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Considering moving to France need guidance please

Considering moving to France need guidance please

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Old Jan 8th 2020, 4:57 pm
  #16  
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Default Re: Considering moving to France need guidance please

Discussions have already taken place, Even the government agreed and produced some heavily redacted papers under a FOI request, the full unredacted pages were provided by a group of doctors, and it showed that parts of the NHS were being discussed, and even since the election Some major parts of the NHS, such as cancer treatment are to be privatised, and obviously the US will be very interested.
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Old Jan 8th 2020, 5:00 pm
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Default Re: Considering moving to France need guidance please

Originally Posted by cyrian
My opinion is that the USA cannot import items that do not comply with our standards.
Well that's the question, isn't it - when the UK is free to set its own standards, what will those standards be? If it lowers them and diverges from EU standards then as you say, it'll be a barrier with to trade the EU. But, I suspect that it will want to diverge, because isn't stopping the EU dictating what the UK can and can't do, one of the main drivers for Brexit? And the US has already explicitly said that it expects the UK to stop aligning with EU food standards to open up the market for US imports.

Originally Posted by cyrian
Now back to the OP's situation - trade agreements and EU citizens and UK citizens moving to work or live in the other countries are not necessarily linked.
There were treaties and agreements before the EU existed and there will have to be again.
An example would be the double taxation treaty.
But the UK has made it very clear that it will end freedom of movement for citizens, and isn't that the only important issue for the OP? He doesn't want to trade with the EU, he wants to come and live here.
Not sure what the DTA is an example of though, there isn't a DTA between the EU and the UK. DTAs are between specific countries eg France-UK, Netherlands-UK. Whereas, the terms of any trade deal will be between the UK the EU, not between the UK and specific EU states.

Originally Posted by cyrian
At this moment in time it is unclear what mutual rights will be agreed with the EU but I would imagine that the transitional rights would be a good starting point whatever trade deals are agreed.
Not sure what "transitional rights" means? I thought the agreement was that during the transition period, nothing would change in practice. The negotiators will use this period to try and reach a trade agreement, although the EU is saying that 11 months isn't long enough. At the end of the transition, whatever arrangements have been agreed, will come into force. Hopefully the WA will include a satisfactory reciprocal agreement so no further negotiation will be needed on this and legislation can be finalised ready come into effect on 31 December, on which date freedom of movement will end, unless the UK does a U-turn which doesn't seem likely. If no trade agreement has been reached and the UK refuses to extend the transition period, we will leave with no trade deal in place. That's my understanding, at any rate.
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Old Jan 9th 2020, 11:59 am
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Default Re: Considering moving to France need guidance please

Originally Posted by mikelincs
It happens to be MY opinion, there has been a lot of speculation in many reas that that is what he really id hoping for, a lot of his close friends and other cabinet members have a lot of money in hedge funds, and plenty of those have been shorting the pound in the hope of a no deal Brexit and collapse of the pound which would make them a lot of money. Remember there is only 11 months AFTER Brexit date to arrange all these trading deals which was originally to haave taken at least 2 years, and a number of those countries he wants to set up deals with have already said NO. The USA is the country he really wants to set up a deal with, but that means he will be somewhat unpopular as the US will want us to have chlorinated chicken, hormone injected meat, and, of course, a big interest in the NHS, so they can sell their hyperinflated drugs to.
So it's 'YOUR' opinion - then you should have made that clear, instead of stating it as a fact. "Speculation in many areas" is not evidence or proof of anything. And talking of currency speculators - can you categorically state that you never have, never hope to, and never will, benefit from any movement in the exchange rates? If not, doesn't that make you a bit of a hypocrite?
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Old Jan 10th 2020, 7:16 am
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Default Re: Considering moving to France need guidance please

Originally Posted by Emer1tus
Hello Guys

Hope you are all well.

We are wanting to leave the UK later this year; around August, we are considering a couple of countries but France is probably where we want to be. We are after some advice from other people who know more than we do.

My partner and I have 3 children: 2, 1 & 0 years old so we believe they should be able to learn the language fairly quickly and integrate into French life. For any others who have moved to France we would be interested to know if you enrolled your children into state or private schools?

My partner and I speak no French so for us it is a little daunting but we plan to take lessons soon and hopefully learn all we can before the move.

