#I very rarely want to post non jily/hp things but this seems dire

[yallthemwitches]

Its come to my attention that I can't DM documents on Tumblr :( So under the cut is my document! Feel free to reach out if you have any questions~

Tay's comprehensive and perhaps exhaustive guide to moving to LA FRANCE

Here’s my comprehensive crash course to moving to France—be aware that rules can change and requirements are often tweaked so I’ll make sure to link official sites so you can double check in case there have been changes.

A Preface: 

I’m not going to sugar coat it for you: French Bureaucracy is like its own circle of hell. There will be days you want to beat your head in—or worse, give up. Don’t let them get to you. It is possible! I have this theory that they make it intentionally confusing to deter people from actually trying—but there are so many people who have done it and you can too. Hopefully this relieves some of that pain for you–at least a little. 

*Steps off soapbox*

Alors on y va! 

Picking your visa

Not all visas are created equal, though many have similar requirements. Here is the official site: https://france-visas.gouv.fr/en/web/france-visas/home

First and foremost you will  need a Longstay visa. This constitutes a visa that lasts between 6-12 months. Anything shorter than this time is considered a “short stay” and is not renewable. You will have to go back to the USA and start all over once it expires.

—longstay visas are key because you can renew them in France and they are the only ones that will allow you to work (legally). 

There are many longstay visas to choose from that offer different perks and drawbacks.

Here is a quick breakdown:

ALL VISAS REQUIREMENTS: All visas will require these things on top of their specific requirements.

-Visa Application Form ( will attach below)

–2 passport ( EU style! photos)

–Valid Passport

–Medical Insurance *for duration of your “visit” ( so if you get a visa for 8 months you will need to buy 8 months of travel medical insurance—you will not need to renew after)

-Complete Itinerary and proof of accommodation: This is a big catch 22 and it's very dumb. 

Essentially you must show proof of a roundtrip plane ticket purchase for the duration of your stay. Ex. I want a visa for a year that starts in August. SO, you must have a plane ticket showing your departure in Aug. AND a plane tix back to the US a year later–even if you never plan to get on the return flight. 

Ditto with housing but it is less structured. You must have at least 3 months of proof of an accommodation. This can be an airbnb/a friend's house/ a lease/ a hotel/ whatever you want just as long as it equates to at least 3 months of your stay. 

Now, I’m sure you are saying to yourself “but Tay, I don’t want to leave France, am I really going to have to pay for a return flight and eat that money?” 

No! Please don’t do that! Many airlines now have a 48hr hold for a flight. My recommendation is to buy a ticket only paying the 48hr hold cost (usually around 30 dollars), print that itinerary, then either cancel the whole trip or just the return flight before it charges you. Is this sneaky? Yes. Does it work? Yes and many people do it. You can do the same with housing if you need ( Airbnb has usually free cancellations but you can print your itinerary the minute you get the booking approved).

 -Proof of financial means:  This needs to be in the form of either personal bank statements, or you may also get a guarantor who can sign a paper attesting they will help you if you need money. Usually you need at least 850 euros per month you plan to stay to fill this requirement but may vary depending on the visa. 

Ok, now onto specifics!

-Student Visa: Student Visas are considered the easiest and most effective way to move into the country as it has the most flexibility.

Requirements:

-You must be registered in a government registered school. But beware as some schools are not officially registered and therefore can NOT give you a visa—so if you decide you want to go to business school or language school always ask up front! French Bachelors/Masters/PHD oriented schools are almost always registered but may require separate things.*

*Not 100% like the US, France does have an application for your traditional universities but it is reasonably easier to navigate than the US ( and cheaper!) Be aware though that many fields of study might require a level of french unless you plan to take an international course. International courses are typically taught in English but always check that it is not a “mi-temps” course—meaning it’s only half in France and then half at a US linked university ( so essentially a study abroad).

��Remember you must sign up for 6 months or more. Or else you won’t be offered a long stay visa! If you go to a regular university this is already covered as it is done yearly.Language schools/business schools for example will make you pay a down payment and then you can pay once you get here and at your leisure.

Can you work?

Yes! But only part time. The official site states you can only work 964 hours per year ( aka about 15-20 an hour per week) but this is flexible.

