Jeff Steiner's Americans in France.
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Subject: We will be moving to south of France.

Question: We will be moving to south of france (near Aix en Provence and Marseille) in the next 2 years with my fiancee. He is a french citizen, born in Dieppe, Normandy, currently working on a 5-year work visa in the USA. I am a USA citizen from Texas willing to move to France and just love the country. My questions are:

1. Thoughts on if it is better to get married in US first or France or should we get married in both?

2. I have 2 cats I cannot part with and want to bring them along - what advise and tips can you give on the process for animals moving to France. Best way to transport them to France? Any references or resources for reading and preparing?

3. What is the best method of transporting/shipping my household contents, air versus sea? Can you recommend any good companies or resources to research?

4. Tips for buying a home in Aix en Provence area - I will have ~250,000 USD from the sale of my home to buy a french home but want to get the best value for the money - any areas you can suggest to look at will we be able to buy a nice house for this amount? We will be visiting and looking at real estate in April 2003 to start firming up our relocation?

5. Lastly, any books, web sites or other resources I can read to start preparing myself for the change, a "how to move to france for dummies book" or something?

Thanks, anxious Texan bound for the south of France.

Answer:

Lorrie,
I got married in France by a relative of my wife and it was rather painless. If you are going to live in France then getting married there might make things easer, as you will have all the right paper work. But on the other hand getting married in the USA will make things easer for you getting your Carte de Sejour (long-term visa) that is being married before moving to France. It also depends on what you want personally for your marriage. French marriages can be very different from what you are use to. Ours lasted 12 hours, with all the parting and the two ceremonies, in France for there to be a church wedding there first needs to be a civil one.
If you do get married in the states then you will need to have the marriage certificate translated into French for getting your Carte de Sejour this would cost about $20-$30 to have done in France. If you get married in France you will need to have your birth certificate translated into French about the same cost as the marriage certificate. I could be missing so things here. What every you do bring as much paperwork as you can to France, the French just love to ask for it!
I have no idea about bringing cats into France. I think that you should have little problem as long as they have all their vaccinations.
For moving I would suggest you ship by boat, as it should be the cheapest way to go. Ship as much as you can to France as furniture here is very expensive.
For books try looking at my reading list, http://www.americansinfrance.net/ReadingList/ and for links try, http://www.escapeartist.com/embassy30/france.htm, http://www.lifeinfrance.free.fr/ and http://www.kiechle.com/france/. Jeff

France 101 - A six-day long conference focusing on everything you need to know live in France.

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