expat network

Moving to France – What You Need to Know

So, you are moving to France!

Whether you are emigrating, taking a short term assignment or joining family in France we have put together the information you will need to make your move a smooth one.

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How To Live Well As An Expatriate

There can be numerous advantages to moving to another country, from better financial prospects to fleeing a crisis. While there are potential advantages, there are also plenty of challenges facing expatriates living in a new country. Overcoming these challenges is essential to achieving your initial goals and a higher quality of life, and these…

6 Tips To Stay Healthy While Living Abroad

Expat life opens the door to a plethora of fresh adventures and exploration chances. It’s easy to overlook your health while relocating to your new home country and focusing solely on the present. Here we look at what you can do to ensure you stay healthy while living abroad. Learning about…

Online Booking Platform For Furnished Apartments

Homelike is an online booking platform for furnished apartments, with 85,000+ apartments in 450+ cities. It is suitable for people on the move who are in need of accommodation from one month onwards with flexible move in and move out dates. With no extra customer fees (except in Spain) and all the utility costs…

3 Quick Ways To Put LinkedIn In Your Resume

These days, it’s almost impossible to imagine a job search without LinkedIn. This handy tool helps us with many things: from analyzing career trends to contacting recruiters and representing our accomplishments. So, you’ve written a catchy summary and a headline, included key skills and added samples of your work. Once…

Kyero Highlights French Overseas Property Market As ‘One To Watch’

New data from overseas property portal Kyero.com has outlined the latest changes in the European overseas property market during Q2 2021, as the company highlights growing potential in France. Kyero’s European Overseas Property Market Tracker for Q2 2021 shows that: The south of France is particularly in demand with Alpes-Maritimes,…

5 Tips For Expats To Maintain A Healthy Lifestyle

Leaving your country to live in another one is a childhood dream for many. But when we actually shift to another country we realize what a challenge it is. Moving to a new country can open better opportunities for us and helps us grow bigger in terms of our professional capacity but living as…

7 Fitness Tips For Expats In A New Country

Moving to a new country is a challenging task. It means starting a new chapter in your life, changing your environment as well as your habits. While it’s a great way to broaden your views and explore new cultures, it also presents unique challenges. Everything is new and exciting, but also stressful. Additionally, you…

Wanting To Work As An Expat Partner? Do You Really Want To?

When your partner is offered a career enhancing opportunity abroad and you decide together to take the step, the family will enter a whole new phase in family life. If you are happy to leave your job behind and look forward to spending more time with the family and building a new life in the…

10 Reasons To Learn French

Let’s face it, anyone who tells you that learning French is an essential part of the changing global landscape is either French themself, or trying to sell you something. That doesn’t mean that speaking “la langue française” isn’t cool, cultured and a hell of a party trick however. With French in your arsenal, you’ll certainly…

The Impact Of Giving Up Your Job To Become An Expat Partner

Not everyone outside the expat community responds positively when you talk about being an expat. Sometimes judgement is apparent; you can be seen as a spoiled, stay-at-home expat partner with no material needs or wants, spending lazy afternoons at the pool-side sipping cocktails with friends. This may or may not have been true many decades…

Initial Considerations

Will your partner be travelling with you?

If so, what will they be giving up in your present home and will they be able to continue with their career in your new home? You will need to check whether a separate visa is required for your partner to work or if your visa gives that right. If they are unable to work you will need to decide on the effect on your finances and what alternatives are available to give a fulfilling life (home business, training, voluntary work).

Are you taking family with you?

Moving with family raises many exciting opportunities, but also can create challenges. The HSBC Expat Explorer survey indicates that expat kids can take six months to settle in to their new country (see article). Getting young or even older children to prepare to move and leave their friends and family behind can be a challenge and should be thought through.

The options for education is another area that needs to be thought through.

Moving your child to a new country with a different education system can be a great opportunity to broaden their experience, but if they are close to key exams the timing can make this inadvisable. If you do take your family with you, it is important to decide between joining the local school system or choosing an international school.

Where will you be living?

Whether you will be living in a house or apartment, furnished or unfurnished, these decisions will affect what you need to take with you. The time you are planning to live overseas will also affect whether you should leave your property at home empty, rent it out or sell it. See the article Sell, Store or Ship.