So you're moving to Paris! You're going to love it here :-) For work, for school, rekindling an old flame (it is the city of love, after all!)? Well for whatever reason it is (even if just a longterm vacation), I'd love to share my tips with you to help you get started! Moving to Paris for me was actually a big twist of events, at the time I was based in Milan, Italy completing my masters degree. Toward the end of my program I needed an internship and my intentions were to stay in Italy (where another huge piece of my heart permanently resides, it won't come back to me </3). The job scene in Italy at the end of 2012 was not looking so good and I happened to stumble across an internship opportunity in Paris. I thought to myself, "Paris? Why not?". After a few interviews and some tests I packed up my life in Milan and trained it through the Alps straight into la capitale!
I knew - 1. no French (yes, I am Canadian but did not spend a whole lot of my time in Canada's education system!), 2. I knew nothing about Paris (except I'd been there twice before, once when I was 16 and again when I was 22) and 3. I knew... well, nobody! So, I'm cool with challenges - I had to figure stuff out the hard way, in a foreign language and culture. Parfait!
If I could have only had someone explain to me exactly what I needed to know when arriving, it would have made my life so much easier and so much more efficient! Here is the help I dreamt of. Voici, Intro to Paris 101.
It's safe to stay you'll start with some hurdles -
HURDLE #1: You need a cell phone (and obviously data has to be included), but you don't even know what the phone companies here or how to even begin choosing the best one!
There are a lot of different phone companies (e.g. Bouygues, SFR, Orange, etc) and they are going to require a FRENCH bank account. Don't run away just yet and think you need to open a French bank account, 'cause the French bank will tell you that you need a French phone number first to open the French bank account. Wait what? So how do I...?
Here's how to break this circle of perpetual hopelessness - walk your butt straight to a place called "Free Center" at this address, 8 rue de la Ville l'Évêque, 75008 Paris. When you walk in turn to the left and you'll find a bunch of digital kiosks (like the ones you use to buy your tickets at the movies). Follow the instructions on the kiosk and you'll have an active SIM card in your hand, one of the best phone plans around and a phone number in less than 5 minutes. Aha! Circle of perpetual hopelessness overcome!
HURDLE #2: Now the bank account. You got the phone number, now you need to establish yourself with a French bank account.
Since I have the wonderful liberty of being honest here, I recommend you just forget about all the banks - they are a nightmare and incredibly unorganized and inconsistent with their advice and requirements. If you want to be efficient and get things done, I recommend applying to ING direct. ING is perfectly transparent as to what their requirements are, all you need to do is tick off the requirements of the checklist they provide you with and your MasterCard gold (MasterCard is also a debit card in France) will be at your doorstep in no time. Doorstep? Ok, let's go to hurdle #3.
HURDLE #3: The apartment. The hardest part, and I can only help you to a certain point here because even I still can't get this straight.
When renting an apartment in Paris, the process kind of works like applying for a job. An owner will post that their apartment is available for rent, and they will in turn expect dossiers consisting of your work contract, at least 3 months of paystubs, recommendation letters and French guarantor all neatly organized. Good luck! I guess the impossibility of this dossier is pretty obvious - you just got to Paris and they want 3 paystubs upfront (but you didn't even start work yet...) and how are you supposed to have a French guarantor if you're obviously foreign?
Luckily, there are some ways around it! Subletting is an option, or you might also come across some more lax people (try not to lose too much hope!). One thing that is very necessary to know and understand is that apartment hunting in Paris is a full-time job, be sure you treat it that way or you'll be searching for a very, very long time. Here are some useful sites to get you started:
www.apartager.fr
www.leboncoin.fr
www.pap.fr
Now that you have mastered these three hurdles, you are almost there! To really settle into Paris there are two final very important things you'll still need to take care of - one of them right away, the second in about a year if you're working in France.
HURDLE #4: Social Security - Carte Vitale
I won't go into details about how to navigate it all, but if you're struggling with French I am super pleased to share with you that they have an English hotline where someone will be able to help you. You can access info regarding support in English here.
HURDLE #5: Taxes
I can't go into details here either, my suggestion is to learn French as fast as possible or make friends with French speakers because there's no way to dodge this complex subject. The first year your declaration must be made in person the following years it can be done online - so it's really that first year that is the hurdle.
If you find this info useful, I'll be happy to publish more articles on other useful topics. :)
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