This is Your Year to Move to France

Yep, it’s the first day of the year 2025. And it’s the day when we make New Year’s Resolutions to improve our lives. Some of us promise to eat healthier and smarter to lose weight. Some of us decide to organize our closets. And others of us dream of creating a new life abroad, and then promise this will be the year to do it.

This is the year to do it. If you’re living in US dollars and considering a move to a euro country, now is the time, thanks to a strong dollar and an advantageous rate of exchange—about $1.04 to the euro. The last time the rate was so good was September 2022.

If you’re considering euro countries, there is only one that makes sense, and you guessed it, that’s France. No other country in Europe has…as good a tax treaty with the U.S., as good a healthcare system, as functional an infrastructure, is located as central for easy and inexpensive travel or has as big an American expat community. France also offers a cultural life that is tough to achieve anywhere else. And then there is climate to consider…as the country offers just about every kind of climate for just about everyone. On top of it all, getting a visitor visa for one year (renewable) is a piece of cake.

In Bordeaux

We learned a lot of this when Patty Sadauskas and I attended a conference sponsored by International Living last April in Portugal. Five countries were represented: Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece and France. Their own correspondents and other experts extolled the virtues of each. As we listened to what they each had to say, we realized that none of the other countries could touch France for being the best, easiest, and ultimately one of the least expensive places in Europe for expats, particularly when one considers the tax ramifications. We had many people come over to our table to tell us that they hadn’t considered France as an option until they heard all of the comparisons, because they assumed France was too expensive. They were wrong! And they changed their minds.

In Strasbourg

I look back on the 30+ years I’ve been here and never regretted a moment, in spite of the trials and tribulations I’ve experienced over the years. If you read these Nouvellettres®, then you know what they might have been. Sure, there are bureaucratic and administrative things that one must manage as an expatriate/immigrant, but that’s normal when moving to any other country. And yes, I’ve had my fair share of property issues, but that’s because it’s my business and I believe in owning a real asset, even though that’s a lot more work than just renting someone else’s property and having no responsibility.

In Provence

But, would I trade any of that for life in the U.S.? No. When I left, it wasn’t a political escape or anything like that. It was simply to experience something new, and we thought it was temporary at the time. Then, France made it emotionally impossible to leave. Once those blinders were off, and I could see life in the U.S. from the other side of the “big pond,” it wasn’t anywhere near as attractive as life in France. That has proven to be true.

In Burgundy

We are indoctrinated to believe that the U.S. is above every other country in the world, and if you don’t experience life elsewhere, then you never learn the truth. You just go on doing what you do without thinking for a second that it could be different or better in a different place…and you get stuck in that rut. Those who have traveled outside of the U.S. have an inkling, but it’s not the same as living in that place for any period of time to really make the comparisons.

Looking down at Nice

So, make your New Year’s Resolution now. Decide it’s time to have a new, exciting, and much better life…for less money, too! Take just one year to find out. I’ll bet you never leave. That’s what happened to me and to a lot of people we work with. We’ve helped thousands of people do it.

And, you can do it, too.

Happy New Year!

A la prochaine…