Buying a home in France and moving there

Before the pandemic, I was all set to move to France too (in fact I've written a book about it, not yet published). Forgetting about the pandemic for a moment, to get a long-stay visa from the French consulate in the US, what you need are:
* proof of accommodation in France,
* international health insurance,
* proof of guarantee of repatriation,
* proof of financial means,
* an affidavit of good conduct (non-criminal record),
* explanation of what you intend to do in France, 
* evidence of the reasons for and conditions of your stay,
* translations of these into French, by a certified translator.

And to accomplish some of that, a France bank account, and a currency exchange service. You should also get an International Driver's License. Sounds complicated but it's all feasible and not that big of a deal.

Right now, you also need to provide the results of a virologic screening test taken less than 72 hours before departure indicating a negative result for Covid-19. And (starting 25 May 2020 and until otherwise specified by the France government), travelers coming from the outside of the EU are required to fill out and carry a travel certificate, and fill out and carry a statement certifying you do not have any symptoms of Covid-19.

Hope this helps.

You should also check how much the notary public fees will be when purchasing a property. When we first moved to France for our first property we met with the seller at a Notary Public's office and after learning how much the notary fees were we cancelled. We went on to buy other properties, but that first experience was an eye-opener.

Les frais de notaire are set by the government, and typically end up being around 7.5 to 8.5% of the cost of the home. You can ask for a 10% discount off the Émoluments, but it's not 10% off of the 7.5-8.5%, it's 10% off the fees for the notaire - that is, off of about 1% of the home's price, and doesn't apply to the taxes and charges which the notaire collects for the government.

So, for a 400,000€ home, the frais de notaire would be about 32000€ and the discount amounts to about 400€. You have to ask for the discount.

Here is a Notaire's Fee Calculator (in French): www.pap.fr/acheteur/calcul-frais-notaire

Hi David,

I see that your profile says that you are currently in County Kerry, Ireland. Do you or your spouse have Irish (and thus EU) citizenship? If so, your path to obtaining residency in France is much easier. If not, I recommend using the visa wizard on France's official visa website, which will show you which visa best applies to your circumstances, as well as the documentation and process you will need to go through to get one. Here is the link: https://france-visas.gouv.fr/en_US/web/ … -d-un-visa

If you have any other questions, please feel free to reach out. As an aside, my family is from Cahersiveen in County Kerry.

Cheers