Work Visa:*** For more on just job searching/work in France see “work” section below

Be warned! Work visas are notoriously hard for “entry” visas. To put it in perspective: the job is paying taxes and additional fees each time they hire a foreigner so therefore it is not ideal for them to hire you unless they have a good reason. Also, there are government stipulations in place that require a job to prove that they can ONLY hire you for a job and not a french native, so overall it's a paperwork nightmare. It is usually believed that only high power or extremely niche STEM jobs will offer you a position right out the gate and facilitate your move. ( hence why I am pushing the student visa!)

Requirements:

-You must be offered a Full time CDI* (neverending contract) position to be applicable for the visa. (see below about Job contracts in Work section for more on this) 

I will not get into this more as I will cover it later, but the job will have to do lots of paperwork for you. 

Can you work?

Of course! But again, FULL TIME AND A NON-ENDING CONTRACT! (I can’t stress this more)

-Visitor or Retirement Visa: This is the classic, “I’m coming here just because” visa.

Requirements:

-You must have proof of funds

Can you work?

NO! This is a visa mostly for retirees/ free travelers. There is a loophole where you can work for another country online (ex. You work online for a US company) but this comes with its own tricky stuff. 

*There are more visa options but these are the “big 3” that are the easiest to obtain. The rest get more niche. 

I picked what I want to do! Now what?

–Make an appointment with VFS Global  https://visa.vfsglobal.com/usa/en/fra

This is the third party that the French Embassy pays to process all the visas. I’m going to be honest with you and say it's such a waste of time and money but it is what it is. I put it at the top of this list because the appointments can be far and few in between and also you will have to travel to get there.

The nearest centers to NC are Atlanta and Washington DC. YES you will have to go there in person. 

When you go there: they will literally just check that you have all the required documents, nothing else. They DO NOT have any affiliation with France or the embassy so save your breath if you have questions. They don’t have answers. They are just doing the grunt work of verifying all the docs are there before mailing it to the proper avenues. 

While you wait for your appointment you should compile your documents Asap! Depending on your situation you will have a couple extra steps. 

Student: 

–Get paperwork from the school: this is a paper that just says you are enrolled and how long you will be coming. Make sure to tell administration it is for visa purposes ( there will probably be a small fee for this)

–You will need to make an account and “apply” to your school on Campus France (https://www.campusfrance.org/en). This is the official school site for foreigners in France. You will need their stamp of approval to move forward regardless of if the school has accepted you. It usually takes a couple days to a week for them to process your info.

—Once your Campus France application is approved you will have to do a phone interview: This is in English ( yay!) and they will just ask you why you want to come to france etc. etc. It’s basically just to make sure you aren’t a serial killer. Don’t stress about it —it will take 10 minutes tops.

Work: This paperwork is way more extensive than the student one and a lot will be given to you by the employer. Boring things like tax info. I won’t go into it here but will touch on it in the “Work” section.

After you have your paperwork and then turn it in ( in person) to the VFS global office—you wait. 

You can pay to have your documents mailed directly back to your home or to the VFS office for free. They will need you to mail your passport with the documents. 

When you get it back it will either be a Yes! And have your visa in your passport! Or a No (boo!) and they will give you a short letter explaining why you were declined. Upon a decline you can try to overrule it but it is a whole other process. 

Quick Note on Visas

The vast majority of visas will be 8-12 months renewable. This means 3 months before their expiry you will have to renew it and go to the local prefecture to turn in documents/ get the new visa. The main French site to do this is https://administration-etrangers-en-france.interieur.gouv.fr/particuliers/#/

You will get a login for this site the minute you activate your visa when you enter france. They will give you a paper with your visa explaining this. 

-If you get a job, after 1 year you can get a multi-annual visa. This will last 5 years. 

-After 5 years you can apply for citizenship or get a 10 year multiannual card as long as you are still holding a job and are generally an upstanding French citizen.

–French universities will renew your visa for as long as you go to school–no cap. BUT French Language schools ( like Alliance Francaise) will only give you 2 renewals before you have to find a new means of a visa. So essentially you can go to AF for 3 years non-stop before France will tell you to find something better to do :) 

I got my visa! I’m in France!....Now what?

Here’s some extra stuff to help you along the way!

