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Sprogster

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Posts posted by Sprogster

  1. If you look at the new French EU standard driving licence there is very little in French, other than the words driving licence and the republic of France, as it is all numerical and Roman letter based with shadow pictures of the class of vehicles authorised.

    No doubt to make it readable internationally without the need for any understanding of French!
  2. Nectarine, as someone who travels to the USA several times a year II can tell you categorically that you do not need an international driving licence to rent a car in the USA.

    Early last year a law was introduced in Florida to require an international driving licence intended for visitors whose licences were not in Roman script, but after an outcry the law was swiftly repealed!

    In fact I would go as far as saying showing two driving licences in the USA to a rental car employee would more than likely just confuse, as they just want one licence number on the contract.
  3. You need to obtain expert advice as to whether your particular make of US car can actually be made road legal in France/Europe, as for example it might not meet the tighter EU emission requirements. Other problems can involve changing indicators from red to yellow, as if that make of car is not imported into France the required parts such as new European yellow indicator lights might not exist.

    If the model of car is sold into Europe then it should be possible, but the cost is likely to be considerable as will be the non EU source import taxes and 20% TVA (sales tax).

    I recall other posters in the past complaining of the French bureaucratic nightmare registering a British car in France, which can take ages, so buying in France might be the better idea. 

  4. On this and the other main French forum I participate in, I have only come across one poster who said they had managed to get into the French health system before the 5 years, as you are quite right in that the French authorities seem to be ignoring the EU ruling. I have heard that the higher your income the better chance you have and the lower your income the more resistance you will meet. My advice unless you are going to work in France would be to investigate private health insurance as soon as possible, as you don't want to take the risk of being without cover, whilst you attempt to join the French health system, as the financial consequences could be disastrous if you fell ill. Also I believe that when you have been resident for 5 years and do qualify for French health cover the authorities will require evidence that you were covered previously by private insurance as a qualifying condition. Contrary to popular belief the EU free movement of labour provisions do not apply to inactifs, who have to demonstrate sufficient financial means. 
  5. I get the impression from the OP that there might be a misperception that benefits are standardised throughout the EU, when the reality is that they differ from country to country. Also that because it appears other EU citizens can seemingly arrive in the UK and automatically be entitled to benefits that the same must apply in the opposite direction, when nothing could be further from the truth.

    As retirees moving to France from the UK they should be entitled to health care as the cost will be met by the UK under the reciprocal S1 arrangement, but their adult daughters will be looking at the need for private health insurance unless they can find employment and will not have access to other French benefits unless they have a sufficient history of paying in to the French system and even then the qualifying criteria seems to be much more stringent than the UK.

    However, all this pales into insignificance compared to the elephant in the room and that is that unless the daughters become reasonably fluent in spoken and written French, then the odds of them being able to successfully establish and run a French business with the accompanying bureaucracy, are stacked against them. 

  6. maidofallwork, it is an aceepted fact that France is not self employment friendly due to very high cotisations and if your French friends are sef employed I would be amazed if they thought any differently. Check for yourself by researching, as it does worry me you presume benefits are similar in both countries being part of the EU, when nothing could be further from the truth.

    I don't see any problems in you retiring to France, other than if you are on a lowish income, as with the weak £ you might not find your pension stretches as far as you think and unlike the UK health care is not free at the point of delivery.

    As for your daughters, it is a different kettle of fish as they will probably find it a struggle to make a living, especially with the economic problems France is currently experiencing.

  7. lehaut makes an interesting point which is backed up by the surprising lack

    of posts in the education sections of this forum, in that there has not been

    more than one page of new posts since June 2011. The same pattern emerges from

    the other French forum I am a member of.

    There is no doubt that in the last few years the number of younger Brits

    moving to France with or without children has fallen substantively and many if

    not most that moved during the heyday of the early noughties have left France,

    the OP being an example now ensconced in the land of the free.

    Not surprising really, with the depreciation of the £ and deteriorating

    employment situation in France. Also the demise of the prime time TV Place in

    the Sun type programs probably has something to do with it!

     

     

  8. In the local paper back in the C.I. you get a lot of private for sale adverts for French mobile homes at knock down prices, that have been bought as second homes in France, that the owners are now desperate to sell. I get the impression that they are a depreciable asset like a boat or caravan, so you are very unlikely to get your money back when you come to sell.

    If you are looking a buy a holiday home and the finances only add up if the costs can be covered by renting, it is probably not a sensible thing to do, as there are too many variables you cannot control or influence.

  9. The main reason we chose the South of France is that whilst we were realistic and did not expect warm weather in the winter, we did assume looking at the Cote D'Azur's historical sunshine record, that  it would be relatively sunny, even if it was cold. What we did not anticipate was climate change and the run of bad winters we are currently experiencing, which most weather experts are predicting will last another ten years or so. So instead of sunny crisp winter days, we have had continous amounts of record rainfall, wind, storms and sub zero daytime temperatures with snow even down on the Med coast! All a bit of a bummer really, as it is back to the drawing board as to where to go for the winters when we retire.

    Still love our little area of France, but a winter retreat from the rain and cold of a northern European winter, it is not!!

  10. I have a house in south east France near the sea and if the truth be known the weather in the south of France from late October until May is not good and much colder than you might imagine, with snow right down to the Med last winter. In fact in recent years the winters have been very wet and cold, so would suggest you spend a winter in France before comitting as if a hotter climate is one of yoir motivating factors you might want to re-consider and go further south like Oz!

    The other important factor to check is the cost of running your business in France, as France is not self employed friendly with very high social security costs that can swallow up half the business income.

    Last but not least I think you will have a shock as to the price of property in the south of France and I would concur with other posters that your budget won't go far, especially with the weakening £.

