Aubervilliers France

[Stargate1]

Hello Everyone,
I am in the process of accepting a job offer in Aubervilliers, France.

Other than traveling in Europe on vacation, this whole "move thing" has sent me into a tornado trying to figure it all out.

I am wondering a few things, and I don't want to bore you with little details, so does anyone have an idea on the cost of living there, taxes, and will public transportation be an issue? I've always been pretty impressed with public transport in Europe.

Any thoughts or suggestions to calm my worried mind would be helpful.

Thank you.
ABBY

[Bevdeforges]

Hi, and welcome to the forum!

Ah yes, coming to Europe from the US usually does start out in a tornado of activity. Although it doesn't seem like it now, things will gradually work themselves out.

Aubervilliers is actually just outside Paris, so for all intents and purposes you're moving to Paris. (And in fact, you may want to consider living in the city itself - reverse commute and all, you know.)

To and from Aubervilliers, you should be able to rely on public transit for most local trips - and possibly to avoid having to have a car at all, which will greatly impact your own personal cost of living (in a positive way). Also, in the Paris area, your employer has to subsidize (by half) your monthly transit pass if you use public transport to commute to work. If you live in the city, your pass will be good within the city on weekends and holidays, too.

Cost of living in the Paris area is high, though. And apartments are small by US standards. You'll also want to start ASAP in learning a bit of French if you don't already speak it. It could save you having to slog through 400 hours of government-offered lessons (which aren't the best, from what I hear).

There are a number of recent discussions here on the forum about French taxes that you probably should read through. What's withheld from your paycheck here is exclusively for social insurances. You make your income tax payments yourself on a monthly or quarterly basis, but only after settling that first tax bill at the end of your first year here.

As a US citizen (or so I assume from your location) you will also continue to file US tax returns, reporting your worldwide income, but then excluding (which does NOT mean just leaving off) your overseas earned income on form 2555. The first time through is the roughest, especially the first year in which you qualify as "resident abroad." (But that won't be your case for a while yet - wait until you get here to get into the details.) The IRS office in Paris is actually quite helpful.

Give a holler as more questions come up!
Cheers,
Bev