Exploring the Possibility: Emigrating to France

ceejayt

ceejayt

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RS Elysian A Class
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Genuinely thinking of just selling up and moving over the channel. Would be keen if anyone who has done this since Brexit could perhaps PM me and give me a bit more info on the pitfalls. I have done some research and am aware of most of the tax implications regarding pensions etc but anything and everything in terms of advice would be welcome.

Thanks
 
Dawsey’s your man he was going through the moving to France thing with his campsite purchase, maybe PM him
 
I do not know if you are on Facebook. but if so I would recomend joining France 2nd Home Owners group. I have a home in France and have found that group invaluable for advice- there is a lot of information on the group about people moving there permanently.

I would love to move over their full time in the future- but I have a British passport and it is now incredibly hard to do. My wife is currently investigating getting an Irish passport that would enable her to move there (and myself as her spouse)

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I would move to France in a heartbeat but my wife won't, one of our sons lives there already.
 
canopus said:
Macron plans to hammer expats !

www.dailymail.co.uk

Macron hits Brits who own second homes in France with tax rise

The French government has given 3,399 councils across the country permission to increase a tax that under reforms will now only apply to those who own second homes, hitting thousands of Brits.
www.dailymail.co.uk www.dailymail.co.uk
Click to expand...
This is not aimed at brits, it affects all second home owners whatever country you come from, even french nationals, and again it is for second home owners, if you move to france and your french home is your primary residence this will not affect you.
 
Je m'en fiche, je n'ai pas de résidence secondaire là-bas donc ça n'a pas d'importance. 🤑

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ceejayt said:
Doesn't concern me as we will either move lock stock and barrel or not at all
Click to expand...
Is there a requirement to speak and understand French to a certain level if you move there. I may be wrong but I'm sure I seen that.
It's what rules it out for us I'm afraid. Just can't grasp it.
Good luck if you can do it. You only live once. I'll settle for 90 days at a time.

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canopus said:
Macron plans to hammer expats !

www.dailymail.co.uk

Macron hits Brits who own second homes in France with tax rise

The French government has given 3,399 councils across the country permission to increase a tax that under reforms will now only apply to those who own second homes, hitting thousands of Brits.
www.dailymail.co.uk www.dailymail.co.uk
Click to expand...
Love the daily fail spin . Evidently it's picking on Brits as they are only allowed 90 days at a time. I wonder which side of the debate the daily fail was on when we left! Maybe they ought to blame themselves
 
Do you speak the lingo? I would like to emigrate to Portugal but find the language too difficult,so even if it’s not their requirement I won’t be going.

Good luck with your move,I don’t blame anyone for leaving the UK,we are in terminal decline.
 
Fragle said:
Is there a requirement to speak and understand French to a certain level if you move there. I may be wrong but I'm sure I seen that.
It's what rules it out for us I'm afraid. Just can't grasp it.
Good luck if you can do it. You only live once. I'll settle for 90 days at a time.
Click to expand...

You only have to learn basic French but, if you're over 65 and only want residency (not French Nationalisation), you'll be exempted from taking a test.

www.france-education-international.fr

TCF - Integration, Residence and Nationality

The French knowledge test for Integration, Residence and Nationality (TCF IRN) makes it possible to certify your level of French as part of the route to citizenship.
www.france-education-international.fr www.france-education-international.fr

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We can't be a lot of help as we have been here 17 years and a lot has changed, but a few tips, I don't know what your situation is and where you are thinking of, retired or planning to work, all that makes a big difference to any advice people can give

French administration does usually work but can be complicated, research anything you want to do so you are well aware of what the procedure is and what documentation you may need, before starting to do anything.

When we moved, there was a very good book by David Hampshire "living and working in France" that used to get updated every year, whether it is still available I don't know.

