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 The Monthly Q&A with Allison Grant Lounes allows you to ask questions and learn about how to move to France. Q&As are free and held monthly on the first Monday of every month via zoom (and the following Monday in case of a holiday).

Register for the next Q&A on January 09, 2023 here: https://yourfranceformation.mykajabi….

Submit your questions here: https://forms.gle/szjGyttsqTAtzWri9

This week’s questions include:

Can we apply for the visa in advance if owning or buying property?

How can an American obtain a home loan in France?

Here’s what we think is the correct chronology: Rent (in advance) an apartment/house in France for three months (or so); apply for a long-term visa using that address; house-hunt; start the homebuying process (deposits, inspections, other paperwork); sell our US home; pay the balance of the French home cost; close; move in; apply for a carte de sejours. What are we missing? Also, once we start the process in France, can we go home to the US to settle our affairs while the process winds its way through the French protocols?

Is there a way to stay in France while being considered fiscally American?

As an American citizen, how do I avoid estate taxes if I move to France and become a French resident?

Where do I begin searching for a job in France?

What is the relocation process for someone with a young child?

Is there any way to apply for a long stay visa while in France? If not, can it be somewhere else in Europe? I’ve been traveling for a year and technically don’t have a residency anywhere. I’m trying to avoid flying all the way back to the US just for a visa appointment.

General weather?

Cost and availability of solar panels?

❓Does this count as registration to listen in to the webinar or do we register elsewhere?

Are there things people over 65 should do or not do when moving to France?

I hope to live in France as a musician, theater technician and writer. I have been cultivating relationships with local musicians and people in the arts over the last four years and have been planning longer trips each time I go. Is an artists visa a realistic way to go?

How do you pass on your French assets to your children living in the US when you die in France?

I found a French business interested in sponsoring me but they haven’t done it in several years so they don’t know how the process works. What happens next? Do I need to apply for a visa first or do they need to submit paperwork?

What forms of financial records are sufficient to demonstrating ability to pay?

Must applicants establish a banking relationship in France before applying?

What unpaid debts can affect acceptance of visa? Back taxes? Student Loans?

How long does the visa process take and how long are you required to live in France per year?

 We are professionals in Tech. We are looking to retire at a younger age in France (50 and 40). We will have the required passive income. What visa should we get? Do we have to renew this type of visa often?

What is the major difference between being a French resident vs citizen, in terms of healthcare and job?

What is the very first procedure that should be completed?

You mentioned on a previous q&a that if then income on a profession libérale visa was going to be above 70k € per year, it might be more advisable to pursue the auto-entrepreneur visa. Can you elaborate on that?

Our 16 y/o daughter is moving overseas with us but will be attending boarding school in Germany, and the school obtains German resident cards for their students. Do we still need to have her on our visa application for France? We’re hoping to have prof.libérale (me) and visitor (husband) visas – wondering if we should even mention her at all? Have 2 other children who will indeed be in France with us, so just thinking about maybe lower income requirements for 2 kids vs 3, etc.

Do you have to specify the work type in order to apply for a work visa?

❓Is it easier to get a work visa for family members after moving to France?

❓What type of visa makes sense for us? We are retirees with a second home in France and sufficient assets to exceed the financial resource requirements for any visa. We want to stay only 6 months every and we want flexibility as to which months. We would prefer not to apply in the USA for a new French visa every year.

❓Best way to look for real estate?

❓How long before my move should I start applying?

❓What is an internship agreement signed by the French prefecture? My employer (who has a registered presence in France) says they are willing to do all the necessary paperwork for my visa, but I’m not sure if they have/are supposed to submit a contract for the prefecture to sign. Or am I supposed to do it?(if so, how?) It’s on the list of documents I’m supposed to bring to my appointment.  My visa appointment is on Dec 16 so my feeling is that time is of the essence here. I submitted my application a few days ago.

❓After we submit our paperwork to the consulate how long does the process take?

❓ We will be planning a trip to Paris first week of January not 100% sure yet.

❓What’s the stumbling block that most frequently derails people who say they want to move to France, but drop out somewhere along the way?  (If it’s different for different groups –like retireees, vs. working age, or from one country vs. another, can you say more about each?)  Is it a range of issues, or is there one or two places that most often cause people to not pursue their goal?

❓ If I had an entrepreneur visa, is it easy to then switch to a long term visitor visa?

❓How difficult is it to get an entrepreneur OR micro-entrepreneur visa? And how much of that time do you have to work?

❓If the people I contract with get me a work visa, do I have to have a full time contract? If so, how many days off can I have with that? And can it be switched to part-time after I have received it?

❓How long before do we submit for a long term visa?

❓What type of Visa can we get if we plan to become resident. At moment we are commercial landlords but plan to sell all properties so we can retire.

❓My application for 1st CdS has been stalled since 4Oct22 due to fingerprints missing from my file My initial visa expires 9Jan23 Every email response has been to be patient However I am terrified of overstaying my visa and losing my residence status even though I have followed all the procedures. I need to leave 12Jan23 for at least several weeks to help my very elderly parents. Have you encountered the lost fingerprint situation? What do you recommend I do?

❓Are there two different in-line application sites for the 1st CdS? I applied through the central one ((ANTS) Now I think I’ve found a 2nd one through the prefectures.

Any idea when site maintenance will be completed on https://administration-etrangers-en-france.interieur.gouv.fr/particuliers/#/

❓I am a U.S. citizen, visiting France right now for 9 weeks. I am about to go back to U>S. Dec. 16 to apply for my visa/one year residency permit in France. My U.S passport expires June 2023, so I will have to renew my passport before applying for one year residency permit. It says on U.S. gov. website you       can only renew a passport in a state where you are a “legal resident”. What counts as legal resident? Normally I toggle between New York City and New Haven (Yale univ.), so I am a legal resident of NY and CT. However, I will be in California for 2 months starting December 16 and that is where I want to renew my passport. DO you happen to know if I will be allowed to renew my passport in California if I am only visiting there for 8 weeks?

❓If and when I receive the French residency permit/visa in 2023, is there a minimum amount I need to stay in France each year? Is it 6 months? (i.e. I plan to be in Berlin quite a bit next year and I still have an old apartment in Berlin, so I am wondering if: say, I live 6 months in France and 6 months in Berlin in 2023, will this be in violation of any of my French visa’s rules or stipulations?

❓If I apply for and am successful in getting a Long Stay Visa (for tourism) in February 2023, but then in June 2023 I may be applying for Masters Programs (some in the UK), which would require me to get a student visa for the UK. Is there any penalty or problem with having TWO visas—one Long Stay Visa (in France, for tourism), and one student visa in UK (to attend a  Masters Program)? Or is it like once you are on a Long stay Visa in France U are prohibited from applying for a UK Student Visa?

❓Is the Talent Passport Visa (one year) in France significantly more difficult (higher bar to entry) to successfully apply for and be granted than Long Stay Visa (for tourism, one year, in France)? And if the first year I got a Long Stay Visa (for tourism, not allowing me to work) could the second year I apply for a Talent Passport (allowing me to work in France)?

Thinking about moving to France? If you liked this video and want to learn more about how you can pursue your own Franceformation, check out the following resources:

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💜 Learn about what you need to learn before you’re ready to move to France by downloading the Franceformation Readiness Assessment here: http://yourfranceformation.com/assess...

💜 And if you want to learn more about which French visa type is right for you and how you can make your dream of moving to France a reality, check out my book Foolproof French Visas here: http://www.yourfranceformation.com/bo... or order the paperback on Amazon.com.

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