Sprogster

Janusian, one thing you might want to investigate first is how disabled access rights and facilities in France compare with the UK, as it seems to me that the UK is better in this regard. I may well be totally wrong, but when I am in France there does not appear to be as good a level of of disabled facilities especially in non public buildings and access to many attractions, shops and restaurants surprisingly do not have disabled access provision, which in the UK the owners would be legally compelled to provide . Good luck with your venture.    

Abra, non EU citizens can only legally spend a maximum of six months in any one year in France and indeed the EU, unless they obtain some form of long term visa. The French immigration authorities are increasingly able to monitor this, as they are now electronically scanning and logging vistor passports on arrival at their major airports . As you are no doubt aware post 9/11, US immigration controls have tightened to the point of putting off tourists, as all  US visitors including EU citizens are now subject to finger printing on arrival and any over stay even if by an untinentional couple of days leads to an automatic ten year ban from the USA! (From this October full sets of prints of both hands will be taken). Partly as a result, the French immigration authorities have become far less flexible in the application of their immigration controls on US citizens.

AC50, I am sure if you ask your husband about the problems concerning the French University system he will fully aware of the political issues as they formed a cornerstone of President NS election manifesto, as NS sees radical University reform as a key element in creating a competitive and diverse French economy. Another problem has been years of chronic underfunding other than the two Grand Ecoles, to the point that many French University buildings are in a surprisingly run down state. The current low world rating of French Universities is not the result of a survey, but several well regarded international rating systems that again I am sure your husband will be familiar with as an academic. My earlier point was that as an academic family the wonderful success of your children, may not be a realistic comparison for parents whose children have an average academic ability.  

I think one needs to be very cautious about encouraging parents to move teenagers to France especially over the age of fourteen, unless the teenager has an absolute desire to do so and a history of strong academic ability. The risks are very real and I certainly would not want the responsibility of encouraging a potentially disruptive move at such a critical time in an average teenagers education, if it did not work out as hoped. You may not think your children are exceptional, but your elder daughter who is trilingual and going to start a masters degree and of whom you are rightly proud, is certainly well above average.  Incidentally, the French University system is not currently well regarded internationally, with the highest rated French University placed at number 45 by world ranking. Something that the new President NS has pledged is his first priority to rectify. 

There is a very good reciprocal health agreement between Jersey and France whereby Jersey residents are covered in France for any emergency hospital treatment on the same basis as a French resident. This does not cover visits to GP's, however the cost of visting a GP in France is less than Jersey so this is probably not a problem.

Be very, very careful about selecting travel insurance based mainly on price, as a lot of the cheaper travel insurance policies have so many exclusions as to be worthless. Such as not including medical repatriation. This is very much an area of buyer beware and those who read the financial press will know travel insurance is an area the insurance industry is under increasing pressure to get it's house in order. The most valuable element of travel insurance is for medical related claims and some insurers will use every trick in the book to refuse a claim, usually by stating that some unconnected visit to the doctor years before should have been disclosed.

As someone that travels this route on a regular basis a lot depends on the wind direction, swell and tide. As if there is little or no swell coming from the Atlantic and the wind is from the East or South the sea conditions can be surprisingly moderate even with strong winds. Condor will normally operate up to Force 6-7 on this route, as I have experienced on many occassions! The good news for Thursday is the weather forecast is for a Force 3 becoming Force 2 on Friday. Happy sailings!

Dordogne must have the cheapest diesel in France. When I drive from St Malo to the Var, I find diesel prices average between Euro1.15 off the autoroute to Euro 1.21 on the autoroute. Also don't forget that at the moment almost all motorways in the UK are free, whilst the excellent French autoroutes are mostly toll and the toll fees are getting much more expensive.

The French no longer have an infatuation with the Bidet, which due to rapidly declining use is rarely included in new French builds these days. Something to do with the French having showers and baths more frequently instead. The custom in France of having the toilet in a seperate area to the bathroom is based on good hygiene principles and is normal in many countries such as the USA. I believe it is being encouraged in the UK with new builds, where space permits. Why? Well without trying to gross everyone out, studies have shown that if you have a toilet in a small bathroom you can end up with facael and urine contamination on your toothbrushes. Something that is made worse by men usually flushing the toilet with the seat lid left up!!!!!

Thought it might be of interest to home owners in Brittany and the St Malo area, that if their travel needs require getting to Heathrow, Jersey has regained its direct Heathrow air link after seven years. BMI are operating two flights a day with an Airbus A320/319 and at the moment return fares of around £70 appear to be widely available. In addition, BA have increased their Jersey to Gatwick flights, which they operate with 737's, to five or six a day to cope with demand. With up to five return daily high speed car ferry sailings from St Malo to Jersey each day in season, at around £30 return for a foot passenger, it is an alternative travel option worth knowing about.

