I am a legal French citizen but have never lived there and would now like to move there. Advice...?

Question

My situation: I am dual citizen of France and the US because my father is French and I was born in the the US. I speak extremely little French but am currently trying learn as much as I can. I am married with two small children ages 2 and 3 and my husband is a US citizen only and does not speak French but is currently trying to learn. He works in the Electro - Maintenance Field and I am currently a stay at home mom. We would like to move within the next year so that our children will still be young enough to pick up the language naturally and have a relatively easy transition into the French school system. The French culture and way of thinking has always appealed to me and I have always dreamed of one day moving to France to reconnect with my French heritage and pass it along to my children. I feel it will give my kids a broader prospective on the world and the gift of being bilingualism. I wished I would have learned French as a child and both my husband and I want our children to have as many opportunities in life as we can give them. We want to stay at least a couple of years but our open to the possibility to staying very long term... we are keeping an open mind.

What I do know: My children are entitled to French citizenship through me. My husband is legally able to obtain a work visa because of my status as a French citizen.

What I'd like advice about: I have done some internet digging on expat blog sites but everyone talks about the difficulty in finding work and obtaining work visas for non french citizens... I realize it will not be easy for us to find work but does anyone out there have a similar situation to ours. That is, we already have legal status to work. Our main hurdle I'm sure is our very limited knowledge of French, but I'm trying to find out some loophole I guess. Does anyone know of a niche where we might be able to get decent work while building our knowledge of French after we move there. For an American or English company with offices in France... possibly??? If you can point us in the right direction we would appreciate it. Also, ideally we would like for one of us to find work before we move. Is this realistic? What area of France should we aim for?

Answer 1

I have read your post with interest and I applaud you for trying to do this. It's a great idea to experience another country and another culture, and especially your kids will benefit from it tremendously. But be realistic about this; emigrating is a big deal. I lived in 6 European countries way before the E.U. became reality and I have walked the walk, albeit being single and independent.



The only advice I'll give you is to take a lot of money with you, so that you are not in the jamb when trying to find a place to live, to find employment, and to settle in. Have enough cash for the first 6 months.



I personally like the Cote d' Azure, from Cannes eastward all the way to Monaco, but it's friggin' expensive. There are some areas in Northern France where life is wonderful and quite affordable. Do your research. France is in my top 3 of place to live on planet Earth, and I may retire there myself eventually.

Answer 2

I'm a Brit living here in Athens, after living in Pakistan for 24 years (keeping the empire alive). Believe me, you don't want to come to Greece! You aren't allowed to teach English here, you'll be taxed to death if you try any self employed activity, and the insanity of the greeks will astound you. By comparison, Pakistan is a paradise and is actually safer - you are more likely to be shot or blown up in Greece! I'm stuck here because my Pakistani wife is still waiting for her residents permit (one year already gone since applying) - yeah, the one that's supposed to be given automatically to spouses of EU citizens. The problem is that marriage certificates have an expiry date date here and I now need to supply an "I'm still married certificate". Yes, Greece actually has such a thing, but of course no other country has such garbage. You get the idea? So, great places to go - can't think of any. Living expenses, about the same as UK but you earn less. Jobs - what jobs? Art - well are you related to the director or can he F you? No - then forget it. Finally if you can't speak Greek, you wont get anywhere. Have you tried Wales?

Answer 3

When you say you are a legal french citizen do you mean you already hold your citizenship in hand?

( passeport ) come back and acknowledge.

Have your children's birth been declared to french consulate in the USA?

All of you will need passports (french) ( not your husband )

Have you registered your marriage to the french consulate in the US? Do you hold the # Livret de famille # ( livret bleu )? You will need it first.

There are no jobs to found in France and your husband not speaking french does not stand a chance. Any job offer in his field will be given to a french citizen first.

The thing is you have no one in France to at least give you temporary housing until you get set up on your own.

In order to rent you will need a bank account and to get a bank account you will need an address in France,it is complicated to move to France believe me. I just came back from France a couple of months ago.(french citizen )

To rent you will need a RIB and proof of employment.

Check link below and read for your husband.

http://www.consulfrance-newyork.org/Visas-for-spouse-of-French-EU

I picked a consulate at odd, you will have to go to the one you are assigned to ( California )

Unfortunately there are no loophole.

No area in France picked?

Unless you have big savings this unfortunately will not happen.

Come back to your question by clicking where the little pencil is under your question. ( edit ) I will check back with you.