I have had an interesting job for the past few years so I spent large parts of the year working in France and other parts of Europe, so I am familiar in a limited way with the country but unfortunately still speak no French.

Ideally we would like to rent a house (not apartment) and would like to know of any differences in renting in France when compared to the UK, what are the typical length of contract, is renting expensive when compared to the UK, are there any fees we need to be aware of etc etc. Assuming all goes well with the move, I guess we would like to buy probably 12 months or so after completing our move and again we would like to know how the house prices compare to those in England, we current live in the West Midlands so house prices are middle of the road for the UK.

We don't intend on bringing much furniture when we move, we intend to buy when we are there, the only things we will be bring is our clothes and things like that. Which I will drive over myself in our van.

My partner and I own our own business in the UK, which will continue to run in the UK, therefore I need to be able to get back to the UK easily and probably twice per month for about 10 days.

We would love to be somewhere in France, that is multicultural, a low crime rate, good place to raise children and good weather and with a few other English people living nearby. We are not from a big city and as previously mentioned we have young children so the likes of Paris (whilst we love it) is ruled out. We have a friend of a friend who lives in Toulouse with his family and he has nothing but good things to say, we have visited and this seems like a nice place to settle but of course we are open to suggestions.

I know things have changed since Brexit and things are still yet to be finalised so if anyone care to let me know how they understand the effects of it Im happy to take it all in.

If I have missed anything or made any glaring mistakes or assumptions please correct me, better now than later

Thanks

Mike
We came out here 20 years ago and the only, and best, advice I would give is don't plan on learning French; do it and do it now!!! It's all very well relying on other Brits to help with language problems but it will pay you tremendous dividends to have even a very basic knowledge of the language. French people will fall over backwards to help you but will feel somewhat contemptuous, and rightly so, if you can't speak a word!!

Living near other Brits, I feel is a mistake but that is purely a personal view. We felt that we wanted to live in France with all that that entails not a little part of Britain implanted into the French countryside; each to his own of course.
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Old Jan 10th 2020, 10:54 am
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Default Re: Considering moving to France need guidance please

Originally Posted by KJMW
We came out here 20 years ago and the only, and best, advice I would give is don't plan on learning French; do it and do it now!!! It's all very well relying on other Brits to help with language problems but it will pay you tremendous dividends to have even a very basic knowledge of the language. French people will fall over backwards to help you but will feel somewhat contemptuous, and rightly so, if you can't speak a word!!

Living near other Brits, I feel is a mistake but that is purely a personal view. We felt that we wanted to live in France with all that that entails not a little part of Britain implanted into the French countryside; each to his own of course.
Very true, on holiday a number of years ago in an apartment on a complex in the Montpellier area I was told that the girls on reception were fluent in English, BUT would only use english if you did at least try to use French, had a problem with the cooker in the paprtment so wwent to report it, and decided to try what I'd been told out. So I went in and just spoke English, the girl replied in French, so we had a dual language conversation, me speaking English and her French, I was, at least, fairly fluent so we had no problems, and the repair was done. While I was there another Englidhman came in and started to ask for something in very halting French, so the girls just talked to him in English, he had made some attempt so it was OK. I would never have tried it if I hadn't had a good knowledge of French though.
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Old Jan 10th 2020, 12:40 pm
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Default Re: Considering moving to France need guidance please

I quite agree with above two paragraphs from KJMW's post .
After many years travelling/working overseas, we moved here permanently 15 years ago. I honestly don't know if there are other Brits in or surrounding our village, although I'm sure there probably are in the nearby picturesque town of some 15k inhabitants.
When we once pased through a hugely popular Brit 'enclave' in Dordogneshire, although it was off-season the thing that spoilt it for us from having the true medieval French atmosphere was the incredible number of Brits, and the multitude of English dialects heard whether just strolling through the centre, in the local bistro or inside the restaurant we stopped off at. If there was ever a wonderfully picturesque 'French' town which has become victim of it's popularity, it was there in the Dordogne. I couldn't live there for a King's ransom because it's long ceased to be an unspoilt, authentic piece of France, but that's just my few centime's worth, and everyone to their own.
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Old Jan 10th 2020, 12:52 pm
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Default Re: Considering moving to France need guidance please

