elvina63

Hi Thanks for the replies. Our joint French isnt great but we are starting lessons and can understand more than we can speak. This plan has been in the thinking process for some years but due to circumstances has all happened in less than 3 months so we havent had time yet to get on top of our French. My daughter is home schooled and will continue to do so when we move. We are in the UK currently and so will be instructing Notaire etc remotely due to Covid. We are speaking to a local French architect as we need plans for the Mairie and we have been told that they can talk to the Mairie regarding our plans. With regard to my son thanks for the tip re insurance, he will be helping us a bit but may look for a job at a nearby ski resort. Thanks again Elvina

EuroTrash

I never told mine either, not because I didn't want to tell them but simply because it never occurred to me that they'd want to know, but they seem to have ways of finding out. One day out of the blue there was a message on my home page requiring me to tick a box to confirm I was resident in France, before I could access my account. I guess information is shared internationally, though maybe this will stop after Brexit? Or maybe they share information with HMRC.

dmu

This is another issue to discuss at the Mairie (with a different Adjoint-Maire). You must declare your intention (and to the regional Académie) and await their reaction. As said, home-schooling is "tolerated" and parents are obliged to follow the FRENCH curriculum in France, which even French parents must find daunting. There have been other threads on the subject in the past, and the potential home-schooling parents have never come back with feedback to encourage others....
https://www.cned.fr/maclassealamaison
This link of the Centre National d'Enseignement à Distance will give official info on teaching children at home, if you register.
The following is an unofficial link giving the various subjects for 3ème (last-year Collège) which a pupil is expected to know at the end of Collège. The foreign languages mean English and another language (a choice between German, Spanish and Occitan in my daughters' time).
https://www.france-examen.com/brevet...mme-troisieme/
I'm sorry that you're going to have so much contact with the different departments of the Mairie right from the start. As suggested by ET, get everything administrative sorted out before you start physically working on your property....
All the best!

P.S. Just realised that you've got an architect to do all the paperwork. One less hassle for you!

EuroTrash

A general point that I've made several times on this forum so apologies for repeating myself but, it can be a bit dangerous for Brits to say 'I'm moving to France and I will do x y and z' without first checking the French rules on x y and z. The UK is low regulation and we're used to operating on the principle that if there is no law to forbid it, then you can do it. France on the other hand has a whole raft of written Codes - the Labour Code, Education Code, Social Security Code etc - which set out in some detail what can and can't be done, and what conditions must be met in order to do x y and z. Sometimes Brits confidently say "we are going to do x" and the knee jerk reaction from anyone familiar with France is, But how will that work? You are making things complicated for yourself because you won't be able to do that unless/until/because.... .
So I think it's sound advice to start by checking out the French rules in whatever area you're making plans in - setting up a business, employment, education, whatever - and find out what your options actually are, and what the constraints and obligations and consequences of each option are, and then choose the best route to achieving what you are aiming for. Very often that may turn out not be the same route you would have taken in the UK. But trying to do what you would do in the UK when it conflicts with French regulations, is a recipe for aggro all the way along.
Here endeth today's lesson

dmu

Actually, this post deserves a Moving to France FAQs thread of its own!
It's true that I, for one, always have the same reaction when potential expats have no idea of what to expect here, not realising that things are so different in France.
Better they be aware of all the French quirks (compared to the UK) before moving. As I'm wont to say, fore-warned is fore-armed (and apologies from me, too, for repeating myself....)

Listen Very Carefully

This website will help you a lot in finding out the rules and regs
https://www.service-public.fr/

dmu

Thanks for the reminder! I was looking for an official French site concerning benefits, to get info before seeing the Assistante Sociale, in case the two benefits aren't exportable. (#22 of the above FAQs in the "Living in France" link, under "benefits", allows beneficiaries to contact the Disability Benefits Exportability Team and the Carer's Allowance Exportability Team, to find out whether or not they are.)
https://www.service-public.fr/partic...sdroits/F24610
https://www.service-public.fr/partic...sdroits/F14809
explain all.
(If Elvina's daughter is autistic, #13 in the FAQs above is pertinent.)
Hope all the French Administration-speak in all the links given, isn't too off-putting, but the Assistante Sociale can explain everything in simpler French....

EuroTrash

According to this page:
https://www.gov.uk/claim-benefits-ab...ility-benefits

Going abroad permanently to another EEA country or Switzerland

You or a family member may be able to claim benefits if you:

• work in the UK or pay National Insurance in the UK because of work
• have paid enough National Insurance to qualify for contribution-based benefits
• are getting State Pension, Industrial Injuries Benefit, contribution-based ESA or bereavement benefits

If you’re eligible then you may be able to claim:

• Disability Living Allowance care component
• Personal Independence Payment living component
• Attendance Allowance or Carer’s Allowance

You cannot claim Disability Living Allowance mobility component and Personal Independence Payment mobility component abroad.

I don't know exactly what they mean by have paid enough National Insurance to qualify for contribution-based benefits but if the wage-earner has been continuously employed up to being made redundant, you'd think that would count? But this seems to be the first thing the OP needs to get a definite answer on.

dmu

The link in FAQ #22 mentioned above gives the Exportability Coordinator's address at the bottom of the page, followed by a link to the Carer's Allowance Exportability Team. As you say, the OP should get a definite answer before leaving the UK and consulting the Assistante Sociale.

cyrian

Going abroad permanently to another EEA country or Switzerland

"Another EEA country" will that still apply after December?

dmu

Who knows? but the OP said in #1 that they'll be moving before 31st December....
@elvina - Another thought occurred to me, your son could register at the local Pôle-Emploi upon arrival. He wouldn't get any dole, but any jobs still going in the ski-resorts will probably pass through their services. The downside being that he would only be able to refuse three (?) job offers corresponding to his profile, which might have nothing to do with ski-resorts. Covid has affected every one and everything, including jobs in the hospitality/leisure sector.... He should seriously brush up his French in order to compete better with English-speaking French (even Spanish) candidates....

EuroTrash

Unlikely, but in general the WA is supposed to protect rights that are in place before the end of transition. I don't know if that applies to all rights. But if eligible, and if protected by the WA, it needs to be got in place before then.

I was thinking about the son too, but was hesitant to share my thoughts because I seem to be being such a devil's advocate here already. But what struck me was, if he moves to France this year, and he's planning on going to Uni in the UK next September, would that not risk making him liable for overseas student fees? If so he might want to stay UK resident and visit for 90/180. This may not be an issue but again I think it needs checking out if the OP hasn't already.

dmu

This also occurred to me, but I was also hesitant to mention it, for the same reason!
The OP has a lot of research to do for her children's respective futures....

mnick

In view of the fact that you do not yet appear to have appointed a Notaire, how do you know that you will be moving to your new house in France by 31 December? Just asking.

It can take three months at the best of times.

dmu

I too missed the part in #13 which says that the OP "will be instructing Notaire etc... remotely due to Covid", but you have a point.
I understood from #1 that they had signed the Compromis/Promesse de Vente a few days ago, without wondering whether, due to the Covid situation, they had given procuration to a Notaire or Estate Agent, and I also forgot that we're at the end of September and the final Acte de Propriété might well take three months, which will be cutting it a bit fine for the deadline.
On the other hand, they are speaking to a local architect to prepare the plans for the application for the Permis, which implies that they already own the house, in which case why will they still be instructing the Notaire?
More questions for the OP to answer, so that we can advise in full knowledge of the facts!