The catch 22 of getting anything in France

Liken moving to a new country to becoming an adult all over again—you get to start from scratch! Unfortunately, to get lots of these things you end up in a vicious circle because you can’t get something without the other. This is no more prevalent than with phone numbers, bank accounts, and housing.

phone number

Let me save you the headache. To avoid needing a bank account or address to get a phone number, I suggest https://www.red-by-sfr.fr/. It's not the fanciest of phone lines but it will get you a phone number to get the other things needed on this list. 

Bank Account

Quick Easy “Get it now” bank with good conversion

Wise https://wise.com/: It can hold many currencies at once so conversion is super simple and they will give you a debit card that has an IBAN (EU routing number) that can be used for anything you need in France. I hear Revolut does this as well if you wanna shop around.

French Bank

You need an official address and a phone number to get a bank account. Also! Important to note that Americans have a harder time opening bank accounts due to taxation laws in the US. I found that Banque Populaire https://www.banquepopulaire.fr/ was pretty straight forward and usually has an international office where they will speak english well. 

Housing

You will need lots of things to rent a proper house in France. At the very least you need a visa for the duration of your lease ( though this will depend landlord to landlord—as everywhere some are created more chill than others).

Where do I find housing?

****PARIS IS IT’S OWN DEMON. I’M SO SORRY AND GODSPEED****

The classic places for French people are https://www.leboncoin.fr/ ( aka French Craigslist) or seloger.fr ( I recommend this one). These are for rentals or buying a house. 

I also HIGHLY suggest joining facebook groups. I know FB is outdated for anyone under 50 these days but they are very helpful!

FB groups I recommend: Legal France Immigration  ( the woman who heads this group works for a prefecture and is so so helpful!) https://www.facebook.com/groups/4047499821999626

Strictly Fiscal France: https://www.facebook.com/groups/519650538719217

English Speakers on the Riviera ( for if you want to move to Cotes D’azur) https://www.facebook.com/groups/208417351082

Just use the search bar and find other groups–I promise there is an “Americans in *city name* group” for every part of france and most are very willing to help.

Work!

Assuming you don’t have a job when you move, here are some helpful things to know when finding a job!

–All French jobs are contract based. There is a CDD ( short term, ending contract) or CDI ( as stated above, neverending contract). You can also become an auto-entrepreneur and work for yourself. 

TO FIND WORK:

The Pole Emploi is the official job site in France. You can find anything and everything as far as work on it. https://www.francetravail.fr/accueil/

TAY! What are the easiest jobs for Americans to do in France???

TEACH ENGLISH. 

I can not stress this enough. Since brexit, all the non-English EU has been hurting for native english speakers to teach in any capacity and (as you can imagine) the vast majority of people want and will pay good money to be taught by a native speaker. If you have no teaching experience, I recommend getting a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) Certificate. You can do this easily online at https://www.tefl.org/en-us/?gad_source=1 (This is UK based) Yes, it costs money, but it will be an ‘in’ to any school/daycare/tutoring gig you can imagine. 

Au Pair/Nannies: I didn’t mention it earlier because it is a bit niche, but Au Pairs have their own visa! These depend on the contract you make with the host family and each family will have their own set of requirements ( some will want live-in and others no..again its a case by case basis)

This is exactly what you think: you are a childcare worker for presumably a rich family. I know some people who have had incredible luck, others not so much. I recommend the site aupairworld.com which is pretty easy to navigate and will help you and the family maneuver all bureaucracy. 

STEM jobs/business/marketing/computer science:

I’m a creative writing major and rare book seller so this is not my wheelhouse BUT if you are someone who fits into these career paths then you should definitely run with it. These are the only jobs that are capable of hiring you from abroad and offering you a visa ( because they have the funds to do so) 

SOME GENERAL EXCEPTIONS:

PARIS:

Is Paris a dream or a nightmare? Mostly both. I tell all my US compatriots to liken Paris to moving to NYC or LA—once you get in you’re in, but if you are out of the bubble, get ready to use blood, sweat, and tears to get there. 

As you can imagine everything is highly competitive in Paris—from housing to jobs. I will almost guarantee you will not get anything unless already with boots on the ground in Paris. Don’t ever accept an offer with a site unseen as a general rule, but especially with Paris. Scams galore!

If you are dead set on Paris, I recommend being flexible and looking at the “suburbs” (they are still beautiful and a city so don’t let that word fool you.)