Originally Posted by mikelincs
Very true, on holiday a number of years ago in an apartment on a complex in the Montpellier area I was told that the girls on reception were fluent in English, BUT would only use english if you did at least try to use French, had a problem with the cooker in the paprtment so wwent to report it, and decided to try what I'd been told out. So I went in and just spoke English, the girl replied in French, so we had a dual language conversation, me speaking English and her French, I was, at least, fairly fluent so we had no problems, and the repair was done. While I was there another Englidhman came in and started to ask for something in very halting French, so the girls just talked to him in English, he had made some attempt so it was OK. I would never have tried it if I hadn't had a good knowledge of French though.
Interesting. Years ago when I was working with Air France at Orly and Roissy CDG, one of the young engineers in the bureau d'etude asked if I would only speak English to him as he wanted to improve and hopefully gain promotion. I answered, yes no problem, but only if he always answered back to me in French, as I was rubbish at the time and very eager to improve too. This worked a treat from day one, but the amusing thing was to watch the other engineers and technicians in the office and surrounding hangers, who observed us with mouths agape as if they were watching a tennis match or game of ping-pong. Needless to say we both improved language-wise, myself with a slight Parisien accent, much to the disgust of my French colleagues in Toulouse every time I had to visit there.
I've long lost that Parisien accent, and unconsciously picked up the SW accent and dialogue which so many Parisiens find shocking in it's rustic form.

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Old Jan 10th 2020, 2:59 pm
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Default Re: Considering moving to France need guidance please

To address the OP who alluded to Toulouse as a 'nice place to settle'.
I remember Toulouse when it was nicer and especially far cleaner than it is today. Downtown Toulouse is expensive for property and I recall when house and appartment prices in surrounding areas were considerably cheaper. Now with the major importance of Airbus and aerospace technology in the region, property prices have escalated out of all proportion, and one has now to go deeper into the Gers or Haute Garonne countryside to find what I would call reasonable property prices.
Having said that, Toulouse is still a very interesting place to visit, for it's history, art museums, Cite de L'espace/Space museum and more recently the new and fascinating Aeroscopia aviation museum near Blagnac, which has become so popular that often one has to book a ticket in advance. Toulouse is still a city we enjoy visiting for lunch and an afternoon's shopping every few months, but always very relieved to leave the noise and traffic behind to head home to a relatively unspoilt haven of tranquility.

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Old Jan 13th 2020, 6:08 am
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Default Re: Considering moving to France need guidance please

Concerning learning French, I found Minute Earth's video below helpful in encapsulating the challenge; as an adult you have no incentive to learn as a child does.


Recently my French is starting to improve, if only a little. The reason is our being thrown into more situations were French is essential. For me, it is dealing with the creche staff. Thankfully the staff are incredibly patient.
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Old Jan 13th 2020, 6:41 am
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Default Re: Considering moving to France need guidance please

Originally Posted by graham.miln
Concerning learning French, I found Minute Earth's video below helpful in encapsulating the challenge; as an adult you have no incentive to learn as a child does.

Why Are Adults Bad At New Languages?

Recently my French is starting to improve, if only a little. The reason is our being thrown into more situations were French is essential. For me, it is dealing with the creche staff. Thankfully the staff are incredibly patient.
I think learning a foreign language as an adult is more difficult. Difficult because there are many other things to be done as well as learning a language whereas a child can, more or less focus on learning. Need to learn is probably the greatest incentive. Living in an area where English is rarely spoken tends to focus your mind when you suddenly realise that you can't accomplish anything because of the language problem. It is one of, if not the main reason, I would always recommend that people moving abroad don't go to an enclave where the locals are mainly Brits, you will probably never learn the language and miss out on so much.
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Old Jan 13th 2020, 8:30 am
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Default Re: Considering moving to France need guidance please

The OP seems to have left the room.
I think that many Brits who consider moving to France underestimate the language barrier.
It isn't easy to learn French.
The grammar is more complex than English and the different pronunciation can make it difficult to be understood.
In my experience, many older ( 40+) French people do not speak English - not because they can't but because they are concerned about making mistakes.
If you are not in day-to-day contact with French speakers i.e. at school; at university or in work, then it is even more difficult to acquire the language.
In addition, casual language contacts will not necessarily improve your language skills because they probably will not correct you.
Moving to France is a big decision and the inability to speak French - especially if you want to run a business or gain employment - can be a BIG barrier.
Many Brits manage to survive with only the basic language skills but as KJMW says they can lose out on so much.
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