Domi

re: European citizens can gain access to the French health service via European social security insurance forms, also called E-forms. These are issued by your home country. ..... and E106, basically for non-working people below state retirement age. Just to clarify that this does not apply to Irish citizens and residents.  Healthcare in Ireland is based on residency and not on the payment of contributions. A medical card which entitles holders to free visits to GP, medicines, etc, is issued to people on a very low income and to people over 70 (or 75, can't remember). Hospital stays and surgery is basically free. However there are huge waiting lists such as, up to three years for a bypass. E106 is issued to civil servants or employees posted abroad for periods of up to one year. I think the E121 is issued on the same basis as the UK, ie, being in receipt of an Irish pension. When I enquired in Ireland, I was told to use my E111/European Health Card until I was affiliated to the French Securite Sociale. This is a bit of an Irish solution to an Irish problem .... Dominique          

Thanks for your reply, which confirms what I thought (that there is no maximum) Dominique

Les Lauriers, re: 160€ a month equates to an income (RFR) of 30192€ (approx) and this is the amount that CPAM are allowed to charge if you fail to declare your income, or it may be as you say, that they believe that you are not declaring your full income and are thus charging the maximum they can under this piece of legislation. This is an interesting comment: do you mean that there is a maximum payable under the 8 per cent of income rule and that if your income (RFR) exceeds 30192 euro, you will still only pay 160 euro per month? I just wondered where you found the rule; I did have a look at something on a French website a while ago on CMU calculations, but can't say I understood it properly. Thanks for any info you can give me   Domi      

have a look at this link from an article in today's Sunday Times A friend who recently moved from London to France saved himself more than £1,000 by using a removal broker. These people take all the details of your move and then find the best quote. ET Brokers, the firm my friend used, charged a £35.25 fee (0870 800 3880, www.etbrokers-removals.com). Dominique

it would be helpful if I actually posted the link! http://www.geonumbers.com/fr/search.php I found this link on this other site which is quite good (in French) http://www.telephoner.free.fr/

this is the link Dominique

You have to ring Dell in France to order a PC or laptop with english keyboard or software; this option is not available on their website. Dominique    

again thank you for replies I had looked at the Siemens site but had ended up with a dead link and I though they had removed the page. I have since found another driver but it does not seem to work, that's why I was keen to try with the ethernet cable. I actually also use Avast but for some reason it could not find the file and I could not find it either. Actually it was a Trojoan Horse, one of the scvhost2.exe one. I disabled Avast to install some software and forgot to enable it again. I feel such a fool. Steve: I am sending your my email address. thanks again. Dominique PS: I now fully sympathise with users on a permanent 56k connection! PPS: somebody else today also advised me to go with Wanadoo for a better service but my American friend had a really bad experience with them: they gave her software for a PC when she had a MAC. The support telephone line people did not seem to know there was a difference in the software/drivers, tooks weeks to sort it out (despite my going to the Wanadoo store and refusing to leave until it was sorted out and being promised an engineer on site within 24 hours) Still Cegetel don't even send engineers on site. I think they are near me in Lyon perhaps I should pay them a visit? PPPS: I don't know whether to feel sorry or furious with help line staff: they sometimes appear to know even less than me, but it can't be much fun being on the receiving end of irate customers (I was not, I was very polite, guess I feel sorry for them - don't know if it makes a difference if you get really stroppy with them???)

I don't think the citizenship matters. What matters is having paid into the UK system. I am a French citizen who lived for nearly thirty years in Ireland. I could not get a E106 because the system of funding the healthcare system in Ireland is different from the UK and Ireland only gives E106 to workers being poted temporarily abroad. Being a French citizen did not entitle me to anything either since I had not been paying into the French system. The Irish authorities told me to use my E111..... Domi

You do not need ADSL to use skype, as it works quite well with an ordinary dial-up line. In fact the advantage of skype over similar type of programs is that it has been kept quite simple and will normally work behind firewalls and with ordinary telephone lines. Obviously you both need to be online, but if you download skype (the program) and keep it active (e.g. you will see the skype icon at the bottom of your screen) the person who is not always connected can "phone" you (it actually sounds like an old-fashioned telephone ring) I used it to speak to my brother in France when we both had a dial-up line and the quality was usually very good. You need a headset, but these are now quite cheap. you can get more detais on www.skype.com Domi

Apologies if this has been covered elsewhere but I cannot access posts after the first page e.g. when I click on next 10 or last, nothing happens. I also did a search which returned over 10 results and again I cannot access the results after the first page is there a way around this? thanks in advance for your help Dominique - Lyon

I was just wondering why nobody had made any comments on this? (Obviously title should be "no inheritance tax IF funds held offshore"). As I am shortly moving from Dublin to Lyon, I was interested to see Ireland mentioned in the reply. Dominique

This is a reply in answer to a question concerning inheritance tax in France. I find it hard to believe that inheritance tax can be avoided by holding the funds in an offshore account. Has anybody else come across this? Here is the link to the post: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Living-in-France/message/1362 Regards Dominique

I found this on a French govt. website Hope it is of some use regards Dominique http://www.impots.gouv.fr/portal/dgi/public/documentation;jsessionid=BYLJKUZMXPFPVQFI22UCFFWAVDT3YIV3?pageId=docu_impots&espId=-1&sfid=410# PS: link looks a bit weird! if it does not work, come back to me

Good day to you all. I have been following this board with interest as we are moving to Lyon at the end of the month. I contacted the Irish equivalent of the UK "Newcastle" section but they tell me I am not entitled to an E106. This is for workers being posted abroad who continue to pay social insurance contributions in Ireland. You can only get it if you provide an E101, and I had a look at that one, and we certainly do not qualify. I had another look on UK sites on criteria needed to obtain an E106 in the UK and it's a bit confusing. Some sites also mentioned that it was for workers posted abroad and others did not. The Irish dept. tell me that I can use the E111 until and if, we get a job in France, and to get an E104, which I understand from posts on this board is not acceptable. I also had a look at the CPAM website, which has a section specifically for British citizens, and it definitely mention that you need an E106. The Irish dept. cannot understand why an E106 would be issued by the UK dept under different criteria and why there is a different interpretation in the UK. The only thing that makes sense to me is that medical expenses incurred by British people in France are eventually re-imbursed by the UK government? if so, medical coverage in the UK and Ireland are quite different. For example, when you go to the doctor in Ireland, you pay for the doctor yourself unless you have a medical card (which I don't) and you are not re-imbursed, whereas visits to a GP are free in the UK. Does this make sense? For the time being, I have transferred my Irish private medical insurance to a "global" insurance which will cover us and I suppose we will just have to join the French medical system asap. As our insurance has to be taken for a minimum of six months, I wonder whether this was such a good idea as we will have to contribute 8% of our revenues in France, and will therefore end up paying twice. I was reading an article on a website called "French Entree" which states that the timing for joining the CMU in France is important and that the financial consequences of joining too early can be very serious: I have no idea what this means. Any ideas??? Thanks in advance for any advice and thoughts. Dominique