What to do and where to do it?

[SheilaM]

Hello all,

My husband and I (having become totally disillusioned with life en Angleterre) have started researching the possibility (or not) of living and working in France.  We are currently learning the language (me with the aid of an aquaintance from Nantes via private messages in a Motorsport forum!) and have no set time limit within which to fulfil our dream (unless of course we win the Euromillions Lottery tomorrow :)).

If (and at the moment it is a very big IF) we do decide to eventually settle in France, our ideal location would be around the 37, but I suspect there is little chance of work there, beautiful though it is.

I am a Practice Administrator for a small firm of solicitors in England (before that I was a legal secretary for 30 years) and my husband is currently a van driver.   We haven't got masses of money to throw around but we would like a better quality of life than we have now.

We realise that living in France sometimes isn't all it's cracked up to be and we would hate to make the mistakes that the people on "No going back" make, hence the research stuff.

We also realise that no matter how many French forums we subscribe to, no-one is going to send us a PM saying we are exactly what they need and would we like to work for them and oh, by the way, accommodation in the Chateau will be provided free of charge[;-)]

Our "opportunity for a solution" (we don't do problems!) is, we need to change our lifestyle, but to do so, we need to change our jobs - does anyone have any suggestions as to what we COULD do (once we have learned enough of the language).  I guess in my case I could always try a Notaire or an Immobilier, possibly assistiing British clients. 

Comments and advice please?

[shimble]

you could well aim for a job within the realm of agence immobilier or legal secretary i would like to make a point however

there is a growing industry built up of encouraging english to restart their lives in france this is profited by the agence immobilier and the building trade and also those working on the black helping the english acheive their dream home. a large percentage of  these people do go back to england after either not finding work or by finding that if you try to start your own legitimate business in france it will be complicated hard work and you will pay a large portion of your earnings in tax and other charges. im sure it is profitable to sell the same houe twice in three or four years especially when your friends or involved with the builders that do the renovations.

if you get involved with the legal side of administartion i would think that you would have many english clients that will need an intermediary between the english and the french you will need a good understanding of french and you will need a patient boss who is prepared to explain all the little clauses if and buts surrounding the subject you are dealing with i would think there are more and more adminstartive positions that will need to be filled by an english speaking person in order to deal with the english in france that are trying to deal with the ridiculous amount of administrative nonsense that needs to be dealt with in order to earn legitimate money while in france if you get a job on salaire this will be your best option. you should aim for agence immobilier, notaire or even working for urssaf of the hotel des impots in the dordogne there is a section at the tax office given  over to exclusivly to dealing with the english in the region

your husband may find work here either on salaire or on the black then again he may not

ive watched these forums for some time and have lived in france even longer it is not always easy but if you can manage to earn enough money to live on it is definately different to living in england

[Just Katie]

Hi Sheila,

Would it not be possible to stick to something you know about?  Could you not sit your conveyance exams, start building up contacts for leads from estate agents, financial advisors are even sub contracting from large firms of solicitors?  You could then register a UK business which is easier than registering in France to set up a company conveyancing by e mail. 

Of course the taxing would be different but I believe you will still be liable for french social charges.

PLEASE SOMEONE CORRECT ME IF I AM WRONG.

[Rob Roy]

Couldn't you work as a virtual legal secretary - I understood that many legal firms now outsource their work.

[SheilaM]

Yes, I could do Conveyancing exams but they would be of no use whatsoever in France (unless of course I took them in France!)

As for registering a UK business and working in France I was always under the impression that it would cost me twice as much in taxes.

I was made redundant from my previous job 18 months ago and tried to set up a secretarial business working from home.   I did the advertising, the mailshots and 18 months on (and 12 months into my current job) it still hasn't taken off.   I still have the website so perhaps that is an option.

The original plan was for me and my husband, my son and his girlfriend, to sell up here in England and find a business that the four of us could run together.  Sadly, my son and g/f have taken themselves off to Australia for a year.  I suspect that they will return there to live, which totally screws up plan A!

This plan of ours is very much at the basic research stage and if it's going to happen at all, it won't be in the immediate future (unless our numbers come up on the Euromillions that is).

I am grateful for all replies and if anyone has any more suggestions, please do let me know!

Sheila