Moving to France (or trying, anyway)- the beginning
I’m a born, but not bred, American. New York City was my home in later adult years, but once I left, I didn’t feel like returning. I moved to San Francisco to help take care of my grandchild, later grandchildren, but it never felt like home.
Europe has the atmosphere I was raised in. It also seems a bit more affordable, although you can never be sure of these things forever. In any case, I applied for a long-stay visa as a retiree with enough income not to need anything from the French state.
It takes quite a lot of preparation and paperwork: you need to prove your income, write a letter promising you won’t work there, your passport, passport photos, and the more complicated part: a certificate of housing, so either a rental (not easy to set up from far away, especially of you don’t know when you’re leaving) or someone promises they will offer you a roof. I was very lucky as my aunt offered to do this for me; she lives in the suburbs of Paris. (The Lebanese diaspora is spread out all over the world, even more since the 1975–1990 civil war.). You also need to sign up for local health insurance. There is a link to several companies, and they are much cheaper than if you looked on your own in the United States. However, I’m unsure how the travel health insurance works. We’ll find out!
Then you submit your application to the private visa service, VSF Global (they also handle applications for several other countries), you book an appointment, and you pay a fee. I think I paid a small fee at the beginning, too.
On the day of the appointment, you go to the VFS office, which is not the consulate. You speak with an advisor who is not French, and in my case, didn’t even speak French. They review your paperwork, you get fingerprinted, and they send everything, including your passport, off to the Washington DC embassy (I was in San Francisco).
I was surprised by the efficiency. I received an email to inform me that my documents would be sent by FedEx in a few days. And lo and behold, my passport was returned on the promised date, with the long-stay visa page in it. All I needed to do was book my flight! I was informed that I’d need to declare my presence in the country (or maybe even anywhere in the Schengen area) within 2 months, and that if I wasted to renew my visa, I’d need to do it 3 months before the expiration of the visa.
Here I am now in Nice, where I’d like to remain. I figured out that I need to register online. I filled in my information at https://www.alpes-maritimes.gouv.fr/Demarches/Immigration-et-integration/Titres-de-sejour-et-documents-de-voyage/Renouvellement-du-titre-de-sejour which was strange, as it was a link to renew my visa, but I’m not renewing my visa, just validating it. I found the information in my passport: I have a “D” — “visiteur” visa, but then they asked for a code that was noted nowhere: I had to enter something, so I entered “CESEDA R431-16 16°.” Maybe it means I’m a convict, who knows? I need to find out! (I found a “contact us” form and wrote to them). Then I bought a fiscal stamp for 200 Euros using a Visa or Mastercard credit card — American Express is not widely accepted in Europe. I uploaded the stamp number, and received my confirmation. Now I await a convocation to undergo a medical exam.
About banking? Exchange rates are unpleasant but probably unavoidable. For the moment, I’m relying on credit cards, but there will be things for which credit cards will not work. I’m not sure whether all ATMs charge the same rate. I found out that the BNP/Paribas ATM is very expensive, as they charge an additional fee on top of the exchange rate.
One important piece of advice regarding paying by credit card — I tested it today:
I could never remember (the choice is not always offered) whether I should choose “pay in Euros” or “pay in USD” when I pay by credit card. I tried both today, and “pay in USD” was charged at a higher exchange rate. So: the answer is, at least with two of my credit cards: pay in euros.
And in the meantime, I need to find a long-term place to stay! I found an agency called BEP that has daily lists of rental apartments. Most are unfurnished, and many owners would like a one-year lease, but that’s quite similar to other cities, after all. You have to act fast; there seems to be a lot of demand for rental apartments. The website is not super efficient, but once you get the hang of it, it works. The owners will ask for a lot of documents to prove you’re not a fly by night: income statements, ID, taxes, rent invoices, etc. However, the 190 euros fee we paid ended up being for naught.
Sunday break:
On Sunday, I took a break from paperwork, and went by Ligne Azur bus nr. 607 (2 euros 50) to Monaco, which was a fun interlude! The SNCF train (3 euros 80) on the way back was faster, but less scenic.
A few websites I’ve consulted, that were very helpful:
I also bought the book by Olivier Wagner, U.S. Taxes for Worldly Americans; Olivier runs an accounting firm for expats, 1040 Abroad. https://1040abroad.com/about/. The last thing I want is to do anything that would be frowned upon by the IRS.
A suivre!
Part 2: the nitty gritty
