Air France’s Cabin Bag Allowance and CDG Airport

For those who may not know, Delta Airlines, an American carrier, is in an alliance with Air France. That means that when you book a ticket from the US to France, regardless of whose website you end up using to book the ticket, you may end up on a Delta flight instead of an Air France one and vice versa. This can sometimes be known ahead of time (for example, flights out of Atlanta tend to be Delta flights but flights out of JFK tend to be Air France ones), but even then the airlines always reserve the right to change, even as you’re at the airport checking in. Usually the only main difference you’ll find is that of service (I prefer Air France’s in-air service). But a big difference you will face, and the focus of this short article, is the strict enforcement of the limitation on 12kg (26.4 pounds) of cabin luggage by Air France at Charles de Gaulle Airport.

I’ve had occasion in the last year or so to fly Air France in and out of JFK Airport more than once and the Air France team there does not check your cabin bags at all. The first time I experienced the strictness of Air France out of Paris, I was maybe about 2-3 kg over. At the time I was flying, I had already paid for a second checked bag so the policy that could have been enforced at that time was a third bag, at 240 euros. I managed to find a sympathetic Air France employee, who somehow managed to let me check those extra 2-3 kilos at no charge.

That incident actually informed the most recent trip and flying out of New York, loaded with gifts for friends, I left room in my checked luggage such that if I was stopped at the counter, I could simply transfer the extra weight to the checked bags. No such check occurred, and I’ll be honest, I managed to completely forget about this policy for a flight from CDG to JFK. I only realized this when I was in line and checking my luggage.

I managed to check my bags using the automated kiosk and proceeded to the gate where there was a team of people weighing luggage, EasyJet style. “Oh no,” I thought. “I forgot about this.” They duly weighed my luggage, acted shocked, and told me to go back.

I went back to the desk and pleaded my case. She then sent me to a line of people, who like me, had not banked on this policy. When it was my turn, I remembered the importance of staying calm and polite, not just in general, but particularly with the French:

I noted that originally my flight was a Delta flight and that Delta doesn’t have these policies. She countered that I could have changed to another Delta flight but I reminded her that the change was made automatically, without my consent, and I can’t possibly keep up with all the changes, which might even happen while we are in the airport. This didn’t go anywhere.
I pointed out that no one with Air France in New York made such a big deal, and that I had flown to France from JFK twice in the last year with the same experience. “They are not doing their job,” she pouted.
I appealed to the fact that sometimes cabin bags are offered a complimentary check-in when the flight is crowded, so this isn’t a red line. “Yes, but this flight is not crowded, so we don’t need to do that here.”

I think had it only been 70 or even 150 euros for a third bag, I would have just paid then, but I had chosen to fly with Delta because I had managed to get status with them in the last year which allowed me two free checked bags with a regular fare. A third bag was 240 euros. I remonstrated with her that this was a lot of money. She was unmoved.

I then went back to the entrance to the boarding gates, wondering if I could stop someone and say, “Hey could you hold this for me for 30 seconds while we walk towards the customs booths and then hand it back to me,” but quickly realized how silly that sounded. I went back through and played dumb with the people weighing the luggage but they would have none of it. I got sent back to the check-in desk.

I was back in line, this time with someone different who had just been yelled at by an angry German lady. I restated some of the elements of my case above, but I already had my wallet out. The man was quite gruff until he rung up the bill and his eyebrows shot up at the 240 euros. “Ah, yes, sir, I agree with you on this.” But his agreement didn’t come with a discount, so I paid up, and walked past the people who had stopped me twice, ten kilos lighter for my visit to the US.

Moral of the story: If you are flying Air France in economy out of CDG you will be strictly held to the 12kg cabin bag allowance. This can be spread out across two or even three bags, but they must weigh 12kg or less in total. Let my mistake be your savings. 🙂

Photo by Adam Khan on Unsplash

Did you enjoy this article? TAIP is 100% reader-supported through tipping. If you want to leave us a tip of any amount it would be highly appreciated. These tips help support our efforts to keep TAIP an ad-free environment. Just as at a cafe, the tips are split evenly among the team.

How to Apply for French Citizenship, Part III: Nailing the Interview

Posted by Stephen Heiner

“I only think they ask you those questions if you’re boring, Stephen.” I was having coffee with Oliver, who hosts The Earful Tower. “I honestly think that people who give tight-lipped answers don’t give the interviewers anywhere to go, so they have to keep going back to the standard list of questions.”

