Many of us in the UK have been to France for a holiday, and some go there every year for a couple of weeks. It is a big country and has huge amounts of coastline, busy cities, vast rural areas, mountains, beaches, vineyards, and a great variety of different weather from the wintertime in the Alps to the constantly sunny Mediterranean coast. No wonder that quite a number of Britons decide at some point in their lives that they would love to go and live there. 
If this is something that you are considering, there are a lot of things to take into account. Just to begin with, we are no longer a member of the EU, so this means that as from January 1st this year you now need to apply for a visa from the French Embassy. If you have a job to go to that is salaried you need a Visa de Long Séjour valant Titre de Séjour - Salarié. However, if you want to set up your own business you need the Visa de Long Séjour valant Titre de Séjour - Entrepreneur/Profession Libérale. In addition, you may also need to apply for a work permit, although if you have a job this is sometimes dealt with by the employer. 
 
Of course, you may not yet have a job and you may also want to stay in the area that you are considering moving to permanently in order to get to know it really well and to find the right house. This is a very good idea, because living in an area is very different from spending a couple of weeks on holiday. However, it also means that you need to have sufficient money to be able to live until you have found a home and job if needed. 
 
You should also take out health insurance to cover your first few months in France. This is because you cannot join the national health system (PUMa) straight away. You have to live for 3 months as a resident before you can do that, but you can apply to join as soon as you start work if you have a job. If you are setting up a business, you can join as soon as that business is registered in France. Depending on the visa that you need, you may also have to show proof of health insurance. 
 
If you are going to be living in France for more than 183 days a year, you will also be a French resident and liable to pay tax. In addition, you need to consider your estate, because in the event of your death it will be distributed according to French law which means equally distributed between your heirs. You may not be able to leave all your estate to your spouse because half of it may be distributed to your children. 
 
It may sound obvious, but if the only French you speak is what you remember from your schooldays it is worth brushing up on the language. You can do this by taking evening classes or an audio or online class. 
 
Obviously, you will be moving furniture to France, and at Movers International we can deal with all that for you. We can also do all your packing for you: it is best to let our professionals pack, because then you know that everything will arrive safely. 
 
If you are moving furniture to France into one of the more isolated villages, please advise us. We can move you wherever you wish to go, but some of the smaller villages have narrow access roads. This means that we will need to organise the transfer of your furniture to smaller vans for the final part of the journey. 
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