It's a good point that there is no reason to discourage people's dreams. Lots of people emigrate to France all the time - from Africa, from Israel, from eastern Europe, etc.

The one thing that makes this trickier is the family aspect. Is France JW's wife's dream, too? If so, then it can be a shared adventure. If not, then uprooting an unwilling family could turn into a nightmare of resentment.

Just questions that should be answered...

I highly agree with nytraveler.

Another option that I'd suggest is to start a business in France. There's the new Auto-Entrepreneur program. Have you heard of it? Although, one does need to be a French resident already to apply for this program. But a way that one could (possibly) go around this requirement, is to start with a student visa, rent an apartment, thus have French residency (a physical address), and then apply for the Auto-Entrepreneur program, and then in the process of doing so, try to apply for a new long-stay visa. Now, I do NOT know if this would work, but it's just a idea...if one REALLY wants to move to France...

Oh, and you'd still have to have a very marketable skill, for example in the IT field, science degree, and/or speak several languages including French (I realize some may disagree with me, but this is just my opinion).

So it's not impossible...nothing is impossible...

...and I forgot to mention, to have a student visa, you'd have to apply for admission to either a French university or study abroad / exchange program. The OP is 26...fairly young...could still pursue a second degree. Having a family does make the situation more difficult, though.

But, nothing is impossible. ;-)

oh, and here's the link the official website:

http://www.lautoentrepreneur.fr/


Bonne chance!