Sadly almost no programs apply to me because I've never been convicted of a crime. Most programs are only available to felons. There are almost no support structures for those who have spent years locked up in pre-trial detention. I was behind bars for the first 8 years, but for the last year I've been locked in a room in a house instead, but that at least gave me Internet access. I've been doing my best to try to make as much money as I can doing gig work online. Ironically one of the first jobs I got was transcribing recorded jail phone calls, then police interrogations, then court room transcripts. Talk about PTSD.
I rarely chime in but I have to give warning about moving to Paris. Although I'm a huge francophile, and so is my wife, it can be not quite as easy for some to make a living there.
- To start, your salary isn't going to be what you think. When I moved to Paris in 2011 I made $100,000 in NY. My new job in Paris was 42,000 (euros) a year. So right off the bat you're probably going to be budgeting more. Plus, my wife didn't have the right to work. I believe Macron is changing that, but it doesn't mean it won't go back.
- You'll still have to pay Federal taxes if you're a US citizen. I was able to contact H&R block from Paris and sent them ALL my paystubs in order to prove that I had paid French taxes. It didn't matter, I still had to pay in a small some for federal taxes. You'll be double taxed US/FR.
- There's a 3 month trial period where the company can fire you for any reason and simply state "We don't feel you're a good fit." Sound familiar? This trial period can even be extended for up to 9 months. Once the company feels like actually hiring you, that's when you get your CDI (Contract Duration Indeterminée). Then you pretty much have to do either something illegal or absolutely nothing to get fired. Both of which take time and evidence that the company has to prepare (can take up to a year).
- There's a 3 month period to quit!! In order to balance the CDI, companies have the right to sue you for "lost productivity" if you quit without giving a 3 month notice. Don't think you're safe if you scurry back to the States. I read a blog (not sure how truthful it was), but they found her and sued her from Paris.
- If you are in your trial period it's especially hard to start a bank account, rent an apartment, etc. You're considered too much of a risk.
- If you have an accent you'll be treated like a tourist. I had a visa, carte vital, and bank account, but it takes a long, long, long time to make actual french friends. My wife and I made friends with other immigrants, mostly British, Irish, and other Americans. People say on average it takes 3-5 years to become someones friend (if they're french). Once you've made a french friend, loyalty is expected, and you'll ruin everything by being flaky.
- You have to play the 'game'. What's the 'game'? The art of conversation. So if it's difficult to get a bank account in your trial period, how did I manage to do it? I tried 3 different branches at Paribas and finally found one where the guy was willing to listen. Turns out he had traveled quite a bit himself. So what did I do with my bad attitude of being denied twice before hime? NOTHING! My reply "Oh thank you so much, you're really helping me out." Also, if you don't want a burned baguette, walk through the door of the bakery and say "Bonjour." When you're done, you say "Au revoir." If you don't you've broken protocol, this activity shall be logged, and the baker shall and will use it against you later.
Those are things to watch, here are the benefits of living in france.
- Personally, I love the language.
- Healthcare, healthcare, healthcare. Oh and did I mention healthcare. I have very conservative parents who constantly say "I don't want the government choosing which doctor I go to." This couldn't be further from the truth. I got really sick in france, and you will probably too. The germs are different and your body isn't used to them. I Went to a clinic and just like the good ol' US I thought "This doc doesn't have a clue nor does he care." Then, guess what, I went to another doctor and she was amazing! Got the right meds and got 100% better.
- The food! Most of the time companies give you coupons so you can go get a hot lunch from most restaurants at a discount.
- The infrastructure. Don't like traffic? Neither do the french. The metro is amazing.
- Work life balance. It's actually a law that you're NOT required to answer emails over the weekend. Everyone takes the month of August off (it's a little more nuanced than that, but it's normal).
- People hang out in the park. Didn't know how awesome that would be until I started doing it.
All in all I stayed with my wife in Paris for 1 year. Without her having the right to work it was just too hard to save any money. So we moved back. Given the chance to move back to France, I would in a heartbeat. However, maybe not Paris, maybe more like Montpellier. If anyone has any questions about my experience, feel free to reach out.
> You'll still have to pay Federal taxes if you're a US citizen. I was able to contact H&R block from Paris and sent them ALL my paystubs in order to prove that I had paid French taxes. It didn't matter, I still had to pay in a small some for federal taxes. You'll be double taxed US/FR.
