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Moving to France - Utilities, internet, banking, etc

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DodoPeru
  4/6/2016 10:36 EST

Hi,
my family and I will be moving from UK to France (outskirts of Paris) for 2 years in August. There were a few issues that we would appreciate any clarity on (and others will doubtless crop up!):

- Utilities: I hear that in France it is quite common for the gas to actually be turned off at the mains when one tenant leaves and before another arrives. Is there any way of ensuring that this doesn't happen so that we have gas and electricity on arrival?

- Banking: Can anyone recommend a good bank that we can set up our local account with on arrival? I shall still be paid in UK pounds into my UK account, but want to know the best way (and the best rate!) to be able to simply transfer some of this into Euro at minimal loss into a French account. For the record, I know that there will be a BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole and Societe Generale near us.

- Internet: What is the best way of setting up Internet for our new (rental) property? Is this something that we can expedite in advance as much as possible? Ideally we won't have to wait 3 weeks without it on arrival.

- Mobile phones: Ideally we would keep our UK iPhones and numbers (for use on return). What is the best way of finding out good PAYG or package deals in France? Can these be both with and without a new phone? Any recommendations?

- Cheap calls to UK: My wife is likely to be working from home and will need to make regular calls back to the UK. I recall years back, in the days when landlines were more plentiful, that in the UK one could simply plug in a code before entering the actual number, which could make calls to eg France or US only 1p a minute or similar. Does something similar still exist in France? Skyping is fine for family but will be a bit tricky with professional clients.

- Amazon Prime: We currently have Amazon Prime in the UK. Is there any way of 'transferring' this service to France?

Many thanks!

Beachstruck
  4/9/2016 11:58 EST

hopefyllr you'll get some replies. I am moving from California to France later this year and have the same questions

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xantippe
  4/9/2016 12:58 EST

I do not know about how one gets utilities put in your name before moving in. We have never rented here. I should think the letting agent would do that for you. You will have to tell them what electrical goods you will be running so that you can get the right wattage to your flat. It starts off at 3 and we run 12 as we have loads of stuff. If you don't have it high enough your electricity could cut out when say the fridge comes on or a kettle. The standing charge is based on what you get. It sounds complicated, but a person living on their own with few electrical needs pays the lowest price whilst a family of six with two freezers, six computers, washing machine and dryer in constant use will pay much more.

We have Orange to supply our wifi and telephone. You can get unlimited calls via your computer and wifi line for a standard charge. I think ours is around 40 Euros a month and we can phone the US and England as often as we want without extra charge. I also have Orange for my mobile with unlimited calls. You can get a mobile that gives a limited amount of phone time and unlimited texts reasonably. It depends on how often you use a mobile. I have unlimited phone and texts, but it isn't cheap, OH and Grandson have two hours phone and unlimited texts. There are cheaper companies but I prefer to keep it all with one.

I would ask at BNP Paribas about having a euro account and see how much they charge to transfer money. Otherwise you can go with one of the Money transfer people such as currencies direct. Our pension is paid in the US and we have to write ourselves a cheque every so often to transfer it to our French account. Inconvenient but we cannot do anything about it.

I shouldn't think your Amazon Prime would be effected if you change your address online. I do not know perhaps someone else has more information on that.

Hope that helps.

ezechiel
  5/26/2016 04:30 EST

Hello, I hope this will help you

Regarding the utilities, i will advice you to see directly with the real estate agent or the landlord to have an agreement over that.

For your banking, i regularly find the Société génerale to be the best for international transactions. I may not have tried the other ones but i am at the société générale and very glad.
Also in case, for financial advices and tax returns you should check this firm : cabinet roche & cie, they have great advices for expats and people installing in France, they helped me a lot.

Internet : check with the real estate agency or the landlord if the optical fibre is availaible in the building, if yes contact the operator running it and tell them about your installation. If not, contact any operator (i prefer orange) for them to prepare you an ADSL box, regularly they work in 2 hours.

