Carlux

All of this is very sound and sensible advice. And then there are people like us who came to France, saw the Dordogne, fell in love with it and said 'we have to live here.' Luckily we both had British (European) passports.

We thought we'd be here in 6 months, but spent 6 years improving our French, selling our house, renting in Toronto while we saved money - and then gave up everything, jobs, house, family, etc., and moved to the Perigord Noir.

We worked hard doing property management, which included cleaning houses ourselves for several years, and helping out in virtually every village event.

This year we celebrate 20 years in our part of France, still haven't seen all the other parts, but did exactly what was best for us. Never a moment's regret.

bvlenci

Whether you work or not, you would need a residence permit to reside permanently in any European country. Most European countries will grant a residence permit to someone who isn't planning to work in the country if they can show proof of adequate income to support themselves and adequate private health care insurance. I know several people who have got this sort of residence permit in Italy.

Permission to work is much more difficult. When I worked in the Netherlands, which was over fifteen years ago, but I don't think anything has changed, my employer had to apply for the work permit, and had to make a case that the work I was being hired to do couldn't be done by any available EU citizen. It took a fair amount of time.

A license to practice medicine would be even more difficult to get than a work permit. There are even restrictions on employment of EU medical professionals across borders. See the second page of this document for the situation with regard to France:

http://www.cesifo-group.de/ifoHome/f...ual-health.pdf

kerouac

When my parents moved to France as Americans (simply because my mother did not realize that she was still a French citizen, having been naturalized in the U.S. in 1958), they had no trouble obtaining their residence permits based on the amount of their retirement income and proof of health coverage.

bvlenci

If you think of moving to another country, you should make sure to spend extended time there during the periods of the most unpleasant weather. That would probably include winter in most European countries, and also mid-summer if the summer climate is torrid. I know a number of Germans who came here on holiday, fell in love with Italy, and bought cute little farmhouses to renovate. Most of them were totally unprepared for the winters in this part of Italy, which are not necessarily terribly cold, but can be gray, rainy, and windy for weeks on end.

Another stumbling block for many of the people who have moved to our town (mostly from Germany or the Netherlands, but also a few from the UK) is the language. If you put your mind to it, you can learn a foreign language at any age, but if you always speak English at home, it will be much more difficult. I was fortunate in that my husband's English is rudimentary at best, so that was never a big temptation. The people I know who have settled in most happily here are those who became fluent in Italian. That requires getting out of your English language cocoon and immersing yourself in the life of your new home. It requires reading newspapers, books, and magazines in the language of the country. I made a point of reading, in Italian, all the books that Italian people my age were required to read in high school, and also childhood classics such as Pinocchio, as it also gave me a foundation in the cultural language of the country.

StuDudley

bvlenci

I don't know if you follow weather patterns here - but I bet that there are thousands of Amercians who wish they were elsewhere during THIS winter.

Stu Dudley

bvlenci

We were actually in London over Christmas, where we experienced a bit of the storm system ourselves. Italy has had unusually rainy weather this year also, with flooding in Rome and other cities, but especially with lots of landslides in hilly and mountainous areas. A fair amount of the winter wheat crop here was a washout, literally.

bvlenci

Kerouac, when I accepted the job in the Netherlands, I didn't realize I was an Irish citizen at birth, by virtue of the fact that my father was born in Ireland. My employer wouldn't have needed to go through that arduous work permit process, although it might have taken longer to get the Irish passport, based on my sister's experience, than it did to get the work permit.

StCirq

Absolutely go in dead of winter and any other "dead" or unpleasant times of year. And absolutely learn/know the language, or your dreams of gardens and markets will fast turn into real-life scenarios of having no clue how to buy a pool wand or talk to your mason or read the instructions on the washing machine...and paying enormous sums for anglophone assistance. Good advice from bvlenci!