Gastines, Condor have not operated a catamaran for many years now. Condor currently operate a year round service to Jersey using Condor 10, which is a St Malo based car carrying wavepiercer. In addition from April to October they supplement, this service with Condor Express, a larger wavepiercer, which stops off at either Jersey or Guernsey on alternate days on its way to Poole. In addition a new ferry service called HD Lines, which is Jersey based, commenced operations in March. operating a high speed car carrying ferry to St Malo twice a day. As a result there is currently up to six high speed car ferry sailings a day between Jersey and St Malo.  

Logan, if you are correct and British house prices fall 10 to 15% there will be a likely knock on effect for the sectors of the French provincial housing market that relies more on British than French buyers. The turning point for the £ will not be when Euro interest rates are higher, but when the forex market perceives £ interest rates have peaked and the next likely move is downwards.

Interest rates are being increased by the monetary authorities, to specifically cool down what is seen as an overheated property market and keep the lid on inflation. Therefore , interest rates in the UK and Europe will continue to be increased until there is evidence of this being achieved. There is however one further factor that British owners of homes abroad need to consider and that is currency fluctuation and the future value of the £. Following an unusually long period of stable low inflation and resulting £ stability, many currency analysts are predicting a significant potential weakening of the £ in the next year or so. The impact of this, if it happens, on top of higher interest rates would be to considerable dampen the market for homes abroad especially those that have appealed to British buyers.   During previous credit squeezes, second homes tend to be sold first as generally they are a luixury and not a necessity.

If you are going to rely on a UK sterling source income do not forget to factor in an allowance for currency fluctuation, as there is increasing sentiment in the currency markets towards a weaker £ in the future. So if the £ depreciated 20% against the Euro, what impact would it have on your French buying power?

In another similar forum (the one that must not be named!) there is a section on selling up and moving on and back, that attracts an active number of posts. I suggested a while back that this forum should add a similar section, as it is clearly a popular area of ongoing discussion.

According to a new series called 'Selling houses abroad' that started on Channel 4 at 8.00pm last Tuesday, two thirds of Brits that move to France return to the UK within three years. How accurate this statistic is I am sure is questionable, but  it does highlight what is undoubtedly a very high return rate.  I am sure there are some forumites who will become defensive in perceiving this in some way as part of the totally irrelevant argument as to which country is better or worse than the other, when it is not. What it more likely reflects is a lack of adequate planning and realism by the majority that make the move, as to ones ability of being able to earn a living and adapt to a new country without the necessary language skills, which can be more difficult to achieve than they think. Therefore, forumites who have made the move then returned to the UK and bravely share their experiences should be commended, as it is part of life to learn from others experiences.

If you are UK domiciled and ordinarily resident, you are are liable to UK income and capital gains tax on your world wide income and gains, no matter where it arises. In addition, your wordwide assets are liable to UK inheritance upon your demise. The only exception to this are UK residents who have a domicile of origin outside the UK and who have not acquired a UK domicile of choice. The French Fisc and the UK Revenue and Customs now freely exchange information about each other's residents. Therefore, if you sell your maison secondaire in France information held by the French Fisc on that transaction will be passed on to Revenue and Customs, if you are UK resident.  

Menerbes, know where it is?! Thanks to Peter Mayle and  his novel 'A Year in Provence' too many people know where Menerbes is!

As most French in the UK probably live in the greater London area and most expatriates don't bother to register with their embassy, the figure of 300,000 is probably therefore a gross under estimation if 270,000 have bothered to register with the French embassy in London! (The French Embassy would base their figures on French nationals who have registered with them as resident in the UK.)

Pancake, I am curious why you are leaving OZ to return to Europe, when increasing numbers of us seem to be heading heading in the opposite direction to OZ and New Zealand, now that immigration controls have been relaxed in OZ and NZ somewhat for skilled European migrants?  If I was younger I would see a lot more opportunity in the new world than old Europe!

For those that question the significant growth in the French population and French owned businesses in London you only have to go to an area of Kensington that is now being nicknamed "Little Paris", to see for yourself!

The figure was given at the time of Sarko's visit to London and was sourced I believe from the French Embassy. The first time I believe a French Presidential candidate has travelled to electioneer to a French national population outside France.

LONDON! With a French population of over 300,000 London is now apparently the seventh largest French City in terms of numbers of French nationals. I am always bemused by the attitude of some forum members that the last person to leave Blighty should turn the lights out, when in fact there is an accelerating trend of French nationals in the opposite direction! Is it the case of if you want to downshift you move to France, but if you want to upshift you move to the UK?!

As Peter mentioned there is a comprehensive recipricol health agreement between France and Jersey.  

A Blackberry is a specialised derivative of a mobile phone that gives you direct access to your email and microsoft outlook on your PC desktop. The Blackberry works on 'push' technology in that emails and outlook updates are automatically copied to your Blackberry device, wherever you are in the world as long as you are connected to a mobile phone network, without you having to manually connect to your email provider and download them as you would do with a laptop.  Whilst Blackberries have become hugely popular worldwide, especially with businesses in the UK and USA, they have not caught on to anything like the same extent in France, to the frustration of the Canadian firm behind the technology. The perceived reason being cultural, in that it would appear many French employees do not accept being connected to their office 24/7!!!