Hi all,
I may have posted here once previously but can't remember when! Anyway, I'm Aly, single mum of 1 boy of 9 years. I've lived in France before, and also the a French Antilles for around 5 years. Did a ski season in Courchevel in my early twenties and travelled around the south coast working on yachts many years ago..also lived near Bordeaux with my French partner (15 years ago). I've many French speaking friends and my language skills are very good. My son is learning French at the moment, and I'm helping him with vocabulary where I can.
We've just returned from La Tania, having spent a week working and skiing. I'm a vegetarian consultant and have been advising a British ski company out there on their vegetarian menu provision. They want to run totally vegetarian weeks to set them apart a little. Of course I plan to develop this further. I'm already aware that France are behind with special diet trends.
I also have a small social media account management business, which I envisage will continue to build and give me a steady online income.
I don't have any capital, and my business is still in its infancy. Although I've a home I'll be able to rent out in the UK once I've the funds to do some simple aesthetics.
I'm a member if BNI and have made contacts with the same networking group in Annecy.
You know what's coming, we want to move out there....so I'm in the process of trying to build business, exploring education systems and suitable places where we might be able to afford rent, and be content. I'm not really interested in moving to specifically expat communities, but my son will need to maintain some contact especially to aid the transitions and so he can keep speaking English.
I teach too, tho food tech in secondary. I didn't completed my probationary year over here so don't think it would be valid over there. Besides, I'd much rather continue working for myself with online business.
So I guess, I'm keen to hear some words of wisdom, some advise....or anything that members might think useful in my decision making.

Many thanks in advance.
Aly

Hi, and welcome (back) to the forum!
Can't advise on your work possibilities, bearing in mind the present economic situation in France, except to say that you'll have to set up a business structure before you can work legally in France. Auto-Entrepreneur springs to mind, but can one register for two different services? Some one more in the know will come along to advise.
Your son is approaching the age limit for a smooth introduction into the French Educational System. At 9, there would be no problem. He would be enrolled at the local Primaire and he'd pick up French Grammar and Culture, and make friends, quickly. If you leave it to 10-11, however much French he is learning now, he wouldn't have the basic knowledge that all French children learn in Primaire and would find it difficult to cope and settle socially in Collège. In that case it would be better for him to do last year Primaire to avoid being thrown in at the deep-end.
You didn't ask, so you must know that Family Allowances only start at Child No. 2, but as a single parent, you may be eligible for something, once you're in the System, depending on your income (including alimony, UK rent, ...)
Hope this is of some help! Others will come along to add their advice.

Hi!
Well for a start you have a lot of advantages in speaking the language and having lived here previously, so obviously you know your way around and what to expect. And as said, your son is young enough to adapt relatively easily.

So your challenge would seem to be mainly with the financial aspect. Living in France isn't particularly cheap as you no doubt know, and I imagine rents in Annecy are going to be quite high.

I don't think teaching would have been a go-er even if you had finished qualifying in the UK. Teachers in France are state employees, it's quite hard to qualify, and once you have you don't apply for posts as teachers do in the UK - you go wherever the state decides to send you, which could be anywhere in France and for a first post might well be somewhere quite dire. (Plus - I don't think there is any 'food tech' on the curriculum in secondary schools here!)

Bear in mind that once you become resident in France you will make yourself virtually unemployable by UK companies - you don't say whether the UK company that you act as advisor to has you on its payroll or not, but they're very unlikely to give you a contract if it means they have to pay French social charges for you.

So it looks like self-employment is going to be your only option, which you say you prefer so that's good. However, in my experience it's harder to make a living for a very small business here. In the UK, it's possible to earn just below the tax threshold and get a low earnings exemption from NICs, so that you keep near enough every penny profit you make. Not so in France because no matter how little you earn, you still have to pay social security cotisations, so for instance if you only make 1000€ a month you will still have to pay (on AE) around 230€ in cotisations, plus potentially an annual business tax of several hundred. The 12k profit that would have been all yours in the UK is reduced to well under 9k in France. The only solution is to make sure that your turnover is high enough to leave you enough to live on after the state has taken its share. So do the sums carefully and bear in mind that a turnover that is sufficient to give you a comfortable income in the UK might not be sufficient in France. If your income is all in sterling, then at the moment of course the exchange rate is in your favour - but there are no guarantees of whether it'll be the same in 5 or 10 years time.

I think that a business giving dietary advice and run by a Brit might have limited appeal to the French - unless they're more enlightened in Annecy than in Normandy, which could well be the case. You say that France is 'behind' with diet trends which suggests that you're waiting for them to catch up, but I'm not sure that's going to happen. I've known a number of very passionate vegetarians who have made that lifestyle choice, but it's been a deeply personal decision. I'm sure the nation is aware that the choice is available to them but it doesn't seem to hold much appeal. In general people don't have a problem with traditional French food, they're proud of their local specialities and they don't see any reason to reject them. I may be wrong but I don't see vegetarianism becoming mainstream in the forseeable future.

So I think you should focus on building up your online business into something that would be sustainable even under a French business regime, and also saving up as much as you can to give yourself a financial cushion. As a self-employed person on a low income you would, once you're in the system, be entitled to various forms of assistance. But you would not be entitled to unemployment benefit because only employees get chomage entitlement, and while your income is low you won't be building up a lot of pension entitlement, which depending on how much pension you have in your UK pot might or might not be an issue for you.