It was two days before my interview and I appreciated my friend’s reframing of the issue and accepted it, to an extent. I had read about by-the-book interviewers who really didn’t care about who you were but were just running through a fairly difficult list of questions. As I mentioned in my previous article, I had been preparing for the interview in a very casual way for years, cataloguing almost all the answers in the Applying for French Nationality Facebook group into a giant Apple Note. I had taken the questions that appeared every single time and put them first in my preparation notebook. I then created a second section with all of the weird/less frequently asked questions so that at least I would have some preparation on those in case I got them.

I studied everything and had a friend mock-interview me three consecutive nights prior to the interview, correcting any factual errors as well as any errors in expression or grammar. By the time I showed up for my interview, I felt like I had done everything I could have to prepare.

The experience was unlike what I had experienced before in obtaining or renewing a Carte de Sejour. Firstly, I didn’t have to make the appointment, the French made it. Secondly, I didn’t have to stand in a line at Cité for two hours with a large number of people just to get in for an appointment which may then be delayed another hour or two. The sign outside the small building on rue des Ursins stated that we should not expect to show up more than 30 minutes early for our appointment. I had arrived about 20 minutes early and the man at the front asked for my convocation and ID. He then sent me up to the third floor where about half a dozen people were quietly, pensively, sitting.

I had worn a suit and tie that day, hoping to make a good first impression, and before I started reviewing my notebook one last time, I glanced around the room, wondering at all the stories and what had brought us all here, in common, to this day and moment.

My slot was at 09h15 and when it came to be 09h27 I checked with a woman who has administering an exit survey and she told me not to worry, that my name would be called. Sure enough, about ten minutes later it was.

My interviewer apologized for being late and offered me a seat in front of her desk. While there were many such desks in the room (I estimate maybe a dozen) they were arranged in such a way (and the conversations were conducted in such a tone) that there was still a fair amount of confidentiality.

I flipped my notebook to a blank page so I could take note of what I was being asked for. She didn’t seem to object. Then we got started.

Housekeeping

The first part of the interview went like almost any bureaucratic procedure in France: verification of identity. I was asked for my passport, birth certificate, and CDS. They had all of this already via my dossier, but she was probably obligated to handle the genuine documents. I saw her compare the information in her hands to the scans I could see on her computer screen. For each document this ran maybe 60 seconds at the most. She handed each back to me.

She asked if my situation had changed since I applied (it had not) and whether my income was mostly derived in France or outside France (the correct answer here is “in France”) and whether I belonged to any associations (I shared one that I had participated in for years).

I was asked if I had ever been married or PACSed and if I had any children (no to all).

The Basics

Here is a list of the questions that I was asked that I had known I would be asked:

What is the devise of the French Republic? This refers to the motto of “liberte, egalite, and fraternite.” I gave definitions for each. She asked me to articulate further on fraternite and I answered that included solidarity with all citizens on their rights and duties and equal treatment under the law.
What are some of those rights? I answered: right to vote, right to access to public employment, and right to equal treatment under the law.
What is the national holiday? In this context, this is a reference to the 14th of July. I explained what happened that day and what the Bastille was prior to its being stormed.
What other symbols of the country are there? I answered the constitution (dating from 1958), the flag (explained which colors corresponded to what), and the figure of Marianne (who is featured in each mairie via a bust and on the postal stamps).
Name some of the presidents of the Fifth Republic. I was still nervous at this point and named all of them in chronological order. I laughed and apologized, saying that I was nervous. She hand-waved it away, urging me to be at my ease.
Name some important figures in the life of France. I named Clovis, Henry IV, Louis XVI, Marie Curie, and Charles de Gaulle, with reasons why each were important. I could have gone on, but I kept looking for her to indicate my answer was sufficient and when I saw that I stopped.
How is the legislative body comprised? I told her that there were 577 deputies and 348 senators. I could have discussed their term lengths and might have named where they met also (I had studied it, after all), but she didn’t ask for more so I didn’t offer more.
What about laicite? This is the institutional religious indifference enshrined in French law. I explained the reasons given for its promulgation and various dates that were important in relation to it (1905, 2004, 2010). She followed by asking me about why the policy exists and I shared that one reason it might exist is because of the diversity of cultures and religions in the country, but did not offer my own opinion on the policy. Remember that this is a key piece of advice I always share: do not give the French more than they ask for, in documents or in verbal answers. It is not necessarily helpful.
Do you travel in France? Where? I shared some of my favorite places, les Calanques in Marseille, the hortillonages of Amiens, Mont-Saint-Michel, and the battlefields in Normandy. I also shared why each mattered to me.
How often do you visit the United States? Almost every summer, I said, mostly because my nieces and nephews are out of school then and it’s easier for me to spend time with them that way. But not outside of that annual visit.
Why do you want to be French? As I often tell TAIP clients, there is one single item on which almost every dossier crucially turns. The answer to this question is the most crucial in your interview. And of course, it’s a highly personal, specialized answer. There’s not a template for it. For me, I shared that I had felt at home in France since my earliest days there, and as someone born in one country and raised in another, choosing a third country offered an opportunity to construct a coherent worldview that harmonized with the other influences in your life. Prominent in my identification with the French was the notion of “working to live” rather than “living to work” (prevalent in the US) and my love of the history, culture, and people of the country. “I feel French,” I told her, “so I am asking to become so officially.”