Concerning your phone : I will advice you to check with Bouygues or Orange too. Anyways, avoid SFR. I have never seen such high phone plan prices in my life. They also propose special plans with different countries. Check with Bouygues.

I can’t help you for amazon prime sorry.

Have a nice day !

ezechiel
  5/26/2016 04:34 EST

Hello, I hope this will help you

Regarding the utilities, i will advice you to see directly with the real estate agent or the landlord to have an agreement over that.

For your banking, i regularly find the Société génerale to be the best for international transactions. I may not have tried the other ones but i am at the société générale and very glad.
Also in case, for financial advices and tax returns you should check this firm : cabinet roche & cie, they have great advices for expats and people installing in France, they helped me a lot.

Internet : check with the real estate agency or the landlord if the optical fibre is availaible in the building, if yes contact the operator running it and tell them about your installation. If not, contact any operator (i prefer orange) for them to prepare you an ADSL box, regularly they work in 2 hours.

Concerning your phone : I will advice you to check with Bouygues or Orange too. Anyways, avoid SFR. I have never seen such high phone plan prices in my life. They also propose special plans with different countries. Check with Bouygues.

I can’t help you for amazon prime sorry.

Have a nice day !

Stevenstruck
  5/26/2016 10:17 EST

Thank you. That utility information is very helpful.

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ladygris
  5/29/2016 05:50 EST

Tried to get Amazon Prime in France and it was blocked because the IP address was French.
I never transfer money with a bank, the exchange rates are poor, always use a currency trader like Cambridge or currency direct. also check Englishspoken.com
Orange for telephone and cell, but only the landline works for free calls to US and UK. They also have english speaking. Britline for banking and insurance as they speak english.

LovetheBeach
  5/29/2016 12:31 EST

You can access Amazon Prime or Netflix by using a Virtual Private Network, or VPN. It hides the ISP where you are located and provides an ISP from the USA. There are a number of them at a very reasonable annual fee. "Hide My Ass" and "Pure VPN" are 2 I am familiar with and have used. They're both highly rated. Just google VPNs and you'll find lots of them. Check out the satisfaction ratings and choose one. You can access pretty much anything that is geo-restricted.

LovetheBeach
  5/29/2016 14:27 EST

CORRECTION: That's an IP, not ISP.

Leamuse
  6/6/2016 05:08 EST

Having moved from California to the south of France, nearly nine years ago, I can assure you that until you manage to provide an EDF facture (bill for electricity) you cannot get a bank account or the internet. Despite having purchased a house, in my name, I was unable to open either until I could provide a bill from the EDF. As for gas, I am in a small village on the Mediterranean and purchase bottled gas as needed so i cannot help you there. Léa

Leamuse
  6/6/2016 05:08 EST

Having moved from California to the south of France, nearly nine years ago, I can assure you that until you manage to provide an EDF facture (bill for electricity) you cannot get a bank account or the internet. Despite having purchased a house, in my name, I was unable to open either until I could provide a bill from the EDF. As for gas, I am in a small village on the Mediterranean and purchase bottled gas as needed so i cannot help you there. Léa

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jrobbins
  6/13/2016 16:02 EST

Amazon prime is easy. My US subscription works perfectly in France with no change needed. I get free shipping and watch videos etc.

For phone, TV, internet we use France Free, Free.fr It costs us 33 euro a month with 2 hours of free cell phone usage. (If you use the mobile phone a lot you may want to look for other options. The land line calls almost all over the world for free.
If you want to watch British TV try the Film on app for free. I plug my computer into the TV.

John

MarkEJohnson66
  8/23/2016 07:37 EST

John, how does your Amazon Prime work? I am a recent expat moved to Paris from California. So far I've only tried Amazon Prime for its streaming videos, without success. (I think I need a VPN service, as suggested above.)

