France: A Handbook for New Residents [Paperback]

'This encyclopedia-style handbook leaves no stone unturned, covering every aspect thinkable for those relocating to France. Essential for new residents, a complete reference guide. A thoroughly informative book.' French Magazine'The information within the guide is catalogued in logical sections, with a useful index and is clearly laid out. In addition, the text is broken up with numerous illustrations, diagrams and tables to further ease reading, all of which makes it an easily navigable manual that will greatly benefit any newcomer to France' Living France

This Essential guide to living and working in France is a ready reference for new and established resident and home-owners. You need not read it cover-to-cover to glean information, as it consists of more than 1,000 encyclopaedia-style entries, each containing key facts and many with references to more comprehensive printed and online publications for further information. Moreover, there are two indexes, one in English and one in French, so you can rapidly find facts by starting from either language.

The approach is bottom-up. This is a book about France and
the French as they are, not as they might be seen from somewhere else. So,
save for international statistical rankings, there are no comparisons of
the country or its inhabitants with other countries or peoples. The entire
book was meticulously copy edited by a native French editor, to ensure that
the French terms and expressions are correct and current and that the more
than a thousand entries are objective and accurate.

The Essential Guide to Living and Working in France is a Ready
Reference for New and Established Residents and Home-owners.

You need not read it cover-to-cover to glean information, as it consists of
more than 1,000 encyclopaedia-style entries, each containing key facts and
many with references to more comprehensive printed and online publications
for further information. Moreover, there are two indexes, one in English
and one in French, so you can readily find facts by starting from eigther
language. This is the one book on living and working in France that you
can't do without.

Living and Working in Norway has become the benchmark in its category. Over many extended visits to France he compiled copious notes and expanded them considerably after buying a property there in 2003. This book makes the results of that undertaking available for other new residents and long-term visitors from other countries.

Chapter 1
Arriving and settling

When you go to France with the intent of staying, you are following in the
footsteps of many who have gone before you. Since the early 19th century,
France has been a country that has taken in and been shaped by immigrants,
so much so that an ambitious project, the National Centre for Immigration
History (Chapter 20) in Paris now commemorates and documents the impact of
new residents on the country and its culture.

Like a tourist, you may visit France and stay there for up to three months,
provided you have a visa or are a citizen of an EEA (EU and EFTA) country
or one of the 33 other countries for which a visa is not required.
Thereafter, your permission to stay depends on your nationality. If you are
a citizen of an EEA country or Switzerland, you may stay and work with no
further formalities, but if you are a citizen of another country, you will
need a residence permit to live in the country and a work permit to take
employment. There are varieties of residence and work permits that depend
on the reason for your stay and on your nationality. Likewise, for a visit
of up to three months, you may bring and use personal belongings, including
a car. But for longer stays, you will be required to import belongings and
in some cases pay duty, particularly on a car. The complete details of any
of these matters would fill this book, so only brief summaries are given
here along with addresses, telecommunications numbers and Internet websites
where you can find further information.