The Misses

Here are questions I expected but did not get:

Tell me about your entourage. They are looking here for the types of friends you have, i.e. are you mostly surrounded by expats or do you actually have French friends.
What are your links to France? Apart from your friends and work situation, this could further riff on what you like to do or where you have traveled and plan to travel to.
Name some hobbies. These days I mostly read, and was prepared to discuss what I had been reading about lately.
Name some of the French holdings overseas. These are the DROM/COM and I was so ready to talk about all of this but wasn’t asked.
What are key dates relating to France and the European Union? The 1951 Treaty of Paris and the 1958 Treaty of Rome, and if you want to get political you could talk about the Lisbon treaty that the French rejected but got forced to accept anyway. 🙂
Name some French regions/departments. I had fun all week drawing maps of France and wanted to name all 13 regions just for fun. Alas! I was also prepared to name every department in Ile-de-France, and the corresponding two-digit number.
Name some rivers or mountain ranges. Again, I was ready to nail this, but she didn’t ask.
What happens if the President dies? The President of the Senat can be asked to take over temporarily.
What were the main effects of the French Revolution? Again, I would have offered what had been outlined in the citizenship booklet, not my own thoughts or opinions.

The Extras

Here are questions I was asked but I knew were not necessarily part of the “core” that everyone is asked:

Do you travel in Europe? Where? I didn’t want to get into an extended discussion about all the places I had been to in Europe, so I just picked England, the Netherlands, and Hungary, noting that I had friends in those places that I enjoyed seeing (again, no more information than is being asked).
Who is the Prime Minister? I had actually studied a list of a dozen or so ministers, somewhat scared by someone who had recently shared that she was asked to name at least six. Thankfully, I only had to answer Michel Barnier for this question, which was correct at the time. I don’t know who his replacement is.

The Whoa!

Here are questions I did not expect but got:

What do you think about the equality of men and women? I initially laughed at this question because I had obviously missed this in my prep somewhere. I came to find out later it was part of a rotating group of questions to see your personal opinion on questions related to sexism, racism, and homosexual civil rights. I got the “sexism” question. I contextualized my laughter by answering that the countries I had been raised in (Singapore and the US) accepted the equality of men and women without question but that I could understand that the answer to this question may not be as obvious in other parts of the world.
What do you think of the right to express criticism or even mocking of leadership or religion? I level-set by asking if she was referring to magazines like Charlie Hebdo, and she nodded. I could have spoken about this for a long time, but as I keep saying, I focused on a concise expression rather than a discursive entree into a long discussion: I believe that it is important to be able to criticize, and to some extent, even mock, our leaders and institutions and key figures in order to have a healthy society.

The Well, Maybe…

Here are questions I did not expect but studied a tiny bit because at least one person had mentioned he/she had been asked:

Name some of your favorite French sayings. I planned to discuss a number of the agricultural and farming idioms, starting with “mêle-toi de tes oignons.” I’ve always loved the references to nature in the French language.
Name some plays by Moliere. I’ve never read any Moliere, actually, but I had written down three plays I might stutter out if asked (and I have a resolution now to read La Misanthrope in the new year). I had hoped I might deflect into some general questions about French authors, directors, or actors, and I had a pocketful of those ready to go, with a special mention of The Diary of a Country Priest, not only a fine novel by Georges Bernanos, but a thoughtful film by Robert Bresson.
Who is the mayor of your arrondissement? Emmanuelle Pierre-Marie governs the 12th.
What do you like about your arrondissement? I was prepared with cafes, places to stroll, even the biography of the man who was the namesake of the roundabout my apartment is close to.
Who wrote the Marseillaise and when? Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle, in 1792. Would you believe that one of my friends was asked to sing this during her interview?

