I have just returned from 10 days in Europe (5 in Paris and 5 in London). I have been traveling to Europe since I went to Ireland as an exchange student back in 96, and I love the place. I was born and raised in Brazil and I feel very comfortable and relate well to the European culture. Today I live in South Florida and I am looking to move to Europe, particularly Paris. I have a list of questions that I would appreciate the feedback of those who have any piece of helpful information.
1) How does visa, work permits, and residency works in France? I have dual citizenship (American and Brazilian), which citizenship would be preferred by the French government?
2) What is the cost of living in Paris? The big ones such as rent, healthcare, insurance, and transportation. What would be a descent salary in Paris? (I am 22 year old Software Engineer).
3) Are there any websites that post jobs in France and have an English version. No, I don%26#39;t speak French (very basic) but I do speak English, Portuguese, and Spanish fluently. Learning French is another reason why I want to move there.
4) Are there local social issues that I should be aware of? Issues such as high unemployment rate, that are not important to the average tourist, but plays a major role to those living there.
5) Any helpful websites that will help me with my research and decision making?
I know its a lot of information that I am asking for, but any little piece will be helpful.
Merci!
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2) well the cost of living in paris is high, because it is paris. for ex for the moment i rent a 70m2 just next to paris, near the 13th, because of my studies. it costs 1000 euros/month, and that is a very good price. because if you want to live in the center of paris, for a 50m2 for ex it will be 1000-1500 euros/month.
healthcare: well france is known to have a very good system, and it%26#39;s not comparable to us, well new york city for waht i know. the social security is for me as a student i think around 1200 euros (without a %26#39;mutuelle%26#39;, which you can have to get more things reimbursed), and doctors are really cheaper than in a big town like ny. it costs me around 20 euros to see a doctor (generalist), around 30 euros for the other ones (like gynecologist etc). drugs are also cheaper, the most expensive drugs box i paid was around 20 euros (and that is VERY expensive, because lots of drugs cost around 2 ou 3 euros the 10 or 20 when you have the social security, that gives you the %26#39;carte vitale%26#39;).
then, we are 2 in our appartment, and go 2 or 3 times/month to the supermarkets, everytime it is around 170-200 euros, plus the extra things like bread when we need some, %26#39;pains au chocolat%26#39; ;) sometimes for the breakfast. so for 2 we pay around 400-500 euros/month for supermarket food or things to clean home (for food only i would say that we pay around 300-350 euros/month). but i am sure lots of people pay less, but i am very lazy so often buy prepared food, that is more epensive (around 3-4 euros the meal).
3) i dont think there is a website that post jobs in english for france, well i give you some famous ones like monster.fr, emailjob.fr, keljob.fr, cadremploi.fr, emploi.com etc, but they are in french.
4) the unemployement in france is high, and if you work in computers, well this is very high now.
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Eventhought immersion is a great way of learning a language, not being fluent in French will for sure bring your chance of finding a job way way down. How about contacting the France embassy in the US, maybe France have a consulat in FLorida.
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I%26#39;d love to be able to move to France for a while, so I understand your desire. The reality, though, is pretty tough. In order to get a work permit, you will need to prove that you can do a job that no French citizen is qualified to do and you%26#39;ll have to get an employer to back you up on your claim. Since France isn%26#39;t a third-world country, it%26#39;s pretty tough to claim that nobody there is qualified to do any job. Interestingly (and I think this speaks volumes about the level of culture in France), artists and musicians are exempt from this rule.
You might be able to get a job under the table, but it%26#39;s going to be something low-paying and unofficial like English tutoring (and even that won%26#39;t work very well if you don%26#39;t speak French). You can look on www.fusac.fr for some job listings in English.
Costs in Paris are high, but certainly no more so than NY, DC, or San Francisco. Unemployment is running around 10%.
If you%26#39;re absolutely determined to do it, I%26#39;d go for it. You%26#39;re only 22--that leaves you plenty of time to come back and start again if things don%26#39;t work out.
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I would forget about working in a career job unless you have EU citizenship, it is possible to work in a bar/restaurant/shop or some other low paid %26quot;off the record%26quot; job but why bother, what you earn will be dwarfed by what you pay in rent.
Its a great place to vist but if you are unemployed and have no EU working papers and can%26#39;t speak French you will have no fun.
I would contact the USA and Brazil embassy in Paris and see what they say.
Sorry to give bad news, maybe the UK would be better for you as the unemployment is far less and you speak English.
Good luck anyway.
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Somewhat off topic but I looked into buying property in France, Italy and Spain. I wanted to spend 4-8 weeks a year in the property and rent it out for whatever period of time I could the rest of the year. In the end, though, there were too many places I would have wanted to live! My goal now is to keep a small place here in the U.S. and city hop across Europe for 6-12 mos. at a time in cities large and small, AFTER I retire. Hopefully, I can do this for 5-10 years. That is my plan anyway.
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Sparks, if you get the bug again, feel free to give me a call in Kensington, MD. We bought our place in Paris so we%26#39;d have a place to stay and rent out the rest of the year. It%26#39;s been a tremendous experience, and our guests have loved our apartment. When (and if) we get tired of Paris, I figure we can always trade with people who own other properties. We%26#39;ve already had trade offers from Greece, California and the Bahamas.
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Both the American embassy in Paris and the French embassy in Washington web sites has some info about moving to each other country. A google will let you find them i don%26#39;t have the addresses handy here.
Basically, speaking about papers and working permits, it goes the same for each country : it is almost impossible to get a working permit unless a company applies for you. The easiest way to do it would be to be hired by a company in the U.S that has operations in France, then get a transfer. And it%26#39;s not that easy.
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In addition to being very difficult to get work papers, unemployment in France is relatively high, the cost of living high and salaries very low by US standards.
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How do locals survive? Must be a more manageable cost of living outside of Paris? If wages are low, unemployment high, and costs high...how do people afford what they need? What keeps the economy chugging along?
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Sparks, that%26#39;s what I always wonder. The thing that shocks me the most is the cost of food and clothing. It seems that nearly every Parisian eats lunch at a restaurant. Now, I find it very difficult to find lunch for under about $15 (except for a sandwich). That%26#39;s a lot of money to shell out every day when the salaries are lower. Also, the clothes are very pricey. I now realize that Parisians simply don%26#39;t have as many clothes as we do. Whereas the average guy might have a couple dozen pair of pants, a Parisian may have only 4 or 5. That saves money and fits better in their small-to-nonexistant closets.
Looking through real estate ads, however, it seems that rents are significantly lower than in the DC area (although purchase costs are higher). I also understand from one of our neighbors that couples often move to the suburbs as soon as they find out they%26#39;re pregnant. Maybe that explains why some visitors say that they never see any children (although I see kids all the time).
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