I haven't tried to order anything to be delivered through the mail, however. Does that work for you? Are you still logging in with your American(?) account, but specifying a French delivery address?

Thanks.

-Mark

antifreeze
  8/27/2016 13:40 EST

My wife and I are also planning a move from California to France...Nice. And I'd like to open a bank account prior to our move. Not an easy task, if not impossible. In an earlier post, someone from the San Francisco area mentioned that he had done it through BNP. I checked with their office in the city and was told that they were only interested business accounts, that if I wanted to open a personal account, I should try Bank of the West...which BNP owns. Of course the Bank of the West option works only in the States.

Currently, I'm trying HSBC which has an office in Oakland's Chinatown. They can do it. HSBC has an international banking commiytee (IBC) that reviews one's request to open an account in a foreign country. If approved, then it will happen. While this is admittently a simplification of the process, it might be an option worth checking out.

Also, I would be curious if any folks out there in Expatexchange Land have opinions on this option.

Antifreeze

Diane2263
  8/27/2016 14:39 EST

HBSC also has a branch in LA, which I was hoping to use to set up an account. Unfortunately for me, the account needed to maintain a very high balance that I can't commit to, so it was not an option for me. My house closes on Sept 12th and although I have friends who are trying to get things done for me, I'm getting hung up on the bank account. You also need to have home insurance by the date of the house closure, and they want a French bank account for that. Oy.

antifreeze
  8/27/2016 15:16 EST

Dear Diane2236,

Yes, HSBC also asked me for a high deposit...$100K. That was rediculous as far as I was concerned. What they kept stressing was the "relationship" with the client. Having worked serveral years for a bank, I can tell you that what they really want are all of your assets, at least the banking ones. I told them "no", that it was not possible. We then moved down to a lower grade of deposit leve.
What HSBC originally wanted to sell me was their Premium, that is highest level, account. If I did that then the work with the IBC (see above reply) would be free. That's nice, but not worth it. At then next lower level of account, which I began to think of as affordable, I could still get the IBC service, but for something like $200. If you are interested in HSBC, check the personal account informatio that is on-line. I hope this is of help, if not to you, then to someone.
Antifreeze

Diane2263
  8/27/2016 16:57 EST

This is good info - I wish I had it a few months ago! I have a feeling the IBC will not approve of an account in as little as a week, which is about the time I'll have if I went there Monday.

But this should be really helpful to someone just starting the process.

Thanks for posting it!

RubyTooz
  8/28/2016 05:16 EST

Hi Diane,

Once you have an address in France, you can open an account at Crédit Agricole from the US. They have an English-speaking department called Key Finance that works pretty quickly. If there is a minimum balance, it's pretty small. Here's the phone number for the one in the Languedoc region tel: 00.33.4.27.84.15.32
www.ca-keyfinance.com

Best of luck,
Dennelle
www.renestance.com

pleasehelpsarl
  8/28/2016 06:52 EST

Hi Ruby,

I strongly suggest (running a relocation company myself) that you wait till you get to France before opening that account with the credit agricole as the 'minimum' requirements are not an obstacle at that point. If you have a HSBC account, you could even simply request a French account.

Kind regards John
pleasehelp.fr

OldPro
  8/30/2016 11:47 EST

Sometimes I can't help but just shake my head at the things people do and the complications that they get themselves into.

You know, once you get a visa for a country, it is very easy to proceed from there. Here's how it goes.

You sell up where you are, buy a one way plane ticket, arrange an account with a Forex company and go.

AFTER you arrive, you find a place to rent for at least the first year or two and then go about arranging the usual tv, internet, electric, banking, etc. requirements that you have.

After a few years, if you find that you are likely to 'stick', you might think about buying a home.

Yet time after time we read here about people trying to do things up to and including buying a home BEFORE they even get there. I can only shake my head as forum rules do not allow me to say what I am really thinking.

The OP asked some reasonable questions, but some later posts that incidentally, are 'hijacking' his thread with their own questions rather than starting their own thread, are asking questions about problems they have CREATED for themselves.