I grabbed a celebratory dinner with friends over the weekend at an Uzbek restaurant in Paris and realized almost all of them had obtained French nationality either by decree or by marriage. One of the key talking points that was shared with my Swedish friend Karin, who was currently going through the “by marriage” route was that the French cannot legally refuse nationality to someone who they believe is in a genuine marriage, hence the dossier is really focused on establishing the fact of the marriage. They may ask some of the questions I was asked above for my “decree” route, but they have no substantial bearing on the decision. The spouses are interviewed separately to make sure the “stories match” about how they met, each other’s characteristics, etc.

We were finally at the end of the interview, it felt like, but it had flown by. She asked if I had received my updated tax document for 2023. I told her I had and she asked me to log in and email it to her right then and I did and she downloaded it and added it to my dossier.

She then gave me a document to sign which was a list of the rights and duties of a French citizen. The document begins by reminding you that obtaining citizenship is not just an administrative function, but will deeply affect you and your descendants. Weighty enough, indeed. She told me to take my time reading it and when I was ready, I needed to sign it. It’s not long (you can read it here) and I speed-skimmed it, as almost all of it was matter I had already studied to prepare for the interview. I signed and dated it, she scanned it into my dossier, and handed the original back to me (we really are in a new paperless era!).

She then told me it could take some time for a decision and that I would be notified by email as I had been all throughout the process. She then thanked me and walked me out, and I spent a couple minutes filling out a voluntary exit survey.

In all it took probably 40 minutes of my time. My interviewer was not typing in my answer to every question and reading it back to me (what I was expecting based on reports from previous interviews) but was rather mentally pulling out questions and would, I expected, write up a report of her impressions as part of her decision to give me a favorable or unfavorable mark.

As with so much in life, all you can do is speak about your own impression. If you think you did well on an exam, most times you will have, though sometimes circumstances can work against you. So too here, if I had to bet my entire nationality dossier on this interview, I would say I made a very good case, but there may be other parts of my application that they will question. In retrospect, perhaps I had “over prepared” but the best preparation for a nationality interview is living a fully integrated (which includes speaking French every day) life in France. Everything else will flow from that experience.

So if I’m to be denied it will most likely happen before the beginning of February. If no word comes before then, I have a very strong chance of being approved. So, no news is good news in this case.

Here’s what happened next.

Photo is of the door which leads to the waiting room for your interview.

Did you enjoy this article? TAIP is 100% reader-supported through tipping. If you want to leave us a tip of any amount it would be highly appreciated. These tips help support our efforts to keep TAIP an ad-free environment. Just as at a cafe, the tips are split evenly among the team.

parc de belleville in the 20th arrondissement

Paris Neighborhood Guide: the 20th Arrondissement, Part 1

Posted by doli

How did I land here, so comfortably that there are no plans to leave? In fact, I was looking to buy a house in Paris; yes, I did say “house.” According to an article I once read in Capital magazine, there are 3,200 houses in Paris. My criteria? Minimum two rooms, with garden, within Paris itself, not expensive. When one becomes sensitive to houses in Paris, you will realize that they exist in every arrondissement; however, some neighborhoods are more expensive than others!

Lost on the outskirts of Paris the 20th arrondissement has lots going for it: it has the most number of associations of all the arrondissement of Paris, lots of unexpected greenery, and areas with a small town atmosphere.

Le Parc de Belleville

This is the largest park in the 20th arrondissement, on a hill whose high point is where rue des Envierges, rue du Transvaal, and rue Piat meet. From this belvedere stretches a view of Paris all the way to the Eiffel Tower on the other side of the city. The belvedere itself is an open mosaiced, graffitied pavilion with many promenaders rambling around. On a sunny day, it is pleasant to sit in one of the cafés overlooking the park before starting along the grassy, flower-strewn, winding walks passing a tiny vineyard, a children’s playground accompanied by a waterfall fountain leading ever downward, to 47 rue de Couronnes. Or do things the hard way: come up 600 feet from below and time the climb to arrive at the top as the sun is going down to behold all of Paris at its rosiest.