We messed up on a lot of paperwork because we didn't realise that for a woman they normally use the maiden name on a lot of documents, we were not married at the time and my wife had been married before, and unfortunately used her previously married name, not her maiden name. Managed to sort it out ok, but it would have been easier if we had known beforehand.

Understand properly the reasons you are making the move, and remember it should be more than just being fed up with how things are at the moment. Most brits that we have known that have returned to the UK have done so for one or both of two reasons.

1) Their kids have left the nest, so they are now free to do what they want, leave the UK, then 10 years down the line, their kids have got married and start having kids of their own. So now they are missing out on being grandparents, start travelling back to the UK more and more to see them, eventually move back.

2) They don't integrate enough and when they get older the prospect of getting old in France firstly from the increased need for medical care, or loosing their partner, the possibility of ending up in a nursing home where they do not have anyone to talk to and lack of language skills would make them isolated.

Buying a house, we were lucky due to problems selling our house in the UK we ended up stuck for 6 months, during that time we watched every and any programs about moving to other countries, one tip that saved us a lot of heartache was the position of the house and when to look, we were looking at older stone building with renovation in mind, great in theory and I wouldn't change what we did, but we are now 17 years down the road, and I am still working on the house, we were in our 40s when we moved here, now I am in my 60s I am unable to do half as much as I used to, and although we have no intention of moving, at some point this house may become unsuitable.
We had learnt to look for houses in the winter, everywhere looks great in the summer, we face east and south, north and west are more sheltered, we are on the north side of a valley, so we get good sun even in the winter, the south side has houses that hardly get any sun for 2 or 3 months of the year because they are sheltered by the hill, houses on both sides look great in the summer, houses on the south side can be cold and damp in the winter.

Holiday in the area you are thinking of in the winter, I live just over an hour from the med, but the temperatures here can easily be the same or colder than the UK, I have known snow on the beach more than once since we have lived here.

These are just a few things and I can go on, but for a move to be successful you have to really plan and do your research.

Sorry I have waffled on, but home some of this helps.
 
Hi

May be signing with ExpatForum.com would give you quite a few answers. I'm a member as well there. Not an activ member, just reading now and then.
 
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Widge said:
We can't be a lot of help as we have been here 17 years and a lot has changed, but a few tips, I don't know what your situation is and where you are thinking of, retired or planning to work, all that makes a big difference to any advice people can give

French administration does usually work but can be complicated, research anything you want to do so you are well aware of what the procedure is and what documentation you may need, before starting to do anything.

When we moved, there was a very good book by David Hampshire "living and working in France" that used to get updated every year, whether it is still available I don't know.

We messed up on a lot of paperwork because we didn't realise that for a woman they normally use the maiden name on a lot of documents, we were not married at the time and my wife had been married before, and unfortunately used her previously married name, not her maiden name. Managed to sort it out ok, but it would have been easier if we had known beforehand.

Understand properly the reasons you are making the move, and remember it should be more than just being fed up with how things are at the moment. Most brits that we have known that have returned to the UK have done so for one or both of two reasons.

1) Their kids have left the nest, so they are now free to do what they want, leave the UK, then 10 years down the line, their kids have got married and start having kids of their own. So now they are missing out on being grandparents, start travelling back to the UK more and more to see them, eventually move back.

2) They don't integrate enough and when they get older the prospect of getting old in France firstly from the increased need for medical care, or loosing their partner, the possibility of ending up in a nursing home where they do not have anyone to talk to and lack of language skills would make them isolated.

Buying a house, we were lucky due to problems selling our house in the UK we ended up stuck for 6 months, during that time we watched every and any programs about moving to other countries, one tip that saved us a lot of heartache was the position of the house and when to look, we were looking at older stone building with renovation in mind, great in theory and I wouldn't change what we did, but we are now 17 years down the road, and I am still working on the house, we were in our 40s when we moved here, now I am in my 60s I am unable to do half as much as I used to, and although we have no intention of moving, at some point this house may become unsuitable.
We had learnt to look for houses in the winter, everywhere looks great in the summer, we face east and south, north and west are more sheltered, we are on the north side of a valley, so we get good sun even in the winter, the south side has houses that hardly get any sun for 2 or 3 months of the year because they are sheltered by the hill, houses on both sides look great in the summer, houses on the south side can be cold and damp in the winter.

