Moving to Provence, advice needed, please.

If you are renting, then contact "Locations" businesses who specialise in long term rents.
Google on Google.fr - "locations provence"

Gilly

My wife and I are also preparing to move to Provence. We will be there in April for a scouting trip. We are currently in New Orleans. Where are you? If I get any info I will oass it along and I hope you will do the same. All the best.

Jack

Provence is a huge region!!! Which part of the region would you like to live in? In a big city, in a remote village, near the sea, near the mountains?
As for price, I must say you may not be able to get all you're asking for on this budget depending on where you live exactly...
If you provide a few more details we may be able to help you better!

Thank you for your reply. My wife and I are hoping to move to France in the next year. We have been there a couple times and are totally enthralled with the area. We are coming back in April to scout for possibilities. Currently thinking of a small village and we may need to go further south of Provence to around Narbonne or Perpignan for budget reasons. Not necessarily on the coast but open to all charming, affordable options but not interested in big city.

How long have you lived there and around which city? How was the transition? You obviously speak French very well and we are diligently studying our Rosetta Stone with progress slow but constant. I am able to speak enough to get things we need but not much more but I'm sure it will improve with daily use. Thanks again for your response and we are very interested in your guidance.

Hello,

I was born in London, and now I live in Avignon. I own a nice restaurant between Avignon and Carpentras : le Moulin de la Roque.

Here, you'll enjoy, sun shines all the time and Avignon is really beautiful : le Palais des Papes, etc.

So don't be afraid and come quickly !

We will be in your area 5-6 April & 19-20 April. Are you open on Mondays?

We will also be in the South of France for 3 wks and are looking for a small place to buy for holidays at this point. Are you planning on residing permanently in France, if so, I wish you would share with me how you are doing this. Thanks for the help.

good morning,

i m french born, but i m living in uk for the moment. It's 15 years , i ve left french for living in differents countries for my job.
But , now , i ve got a family with 2 young child (4 years and 1 year), my wife is english. But, now we decide to come and live in France, because we want the child to grow up in France.
My biggest concern is about my wife and child, not for the language, because they don't have problems with this, but i need advice about the security social for my family. I m lost and i need help about this. For the moment they ve got their security social in uk because they are english , but in france, i d0n't know. Did someone can help me to find answer to my questions? thanks
pascal

Hello,

Anyone on this blog from the US that lives near Nice, FR?  We just bought a flat there which we will use for vacations for as long as we can stay legally.  We will be taking French lessons with Rossetta Stone and then again in Nice. Love to hear from you!

Hi Abby,
I noticed that you are very nearby, I'm a fellow Floridian just 30 miles from you!
I attempted to send you a private message but apparently I have not posted enough on the forum. I am currently researching a move to France as well, in the international education field. I lived in Paris right out of high school and stayed for a year.

There are a few things that you should consider as you plan.
Immigration issues will come up, and it would be good to think realistically about the job situation. You, your husband and daughter would need work or student visas in order to stay in the country for more than 3 months and to work legally. The economy is very bad in Europe right now, and the unemployment rate in France is very high. Your mother (in-law) would need a visa as well. I'm not sure if there is an income requirement for residence visas, but probably. Of course, none of this is relevant if you are a citizen of an EEC member country.

Housing; I love the seloger website for searching for rentals.
seloger.com
I think that your budget is realistic for the more rural areas and Provence is pretty rural. Being a rural area, you will need transport as it can be hit or miss in many rural areas. I lived in a semi-rural area when I was working for DisneyLand-Paris, and spent many a miserable hour walking through muddy fields after missing the bus, or misreading the schedule.

Finally, how is your French?

I would love to chat with you about your plans and always love to talk about France. Please send me a message if you like.

Hi Esperance,

Glad to hear from you! My husband and I are retired and just bought a studio in Nice, FR. For the time being we will live there for 3 months in the summer and rent to a student for the school year.
We do understand the employment situation. I wouldn't mind finding something to earn money on the internet while there.
Our French is poor but we have purchased Rosetta Stone and a few books...also wouldn't mind taking classes while there if it's affordable.
We have a tiny Yorkie that we will be taking with us since it's so dog friendly there.
We have so much to learn but are very excited!!

Where in Fl? 

Hi pascal

My husband like you is French, I am british and our children are british (at the moment) we did the same thing. You may already be here but it helped that we registered our family at the french consulate and therefore got the livret famille, my kids also got their french id cards. Here is a short list of things you should do to get social security and CAF

Need letter from British tax office saying they not longer pay you child benefit.
Get the livret famille and register your kids as french it really saved a lot of time - kids were automatically accepted for securite social.
I needed my birth certificate, marriage certificate translated consulate did it. After 4 months I am now on my husbands ss card and will be entitled to use the health service as if I'm french. Believe me my hubby pays for it from his payslip. Hope this helps.