L’hermitage

A lovely quiet little flower-filled park (there are even flower boxes across the top of the recycle garbage shed) away from the maddening crowd. A spray mister is installed near the children’s play area which was greatly appreciated on our visit on a very hot day. There are also public toilets for visitors’ comfort (when they work). In one corner can be found the last Regency folly. I have been told that the French term for such a structure comes both from the idea of leaves, feuilles, because they would typically be constructed deep in the park belonging to a stately mansion, and folie where gentlemen’s mad, or folle, carousing would transpire.

La ferme de Charonne

This unique parcel of land is devoted to organically growing small plants: flowers, herbs, and, most famously micro-greens, which can be purchased in their boutique. On entering, can be seen a large perspective of the “farm” with all types of plants, flowers, and a large greenhouse to the left. An employee will be glad to take you on a visit to the greenhouse and even have you taste some of the micro greens. On our visit, we tried the radishes and the mustard greens. We were also taken to where they prepare their beautiful, good-smelling, black compost which they sell at a very low price. In the middle of the gardens, there are small tables around which visitors can sit and take in the air of a miniature field seemingly far from city life.

Neighborhood Plantings

In this heavily built-up city, Parisians have found a number of ways to satisfy a need to work the soil and grow things.

Community gardens have been popping up wherever empty lots have been found. Requests to use such plots can be submitted by a group of gardening enthusiasts who have formed a legally recognized association where they will work together growing flowers and vegetables. Schedules are set up to work the garden and new members are often welcome to join. It is a pleasure to visit and chat with the members about how their gardens grow. Any tiny bit of unused land will do. Usually, they can be visited on Saturday afternoons. Should one feel the need to work the soil, it is often possible to join the association that tends these gardens.

One such example is the space to be found between two buildings at 54 rue St Blaise. This strip of land between two high buildings is being worked by a very friendly group who have chosen whatever plants can be grown in the shade. I do remember during a jasmine malady in Paris I had seen the workers cutting it way back. I was happy to visit this tree now some 5 years later to see it growing, albeit only up to knee level.

With such limited growing space, some people have found ways to turn rooftops into what is known as “suspended gardens,” as they are suspended far above ground. In the 20th, at the top of Collège Flora Tristan, 2000 square meters of garden are being cultivated by students and members of the garden staff. Visiting days for the general public are scheduled and it is best to reserve by sending a short email to the organizers. Beginning in May and until November, their produce is put on sale at their “Marché de la Salamandre” located on the Square de la Salamandre.

The metal grids set into the earth around the foot of the trees along the streets were originally considered protection, although dogs have found them very handy for their needs. Since 2015, Paris has little by little taken them out as Parisians have signed up to use these tiny spaces to create vegetation. Parisians enthusiastic about greening Paris streets have built low fences and have planted all kinds of flowers at the base of the trees. The Place Edith Piaf is especially well-endowed with circumambient plants around three tree trunks, and other plantings just across the rue Belgrand. Keep your eyes peeled for what is growing and blooming. And when hollyhock and four-o’clock seeds are ripe, anyone with a green thumb can pick the seeds and then grow their own plants.

Townhouses and Small-town Constructions

Scattered throughout the 20th are the remains of small-town life in the form of single-family residences, many of which were built with the help of bank loans for the working class. It seems, according to a friend, they wanted to house the working class as far from the center of Paris as possible.

The most famous of these is the “campagne à Paris” (the country in Paris). Here, protected by Paris urban planning, is a concentration of single-family homes. Offering a pleasant stroll around three cobblestoned streets, overgrown rose bushes and honeysuckle meet the eye, nose, and face when walking on the narrow sidewalks. Originally built with the help of a mutual trust bank to house working-class families, it is now the most expensive area of single-family dwellings in the 20th arrondissement. A former president has bought a house here and can sometimes be seen at the local market where he is politely greeted as Mr. President. This is a favorite place for cinematographers to shoot scenes for middle-twentieth-century films and here can be found Serge Gainsborough’s recording studio.

La rue des Vignoles is mainly known for the many cul de sacs that run perpendicularly off this street from approximately numbers 28 to 42. The narrow walking lanes are a pleasure to visit with their greenery, decked patios, and decorated doors. In the same section on the street itself can be found a number of cafés and socio-cultural venues. Just off 42 rue des Vignoles is the short street, Michel-de-Bourges, which leads to the Jardin Casque d’Or where visitors can relax in quiet. At the top of the street is the Place de la Réunion, a market square on Thursday and Sunday mornings and a pleasant place to have a drink at one of the surrounding cafés.

Welcome to the 20th, the last of the Paris arrondissements, where tourists rarely tread. Here, hiding in plain sight, are stretches offering a getaway from the big city without ever passing the city limits.