I have lived in half a dozen countries over the last 26 years and have never had any problems with any of those moves. I arrive, I find a place to stay, I arrange for utilities, bank accounts, etc. Done.

Diane2263
  8/30/2016 12:03 EST

Dannelle,

Thank you - that's helpful!

Diane

terrig123
  9/13/2016 11:24 EST

OldPro: If you are coming from an non-EU country like the USA, you have to have an address and a return plane ticket to even get a residence or long-term visa, so your advice here is very misleading to folks.

ellenycparis
  9/14/2016 10:03 EST

I would like to know what Old Pro means by a long-term visa. As I think I said here before, my current visa is for 10 months. No return ticket was requested or required.
"Residence" can include "chez [name, address"]. I am indeed living "chez [name, address," and that's what I provided. Chez means: in care of..
As others have posted elsewhere on the forum, the residence is only one of a number of required elements for a long-stay French visa.
--ellenyparis

terrig123
  9/14/2016 11:38 EST

When I mentioned long-term visa, I was referring to the visa stamp you get to stay for over the 90 days permitted to non-EU citizens. It seems to vary by country as do the requirements to even get it. For Portugal for example, many consulates in the US require a return plane ticket and a rental contract before they will consider your visa application. For OldPro to ignore these requirements is simply bad advice for people who come here seeking information and help.

ellenycparis
  9/15/2016 05:09 EST

Fine for the explanation re Portugal. What I posted, though, applies to France. I agree that posted info should not be misleading. I would also point out that this is the France Forum and a topic w/ France in the topic name.. To post HERE about Portugal - and without even specifying the country -seems needlessly confusing. At least it was to me. I would hope we could avoid such avoidable confusion. The topic Moving to France in itself can be confusing enough!

ellenycparis
  9/15/2016 05:09 EST

Fine for the explanation re Portugal. What I posted, though, applies to France. I agree that posted info should not be misleading. I would also point out that this is the France Forum and a topic w/ France in the topic name.. To post HERE about Portugal - and without even specifying the country -seems needlessly confusing. At least it was to me. I would hope we could avoid such avoidable confusion. The topic Moving to France in itself can be confusing enough!

ellenycparis
  9/15/2016 05:19 EST

BANKING - I am more and more irritated by certain practices of my bank, Credit Agricole, but ny particular Paris branch has personnel that are "English speaking.." Changing banks can be a horrible process, so I would be grateful to know what is wondeful abouy Societe Generale? For others prefering to bank in English, Barclays is an option in Paris but it has few branches compared to most banks..

OldPro
  9/15/2016 10:50 EST

Ellenycparis, I don't know where I wrote about a 'long-term visa' on this thread.

For all EU countries, someone who wants to move needs to get a 'type D' visa which allows them to stay for 120 days. During that time they then apply for a one year residency permit. I suppose that is what you currently have.

The confusion comes in when someone who is in the process of getting the type D visa, assumes that every consulate asks everyone for the same requirements before issuing one. They don't.

All I wrote is that you first get a visa. I mean a type D visa and that you satisfy any requirements a given consulate asks you as an individual to satisfy before they will issue you a visa. I have suggested NOTHING in terms of what those requirements will or will not be for any given individual.

As for return tickets and rental contracts etc. they may be asked of one person and not mentioned at all for another person. Some people get hung up in the process details and can't see the foret pour des arbres. I think I made it clear in my comments that that is what I was suggesting.

