Are you an american living in Provence, France? How did you go about moving there?

Question

kind of looking for someone who has lived there or is living there. I am about 7 hour drive from there, but I would like to hear something first hand. I saw Russell crowes movie and think the place looked like somewhere to get a glass of wine and watch white butterflies play in the lavendel.

Answer 1

I highly reccommend you get this book if you are serious about moving to France. It is worth the $45. No one can tell you all you need to know.

The Insider Guide to Living in France

You can order it on line:

http://www.escapeartist.com/e_Books/Livi...

Here are just a few  topics covered in the book, but there are many more. It is very informative!

1. MOVING TO FRANCE: WORKING, RESIDENCY AND BUSINESS

A. GENERAL ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES

Notifying the Proper Authorities

Notarizing a Signature

B. WORKING RIGHTS, PAPERS AND RELEVANT ISSUES

Obtaining Working Papers

Working Papers: The Company's or the Employer's Responsibility?

Student Working Rights: Changing Status from Student to Teacher

II. HOUSING: OWNING, RENTING, BUYING AND SELLING

A. RENTING

III. FINANCES: BANKING, TAXES, GOVERNMENT AID, AND RETIREMENT

IV. MARRIAGE AND/OR COHABITATION: UNION, DIVORCE, AND SEPARATION

X. CONSUMER AFFAIRS AND RECREATION

A. CONSUMER AFFAIRS

Hope this helps!

Kind regards, Wendy

Answer 2

Missed the last boat after liberating the sorry country at the end of WW2 :))

Answer 3

I'm an American living in Provence, but there are no butterflies outside of my window playing in lavender fields since I live smack down in the middle of Marseilles. I visit, however, the "real" Provence from time to time because my in-laws live there, or to be more specific they live near by Arles. I'm not sure if you're asking about moving permanently to Provence or just visiting it.

If you're just visiting or if you're rich and don't have to work then of course Provence is great, at least during the summer. There are tons of things to see and do, lots of great wine and olive oil to taste, many very good (but a little expensive) restaurants and some great beaches to explore. In the winter, however, this region is usually pretty dead. There aren't many people (since there aren't many tourists), besides Marseille and Aix-en-Provence of course. But Mistral (the freezing wind from the north) doesn't make things much easier, no matter where you live.

If you don't have much money and will need a job you will probably find it difficult to find one. Lots of businesses here are familly owned, even in Marseilles. Of course it is not impossible to find a job, but you might find that it will take much longer than you thought. The people are generally nice, very family-oriented,  and give an impression of being rather laid-back (though in truth they usually work very hard).

Moving here for me wasn't easy, even if it was through marriage. Mostly it was because of the bureaucracy, they constantly wanted a paper here, a paper there, many different papers everywhere and in the end they lost all those papers and I had to start my immigration process all over again! (*%*$*#%!) Luckily I found a job rather quickly, but I think it was a miracle since a lot of people spend about a year looking for a job. Plus I might have jumped on it too quickly, I work too many hours for a rather small salary.