Versailles, Neuilly sur Seine, Chatou are just a few of the neighboring towns that get lumped into greater paris and the trains are capable of getting you to. It’s way more affordable out there and while you will have to commute—I mean, it’s Paris so, Don’t complain.

MONACO:

 If you are not aware Monaco is it’s own independent country between France and Italy on the Southern Border and is home to the most billionaires in the world (yay?). My experience is that unless you have a MULTI annual visa, Monaco will be a tricky place to look for work. Despite them being practically part of France, they are still their own country and have their own work laws. If you even want to attempt, I’d recommend an Au Pair job as the families there are actually capable of immigrating you on their own dime (again…billionaires..)

OTHER SHIT

Cars

Don’t.

But also if you think you absolutely need one, some states have a reciprocity deal with France and will allow you to switch over your License without needing to take a driving course. You have ONE YEAR to do this before the offer expires. 

You have a diploma from the US and want to translate it to a EU diploma

 This is still in the process and the govt is currently building a site where you can directly plug in your diploma and it will tell you what it equates to. For a very generic breakdown:

Bachelors= Bac

Masters and PHD are the same. 

Bacs are labeled by the amount of years you took the course. So if you did a traditional US bachelors you have a BAC +4. If you did 2 years in a school you have a BAC +2. Note that Business schools and other specialty schools might equate differently and be counted as a “Parcours” or a Certificate—you can always ask. 

Finally the big one:

BUT TAY I CAN’T SPEAK FRENCH WHAT DO I DO!

I’ll let you in on a secret: There are loads of people who live in France that don’t speak french ( don’t tell the French)

My advice to you is:

Learn some french! If you haven’t picked it up already, I highly recommend taking French Courses ( you can even get your visa this way!)

Alliance Francaise is the most respected of the French Language schools and I’m not just saying that because all my friends and husband work at one. They are really good and weirdly cost less than if you go to a privatized school. Again, did I mention they can immigrate you into the country? https://af-france.fr/en/ ( there is one in most big cities. I’m in Nice so if you go there I might see you ;) )

–The employment office offers FREE french courses to anyone already holding a visa and looking for work. Seeing as it’s a free govt class you kinda have to just roll with the punches, the hours are weird and the level may vary. But free is free. 

2. Expat communities are your friends (no matter what)

–There is nothing that binds you closer to a group of people than having the same culture/language in a foreign country. Use this to your advantage. People who have immigrated already are a treasure trove and will make your life more sane after days of fighting just to order a pain au chocolat correctly. Again, I highly recommend facebook groups for getting in touch with expat communities or just be ready to really put yourself out there! Go to the weird English trivia nights! Go to yoga in the park in English ( even if you hate yoga)! Go hang around universities ( not in a creepy way) because lots of people are usually international. Moving to another country is to destroy your ego. 

Again, sorry to plug language schools (I swear my husband's job is not paying me to plug them) but they are a great place to meet people and fellow expats. They are also full of French natives who are patient and willing to a. help you with generic day to day shit b. know how to maneuver the government ( how do you think I know all this?), and c. can actually become your friend.

A final note:

Make a French friend. I know that sounds a bit racist but really, do it. It will be an immense help. There is nothing more indispensable. Trust me. It is the one ring to rule them all because we are an insular culture but when we allow you in we will die for you. <3 This also means you have someone behind you when the govt inevitably decides to be annoying and there is nothing we love more than to get in fights with our government. I know I'm being stereotypical here, but I'm not. Us French love a good fight against the government. We will go up to bat for you ( or at least support you).

The most important takeaway is to be patient in all of these steps. France is a slow country–we like coffee/cigarette breaks, don’t force it. Be kind to yourself and be willing to make mistakes in all facets. I know this is a sappy way to end this document but it’s true. Everything good comes in time….

Also, feel free to contact me! I am definitely forgetting some things and would be happy to help or be a sympathetic ear. You can always contact me on whatever platform or if you want a more personal talk, feel free to reach out and I can send an email/phone number. 

Bon Courage et Bisous!

Tay

meep. well...if anyone wants the PDF doc I wrote up explaining how to immigrate to France (for US nationals) I'm happy to share it.

Watching the US election is like water torture and I'm not even there. Sending love and support to all the Americans feeling very scared right now.