Kathling9
  9/15/2016 12:30 EST

Hello. I am an American who just moved here in June.
I have had no problem with my Credit Agricole account and regularly transfer money from my US bank (3 days and a $3 fee from my US bank), using an exchange service -- US Forex in my case.
My US retirement pay funds go directly into my US account every month, as that is the best set-up for me.
A week after I arrived, I ordered Free internet, landline, and tv. I had the system boxes delivered to my temporary apartment and set it up myself with a little help from the Free assistance phone people.
I also bought a new French phone and subscribed to Free mobile.
So far, I have had no issues with any of it. Free allows calls to UK and North America at no charge, so I talk with someone in either or both places daily.
My US Amazon prime tv works here fine, and the no fee prime shipping does as well, as long as the vendor ships to France.
I haven't ordered from Amazon.uk yet, just Amazon US and Amazon.fr.
I hope some of this helps.

ellenycparis
  9/16/2016 07:27 EST

AS A SHORTCUT, I'M POSTING COMMENTS INLINE. (NO OFFENSE IS MEANT BY CAPS...)

Hello. I am an American who just moved here in June. I have had no problem with my Credit Agricole account and regularly transfer money from my US bank (3 days and a $3 fee from my US bank), using an exchange service -- US Forex in my case.

Kathling9 -
I'M ASTONISHED THAT CA DOESN'T CHARGE YOU TO RECEIVE YOUR $ + CONVERT THEM TO EUROS. DOES FOREX DO IT AND NOT CHARGE YOU?? EVERY U.S. BANK I CAN THINK OF CHARGES MUCH MORE THAN $3 TO SEND $,... SO HURRAY FOR FOREX!
My US retirement pay funds go directly into my US account every month, as that is the best set-up for me.
BY CONTRAST, DIRECT DEPOSIT, IS BLISSFULLY FREE. :)

US Amazon prime works here fine, and the no fee prime shipping does as well, as long as the vendor ships to France.
"THE VENDOR SHIPS TO FRANCE," THAT'S A BIG IF -- AND POTENTIALLY THE BIGGEST BARGAIN KNOWN TO MAN. WHAT % OF YOUR VENDORS HAVE SHIPPED TO YOU IN FRANCE?
Merci!

ellenycparis
  9/18/2016 19:03 EST

AS A SHORTCUT, I'M POSTING COMMENTS INLINE. (NO OFFENSE IS MEANT BY CAPS...)

Hello. I am an American who just moved here in June. I have had no problem with my Credit Agricole account and regularly transfer money from my US bank (3 days and a $3 fee from my US bank), using an exchange service -- US Forex in my case.

Kathling9 -
I'M ASTONISHED THAT CA DOESN'T CHARGE YOU TO RECEIVE YOUR $ + CONVERT THEM TO EUROS. DOES FOREX DO IT AND NOT CHARGE YOU?? EVERY U.S. BANK I CAN THINK OF CHARGES MUCH MORE THAN $3 TO SEND $,... SO HURRAY FOR FOREX!
My US retirement pay funds go directly into my US account every month, as that is the best set-up for me.
BY CONTRAST, DIRECT DEPOSIT, IS BLISSFULLY FREE. :)

US Amazon prime works here fine, and the no fee prime shipping does as well, as long as the vendor ships to France.
"THE VENDOR SHIPS TO FRANCE," THAT'S A BIG IF -- AND POTENTIALLY THE BIGGEST BARGAIN KNOWN TO MAN. WHAT % OF YOUR VENDORS HAVE SHIPPED TO YOU IN FRANCE?
Merci!

DLR1963
  8/28/2017 09:11 EST

Some of these I simply have no info on, but two of your questions I may...

Re: Phone
You might examine one or both of a couple options. 1) Look into dual SIM phones with one some from each of the areas (UK and France in your case). Both sims can be active at the same time. It's essentially having 2 active phone numbers on the same device at the same time.
Or...
Consider using an App like WhatsApp on your smartphones. This will allow rich messaging and calls placed over WiFi (watch your data plan and usage).

Re: Amazon
My wife and I are US expats living in Mexico. We had an Amazon Prime account in the states. Upon moving to Mexico we found after a brief period that our Prime account services were substantially different because the IP Address identifies your global location and offerings are different per location. So, it may still work, but may not be what you have now.

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