.
Sheila - your best bet is to get advice from people (and other privately run sites such as the one Miles recommended for example) but get your concrete info from the official fr gov sites / bodies.
I would take a trip to your local URSSAF - always v helpful in my experience - explain your plans and get them to help with the form filling and paperwork which will lead to the social security number and thus the magic carte vitale. They should also be able to give you some info on the Maison des Artistes for Henry.
If you are dealing with a person face to face it will be much easier (and also cheaper than paying for advice) and if things go wrong, you can go back to them and ask them to help you sort it out. If you feel your French isn’t up to it, take a Fr speaker along. Bonne chance! xx
Valerie’s site Start Business In France is the best single resource out there at the moment imho. I find AngloInfo too cluttered to find what you need fast. If you search SBiF you’ll probably find a lot of the answers you need straight away.
Oh boy…have you got work to do!
There have been so many changes in the last 2-3 years that you will need to look at quite a few “forums” and “ex-pat sites” - I’ll give you one or two. Since you’re in Languedoc, like myself, here is a local regional one http://languedoc.angloinfo.com/ (If it doesn’t open as a link, copy & paste to your address bar) There is an awful lot of information on here.
This is the official French Government site…you can change the language at the top of the page…http://vosdroits.service-public.fr/particuliers/N20306.xhtml and finally this one (from the same Government site - this time in English):
http://www.service-public.fr/langue/english/
If you “Google” search “British Ex-pats sites in France” you’ll get lots more, but the above are the main ones.
Since I moved here over 50 years ago, things have changed, particularly in the Health Assurance rules, so it’s important to know where you are.
Bonne Chance et Bonne Courage!