How to Live in France

By Ian Blythe

This book has been written to help you understand the differences between the UK and France. After all, if you have children in the UK, the schools have insurance for such things as swimming lessons. As we found out, in France, you have to have your own insurance! We found other differences so I decided to write this book to help others in their new life in France. Of course the laws in France can change so some parts may be out of date, however I have made every effort to be up to date as possible.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris UK
• Release date: Jul 9, 2016
• ISBN: 9781493140237

Ian Blythe

Ian Blythe, the author of this book, has lived in Australia, the UK, France, Ireland and now Austria. I left the UK to go to France with my family in 1991 for two years, but we liked it so much we stayed there for nearly 11 years. In my time in France I encountered many differences between the UK and France, so I started this book, with help from friends, to allow you to understand the French systems before you encounter them!

Book preview

Chapter 1

Getting Started

Where first?

Your first port of call for most things is the Mairie (present in all towns, villages and cities). The Mairie is the local authority, responsible for all local administration in the locality. The Mairie is also the source of all knowledge, ask at your local Mairie and they will at least be able to tell you where to get information and/or what documents you may need.

More detailed information and legal affairs on living here are dealt with at the Préfecture which provides départmental (county) government

There may also be a sous-Préfecture in your nearest town, this acts as a local agency for the Préfecture for initial dealings on paperwork, but you may still need to go to the main Préfecture to finalize things.

The Carte de Séjour

This card shows your right to stay/work in France. The cards and the information needed to be supplied is different depending on whether you come from within or outside the European Union (EU). The Carte de Séjour is mandatory for all, however it is not automatically available to non-EU members, unless married to a French person.

You will need a Carte de Séjour even if you are a student studying in France; if you are temporarily working in France; if you are just a visitor to France;

There is potentially a very high hassle factor involved in getting a Carte de Séjour, in the worst case you may need to supply complete family documents, with an official translation into French, including:

• Birth certificates for all your family

• Your marriage certificate (if applicable)

• Your parents’ birth certificates or any document to prove your parents’ names and nationalities.

• Your passport

• Your visa if you have one.

• Three good copies of a current passport-like photograph

• Proof of employment or that you are self-supportive

• Proof that you have somewhere to live

You may also need a medical checkup.

You will need a Fiscal Stamp Timbre Fiscal, to pay for the Carte de Séjour; confusingly you get this stamp at a tabac—a tobacco store, not a Post Office.

For EU nationals the cost is €368, for non-EU nationals the cost is the same.

The Carte is valid only for a defined period. My first Carte was valid for 5 years, when I renewed it, I received a card valid for 10 years. The authorities recommend that you start the renewal process 3 months before the expiry of your card if it is valid for 5 or 10 years and 2 months if the card is valid for less than one year. However, allow at least 6 months in advance before you apply for your new Carte, it may take that long.

The Carte itself carries the following information:

• The Préfecture where you are registered, in your area

• The area of validity of the carte (e.g. totale = all France)

• The all important serial number

• Your surname Nom, your Christian Names Prénoms

If you are a married lady, your nom is your Maiden Name on the card, followed by EP, (épousè), and your married surname. For many official matters, your name given by your marital status is not taken into account. You keep the name of your parents, and the name of your youth.

• Your date of birth (there is no hiding of your age!) and your sex

• Where you were born with country (e.g. GB LONDRES) for me

• Your Nationality

• The Expiry Date (see below)

• And the signatures of you and the authority

The back of the Carte gives:

• Your date of entry into France

• Your professional activity (or reason for staying); for me, as I am a citizen of the EU, and am working in France, the following text is written: "TOUTES ACTIVITES PROFESSIONNELLES DANS LE CADRE DE LA LEGISLATION EN VIGUEUR or All professional activities within the current legal frame’. My wife is "NON ACTIF : NI PENSIONNE, NI ETUDIANT"—Non active, neither pensioner nor student.

A new style of Carte de Séjour is currently being introduced. This incorporates a type of bar coding, so that the police can literally swipe you to get your identity in the future.

Even when you have your Carte de Séjour, the authorities like to keep tabs on you. If you change address (even if it is within the boundaries of the same commune—if the population exceeds 10,000 inhabitants) you are given 8 days after you have moved to notify the Commissariat de Police or at your local Mairie of your new address, together with your old address and your profession.

If you lose your Carte de Séjour (I once posted mine with some letters by accident…), you can have a lot of problems getting a replacement, and effectively you will have to go through the whole process of application again. So get a stamped authorized photocopy from your Mairie and carry this.

Of course French people are required to carry their identity card at all times, this is why you see French men carrying ‘hand-bags’ in the South of France. These are a ‘macho’ personal effect, not common in other parts of France. You also need to carry some money, ideally around €80, as if you are stopped for an identity check, and you have no identity card, nor the financial resources to get you home, you can be arrested as a vagrant…

In fact it is not obligatory for the French to carry their identity card, but you can be fined if you are not carrying your Carte de Séjour. So it makes life much easier when dealing with the Police if you have your card with you.