Another potential challenge might be finding somewhere to rent long term. Because of French tenancy law, most professional landlords won't even consider accepting a long term tenant who doesn't have a permanent employment contract guaranteeing them an income of at least three times the rent. I actually wanted to rent when I first moved here, but after a couple of months of getting nowhere I gave up and bought a house instead because it seemed so much simpler. With hindsight, I should have looked on leboncoin instead of wasted time with estate agents, or tried to find a naive expat landlord who didn't know how things work in France.

So you have a few challenges to negotiate, but since you'll be keeping your house in the UK you would always have the option of going back, so on that basis I would definitely give it a go if I were in your position.

There are, of course, the Lycees Hoteliers but there isn't one in Annecy and in any case they are fantastically popular with Education Nationale teachers (probably those wonderful lunches have something to do with it!)

ET!
I would add that the latest official Poverty Threshold for a single parent with one child stands at between 1283 and 1069 € for one month:
Insee - Revenus-Salaires - Revenu disponible correspondant au seuil de pauvreté 2012 selon le type de ménage
(I've never looked into the difference between Seuils à 60% and Seuils à 50% but the higher sum seems more reasonable),
which covers all the basics (food, utilities, various insurances and taxes,...) to survive, but not a Mutuelle, travel, treats, new clothes, the unexpected, etc... As mentioned, if you rented an appartment for 500€, a landlord would demand proof of a regular monthly income of at least 1500€ before considering you.
You would have to be sure of a regular monthly TAKE-HOME income of at least this higher sum. When your son goes up to Collège, you'll have to buy his text books and be prepared to pay for trips in Europe with his class.
Sorry to sound like Cassandra, but with a child in tow, you should be aware of the worst you can expect. France has changed since you lived here....
Fore-warned is fore-armed! Good luck with your decision

Many thanks for all the responses. Rather than spending lots of time copying and lasting quotes I'll simply bullet point the poignant bits that stick out as relevant to my circumstances.

- Agreed, I also think teaching is not a 'go-er'. That said, I taught in the French West Indies in after school clubs. Cookery actually. Very successfully as I was able to teach in French.
- If I'm earning €1200 I wouldn't bother moving, and I've no intention if moving if I've to depend on benefits. That's straight forward for me.
- Single parenthood doesn't necessarily exist in partnership with poverty and struggle. I won't move if I'm not in a position to survive. It would be a waste of time and money and I'd be better off investing in property that I can use as a regular bolthole (this may still be the option, but I anticipate would be an insufficient solution for us)
- I also have a growing business in social media marketing which can operate globally, remotely and in any currency.
- My focus market group for the vegetarian consultancy is predominantly British companies in the French Alps. If the French want to jump on board they're more than welcome
- Veganism has actually overtaken vegetarianism globally... and is on the increase across Europe. Keeping in mind we plan to be close to the Swiss boarder where health and environmental issues are much higher up on the agenda. But yes, the percentage of vegetarians on France is very low in comparison to elsewhere in Europe. I also have a clients in the States so that would continue too.
- My choice to live in France is a lifestyle decision...not one of employment. I wouldn't want to exist below the tax threshold here...I'd consider it failure.
- I'm a member if BNI which is the biggest international business network in the world. I'm in touch with the branch in Annecy, who will help with connections and all things finance and most likely landlord concerns. I'd be transferring my membership.
- My son is 8 almost 9 now, and we hope to move over the summer next year. He'd be in the last year of primary school. I'm aware he'd need extra help...but we can cross that bridge when we come to it.
- I would be expected to buy books and pay for trips here. Nothing is compulsory of course. But he goes on every trip, including the residentially which aren't cheap. I'd like him to have access to the ESF school which is part of the curriculum I believe, for those living near/in the Alps.

I could choose anywhere in the world, but I have such an affinity with France, lived and breathed the culture and lifestyle for such a great part of my adult life...I sinks crave it daily. I grab every opportunity to speak French....and the desire to be near the mountains, ski and lakes won't ever dwane or diminish. I may as well be somewhere I can least get by in the Post Office or train station! Wouldn't you think?

Rent from my property will count as other income. Accountants in BNI will be at hand to advise on all that...As I don't have a clue! Outsourcing in this instance.

And hey....if I don't get there, or it flops, or we hate it. We will simply return to the UK.

Really, really appreciate all the help. Though I'd love to hear more about the practicalities of moving with children "in tow" or otherwise. The employment part interests me less. I can control that element....but the rest is more circumstantial and depends on where we choose to live etc.

Cheers....looking forward to updates. Aly

(Not sure if I've done the quote thing ok)

I wasn't on the ski company payroll. It's was a consultancy job. So I simply invoiced them as per all my current client base.

Thanks for the reassurance about my son, and my language skills. Big relief

Hi,
Just one thing about Annecy which I don't think has been pointed out; it is one of the most expensive towns, and areas, in France to live in as you may already know. Property prices and rent are sky-high.

I wouldn't say it's the most expensive. The higher you go into the alps the more expensive it gets. But I'm doing my research daily...and knew it was an expensive area, Chambrey cheaper, but not as nice of course. Have been looking at properties on the way towards Megeve and even La Clusaz direction. The Cote D'Azure is far more costly in every way than Annecy too. Annecy maywell not be the right location...it just seems central for what I need to have access to...