US citizens living in France
 

Have any of you folks thought seriously of moving to France. Every year that we go for vacation we talk about this and think of it as a dream but we are starting to consider it. Do you have any stories to share?

We will be doing it in about 10 more years,, ( I hope by then our three kids will all be out and established....)

I can get a EU passport as I was born there, and hubby can too since his dad was German,, I think that will make it much easier for us...

Do you have any relative ( doesn't have to be French, could be any EU) country that will "grandfather" you in?? I know you don't need to be EU, but it would be easier.

Yes. I bought a house there 17 years ago and have every intention of moving there and living in it at some point in the not-too-distant future.

I have dual US-EU citizenship, but thusfar it hasn't been of much benefit to me except going through passport control lines. I'm sure when I'm in France permanently it will be more useful.

First thing you need to figure out is how to get your paperwork in order to be able to stay longer than the typical 90-days tourist visit.

Our children are grown, they have been listening to me for years about this, just recently they said you know Mom I think you really mean it this time. We don't have any relatives in EU.

I know it would be a huge expense, and we would never give up our citizenship as crazy as things are right now, it is still our home. With that said, we love France, and are at the stage in our life we are close to saying why not. It will take research and thought but was just curious as to someone else having the same dream.

Unless you give up your citizenship, I don't think you would be eligible for health care in France--and Medicare doesn't cover members outside the U.S.

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Unless you give up your citizenship, I don't think you would be eligible for health care in France
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huh???

I'm Canadian, moved here 14 years ago, and love it. Only sorry we weren't able to do it before. You might find the following information on the health system useful.

Right now unless you are working or retired from a job in Europe you are not eligible to join the French health system at all - you must have private health insurance.

EU nationals who are in France but not working or retired must have private health insurance (unless they were already in the system before last November) After 5 years residence in France they are eligible to join the system, paying a certain percentage of taxable income - thus you must be resident, and paying taxes here.

IF you are an American working in France, you join the system by paying into it.

If you want to come and not work, you will probably find that you need private health insurance - these changes are recent, and caused a lot of concern among many British early retirees, who were threatened with loss of coverage for a time. Most of the coverage regarding membership in the health system was therefore geared to their situation.

see http://tinyurl.com/66xnml

With the French health care deficit, I can't believe it's going to get easier for anyone to join.

Thank you for all your replies. It appears that the best solution to this is just renting something for a few months out of the year. We have never got to stay over three weeks at a time so who knows three months may be all that we need. Cheers

There are plenty of blogs of people who've done this. Often they're people who've married a French person, but one I follow is currently writing down the process a couple went through to retire from California to France:

http://ckenb.blogspot.com/

I am american and have been living in France for 8 years. I was in Paris up until this past July when my boyfriend and I moved to Nice. I am in Information technology so I was able to find a job and get sponsored for a visa. Oh, and you don't ever need to give up your citizenship, you won't be able to become French anyways, only get a resident's permit. For the first 5 years I had a carte de séjour, and had to renew it every year. Now I have a 10 year residency card. I also have good friends (americans) who bought an apartment in Paris. They are retired so they go back and forth as they like.

Good luck, it is such a great experience if you can do it.

I think the better bet would be to rent something for a few months, and travel around looking for a place to buy or rent indefinitely.

Read a few books by those who detail moving to France, such as Suzy Gershman's "C'est la Vie". There's much involved.

Though my husband jokes that if he goes before I do, I'll have the means to move to Paris, I don't think I'd ever do that. There are too many things I'd miss...mostly family and friends. My folks moved to Florida, but returned after several years because they missed family.

Even after just a two week visit, we're happy to be home and look forward to our next trip.

IF you vacations have been of short duration, I would try to live there for 3 months first to better test how you feel.