Those ishers who live abroad

[oldfella]

Just a quickie, just answered the front door, it was a neighbour, with a pheasant,and hare he had just shot on our land, and as he had plenty in his freezer he thought we might like them.

[Millymollymandy]

I've been on French forums for 6.5 years now and have seen them come here full of how much they hate England only to turn round after 2 years or more and go back, suddenly realising England isn't such a bad place after all. Those who are still here after about 7 or 8 years are probably those who are going to stay! It all depends on whether you can get work cos it isn't cheap to live here and so many end up working in abbatoirs or chicken processing factories cos that's about all they can get.

I loathe the word integrate as I've seen so many predictable arguments/discussions on the forums over the years about this word! If you are a sociable person who likes to go out then that's fine but if you prefer to stay home with your own company then that is not NOT integrating! We have absolutely no interest in going to dances etc which is about all that is on in our village! We see most of our neighbours at hamlet get togethers and others we see more often or email and they are around if we need each other.

I don't go on the French forums any more as I'm heartily sick of the same old arguments/discussions and now only frequent Brittany forums where it's mostly about having fun and I know quite a lot of them personally as I've met them over the years. However there are very few English who I know who live anywhere near me so every now and again to get to go to an English get together is fantastic and so lovely to speak my language and more importantly understand it! I speak intermediate French even after studying the lingo on an off for about 13-14 years now over the decades and it's never going to get much better.

I'd be perfectly happy to live back in England after 15 years away (Netherlands, Geneva borders and Brittany) but until we can afford a property like we have now with land then here is where we will stay. OH works from home for his own limited company writing and editing English language publications for multinationals - often has to speak in French to his clients but the subject matter is in English so it's easy for him as his English is brilliant so he can earn several hundred euros in just a half hour then go out and turn compost bins! However be warned you WILL need an accountant to set up a business such as a SARL or EURL in France even if you are fluent and incredibly intelligent as it is mega complicated. As for the red tape here the French moan about it and find it just as frustrating as the British (I can't comment on other nationalities here as I don't know any).

I love going back to England but don't get to go very often (average once every 2 years ) and really enjoy it when we do go back there - although we hated doing so for about the first 7 years. After that you start to appreciate your own country a lot more. But I am always happy to get back onto French soil and French empty roads!!

[pelmetman]

Before we moved to Lincolnshire, we contemplated moving to France but as I still have to work part time and my customer base is in East Anglia, we could of made the fortnight delivery run work, but when we investigated the cost of the ferry, tunnel it was too expensive

We have just booked a trip on the Chunnel and it is miles cheaper now ...........France might be back on the agenda

Dave

[happyhippy]

Hi all,I was born in the UK,emigrated to Australia as a child,spent 30 years there,and returned to the UK 10 years ago,not because I had to,I wanted to! I brought with me my two daughters then aged 9 and 11 yrs.We initially decided to give it 2 years and if we did'nt like it,we'd return back to the land of Oz!10 years later we're all stil here and my two girls are adament they won't return to Australia to live.Both countries have pro's and con's,neither is better than the other,just different.One show that truly annoys me is "Wanted down under"I've never watched so much **** in my whole life!Bout time they showed the "real"Australia I think!

[vancheese]

Born and bred in England - married a lovely english lass who grew up in a Hungarian speaking region of Romania and Hungary. We moved out here two years ago. I'm fortunate as I'm a scientist and have a Ph.D in chemistry. All science is communicated in English in written form and spoken forms at conference level so I've managed to get a job at the university as a researcher!
Didn't speak a word of Hungarian before coming here -The language is damm hard and unique! The upside is that people can be rather patient with you as you struggle with the grammar and pronouncation but then other can be rude. After 2 years, I can get by, some days are great others are terrible!
The life here is amazing, people have a strong sense of family and community and things just are very crazy here (Now is the season of Pigkilling!) and things don't work as efficient as the UK. You have to be prepared to drink strong spirits at every time of the day!
Another plus is that there are very few street lights in the country so the sky at night is beautiful!!