Photo taken at the Parc de Belleville, just before sunset.

Living in France on a Budget

Posted by Guest Writer

Note from the editor: Writer Susan Jordan is an American who has been living on her own in Europe since she left the US in 2012. She has lived in France since 2019 and is currently working on her 10-year card application. As a lawyer in the US, she was accustomed to dealing with government bureaucracies and paperwork, but getting accurate information in a foreign country can be overwhelming. She has survived so far and now shares her knowledge with the hopes of helping others. — MS

Where to Live

Americans moving to France, if they are in a position to pay cash, ideally should buy a home here. Since that is not an option for me, I have lived in four French rental apartments in four different departments. I’ve heard that buying a home is much easier than renting, which would not be surprising given my experience.

As a “candidate” for an apartment, one must submit a dossier before viewing a potential rental. This will usually include a document showing monthly income paid in France, three utility bills for the past three months showing a French address, tax returns, an employment contract, and identification (a passport will do). A family guarantor (and resident of France) would be helpful. Sometimes commercial guarantors are acceptable. Of course, buying a home requires substantial paperwork, too, but if you are a cash buyer with sufficient proof of income, the path to moving in should be easier.

How to Get Around

If you are comfortable with public transportation, living without a car in France is possible. Choosing a city with tram systems is best as many areas of France are quite car-dependent. Bus lines vary a great deal in scope and reliability depending on the commercial operator. French trains have increased their fares since the pandemic and service on some lines has even been dropped. For that reason, I like ride-sharing, otherwise known as covoiturage.

For intercity travel, blablacar works well if you are selective about the drivers you choose, following reviews and ratings carefully. Flexibility in terms of travel dates and destinations also is helpful when using blablacar. I have known some French people who simply rent a vehicle when they need to travel as a family. This eliminates some bureaucracy involved with car ownership, insurance coverage, as well as the necessity of finding parking near one’s home. Why pay to maintain a deteriorating asset like a car when it can be rented as needed?

What to Eat and Drink

Food and drink are often less expensive and of higher quality than what is available at the typical US supermarket. Even villages in France have weekly or bi-weekly marchés offering fresh fruit and vegetables in the center of town. Large chain supermarkets like Lidl, Aldi, Leclerc, and Intermarche are usually located on the outer rims of cities, requiring a bus for access. Lidl and Aldi are the best bets for low-priced but generally good-quality products. Sometimes small appliances and clothing can be found at Lidl and Aldi if you don’t mind some searching.

How and Where to Shop

For furniture and other items for the home, Ikea and other home decor stores can be found on the outskirts of most cities. Brocantes (secondhand shops) and some marchés have less expensive secondhand furniture, with more style options and better quality. Or, if your French is sufficient, you can deal with individuals selling on sites like leboncoin.com but be careful that whatever you buy is actually functional. I prefer payment on delivery rather than ahead of delivery, which can be risky.

This brings me to one basic French shop with which I have had good consumer experiences. Monoprix has frequent sales beyond the normal January and June sales and, for my money, the best customer service. Returning products is just not a common function of most French stores. However, if you show a sales slip (and one time it worked for me without one), Monoprix will give a cash return within 30 days. Leclerc may give store credit within two weeks with a receipt but this is not a consistent practice across all Leclerc stores. They operate individually, despite the common ownership, so items must be returned only to the store where purchased. The concept of easy cash returns, so familiar to American consumers, has not crossed the Atlantic!

Living in France on Minimum Wage

Although it’s no doubt more fun and less stressful to live in France with loads of disposable income, it is possible to live on SMIC (salaire minimum de croissance). At the time of writing, SMIC is 1500 euros per month, subject to change when the French budget is passed. If you are of a certain age, discounts can be found for train travel (30%) but not the cinema, oddly. If you have a carte vitale and are lucky enough to not live in a medical desert (at present, unfortunately, I do), most medical costs are covered, except dental and vision.

I am always looking for inexpensive solutions for day-to-day living in France. I will pass on tips as I find them, though that can be as quixotic as an untrained pig hunting for truffles.

Photo by Jade Marchand on Unsplash

URSSAF’s Summer Robbery (and Autumn Reimbursement)

Posted by Stephen Heiner

Back in 2016 I wrote my very first article about French taxes. I noted that I had to send two written corrections to the Ministry of Finance by registered mail, asserting (with my French accountant gently nudging me forward) that I, in fact, did not owe taxes to the French on my foreign income. It was only after the second letter (they had tried to get away with simply a reduction in the first reply) that they removed all liability.

