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MOVING TO FRANCE

From Provence to Paris: Where do all the Americans live in France?

Americans have been leaving the US for a fresh start in France for a long time now, so if you're thinking of doing the same, here is where your compatriots live.

From Provence to Paris: Where do all the Americans live in France?
Photo: AFP

NOTE: This was originally published in 2014 using data from 2010, there is a more recent version of this article available HERE.

How many Americans are actually living in France?

It’s a good question. According to the most recent data given to the The Local from France’s national statistics agency INSEE, the number of Americans in France is around the 31, 000 mark.

Although the real number is likely to be much higher, with the US embassy even talking of around 100,000 “yankees” in France.

Judging by comments from our readers and on social media platforms there are a few hundred thousand more Americans who dream of moving to France.

So you’re thinking of moving to France you’ll want to know where to find (or where to avoid) your fellow countrymen, right?

You can probably guess where most American expats choose to settle in France.

That’s right: the City of Light.

Île de France, the region around Paris, is officially home to about 15,500 Americans (so around exactly half of all Americans in France), making it the clear top choice.

Out of those 15, 500 in the whole of the Île-de-France region some 9,500 Americans are in Paris itself. That’s almost a third of France’s American population living in the capital city.

Paris has always been popular with Americans even just those who to come visit. Indeed last year more Americans visited Paris than any other nationality. And if you want to know why then just click on the link below.)

READ ALSO: Why are Americans still so infatuated with Paris?

Why are Americans still so infatuated with Paris?

Plus the key attraction of Paris to Americans is not the terrace cafes where you don’t have to tip but if an American wants to work in France then the capital gives them by the far the best chance of finding a job.

American firms with headquarters in the Paris region are a good source of employment. 

Then there’s the American University, the American Library, the American Church and even the restaurant the American Kitchen, so despite being far from home there’s a tight knit American community in the French capital.

Jeff Steiner, writer and webmaster of the Americans in France site says “yankees” want to live near other Americans, or at least other English speakers. 

Paris has a concentration of English-speaking clubs and groups, he points out. It’s also a major travel hub, whereas it can be difficult to travel if you live a in rural French village.

One American reader of The Local, named Joey Beaudreau, pointed out that the visa and immigration issues Americans face in France, which the Brits don’t, make it hard for them to live away from big cities like Paris.

“Most of us have to be near big cities with jobs that will sponsor us,” he said. “The French government makes it quite difficult and it’s not something Brits have to worry about.

“While I love Paris, I’d happily consider somewhere else if I didn’t have to worry about labour/immigration problems.”

Americans don’t tend to go for the suburbs around the capital. Of the seven other departments that make up Île-de-France only Yvelines and Hauts-de-Seine have an American population that numbers more than 1,000.

Lyon, Rhone, Photo: Flickr/Martin Pilat

The numbers show that Americans seem to be drawn to regions with large metropolitan areas. The next favourite region for Americans is the Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes in central France, with 3,580 calling it home. 

Almost 1,000 of the region’s Americans live in the department of Rhône which is home to France’s second city Lyon. Lyon is known as the gastronomic capital of the country, which is perhaps a pull for Americans tired of nachos, hot dogs and pizzas.

Almost 500 are in Haute-Savoie which borders Switzerland and is close to Geneva.

Coming in third place for Americans is Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur. With its irresistible combination of sun, sea, mountains and rosé wine, it’s not hard to see why at least 2,529 Americans have chosen to live in the sunny south.

Just over 1,000 of them are in the department of Alpes-Maritimes which includes the famous coastal resorts of the French Riviera.

Harriet Welty-Rochefort, an American writer and former journalism professor at Sciences Po, and longtime resident of Paris, says that it’s mainly word of mouth that has brought so many Americans to places like the south of France. 

“The French Riviera was frequented by American writers and artists in the 1920s,” she said. “And then they went back to the States and talked about the Riviera and then of course everyone wanted to go there. So of course Americans love it now. Provence is beautiful, what can you say?”

Nice, Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur, Photo: Flickr/Dennis Jarvis

The next most-often picked regions are also home to some of France’s major cities.

The huge region of Nouvelle Acquitaine which stretches down the west coast and deep into central France (see map above) is home to 1, 766 Americans. Around a third of those are in Gironde which is home to the city of Bordeaux, where most will reside.

There are also 200 Americans in the Dordogne alongside over 7,000 Brits.

There are also 2,404 Americans in the neighbouring region of Occitanie and like many Anglophones are drawn to the two départments of Herault on the south coast, where there are just under 600, and Haute-Garonne, which is home to the city of Toulouse and over 800 Americans.

But there are a few regions of France that Americans are apparently not too crazy about. 

Corsica gets the least amount of love, with only about 61 Americans calling it home. The Mediterranean island is nicknamed the “Island of beauty” but there are no big urban centres for jobs and transport links to the mainland make it a more expensive choice. 

That’s why Corsica is only home to just under 300 people from English-speaking countries in total.

Americans – like other Anglophones – are not too keen on central and eastern France either.

Bourgogne-Franche-Comté is home to just over 500 Americans as is Centre-Val de Loire. 

Both are mainly rural regions with no major cities.

The Grand Est region has just over 1,200 Americans.

Brittany and Normandy number 700 and 600 Americans respectively and they are spread fairly evenly across most départments in both regions.

