Hi

Applied for a job in France.. Should be right up my street , doing what I am good at in possibly  the best location in France . Amazing mtb and road riding within minutes of work, skiing too for half the year as well.

Brexit is going to screw us royaly , and the industry which I am in is going to suffer as it is basicaly an avoidable non essential item you can easily go without if short of a few £££’s.

I am 49 ( yep, i know I look about 48 ) single, no wifey , no ex wifey , no kidz. Own 75% of my flat , own 25% of a BTL, have 2 years worth of take home pay stashed plus about  £150k in PPP’s already . I know i am exceptionally lucky ( a series of relatives died and left me lump sums, and I made alot when Maggie sold off everything )

If I get offered  the job I guess  rent out my flat  and rent initially in France . I dont speak great  french, its ok but not good enough but the area is full of Brits anyway .

Its a bold move . I am usually risk averse  but the risk is relatively low for me. Currently I am  not  on  a full time contract, but float between different employers as and when required . Like an IT contractor, but on 1/4 of the day rate.

Please either talk me out of going, or kick me up the arse and tell me to grab the opportunity ( if they want me ) with both hands and get gone .

Right now if I had a clean chance to get the hell out of Dodge I’d take it.

If you can keep your property then what’s the worst case scenario if it goes belly up over there?

Just do it, you’ll regret it if you don’t.

I’d make a big effort to improve your french between now and then – that will only be seen as a positive by anyone; including at the interview.

Cannot possibly say anything else here except bon voyages!

Without any strings you’d be mad not to.  GET ON THE DAMN PLANE

You need to ask?

Give it ago you can always come back in March.

Are you on the plane yet?  Yolo and all that shit

Can’t really see the risk. You have a decent safety net and it sounds like not much job security at the moment. Just get on with it. It won’t all be perfect but it’ll be a nice change. Seriously, get packing!

Go for it.   You have a fall back position.

Don’t end up in the old peoples home, sat there in a warm adult nappy dribbling into your soup wondering what it would have been like if you had given France a go.

you wouldn’t see me for dust……..

Applied for a job in France.. Should be right up my street , doing what I am good at in possibly  the best location in France . Amazing mtb and road riding within minutes of work, skiing too for half the year as well.

Why have you not gone purely based on this? your next four paragraphs only sweeten the deal.

Just remember, they drive on the wrong side of the road over there 😉

In your position, I’d do it. Look, if it all goes to shit and you end up missing home too much, you can always come back and it’ll have been great life experience.

just throw yourself into it when you’re there. Don’t just hang out with Brits – you’ll never learn a word of French that way. But having loads of them out there will be a big help in getting around any sticky boring-real-life-bureaucracy type situations.

Only thing I’d want to get sorted is a path to residency for stability.

considering I was thinking of doing this with £4k to my name recently, you’re so wealthy you have nothing to worry about and you can always come back to the thunderdome if you don’t like it. I’ve relocated to Denmark but not sure if contract will be long enough to dodge brexit at the moment, so will be looking at France again, must be some good contracting in Paris

Early retired and living about 45 mins from the Pyrenees, been here for 2 and a half years now……

There are challenges in moving here, but none that can’t be conquered, learning French being the biggest as it opens so many doors. The pace of life here is very slow and the bureaucracy is incredible, but the people are so welcoming, the scenery is absolutely gorgeous and there’s no traffic on the roads.

I love living here but really need to improve my French as it’s stopping me making friends and getting involved.

Where are you potentially heading for?

I’d post a humble brag thread from my phone whilst booking my plane tickets from my office computer, before leaving in such a hurry i risked noticable shrinkage.

I cant belive thats even a question….

Especially as you will have a fallback property in the dusty husk of what will be left of the UK, after March…

Are you on the plane yet?

To summarise:

1) you say your job may disappear in UK

2) the riding and skiing

3) you have a huge financial security cushion

Bon voyage.

Go. Walk out the door. Don’t turn around now (it falls apart  at that point sadly)

We’ll be coming to visit though, so make sure you get a place with plenty of spare rooms

Go for it. We’ll stay here and try to fight off the zombies.

other points of note. I have  a real French surname , and my Dad was not born here but on a French colonial Island so that will help smooth the path a little

Although I am in a great positiion financially ( more blind luck , plus the only single thing good  thing my alcoholic Dad did was made be get a pension at 17 ) its all  relative. Owning alot of a small flat on the south coast  is ok , but not as good as owning a house in Surrey for example .