[Millymollymandy]

Before we moved to Lincolnshire, we contemplated moving to France but as I still have to work part time and my customer base is in East Anglia, we could of made the fortnight delivery run work, but when we investigated the cost of the ferry, tunnel it was too expensive

We have just booked a trip on the Chunnel and it is miles cheaper now ...........France might be back on the agenda

Dave

Just so long as you stick to the chunnel side and not the Brittany Ferries side of France, then you might change your mind again. And on a practical note if you continued your business, you would have to start it all up in France and pay social security contributions and taxes here, and for a part time job it would not be worth it moneywise.

[oldjerry]

I'm sure that one reason many people relocate (at least to Europe) is the relatively cheap prices of property in some areas.In fact the prices seem to have risen in some areas as a result of incoming UK residents,and in eg Tuscany,property
prices have gone through the roof.
That said,if the selling of your place in the UK leaves you abroad with a property thats paid for,your level of income becomes less important,and the whole thing becomes more doable.

[pelmetman]

Just so long as you stick to the chunnel side and not the Brittany Ferries side of France, then you might change your mind again. And on a practical note if you continued your business, you would have to start it all up in France and pay social security contributions and taxes here, and for a part time job it would not be worth it moneywise.

Thats interesting MMM, so if all my customers are in the UK I would still have to operate as though I were supplying customers in France
Are the tax rates in France much higher than UK and when do they kick in?

[Flo]

Well speaking as a Cornishman living abroad (england) you have to put up with a lot of strange customs,and everyone talks funny,I cant understand a bloody word they're saying.

Know the feeling - having worked in Cornwall on and off then ended up in Northumberland, I know two foreign countries without needing a passport. Kids were born in the West Riding and were equally convinced this is a foreign country when they moved up here at around age 10/11.

[TheGoodEarth]

You have to be prepared to drink strong spirits at every time of the day!
Another plus is.....

Ha ha ha - I like your attitude.

[Millymollymandy]

Just so long as you stick to the chunnel side and not the Brittany Ferries side of France, then you might change your mind again. And on a practical note if you continued your business, you would have to start it all up in France and pay social security contributions and taxes here, and for a part time job it would not be worth it moneywise.

Thats interesting MMM, so if all my customers are in the UK I would still have to operate as though I were supplying customers in France
Are the tax rates in France much higher than UK and when do they kick in?

It doesn't matter where your customers are, it's where you are resident and if your main or only home is in France then you'd be deemed resident here and thus you would have to set up a French business. It's not the tax which is the crippler here it's the social security charges, which you pay irrespective of whether you earn a penny or not! It's not like being self employed in England and just paying your £3 a week stamp (or however much it costs nowadays). Things have changed since my husband first set up as self employed (before he changed to a limited company which was financially more sensible) and the scheme that low earners use is called 'auto entrepreneur' I believe. In the past you paid out more than 50% of what you earned on the self employed regime in taxes and cotisations (social security - like NHS contributions). I don't know how much that has changed but it's never been a good deal for small earners/part time self employed type businesses.

[pelmetman]

Thanks MMM for your reply.

Looks like its back to the drawing board Think maybe we'll stick with the original plan of moving back to Dorset and going to France for all our holidays. Best of both worlds.

One of these days we intend settling down somewhere

Sue

[Millymollymandy]

I think that is far more sensible!!! But as I said Brittany Ferries is very expensive so you've either got a long haul to Dover/chunnel area on the English side or you pay up to about £500 (depending on peak times etc, but even off season can still easily cost £300) for a trip over with a car from Portsmouth or Poole.

[pelmetman]

You can get better prices if you keep looking MMM. We understand that SeaFrance are offering 6 crossings (3 returns) for £207 at moment to be used within the year.

Having a camper we are used to doing the long haul! The more you travel both with Eurotunnel and Ferries you get a regular user rate which works out quite a bit cheaper to.

Sue

[Millymollymandy]

Yes but that's all the other side of the country - no decent deals with Brittany Ferries and the best you can get is LD Lines from Le Havre, which is still quite a long way, even from NE Brittany where I am. It's 2 - 2.5 hours just to Cherbourg (Brittany Ferries). I know you can travel cheaply if you go to Calais or Boulogne! It's all rather dependant on where you want to go in France, but if you have a camper and are on holiday then that's different from when you live in Brittany and want to get to SW England! And they've even scrapped the winter ferry from Cherbourg to Poole, not to mention most flights not happening in winter any more either. Obviously not many tourists left except in the summer months!