Jeff Steiner's Americans in France.
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Subject: Dream to settle in France.

Question: Hi, I am a single mother of two living in northern VA. I teach English to speakers of other languages. I am fluent in French, because I was an English professor for the peace corps in a French-speaking country in Africa (and then I married a host country national...) my dream is to be able to go to France, land a teaching job, and settle down there. I’d do anything to work toward this. But I keep hearing that I have to have an EU passport. I know I am setting a very high goal here, but I loved my visit to France (especially the south). I love the language and the lifestyle. I’ve lived in other countries, but France is where I’ve always dreamed of ending up. I repeat, I am a single mother of two. Is there any hope for me?

Answer: Let me give you the bad and the good as I see it.
Bad. First, I don't know how you would go about finding work, as you will not able to receive a work permit and work for foreigners is very hard to find. Second even if you are fluent in French (That in itself if great!) it will still mean making a huge adjustment not just for yourself but also your children. Making an adjustment like what you are thinking about is very tiring and can be very frustrating, I know this from experience. Just finding a place to stay could be very difficult, French landlords demand proof of employment and three months of pay stubs before renting to someone, money in the bank does not help.

Good. The fact that you speak French puts you one up on a lot of people and in the south of France there is a large English speaking community that might make it easier on you and your kids. Also the fact you are a teacher and are native English speaker means you would have a better chance of finding work teaching English than most other people and teaching English is one of the places where not being French is not a handicap.

There is hope if you have plenty of, money, energy and willpower. Otherwise it would be very, very hard. Let me know if you have any other questions.

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