This blog is a continuation from my last blog. To summarize, I want to live in france maybe for a few months, or even live there for a few years; depending how much I like it and how much I get accustumed to it. So I realized other poeple, especially graduating students looking for a break from school and the “real world” have the same question and concerns as to how easy it is to just pick up and move to another country! I’ve done some research and the following are all the necessities needed to cross oceans and stay there!

First, of course, you need a passport to exti the U.S. with your identity, and take it elsewhere. In the interest of my personal country of choice, I will base this on moving to France, but most of the requirements for moving to France should be the same or similar for one moving to any other place in the world outside the U.S. Anyway, if you don’t have your passport, you’ll need a copy of your birth certificate. You can obtain your passport online at http://www.passportvisasexpress.com/index.xml, but if you’re a first-time applicant, then you will need to get your passport in person. To apply in person you can follow the steps at http://travel.state.gov/passport/get/first/first_830.html. You may need a visa (a sticker placed in your passport) from the country you’re going to either before or after you arrive. If you need it before, then you need to apply for it at the nearest embassy or consulate of the country you’re going to. Embassies and cosulates of many countries are found in big cities such as Manhattan (NYC). Otherwise, the country itself will give you your visa upon your arrival. Be sure to check the expiration date of your passport and/or visas before you leave the U.S.

After all administrative issues are taken care of, you need to research at least the culture of the town or city where you will be arriving. Once you conceptually understan the place where you will be residing, your expectations are more realistic and you’ll at least have some background knowledge aboout the “tourist” things to do there. You can search for other internet blogs and find different groups of people who experienced the same move. For example, I want to move to France so I found some interesting groups at http://www.travelblogs.com and great tips at http://www.lost-in-france.com/living-in-france/moving/151-essential-tips, http://www.usainternationalmovers.com/?gclid=CM67kuHfo5cCFQhMGgodJikocQ, http://www.findingdulcinea.com/guides/Travel/France-Travel.topic__ss_categories_ss_travel_ss_france-travel.pg_04.html,  and moving quotes at http://www.usainternationalmovers.com/?gclid=CM67kuHfo5cCFQhMGgodJikocQ.

You have the option to learn the language before or after you move. Shushil from our class informed me that he lived in France this past summer and without knowing any French, he was able to pick up some of the language very quickly and easily. He also encountered many English-speaking people during his visit. So learning the language is not as crucial as I thought it would be, as many bloggers tend to agree with Shushil.

After learning about the local area, talking to people through joining groups or browsing through blogs, you will need to get yourself accomodated in an apartment, make sure you have an accessible bank where you might need to traansfer your funds onto. First you need to find an apartment, which you can find tips for at http://www-evasion.imag.fr/CommentVenir/JamesStewart-renting.html, http://ydelta.free.fr/living.htm, http://www.rentapart.com/, http://www.my-apartment-in-paris.com/en/apartments.php?gclid=CIePqenjo5cCFQKaFQodz1DsIw, and many more. Once you have your apartment set up, you need to transfer your funds onto an accessible bank account BEFORE you leave. According to a response at answers.yahoo.com, someone suggested: 

“Call some of the banks over in Paris and see if they accept PUPID. PAY UPON PROPER ID. I am sure the big banks like BNP Paribas accept pupid’s but you need to contact the banks.”

I would talk to a representative at my bank in the U.S. first to allow them to tell me if they have offices in France, if not, they should be able to tell me what I will need to make the transfer. Then I would research banks in France and open an account with the optimal one. Next, you will need to figure out how to ship your stuff over to France: Since I personally trust FedEx with anything, they can provide rates at http://www.fedex.com/ratefinder/standalone?method=destinationCountryChange.

I believe I have covered the basics as to what it takes to move to any country, in my case FRANCE! I’m not sure if I will actually go through with it… I really want to. To tell you the truth, doing all this research has actually made it a lot more realistic than what I initially thought. So remeber to get your passports ready, do some research, contact people who have gone throught eh same thing, don’t worry about learning the language, pack your stuff but don’t ship all of it on the first move, find a new apartment and a new bank, then figure out how you will ship your stuff over to your new place. Once you get there, some bloggers say to be financially set for two months upon your arrival (have rent/utilities money) to give yourself two months to find a job, move in and settle down. To plan everything before you move, it is safe to start around five months before the plane takes off. After the two months, you will figure out the longterm stuff such as tax rates, health insurance, purchase a car, etc.

The rest is history…