We actually bought this in 2022, and I’ve been here since May 2023, plus 3 months in 2022.
Not moving into the house. That’s over and done with. Moving into France requires a series of steps, one of which I have reached, or am about to reach. I am currently living on a one-year tourist visa, which you can get if you just want to spend more than 90 days in France. By you I mean anyone. It required a trip to Beverly Hills to interview with the company that handles French visa applications. They were nice. My visa expires at the end of April, so it’s time to apply for the next thing, which is a five-year residence permit, which requires a couple of things as well.
First, a medical exam, which is scheduled for a week from Monday and Tuesday. Monday for an X-ray, Tuesday for the interview. I have to take my passport (of course), vaccination record, birth certificate, and any records of surgeries that I may have, which is exactly none. I hope that doesn’t mess anything up, but if they aren’t available, they aren’t available. After the Tuesday exam I have another interview (or will have) in which it is determined either that I am a suitable subject to live in France for at least five more years, or if I should be sent packing. As I am retired, and we have income and won’t actually cost France much of anything (we pay our taxes on time) that shouldn’t be a problem.
After five years there are several ways to go. One can renew that five-year card online, apply for a ten-year residence card (carte de sejour is the official name of those cards, by the way) or apply for French citizenship. That’s four years from now if I include the application time. Of course, for the five-year card one must also demonstrate a basic knowledge of French language. A2 level, which is enough to get by. Ten-year card required B1, which is essentially comfortable. Citizenship requires B2, which is good in everything except the technical minutiae of life. Even the current French zeitgeist is okay with not knowing how to build a skyscraper, apparently. These requirements are new, as of last week. Previously the 5-year had no language requirement, the 10-year required only A1, which I call “tourist Franch”, and citizenship required only B1.* If you think that there has been some complaints from some expatriate quarters, you’re right. Mostly, though, not from Americans. From Americans I have read sympathetic posts, and comments that we should require English of anyone wanting to live in the US, forgetting that the US has no official language, as does France. Tough to write a defensible law about a non-existent situation, I’m afraid.
So this is simply a report on where I am in my adventure in Moving To France. I’ll post something about how my medical exam goes after it happens, in a couple of weeks. Until then, au revoir!
*Those letters are from a European standard language skills rating system. I am C2 in English, proficient that is, at least! 🙂 The levels, in ascending order, are A, B, C.