The job is in Haute Savoie , need to be  abit careful as there is a tiny chance my future employers could be on here.

I loved the Pyrennees when we went to Argeles Bazost (sp) and did some amazing road climbs , seemed idylic and anywhere down near there would be a great place to live

One negative would be the lack of windsurfing , although Lake Annecy is not far away , nor Lac Leman either. slight lack of waves though

Well that question hardly needed to be asked. Living abroad is a great experience under normal circumstances. All the brexit shit just makes it a no-brainer. Are you there yet?

Even if you don’t really settle there and end up coming back (and plenty fall into this group), you’re unlikely to regret having given it a go.

No strings? What are you waiting for?

I did toy with the idea of Italy many years ago. Too much baggage now. Little pang of ‘what if’ from time to time.

Just post on here and make us all jealous, esp >29 March 2019, whilst we clear up the s..t that is, err you know what.

as i am off today I am going  for a bike ride. far too  nice to be tapping away on a computer. although I really should be typing invoices.  au revoir etc

As people have said there doesn’t really seem to be a downside. I did something similar 13 years ago and I’m still out here. Depending on your level of French, the Michel Thomas audio guides are worth a look, I found them very useful..

I moved to Switzerland and there were a lot of hoops to jump through at first.
<span style=”font-size: 0.8rem;”>France is notorious for it’s level of bureaucracy, so depending on how much help you get to get settled that might give you a negative impression of things at the start. Once you’ve got a place to stay, have registered with the authorities etc then things should calm down. </span>

I’m surprised your even asking..

The grass isn’t always greener,but in your situation what have you got to lose?

You wouldn’t see me for dust.

If you get the job, go for it!

Being in Europe when Brexit happens might get you some rights?

You’re a brewery right? Beer scene in France is picking up, as far as small breweries go. Lots of opportunities.

Lake Annecy is beautiful too

Also, an opportunity like this might not be possible after we leave the EU

Any Irish grandparents? An Irish passport could help you long term.

Lucky git! My brother keeps trying to persuade me to do similar, but I have, well, you know, a kid.

Your flat would rent out easily… can’t see a downside really.

If you have an escape plan, i.e. the ability to go back to the UK and get yourself a similar level of job you have now, then you’re not really risking much. You have a lot of security with your equity in the UK, so why not? Protect your pension is all I would say.

One other thing…… We might just be unlucky but whilst there are lots of brits here, those that we have met are either much older than us and therefore just here for a quiet life, some are a bit eccentric (I guess the UK didn’t understand them) or they’re running away from something. I can honestly say I haven’t met a ‘normalish’ brit here who is into the same things as me (bikes with or without engines). So as I say, good French would help enormously.

If you go for it, bonne chance!

I am 49 ( yep, i know I look about 48 ) single, no wifey , no ex wifey , no kidz. Own 75% of my flat , own 25% of a BTL, have 2 years worth of take home pay stashed plus about  £150k in PPP’s already . I know i am exceptionally lucky ( a series of relatives died and left me lump sums, and I made alot when Maggie sold off everything )

You know with a dating profile like that I’m amazed you are still single.

You know with a dating profile like that I’m amazed you are still single.

Were you biting your bottom lip as you typed that? 😀

No creating a fake online id to lure him into sending me all his cash!

Go…and find yourself a lovely French lady* too. Life could not get any better. My plan has always been to eventually make my way down to France to finish my career/retire. I really hope Brexit doesnt screw that up.

(*or man)

I can’t see how you could end up any worse than staying in this craphole post Brexit.

Take your happy-go-lucky attitude and fancy pants job and thoughts of living a fabulous lifestyle and stick it .

Danz Les Frenchaise..

Awesome opportunity 👍☄️

The job is in Haute Savoie

You cannot seriously be debating this with yourself still?

Go.

APF

Go for it!

In the spirit of a little practical advice though, check the French tax law for overseas income, you’ll (probably) need to pay tax on rental income on the UK apartment and probably also on the BTL, in France, not in the UK. This can make the tax returns a bit more of a headache so best get on top of it early.

Leave now, do the forms on the plane.