Why did you move to France?
My husband worked very long hours in Australia. We both decided that life should not be so stressful and I wanted to give our four children a real experience plus spend more time with them. We chose France because of the culture and because I was taking french lessons at the time (although my french was/is really bad!). I had the idea but it took time for my husband to make the leap. When he did it was all systems go. We started to organise it in March and we left in May 2011.
How did you do it?
We had to organise a long term visitor visa. There were a lot of requirements and the visa website was not clear a lot of the time. You were not allowed to phone them and ask any visa questions. We also had to fly from Perth to Sydney for an interview as that is the only consulate in Australia that deals with visas. All this added to the cost. Amongst other things we had to enrol any child under 16 into a french school! And that added to the organising. We were actually planning on homeschooling. We were not allowed to work and had to prove we had enough funds. There seemed to be a lot of paperwork which was frustrating, but we got there. We had to do all this organising including booking our tickets BEFORE the visa was issued which made me nervous but the visa came through without a problem and just before our departure which was good.
Tips and Tricks
- the red tape is frustrating.
- although the website for long term visitor visas states you must have your accommodation booked before you leave we found that they actually give you time once you've landed in the country to do so. If we had known this we would not have 'locked' ourselves into our rental accommodation and looked around a bit.
- the visa website states any child under 16 must be enrolled in a french school. We found that no one ever asked us about our children or any details of their schooling. However, in hindsight I'm glad we enrolled them in a french school as it is a great experience for them.
Has living in France lived up to your expectations?
It's brilliant! The people are civilised. It's safe and random violence as we are used to in Australia is at a minimum. The quality food (cheese, wine, seafood, bread etc) is cheap and of quality and we will miss it. The children seem to be more innocent.
What has surprised/disappointed you the most?
The restaurants are not as good as expected. However the produce is excellent. Can't believe the great seafood, the quality and the price. Markets are not as cheap but the food is often fresher. A lot of people can speak english. Lots of ex-pat English surprised me. Renting is not expensive.
Are most of your friends French or other expats?
A lot are expat english speakers from other countries. Some are french. It takes a lot more effort to make contact with the native french. It makes it hard to learn the language as many people can speak english and that surprised me.
Do you have anything else to add?
You can get by on limited french. Once you have the long term visitor visa you can extend past the year (which we didn't know) easily by applying at the Mairie. France is wonderful and we will miss it dearly when we have to leave and return to reality (mortgages etc). it's been great!