Having an identity card is a totally alien concept for the British with our right to be anonymous, but the British are happy to carry identity cards for Sports Centres and various other activities, and maybe people don’t realise how credit card companies, if not all the government agencies, have ALL the information on you; so we Brits are not that anonymous in fact…

Australians, even with a Carte de Séjour, still need to get a VISA for BOTH entry and exit from France, even if you are just popping home for a quick family reunion…

If you have children you can apply for family allowance as soon as you get the receipt for your carte de séjour. You will not get any money until you get your proper carte, but the money you will receive will be back-dated to your original request. As family allowance can be quite generous, especially if you have several children, it is in your interest to call your local Caisse Familiale as soon as you get the receipt.

The fiche familiale

The Fiche familiale d’état civil was a once legal justification that you have children and of your family situation, however this is no longer necessary. Despite this you still may need to get the fiche individuelle d’état civil, this justifies "if you were born and where’’ (all papers concerning French people are kept in the town of birth. This is the reason that the Police often want to know where you were born).

The Livret de Famille shows family status for French people, foreigners need the Fiche de famille. This is available from the Mairie. There is a corresponding document, the fiche individuelle that shows individual status and can be needed (especially for children) at intervals.

These documents are only valid for 3 months, so make sure that you get a new copy before important interviews. My Mairie has me on their computer so it is very easy to print out another copy. Even so, when a new person started working at the same Mairie, I was refused a printout as I am not French. After a short debate I actually did get the required copy. Don’t let the beaurocracy get in your way, but do be wary of making an enemy in this very important place.

Chapter 2

French language

French naturellement

The French language is regulated by the Académie Française to prevent any non-French words from creeping into the True French Language. If in doubt a New French Word will be created, for example a Walkman (a trade name) became a Balladeur. Unfortunately for the Académie, many words are in common use, that are not of French origin: weekend; sandwich; parking; stop (stopper = to stop!); star; TOP-50 and OK, Jeep, jerrican, and nearly all names of sports except pétanque or boules.

The French language has the sounds of e’s and i’s swopped with respect to standard English, y = i grecque (greek i) A French e is an English erh’ and a French i is a short e. The biggest difficulty for an English-only-speaking foreigner is normally getting the sound of the French u, this is more like a you’ without the "y’ sound and with puckered, rounded lips.

The sounds of ‘G’ and ‘J’ are also swapped, which can cause great confusion if the ‘jays’ and ‘gees’ (with a soft g—as in gee whiz!) are misheard.

The name of a French person may be confusing if his/her surname can also be used as a first name. Thus it is customary to write your surname in CAPITALS to indicate which is which.

Tourist areas

Most tourist places will have someone who can speak English or other languages to help you. Many young folks are especially eager to try out their school English on you, too bad if you want to speak French. But watch out, if you say your few pet phrases in French, it may be assumed that you are fluent in French and you will not hear another word of English.

Learning French?

Total immersion is the quickest and easiest way to learn any language, so the more French you hear, and the least of your native language, will help

If you stay in a clique of speakers of your own language you will never learn French. Being immersed and surrounded by the French language will enable you to pick up the rhythm of the language and soon some comprehension will follow.

Watching French TV and listening to French on the radio will soon amaze you in how much you will pick up.

Previous experience?

Any previous experience is helpful. I’ve noticed that people who have never studied a foreign language at school have a greater difficulty in picking up French. Those who have studied French in the past, no matter how many years ago, seem to find it easier.

Numbers

Numbers in French can be terribly confusing. This is particularly so with telephone numbers. For example, I have found it especially difficult to write down somebody’s new telephone number from a pre-recorded message. I often had to call three or four times, getting two digits each time. For example 97 is said as: quatre-vingt [80] dix [90]-sept[97] and 73 is said as: soixante [60] treize [13] as 60 + 13 = 73. You may notice that even French people pause after hearing the magic quatre-vingt or soixante in readiness for the next numbers before committing the number to paper.

Big numbers in France have the thousands separated by a ‘.’ and the decimal part separated by a ‘,’. Thus 6.871.425,80 to a French person would be 6,871,425.80 in other parts of the world.

If you have a cheque book, practise writing out as many numbers as you can think of. You must get the value you write on the cheque right (see the Cheques section under Banking).

Lu et approuvé

When you sign an official document you will often see the words lu et approuvé above the part where you have been asked to sign. You should write these words and then put your signature below. Lu et approuvé means read and approved, so read the small print before you sign!

Push/Pull

Signs on doors saying pousse or tire mean that the door must be pushed or pulled respectively to be opened. Learn these quickly, I’ve seen a lot of non-French people trying to open a door in vain as they had not recognised these words.

Libre Parking

A car park indicated with a panel saying libre (free) is not free of payment, this just means that there are free spaces available to park your car. You may still have to search out the one remaining space though.

Sold or Sale?

Signs in shops saying solde mean that there is a sale on and not that the items on display have been sold.

Reversal of initials

I’ll leave it as a challenge to you to work out which ways round these are.

Wordplay

K7 = cassette (eg audio or video)