AggieG

Hello there
I’m planning to move to Annecy in the summer with my husband and my children of 2 and 5. I’m French but I have not lived n France for nearly 14 years so feel more British than French really. My husband is British and the children have both nationalities. We are not moving back to France motivated by work or for family reasons, just because we love Annecy and the alps and fancy living there full time.
We are very much at the beginning of the process and have plenty of questions.
1/ tax with work still in uk: my husband has his own company in London with 14 employees. He can do his job remotely and is thinking of making it work by going back twice a month for a few days. Has anyone been doing that. How did/ does it work? What’s the situation with regard to tax?
2/ state schools: can you register your kids to a school if you do not have a address there yet? Which state schools would you recommend in the area?
3/ international schools: We are a bit worried about the focus on academics in French state schools, not sure it will suit our kids really. In additio, their French is quite limited so we’re thinking of international schools to make the transition slightly easier for them? Would you recommend any specific bilingual schools ?
4/ house: what did you do initially? Did you rent? Or buy? How did you manage to rent without French payslips?
I have plenty more questions I’m sure but this is a beginning?
Thank you very much in advance for your help. My husband and I are coming to Annecy in April to start the process. Any recommendations very welcome !
Many thanks,

dmu

Hi, and welcome to the forum!
I'll leave it to those-in-the-know to answer 1/, which is a minefield.
2/ You need to prove your domicile when you enrol at Maternelle/Primaire, either by rent receipts or property deeds, together with a Utility Bill. Not to mention Vaccination Certificates....
3/ At their age, your children will be fluent in no time. Reading and writing start at 6 in CP and I don't see any problems with "transition". There are two schools of thought re French Education (pardon the pun). My two went from Maternelle to Uni and we had no problems with the focus on academics. Their creative activities were developed outside of school....
4/ Better to rent first, to avoid rushing into buying and regretting afterwards. As you suspect, most French landlords require payslips proving a joint income 3-4 times the rent. Students and low-income tenants must have Garants, who are usually the parents (we have done this for our daughters).
Hope this helps a little!
As an afterthought, have you actually lived in Annecy/the Alps the whole year round? It's not a good idea to fall in love with an area simply after spending holidays there, and decide to live there permanently....

scrubbedexpat056

Hi AggieG,
Just to make a point on 2/ we spent 6 months in Port St Louis at the bottom of the Rhone in the winter of 2005 while I did major work on our boat. A British couple wintered in the marina with their two kids, 5 and 7, during a couple of years sailing and home schooling. The woman who ran the local chandlery suggested they send their kids to the local school and packed them off to chat with the marie. A week later the kids were at school and quickly surpassing their parent's basic French.
I'm not suggesting for a moment that this would make the basis of a life plan, but it would appear there is some discretion at a local level and if you fall in love with a place it could well be worth your while including this in any discussions with the marie in case it can resolve one of the many issues around finding somewhere to live, whether to rent or buy etc.
Good luck with it all.

EuroTrash

Unfortunately, your point 1 is exactly what is relatively easy within the EU, though still needs careful handling to make sure you stay in line with the tax/social security rules of both countries, but which may get tricker post Brexit. Under the current provisional agreement nothing much should change as long as he has it all set up pre brexit, but in the event of no deal, who knows what cross border working will be possible and what won't.

Under current rules, if he works most of the time remotely in France and only goes back occasionally, the company will likely have to register him with urssaf as a French resident employee working in France and pay cotisations sociales accordingly.