??? The foreign earned income exclusion covers up to $104,000/year once you pass the presence test.
> - The food!
You must be a big fan of ham sandwiches. There isn't a more Parisian food than ham and butter on white bread with nothing else on it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jambon-beurre
I never heard of the 'presence test'. What does that entail? Also, listing a wikipedia article doesn't merit evidence to the contrary. Yes, you can go to a train station and find not-so-good food. It'd be just like going to Subway here, not-so-good. Predominately, the french care about their food much more than americans.
When you file your taxes as a US expat you get to choose between the foreign earned income exclusion and the foreign tax credit. Which you should choose depends on circumstances, but if you're living full time and working in France and earning less than $100k there then clearly you should just exclude your income and then pay nothing to the US.
If understanding taxes in the US is generally complicated, taxes for expats are definitely even more so. Knowing which income you can exclude is important if you plan to live abroad.
> Yes, you can go to a train station and find not-so-good food.
I lived in France for several years (mostly but not exclusively in Paris) and boy howdy is sandwich culture not reduced to anything so far as "you can go to a train station". Nearly every bakery in the country, and there's like one every few blocks in Paris right next to seventeen pharmacies and a fruit stand, has a display case of pre-made sandwiches. Ham and butter on white bread and kebab wraps are major components of the food culture. You even get jambon beurre and kebab flavored potato chips everywhere, though for the money my favorite potato chip flavor was Quick(r) cheeseburger.
Let's not even get into the ubiquity of frozen tv dinners from Picard.
Does France have restaurants? Sure. But so does literally everywhere else.
> It'd be just like going to Subway here
Paris also has a bunch of Subways and McDonalds and Burger Kings and Dominos and whatever other cheap fast food you can think of, and they're all frequently packed with people, because most of the time what people want in France, like everywhere else, is something cheap and fast (hence the sandwiches). They also have a Chipotle at La Defense if you ever get nostalgic, but at lunch time the line goes out the door.
My salary in Paris is definitely quite a bit lower than what it was in San Francisco, but I think the lower cost of health care, child care, education and housing largely make up for it. In particular, I feel much less exposed in terms of negative tail events. I'm much less worried about a chronic medical condition or college to wipe me or my future family out financially.
Totally agree about language, healthcare, food, metro, and work-life balance. There are some things money can't buy.
25k/year for full time preschool would be pretty typical in SF. If you have 2+ kids in daycare or preschool, that can more or less wipe out an income. The problem is, it takes two incomes to pay for the typical mortgage or even the rent on a place big enough for, well, a couple of kids.
If you have a good health company sponsored health plan in the US, the kind you get at google or gov't jobs, I think you and your family are probably ok. It's no way to run a country, though. And yeah, there's always that fear that an ambulance will take you somewhere out of network... yeah, you described it pretty accurately as a negative tail event, it would be unlucky but not at all impossible, and it could be ruinous financially[1]
I never worked in France, but worked in other countries in Europe. There is always an insider vs. outsider feeling when I used to work as a foreigner, especially not knowing the language. How is that in Paris ? I assume it takes a while to learn the language. Does it present barrier in workplace ? Do you feel assimilated in the workforce ?
It's not too much of a barrier since everyone speaks English in the office. Generally everyone gets along pretty well in the office, English and French speakers alike.
Here's an old blog post with the salary grid for the company. It's a bit out of date. Today the salaries are somewhat higher and equity grants are smaller.
> If you have an accent you'll be treated like a tourist. I had a visa, carte vital, and bank account, but it takes a long, long, long time to make actual french friends. My wife and I made friends with other immigrants, mostly British, Irish, and other Americans. People say on average it takes 3-5 years to become someones friend (if they're french).
That is quite common if you're an ex-pat. You'll make friends in the ex-pat community long before you make good local friends.
> and you'll ruin everything by being flaky.
Maybe it's an American thing (being flaky), but that doesn't mean others have to accept it. Do you value the friendship? Then stop being flaky.
> If you don't you've broken protocol, this activity shall be logged, and the baker shall and will use it against you later.
I used to use http://goji.io/, but once 1.8 hit and context was part of the request object there was little use for this library. Also, maybe it was just me, but I couldn't do very advance routing with goji. So I switched back to gorilla mux
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