Holiday in the area you are thinking of in the winter, I live just over an hour from the med, but the temperatures here can easily be the same or colder than the UK, I have known snow on the beach more than once since we have lived here.

These are just a few things and I can go on, but for a move to be successful you have to really plan and do your research.

Sorry I have waffled on, but home some of this helps.
Click to expand...
Excellent!
I wish more people were aware of their older days in a foreign country. Without language skills, it can be tough indeed.
All you said was well pointed out Widge !
 
Podney said:
Do you speak the lingo? I would like to emigrate to Portugal but find the language too difficult,so even if it’s not their requirement I won’t be going.

Good luck with your move,I don’t blame anyone for leaving the UK,we are in terminal decline.
Click to expand...

I agree the UK does seem to be in decline in so many areas and I do love so many aspects of European culture, however I couldn't live abroad permanently. I have experience having lived and worked in Hong Kong for 3 years.

The things I missed -

Friends, Family, Tescos, Bacon, UK countryside and history, London (and other cities) for culture - concerts, theatre, etc,

We go abroad probably 3 -4 months a year. Suits me as I can still enjoy the good stuff the UK offers whilst fulfilling my need to travel and explore.
 
I think it's the what's it going to be like when you're old and need care or can't drive aspect that would stop me. It's the same when people move to a remote house with no shops or neighbours

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ceejayt said:
Genuinely thinking of just selling up and moving over the channel. Would be keen if anyone who has done this since Brexit could perhaps PM me and give me a bit more info on the pitfalls. I have done some research and am aware of most of the tax implications regarding pensions etc but anything and everything in terms of advice would be welcome.

Thanks
Click to expand...
No need to emigrate you only need to breakdown in France and they keep you there (taken from Oscars break down in France)
 
Podney said:
I don’t blame anyone for leaving the UK,we are in terminal decline.
Click to expand...

I don't believe that for a moment. There are plenty of people who try to spin that story to suit their own miserable ends, but in hard times, and in spite of our useless governments, the UK is doing as well as most and better than many. (y)
 
Podney said:
Do you speak the lingo? I would like to emigrate to Portugal but find the language too difficult,so even if it’s not their requirement I won’t be going.

Good luck with your move,I don’t blame anyone for leaving the UK,we are in terminal decline.
Click to expand...
Terminal decline suggests that there's no way to improve which I find hard to accept. It's also in what way? I suspect that the older generation have always said that even in the post war boom years. I have hope that we might do better over the next 20 years than the past 20 .
 
having retired early last year I have been able to spend a lot more time in Spain and France in the last few Months

I don't see any major differences to be honest nothing that would make me want to put up with the downsides of living abroad

Also being intensely patriotic and proud of being British, particularly English I see everyone else in the World as a some what "lacking" Jonny Foreigner

Please howl and rail at my post, "outdated" "bigot" "racist" all words that I feel inappropriately proud to be, in the same way I have words in my mind for people that talk my country down, but rule one stops me from saying what I think about such people
 
eddievanbitz said:
having retired early last year I have been able to spend a lot more time in Spain and France in the last few Months

I don't see any major differences to be honest nothing that would make me want to put up with the downsides of living abroad

Also being intensely patriotic and proud of being British, particularly English I see everyone else in the World as a some what "lacking" Jonny Foreigner

Please howl and rail at my post, "outdated" "bigot" "racist" all words that I feel inappropriately proud to be, in the same way I have words in my mind for people that talk my country down, but rule one stops me from saying what I think about such people
Click to expand...
One of your only truly sensible posts Eddie 🤣🤣👍

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