If you are planning to move to France, as of January 1st you will now need a visa since we are no longer part of the EU, and you can get this from the French embassy. There are different types of visa depending upon your situation: for example, you may already have relatives living in France, so you need to check which one you need. Unless you are on a pension, you will also need a work permit. 
France is quite a big country, and has different areas including some splendid coastline, mountains, vineyards, busy cities, and sleepy little villages, so you need to spend some time researching where you would like to live. You would also want to consider the weather. If you have only ever been to France for a summer holiday, you might assume that it is always warm and sunny, and on the Mediterranean that would be true, although even there they have the Mistral which is a cold wind that can really lower the temperature. Then, of course, you have the Pyrenees and the Alps which have some serious snow in winter. 
 
Another thing to consider is that you will not immediately be allowed to join the French national health system until you have been living and/or working there for a certain amount of time, so you should take out health insurance to cover you until you are allowed to join it. 
 
While you may have decided upon the area in which you wish to live, the best idea is to rent a property until you have researched properties in the area. Property prices can vary considerably. In 2019 average property prices in Gironde were €259,800, in Dordogne €118,300, in Rhone €315,200, in Orne €95,000, and in Paris €10,210 per square metre. These may have a considerable bearing on your choice of where to live. 
 
If you spend more than 183 days a year in France, you will officially become a French taxpayer and you will also be subject to French law in the event of your death. That mans that your estate will be divided equally between your direct heirs. You can’t leave different amounts to different children, and you can’t leave it all to charity unless you have no direct heirs. You also need to check on the situation regarding your husband/wife because the law may require your estate to be given half to your children and half to your partner. 
 
You also need a French bank account because you cannot get a mobile or an internet subscription without one. It takes about three weeks to open a bank account and there is a lot of paperwork to fill out, so you need to make sure you have a credit card which works in France. Visa is more acceptable than Mastercard and Amex. There are also a lot of rules and paperwork around taking your car with you. 
 
Obviously, you will need us at Movers International as a removal company to move all your belongings. How we do this will depend on the amount of goods that you are taking. You might only need removals to France part loads, in which case the cost will be less than if you need a whole removals van. Removals to France part loads can go on a van which is already travelling to your destination area on behalf of another customer. However, we also have a regular weekly run to France, so we can take your goods on one of those. We can quite literally take a single item, or we can move your complete home contents. 
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