    On the positive side, property prices in France are in the doldrums and forecast to continue to decline over the next few years, so no need to rush.

    The most common advice given to new posters considering moving to France is rent before you buy, as selling in the current French economic enviroment can be a challenge, take years and involves far higher costs than the UK. As if you decide after a year or two in France that things are not working out, you don't want to find yourself stuck with house that you cannot sell, a predicament many Brits currently find themselves in.
  11. Is living in France worth the risk if you cannot afford a Mutuelle? The reason I ask, is that it seems to me having a potential liability for 20% of your medical costs could turn into a potential nightmare if you are taken seriously ill, or involved in a bad accident, which could run into thousands of euros. A French neighbour of mine is currently on the latest kinese enzyme inhibitor super drug for cancer and the three tablet a day regime she was told costs the French health service over twelve thousand euros a month, which would be unaffordable for most if you had to pay 20% of the cost.

    Presumably if you cannot pay you are putting your house at risk if recovery proceedings are taken against you? I suppose the fall back is you can return to live in the UK, but it does make me wonder if those without a Mutuelle fully understand the risk they are taking. 

  12. I have just had a relative undergoing a hip replacement privately and they had an epidural with sedation and amnesiac drug. So convinced were they that they had a general anaesthetised I had to double check with the doctor who confirmed that with sedation and the amnesiac drug most patients cannot tell the difference!

    The problem with general anaesthesia is that medical science still does not fully understand why or how it works!!

    As someone who has had multiple colonoscopies and gastroscopies I have been told that a degree of patient cooperation is helpful ,as if you are able to indicate it is getting uncomfortable the risk of a bowel perforation is reduced.

    Cheesie is correct about the memory and confusion dementia related complications that can arise with a GA. Also if you are overweight, smoke, drink frequently, have high blood pressure or lung problems, then a general anaesthetic carries much higher risks.
  13. Colonoscopies are usually done under sedation and often with an amnesiac drug, so you do not remember anything afterwards. As a result some patients think they have been given a general anaesthetic, because they do not remember anything.

    I have had numerous colonoscopies over the years and paid to go privately, so cost was not a consideration. On each occasion I was sedated at my request and told giving a general anaesthetic was discouraged because of the risk of the anaesthetic itself and a higher risk of bowel perforation if the patient was unconscious.

    Talking to family members who are doctors, apparently the riskiest part of an operation is the general anaesthetic, especially for older patients whose memory can be permanently adversely effected, and recovery takes a lot longer.
  14. I think TC has overlooked the potential benefit for an individual who's income is in sterling borrowing in sterling secured against your UK property, in that this enables you to lock in the current exchange rate for the entire purchase price on the French property, thereby protecting you against further weakening of the £.

    For example, someone buying a property in France six years ago on this basis would have been able to buy euros at around 1.46 and have saved themselves the financial pain of servicing a euro mortgage at the current rate of 1.15.

    Also TC has ignored the fact that French lenders are required to apply a stricter affordability criteria than UK lenders, whereby interest and repayments on a borrowers total debts must not exceed one third of their income.
  15. The first thing you need to check is whether or not they

    require a visitor’s visa, which from some South American countries are required

    to visit the European Schengen area. As a visitor they will be allowed into

    France for a maximum of 90 days.

     

  16. The absence of winter flights to many of the rural French provincial airports reflects the reality that there is little demand in winter. Dare I say if the current weather pattern prevails for the next ten years as the Met experts predict there might be a lot less.

    Dave though is totally correct, as Ryanair are at loggerheads with the French government at the moments and could easily scale back further their French operations if they lose their Marseille legal case and Flybe are in serious financial difficulty.

    Citiyjet are for sale and Easyjet do not generally fly to the rural French airports as that is not their business model.
  17. Interesting programme last night on BBC2 about Ryanair and Easyjet, which was positive publicity for both airlines.

    Interestingly, Michael O'Leary admitted on camera that the stories about investigating charging for using the toilets, the possibility of having some passengers stand and other type sensational headline making proposals were not true, just publicity stunts!

    He went on to say that Ryanair do not employ a marketing company for reasons of cost, so come up with these headline grabbers by way of getting free publicity.

    Certainly works if I recall the forum discussions about some of these so called ideas!!
  18. Retired Brits in France have their health care paid for by the UK under a reciprocol agreement promulgating free movement within the EU for EU citizens.

    France has no similar agreement with the USA or other non EU countries, so the French authorities are understandably concerned that any non EU citizens applying for a long stay visa will not become a burden on the French government  and therefore apply stricter criteria than for an EU citizen who has certain automatic rights. Hence the need for a visa if you want to stay in France or Germany for that matter for more than 90 days, which EU citizens do not require.

    I am sure you are aware that the USA would not allow an EU citizen to retire to the USA, so the situation is not unique to France.

  19. I would have thought that private health insurance costs in France and Germany would be broadly comparable.

    Unless you also have an EU passport, you will require a long stay visa stay in France more than 90 days, which requires evidence of sufficient financial means, which I don't think you meet, a medical and evidence of fully comprehensive private medical insurance. This visa which is aimed at non EU retirees does not allow employment though and has to be obtained in your home country before you enter France.
  20. I would have thought the first port of call should be the French Embassy website or local French Consulate to enquire as to the visa options.

    Long stay non working visas are available to wealthy retiree non EU citizens but are not as easy to obtain as in the past, as they now have to be applied for before entering France and are subject to a medical, financial means testing and evidence of fully comprehensive private medical insurance.

    As for being able to work, forget it, unless you marry an EU national, work for an international company who will offer you an inter company transfer to their French operations, or have highly specialised skills that no other available EU citizen has.
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