Relocating soon with cat

[ChilliCat01]

Hello,

I'm a Brit who wants to relocate to France. I'm 39 but I've been out of work after redundancy and cannot find a decent job. My lender is threatening repossession so I'm selling quickly. I'll still have a lump-sum to start again.

But I want to start afresh in France. Although I've only visited Calais! But I have travelled extensively world-wide and lived in Ireland before.

But I have a cat. I want a small, quiet village where we will be safe. And I'm happy to do any work whilst I improve my basic French.

Then I just want to make friends and then buy a house.

I'm thinking of coming over in a caravan with my cat and searching for a nice village and a house to rent. But I'm worried about how my cat might not like living in such a small space. And I'm also worried about renting a long-term house without seeing it. And I'm worried about how I will find work.

Can anyone offer any advice please?

Thank you.

[ruggie]

If you have a caravan. make use of it. Travel around a bit until you find a part of France that you like.

[mistrygirl]

Hi ChilliCat - firstly does your cat have all the necessary paperwork and a passport to come to France? Make sure you are up to speed with regs for animals travelling. I would be a little bit daunted in your position, especially having no knowledge of living in France, and no firm plans of how you are going to live. It is good to have a caravan to live in, but you have to think about where you are going to pitch it, and of course the cat will have to be confined at all times, until you find somewhere you would want to settle permanently. Why are you choosing France? If things are not going well where you are, such as job etc, it is not always a solution to try another country in hope it will be better. It is very difficult to find work in France, unless you have a skill that is in demand, or can set up something for yourself. Expats end up chasing cleaning or handyman jobs, that are too few, and a lot of people looking. Have you thought about what sort of work you would be able to do in France? It is good you will have a little bit of money put aside to start you off, but I'm afraid it does not last long - cost of food, rent (if you decide to rent) etc is no cheaper than anywhere else, so needs a lot of thinking about.
Sorry to put a dampener on any dreams - far be it from me, because we all need to have a dream and aim for it, but we have lived here for 4 years now, in a caravan whilst we are building a house, and it is not easy, where finances and work are concerned. What I would advise is think very carefully, join forums like this one, as you have done, and read through as many experiences and problems that people have encountered as you can. The last thing you want to do is to come over to France, to start a wonderful new life with your cat, and then regret it a few months down the line. Also, make sure you learn a good grasp of the language as soon as you can - you really really need that here. Good luck!!

[Amalia]

Yes, I'd say that the jobs situation is worse in France at the moment than in the UK.

Also, if you're counting on leaving your debts behind, you'll need to go a lot further than France. These days there are EU debt collection companies specialising in hunting down people who've moved abroad. If you have a serious amount of debt, Asia or South America is better.