Q & A

Subject: Would like to move family of four to France.

Question: First I want to thank you for putting up such useful informations on your site. However I still have questions. My husband and I are planning to move to France with our two children. My question is where do we go to apply for long term visa and also apply for work permit before we leaves the States. Do you have to have been accepted by the french company before applying for work authorization? We're not sure if we'll be accepted but we still want to go.The thing is we make o.k. money here in the States but we realize that our family is the most important thing to us and while we're working and killing ourselves here we hardly have anytime for our children. So as you said it we want to live to work and not work to live. And France seems to be the place for us because my husband already had prior knowlege of French, he can speak,read, and write and he had been there several times to visit and thought that it's the place for us. Even if we're not making as much as we are here, we're willing to sacrifice that but we don't want to move there and not be able to support ourselves. So if you can give us some advice of how is it possible to get some works there even just doing small things like teaching English several times a week. Again thank you so much.

Answer: For information on a getting French visa see, http://www.americansinfrance.net/DailyLife/VisaInformation.cfm, it has all my info on that subject.
With moving your family to France, I would not suggest it based on what you tell me in your question. Right now finding work in France is very hard. I have been looking for five months now and have yet to find anything. Yes, you could teach English, but that will not support a family. That is assuming you can acquire the right to work in France, through a French company or some other way.
France is a wonderful place to live, but you still need income and stability. In reading you question I don't see how you will have either.
I don't want to kill your dream, but on the other hand I want you to know how I see things. That is as someone that lives in France and has moved a family there. I understand your need to slow down and enjoy your kids, but moving to a county with a different culture, way of life and language plus the problem of not having work rights, will I feel, not answer your needs.
Maybe moving to France is possible if you have enough money to make the move plus support yourselves for a few years. That along with a lot of willpower and self-confidence might make it a doable proposition.

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