im from the US and i plan to move to france within the next couple of years. hopefully southern france/ toulon where my wife was born.

whats the government and courts like? say if i got a speeding ticket, or did something bad enough to go to jail for a little while. do i have rights to fair trials and to be represented by a lawyer?

what should i know about moving there? what jobs can i get? i dont speak any french now but plan on learning as much as i can before i get there.

are there any reasons not to move to france?

im just tired of the BS here in the US and how our country is going downhill and want to move to a better place.

 

Try posting here www.s2000.fr/forum

A lot of them speak good English and I'm sure they'll give you some good advice.

 

I'm from Toulon .

France is not like USA lol, you can have fair trials and you will have lawyers,
Recently new laws are coming for the road
(+50kmh over the speed limit, driver licence retired and "go to jail"), under the +50kmh, it's a ticket and points.
By the end of the year, I'll be in a "military" Police school of the "Gendarmerie Nationale", i'll know much on tickets etc etc.

But if you have your "American driver's licence", I think, you will not be annoyed with the "points"
(In France we have 12 points on our driver licence, when we achieve 0 points, we can't drive anymore and we have to re-pass the driver's licence), I think you wife knows the system.

But don't be afraid of France and its system, better than the US one.

For the language, The French Riviera like we call it
"Hyeres/Saint Tropez/Cannes/Nice"

Regarding your actual job, you can easily find one, English spoken is a very good advantage.
I worked for I*B*M in Nice, and most of the employees were Romanian, Indian, Americans, French etc, and we spoke a lot/wrote mails in English,
but it's the computer science world

Tourism is a big part of this "region", and English/German people who came here speaks english, you can find a job in Tourism too.

Ask your wife, if she grew up in France before going to USA, she will know how it works.
Try S2000-passion or S2000.fr if you want answers. Most of us speaks english

hope it helps a little, and excuse my English

 

If you relocate to Europe, you will be forced to get a European driving license (of the country you are living in).

You might ignore this, and keep your american license (you will need the "international driving license" add-on thought). But if the police realize that you are actually EU resident then you will get into more troubles (that's asuming you don't have special conditions.. like diplomatic, military, etc etc..)

French police is bitchy (that's a fact), but there are worse

English is a good thing to know.. but if you move to central-south Europe you *must* learn the local language (whatever it's), you *might* have luck and find some work where only english is necessary.. but if you want to do a normal life (meaning: interacting with the real world), you need to speak/know French or German or Spanish or whatever. Scandinavia is more english-friendly thought... France (as country) is definitely NOT english-friendly (but you will find many helpful Frenchs, that's for sure)

You will get fair trials and right to legal representation (I had to smile when I read that question) if you are concerned about it, you might want to get a legal insurance. It will cover the legal costs of potential car, work, home.. related things, depending on how much you wanna pay.

 

Thanks for the feedback. im still a little on the fence about moving or not, but America is pissing me off more and more and I dont have much reason to stay.

im going to try to learn french as best i can before i go.

is it hard to join the gedarmerie? that seems like a job that i would like.

is it hard to register an american car over there? what car should i bring with me? i think it would be cool to have something thats only available in the US if travel over there. Im thinking of buying a ford or chevy diesel pick up truck to bring with me.

 

Gendarmerie is like the "Police" but we belong to the DoD/Military Army, better respected by the French than the "Police Nationale"
I think if you are not French, You can't apply to this "job".

If you want to bring a car with you, don't bring an American truck/van, you can find something similar here.
If you want something exclusive, bring an old V8 beauty like a Dodge Charger/Ford Mustang Mach 1 or something like that.
(example, you will buy it 5000$ in a good shape in your country, French fans will pay 15000euros or more (20 000$) depending the shape for a car like that, you can earn money.

examples :
http://www.voitures-americaines.com/...p?siteid=28181
http://www.voitures-americaines.com/...p?siteid=28279
http://www.voitures-americaines.com/...p?siteid=27790

advice, pick an old Charger or Mustang, people want those models.

You have the "homologation" to do, it's not easy, but will be easier with an old car.
You can pick new generation of Mustang/Charger/Camaro, even the v6 model (17 000$). You will sell it faster than you think, even at a higher price (30 000$ in France, if new).
It might be a win/win situation for you... with the actual rates... you will lose money if you bring your cash.
Might be a better situation to invest on goods/car.

 

ive been reading up on the gendarmerie but there isnt much info in english. i would get my french citizenship before attempting to join. how long is training?

i wanted to bring something like this:




a nice charger runs about $50,000USD now. classic cars are getting hard to find, the people that have them restore them and sell them for a lot.

 

Training last 10-12 months before you get your affectation (police station where you will live/work, house provided and no rent), which depends on your rank at the end of the school, you can be send to the north/middle of France if you are bad at school, or even worse, in the "Gendarmerie Mobile" where you have to be out of France for 3 months operations(maybe 6) per year. You are paid approximatively 1500euros/month (2100$) during the school, more when you leave it, even more (salary x3) when you are out for mission in foreign countries.
The school is hard.

I suggest you to obtain the French nationality, and maybe look for Customs job (Near Nice, there is Menton where Customs are. You have the international airport of Nice, or Marseille one)
English will be appreciated, because of the strangers looking to enter France.

No hard military "strings" in the Customs, the job will be easier for someone who don't like the military spirit.

--

Too bad for the old classic cars.
But you can bring a truck like that lol, there are monsters, the first one is very big. I like it.
But roads here are smaller than yours. Driving with a monster like that will be sometimes hard.

A friend's father have a Chevy Avalanche (2002), it is big for our roads, imagine the first truck !
the neighbor of this friend have a Hummer H1 (a lot of people are looking for this one too), when they meet front to front on their road, they are stuck. But it's not like that everywhere, and don't think to go to cities with that... parking will be a PITA.

You have to inform you on the "homologation", because it's the only problem (or not) if you want to drive an imported car in France, especially if it's not sold in France/Europe...

My friend who has the Avalanche owns a Chally SRT8 2008 too, he paid it 64 000$ with 1000 miles on it (ready to be driven in France), in America, it costs 44000$, but seller took his part and procedure etc, extra 20k for a rare piece...

Like I said, older cars are easier to "legalize" (+25 years old) because of the collector status. An old truck/pickup will be great too

 

Holy sh*t

 

The world outside the U.S. is civilized