What You Need To Know for Moving To France

If you are going to move to France, there are a lot of things that you need to do. It is a big country, and unless you are being sent on assignment by your employers to a particular area or city, you have many different choices. 

 

You can move to the south of France where the sun shines for 320 days a year on the Mediterranean, or you can move to the Alps where it doesn’t, and it can get pretty cold in the winter. And there are lots and lots of places in between. 

 

One very good idea is to select the area that you wish to move to and rent a home for a period so that you are looking at properties in the same way that a local would. This is because homes that are advertised exclusively to foreigners are very often overpriced. It also gives you time to get a “feel” for the area and decide if it is right for you. 

 

You also need to take into consideration the fact that homes in France are sold “en l’etat” – as is – and that means that there is no comeback if you discover defects after you have purchased it. That means that you need a surveyor to inspect it and approve it for you unless you are prepared to buy and take a risk. 

 

Average property prices in France can vary enormously from one area to another. For example, an average home in Orne is around €100,000, in Gironde it is €265,000, and in Rhone it is €325,000. Take your pick! In Paris it is about €11,000 per square metre! 

 

 

 

If you spend more than 183 days a year in France, you will also become a French taxpayer, so you need to take that into consideration. Furthermore, since we have left the EU, you are no longer entitled to work in France without a special visa. Even if you are setting up your own business there, you still need the visa. If you are gong to work for an employer you may also need a work permit, although this can sometimes be handled by the employer in question. 

 

As for the health service, if you are an employee, you can join the French national health system (PUMa) as soon as you start work, but if not, you can only apply to be covered after three months as a resident, so you would be advised to take out private health insurance to cover the initial period. However, if setting up your own business you can apply as soon as the business is registered in France. 

 

Note that it can take about three weeks to set up a bank account in France and you also need a credit card that is acceptable, Visa being more readily accepted than a Mastercard. You also need to have a local bank account before you can set up a local mobile or internet subscription. 

 

As for the actual process of France removals, at Movers International we have got you covered. We can move your complete home or just a few items, depending upon what you require. We also have a regular run to France every week, so if you only have a few items, you can save money by having them included as a part load. 

 

We can take you to wherever you need to go with our France removals, but if you are going to somewhere where the streets are narrow, please advise us. We have a large fleet of vehicles, and we can access locations which are difficult to reach, but we do need the information early on so that we can make the appropriate plans.