Reflecting on that incident now, I remember being surprised that it could have happened. I had only been living in France for about three years at that point. I had the idea that tax returns go into a machine, and that the machine double-checks your own calculations, and then voila, you get your September attestation. This situation turned me on to the idea that sometimes, the machines can screw up, even with something so banal as number-crunching.

Summer 2024 marked a new milestone for me. As is the case for most of my summers in France since 2015, I was away from Paris for the majority of the time. That also meant if “administrative issues” occurred, I probably wouldn’t be able to deal with it until after the rentrée, for various reasons. In this particular case, URSSAF suddenly started pulling out seven times my normal monthly social contribution out of my business bank account.

I say “suddenly” but the truth is that URSSAF sends a “regularization” notice for your social contributions (just as the Ministry of Finance sends one for your personal taxes). The latter normally comes in September but with the new integration of URSSAF with your tax filings, the former came as part of a regular email notice that I ignored. Revenue for my French business had been more or less the same in relation to the previous year so I thought my contributions would remain the same.

Wrong.

For whatever reason, URSSAF had taken my foreign earnings amount, which I have to declare on my French personal return, and decided that all of it was taxable French business income. I only learned that because I sent an email to my personal and business accountants (in September, when I knew everyone would be back) asking what could have happened, and did I miss some new major tax that had been levied on small businesses?

The same accountant who all those years ago helped me stand up to the Ministry of Finance wrote back:

The XXX€ amount represents US source earnings for which you paid social charges in the US. URSSAF should not be using this amount in their calculation.

This happened to one other client and after correspondence with URSSAF by the client’s French accountant, he was able to correct his calculation.

The explanation should be that this is US source income and per the social security tax agreement (Totalization agreement) it is taxed in the US thus exempt from French social charges.

She helpfully enclosed the link for me to share with URSSAF in correspondence.

I duly forwarded my objection to URSSAF and a couple of weeks later I got a new regularization and a large portion of the overcharge refunded to my bank account for the 2023 number. Now that I’ve gotten clarity on what happened, I’m going to restate estimated numbers for 2024 to URSSAF (quite easy since it’s almost the end of 2024), and once they process that, I will probably get the remaining amount of the overcharge refunded.

Two key takeaways:

As doli recently noted in her dogged pursuit of the French to pay her back for the locks they broke, it’s about persistence. Most people, even the French, often cave on personal administrative injustices, as confrontation with the authorities is emotionally draining, and life is hard enough. Stay dogged.
The French bureaucracy is going to make mistakes, even nonsensical ones sometimes. Stay patient and make sure you have good help.

Speaking of good help, for years we have been dogged by the question, “Do you know any good accountants?” My accountant (the one referred to in this story) stopped taking new clients in 2018 so I’ve not been very helpful in recent years other than to send links to some accountants we had found online but had not gotten to know. But thankfully, we now have a resource. You’ll see short interviews done with these firms in the weeks ahead to give you a bit more context. When you reach out to them, let them know The American in Paris sent you. It’s one more way you can support our work. 🙂

If you’d like a laugh from a fellow immigrant, Tatty Macleod, who understands the pain of URSSAF, click here.

Photo by George Becker.

This story also appeared on Medium.

How I Got a Job Teaching in France (and How You Can Too)

Posted by Jackie Minton

In the fall of 2023, I was heartbroken. I had just returned to the United States after two months in France. I spent the summer interning with a mission organization abroad and fell in love with the country in the process. I knew the only long-term cure for my heartache was to get back to France. But how could I do that for only another three months? No, it needed to be for longer, which would mean needing a visa. Getting a visa would mean needing a job, and how was I going to get a job in France?

Such was my plight when I met a friend of a friend who taught French in New York. She told me about a program she had done in Paris called TAPIF. After I got back to Texas from visiting my friend, I did a quick Google search and learned that TAPIF stands for Teaching Assistant Program in France. I also learned that it would come with a French visa for the duration of a school year.

TAPIF is the American Embassy’s face of a French government program that solicits young people from all over the world to teach their native tongue in French public schools. The program currently partners with 77 countries and in 2024 welcomed 2,992 language assistants to France from all over the world.

Who Can Apply for TAPIF?