Basically Americans don’t seem too fond of La France Profonde unlike their British cousins, who can’t get enough of it.

Limousin, Photo: Flickr/Tourisme Haute-Vienne

Jeff Steiner from the Americans in France site says Americans avoid such areas, even if they’re beautiful, because of the isolation.

“If you live in a small village in the Cantal, there’s just not much there,” he said. “It’s a culture shock, it’s a language shock, it’s a big shock.”

The northern French region of Hauts-de-France is home to just under 800 Americans and Pays-de-la-Loire in the west has just under 700 Americans.

Cantal, Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes, Photo: Flickr/Balisolo

Welty-Rochefort says that Americans often overlook certain parts of the country, such as the centre, simply because they don’t know about them, and people choose what they know. 

“It’s amazing how conformist people are,” she said. “There are places that are beautiful but Americans wouldn’t venture to go there because they don’t know about it.”

She also suggests that tourism departments in certain regions don’t try as hard to attract Americans.

Welty-Rochefort thinks that more Americans should try to step out of their comfort zones and settle in lesser-known parts of the country because “they’ll find joie de vivre anywhere in France”.

For members

READER QUESTIONS

Does it help with moving to France to be married to a French person?

If you’re a citizen of a country outside the European Union, moving to France to live is administratively much more difficult – but are there any advantages to being married to someone who is French?

Does it help with moving to France to be married to a French person?

You’ve met, fallen in love with and married a French citizen. Congratulations. 

Unfortunately, that doesn’t give you an automatic right to French citizenship, or even – necessarily – the right to live in France. You will still have some bureaucratic hoops to jump through, even though the process is a little bit less complicated.

You’ll also benefit from having a native French speaker on hand to translate the various forms for you – although unless your Frenchie is actually a lawyer, don’t assume that they are knowledgeable about French immigration law, most people know very little about the immigration processes of their own country (because, obviously, they never have to interact with them). 

Visa

If you were living in France when you did the marriage deed, you’ll have already done the visa thing, anyway. But if you married outside France, and have never lived in France, there are still things to do, including – and most pressingly – getting a visa.

The thing is, being married to a French person isn’t quite the live-in-France carte blanche that some people may think – you still need to go through the visa process and gather documents including your marriage certificate and proof of your spouse’s French nationality.

The main benefit is that anyone who is married to a French citizen can apply for a family visa (sometimes known as a spouse visa). This allows you to come to France without a job and it gives you the right to work.

Residency card

Once you have legally moved to France you can apply for a carte de séjour vie privée et familiale

Once your visa (which normally lasts for one year) is nearing expiration, you can apply for the multi-year private and family life residence permit.

You must meet the following conditions  :

  • You must share a common address with your spouse – except in particular circumstances (the government website mentions death of your spouse, or in cases of domestic violence);
  • Your spouse must be French on the day of the wedding and must have retained French nationality;
  • You cannot be married to more than one person;
  • If your marriage was celebrated abroad, then it must be transcribed in the civil status registers of the French consulate so that it is recognised in France.

In either case, you must apply for this document, no earlier than four months and no later than two months before the expiry date of your existing residence document (visa, VLS-TS or permit).

The usual list of reasons for refusal apply: if you have failed to comply with an obligation to leave the country (OQTF); if you have committed forgery and use of false documents; if you have committed a serious criminal offence; if you have committed acts of violence against elected officers, or public officials.

Additional information is available, in French, here

The situation is a little different for people who initially entered France without a long-stay visa. Usually, this applies to those from countries who do not benefit from the 90-day rule and are required to get a short-stay visa to enter France. If this is your situation, then when applying for your carte de séjour you will need to prove;

  • You are not living in a state of polygamy;
  • You are married to a French national with whom you have lived together for 6 months in France.

In this instance the first carte de séjour vie privée et familiale will be issued for a year.

Citizenship

Citizenship by marriage is a ‘right’ in the same way that children born in France to foreign parents have a right to be a citizen through the ‘droit du sol’. Yes, it exists – but there are rules, and it’s not automatic.

Applying for citizenship via marriage involves applying for something known as citizenship par Déclaration. This is, arguably, the more simple of the processes available to adults.

It works to the theory that citizenship via marriage is ‘a right’. That, however, doesn’t mean that citizenship will be handed out automatically – there are a number of conditions that you must fulfil, including having a reasonable level of French, and if you either don’t fit the criteria – or, more accurately, do not provide sufficient proof that you do fit the criteria you can and will be rejected.

READ ALSO Are you entitled to French citizenship if you are married to a French person?

If your spouse divorces you, or dies while you are still going through the process then your application may be no longer valid. Equally, if you get divorced within a year of getting French citizenship it’s also possible (although rare) for your citizenship to be annulled.

Divorce

Yes, we’re spoilsports but people who get married do sometimes get divorced and if you are in France on a visa or residency card that is linked to your marital status then getting divorced can affect your right to stay.

This doesn’t mean you will automatically be kicked out of the country if you split up. In most cases it’s simply a question of applying for a new residency permit in your own right – whether you are working, studying or retired.

If you have minor children in France then you have the right to stay even if you don’t meet the criteria for any other type of residency permit.

You can find full information on how to change your status in case of divorce HERE.

What about children?

Any child born to a French citizen has the right to claim nationality, whether or not they were born in France. So, whether you’re French or not has no bearing on that particular situation.

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