To see a video discussion of the information in this article click here.

So on February 25th, roughly three months after my citizenship interview, I got an electronic notice that I should re-apply in two years because of “insufficient professional integration.” I appealed that decision, because it would be silly for me not to, since even if I accepted the decision I would have to start the process all over again in two years.

The way the appeals process works is that if you receive no reply within four months, that is considered an implicit rejection, and you have to sue in Nantes as your final recourse. That meant June 25th would be a final decision, of sorts.

I had no intention of suing, as I knew (and had suspected) that my income might have been an issue.

Some of you reading this have not been on this immigration journey with me for the last decade so I’ll give you the quick version.

In 2013 I moved to France on a visitor visa which I renewed in 2014. In 2015, armed with proper information thanks to people like Jean Taquet (not intolerable Karens in FB groups), I applied for a PL visa which would allow me to work in France, give me a longer renewal window (4 years), and open the possibility of citizenship. My plans of “apply for citizenship the moment I am eligible” faded into the rear-view mirror, along with annual visits to the prefecture to renew my visa.

It’s important to remember here that the income bar necessary to renew your carte de sejour is very different from the bar necessary to obtain a ten-year card or citizenship.

The SMIC, a fixed national minimum wage, is really all you need to obtain a visitor visa, and SMIC + 20% is all you need to obtain and maintain a 4-year card (no, that’s not in writing anywhere: the French government isn’t in a habit of providing clear instructions on immigration requirements).

This is where my being an American, and being an American business owner for twenty years, really influenced my actions.

Most Americans have an aversion to taxes in general, as our country was (ostensibly) founded on a tax revolt. Most people in our country feel like we already pay too much in taxes, and aren’t interested in paying more, no matter what the consequences are to the country as a result.

Furthermore, the US tax code is built around small businesses. The expense deductions that businesses can take allow small businesses to grow and thrive. I know because I’ve seen it myself, having built multiple companies from scratch, including the one I sold that allowed me to move to France in the first place.

So, as I stood up my new French profession libérale business, I created a US equivalent (and later one in the country of Georgia as well) that would allow me to have options on how and in which tax jurisdiction I billed my clients. France has no moral or legal right to require me to do all my business in France, and besides, the PL comes with an income cap of around 85k anyway, so even if I abided by the “keep all my income in France” thinking that France would like me to consider, at some point I would have to bill elsewhere to stay under the cap.

But it never got that far, because I was very unhappy with my first business tax return in France. I was unpleasantly surprised to find out that many of the deductions I had been used to as a US business owner had no equivalent in France, and that what was a much smaller portion of my expenses in America, namely social charges + income tax, were roughly doubled in France, but for no additional benefits to my business.

Let’s clarify a couple of things. There’s no “free education” in France; there’s just education that is paid for by heavy taxation put on everyone. There’s no “free healthcare” either. Not only do all of us pay into a fund that pays for health care, but even at the point of service it’s 70% paid. You have to pay for the rest yourself or via a private insurance plan you pay for. Life in France for me is not beautiful because of the welfare state, it’s beautiful because of the wonderful people in it and the culture they create and uphold.

So, France delivered, and continues to deliver, an incredible lifestyle, one that I love. And yet, I was unwilling to opt for double taxation for it. I was willing to meet the minimum necessary to keep my carte de sejour, not more.

To put this in terms of euros and cents, had I billed more of my clients to my French business over the last five years, which would have been the perfect showcase for my citizenship dossier, I would have paid north of an additional 50,000€ in taxes and social charges, at minimum.

Many would argue, in a world in which citizenships go for millions of dollars (Cyprus, New Zealand, Singapore), why not just pay the 50k? The short answer is, I don’t have that extra money. That 50k I saved paid for trips to every single European country save three (Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia). It paid for trips to Singapore and the US to see my family. It paid for not one but three trips to New Zealand and three to Australia.

Was I willing to give all that up to have a citizenship that would allow me to live in France forever? My actions spoke for me: no.

The Consequences

I have always told everyone, for years, that France is the most anti-business country in Europe and that I only started a business there to have a path to citizenship, and the minute I got that citizenship, I would close the business down.

The logic still holds. Because I didn’t get citizenship, and I’m unwilling to pay more in taxes because of fundamental beliefs and practical reasons, I am going to close my French business. I’ll document that, as I have so many other things, to make sure others have help if and when they have to close their businesses. But that also means that I’ll lose my current immigration status and will have to change it or leave France when my carte de sejour expires in January 2026.

I have an incredible life in France, but I traveled a lot in 2022 and 2023 for personal and professional reasons, and the reason I put in for citizenship in the first place, despite having been eligible for five years already, was that I was considering leaving France for an extended period. It seems now is the right time to do that.

Starting Over

I’m certain many of you might be asking, “Aren’t you afraid of having to start all over?” The answer is no, because it’s not clear to me that my future is in France. This beautiful country has every right to restrict who becomes a citizen and I accept France’s decision.

There’s a big beautiful world out there, and I’m going to see more of it. I’m incredibly grateful for my dozen years in my beloved France. It very much changed my life.

It’s important to always maintain the prerogative in your life to not be bound to scripts or patterns of behavior. Always reserve the right to do what makes the most sense in your life, even if it’s difficult or challenging.

And I still have much I want to share about French life and adapting to it, so I’ll still be writing here at TAIP and appearing with Molli on our YouTube channel, taip on tape.

Thanks for joining me on the French segment of my journey, and I will continue to assist others who wish to come here.

I delayed posting this article for a few months because this decision interrupts our series, which still needs to be finished. I continue to solicit among Americans I know who have completed the process par decret. If you know anyone who fits that bill who would like to write, we only need these two final parts: decision (which we will label Part 2) + ceremony. Use the contact us form to recommend a friend. 

Photo by Nathan Cima on Unsplash

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