AggieG

Thanks everyone for all your replies. I really appreciate it!
Dmu, I read somewhere on the forum that initially, it's almost easier to book a holiday rental or a gite than go the standard rental route. I don't suppose that would help registering for schools?
With regard to schools, I guess being a Primary School Teacher in England and having gone to school in France as a kid, I can see how the approaches differ. I'm not too worried about the language for my daughters, it's more the actual approach.I'm worried about. But I guess schools has changed in the last 25 years!!
Re rental, would landlords accept English payslips? (My husband is self-employed and has payslips)

Alianco, thank you for sharing. Yes it's definitely worth a chat with the mairie

Eurotrash, Thank you for your reply too. yes, we worry about Brexit and its impact on my husband 's work but also other aspects. I fit is all set up prebrexit, Should it be ok?
Thank you again everyone for your replies, I really appreciate it.

dmu

Theoretically that sort of holiday rental doesn't justify "domicile" when enrolling children at school, but, from what Alianco said, some Mairies seem more flexible than others, maybe depending on whether the classes can accommodate the children...
I don't know whether a French landlord would accept English payslips - I think you'd have to sort out the question of your OH's employment status first. For example, his company might accept to register him with the URSSAF and pay the côtisations, and he'd have French payslips....

EuroTrash

I'm going to be really nitpicky now, but if he has payslips then he's an employee, he's not self employed.

Self employed/travailleur indépendent=personne physique, you and the business are one and the same legal entity. Limited company/SARL etc=personne morale, the business is a separate legal entity, and it has employees.

Salarié and travailleur indépendent are totally different statuses in France. It's going to be mega important to differentiate between the two when it comes to setting up his business structure in France.

dmu

Missed that! But I think the OP means self-employed in the sense of having his own company with other employees. As in PDG of an S.A. or Gérant of an SARL. Which, as you say, is totally different from the French concept of travailleur indépendent.
Social Security (for the benefit of the OP, employer's and employee's contributions to URSSAF) is the financial factor. If the husband, as owner of the company and employee, agrees to pay both contributions (which, en passant, are crippling), then the company can register him with URSSAF as a "French resident employee working in France", as you mentioned above.

petitefrancaise

If it is your husband's own company then presumably he's a director? Different situation to being an employee. Dividends/Director's salary are each taxed differently. He really needs to get professional advice on this one.

AggieG

Hello everyone. Thanks for your replies. I have now contacted a solicitor/tax adviser specialized in the matter. Hopefully, we should become a bit clearer soon! Thanks again!

EuroTrash

I blame Theresa May for corrupting the English language as well as everything else. Everyone's going catch it off her, and go around saying they're clear

Tweedpipe

Even clearer than clear.
Reminds me of that classic Colouche sketch La Publicite- Les lessives 1979 (check out YTube)
"Omo washes whiter than white. What colour's that? It's a new colour, just been released! I dare not change my washing powder, I'm afraid things will become transparent."

EuroTrash

Thanks for that laugh, Tweedie

nimnom

"It's not a good idea to fall in love with an area simply after spending holidays there, and decide to live there permanently...." says dmu. Haha. You're right.. but...

We moved to our holiday home (29m2 studio) in Tignes in March 2017 for various reasons (renting in UK, didn't want to buy there, renting awful blah blah blah) and chucked our then 7 and 9 year olds in the local school. They had pretty much no French at all (just 'bonjour', 'je m'appelle...' etc).

We hadn't planned to stay as long as we have, but here we are and it's been wonderful. The girls are now very comfortable in French - and that's with our eldest now in the final year of Primaire. She's a bright spark and we found a wonderful tutor, plus school have been v helpful once we realised we were staying a while. I don't think she'll struggle in College with French too much, and both girls found they were ahead academically having come from a good UK state school. They are now definitely keeping up and in many things are doing better than their French peers.

Just thought I'd throw that in the mix! I'll be posting on my blog about our language experience and school next week - so take a look, you might find it helpful. Good luck with everything.

cyrian

Of course all things are possible.
Some people make it work and others don't.
IMHO the easiest way to move to France (or another country) is to move to a job especially where the employer gives a support package.
Alternatively, you are retired hopefully with adequate income for your lifestyle.
Works best if at least one partner speaks french to a reasonable standard.
However, for those who are determined then it can also work.
I am currently watching a UK tv program about a couple who bought a ruined french in Normandy and are doing it up without a good level of french.