TAPIF asks applicants to be American citizens (or green card holders) between the ages of 20 and 35 and to prove a B1 level of fluency in French. Also to be included in the dossier (French for “file”) is a letter of motivation for why they want to participate and a letter of recommendation from a teacher or mentor — both in French. No previous teaching or foreign experience is required, though it certainly helps with one’s likelihood of acceptance. For the 2018-19 school year, TAPIF boasted over a 55% applicant acceptance rate for 1,100 positions scattered across France.

My Application Experience

Finding myself within the program’s age limit, applying was a no-brainer. There was just one catch… I was definitely not at a B1 level of fluency at the time. Discovering the program in October of 2023 and with an application deadline in January of 2024, I was left to go from an A1-ish to a B1 in two and a half months. Having never studied French in a classroom, I had no French teacher or college transcript that could vouch for my knowledge of the language. Therefore, I would need to prove my fluency by a formal test like the DELF.

A little research led me to discover there was a B1 DELF test offered by the Alliance Français in Dallas on December 12th, about a 45-minute drive from my home. This would render my results at the end of December, just in time for the application deadline in January. I quickly signed up for a course to start the next week and studying French became my job (in addition to my other job).

Passing the DELF means navigating an oral production, oral comprehension, written production, and written comprehension section with a comprehensive score of at least 50%. My scores were far from perfect, but I passed and received my unofficial B1 certificate in time to submit the application to TAPIF. Once it was submitted, the waiting game began.

What’s the pay?

A language assistant’s average work week consists of teaching for 12 hours in up to three different schools for a modest stipend of €1,010.67 per month. Aside from the visa, perks include France’s generous vacation schedule and a generally lighter workload than an American may be used to. Language assistants are not allowed to give grades or to assign homework, so outside work solely consists of preparing for classes.

What’s the catch?

One of the more challenging aspects of TAPIF is that applicants have little say in what age students they will teach and where in the country they will live. Postulants are asked for their top 3 academies of the 26 in France (think school districts), if they prefer to live in a big city or the countryside, and if they prefer to teach primary or secondary school. TAPIF clearly states that preferences are in no way promised and if accepted applicants are asked to promise to do the program no matter what assignment they receive. It’s a big ask, but at the end of the day, they can’t force anyone to buy a plane ticket to France and I know people that have turned down their acceptance offer.

Getting the news

News of acceptance was promised sometime in April, and in natural French style on May 1st I received an apology email that results were not to be expected for another two weeks due to the high number of applications that year. So after a month and a half of holding my breath every time I opened my email, I got the news. I was accepted.

A few weeks later, at the top of June, I received my assignment to the Academy of Clermont-Ferrand, third on my list of preferences. Naturally, I started sharing the news with friends and researching about the city; however, this was mostly in vain. About two weeks after that, I received news of the department I would work in, the name of one of the three schools where I would teach, and the contact of my liaison for the school district. The Haute-Loire department where I was placed could not be farther from Clermont-Ferrand. At first, I was upset, but on further research of the little town I was placed in, I realized I might not have it so bad.

Le Puy-en-Velay, though little known by most French people, is a wonder for its beauty and history. The town is a medieval starting point for the Chemin de St. Jacques-de-Compostelle, aka the Camino, and boasts a 12th-century cathedral to match. It has a lively center and attracts artisans of all kinds for its beauty. Though admittedly remote, the landscape is spectacular, with surrounding views for nature lovers like myself. And even better, the level of English here is relatively low, so I am happily forced to use and grow my French vocabulary every day. In terms of a genuine French experience, I won the jackpot with TAPIF.

Final Thoughts

For obvious reasons, this is not a program for everyone. Though possible, it is not practical to do with a spouse, much less with a family. TAPIF recognizes its salary is scarcely livable for one person and even then, they recommend having a few thousand in savings to make the move and enjoy any additional travel. That being said, it has been an excellent way for me to give living in France a go, and to have a fast-track for gaining employment as a non-native. Each year applications are open from mid fall to late winter.

To learn more about TAPIF, its requirements, and this year’s deadlines visit their official website here.

Photo is of a French classroom from my first school visit.

How to Apply for French Citizenship, Part II: Interview Prep

Posted by Stephen Heiner

The first article on my citizenship journey came out in April. In it, I said, “I expect to receive communication from the prefecture within 2-3 months, and if all is satisfactory with my dossier, an interview date 2-3 months beyond that.”

I was generally right. The interview date was actually for about 7 months from that submission in April, but it was only for a few weeks after I got the all-clear on my dossier.

To be fair, after a decade with the French, I feel like I know their bureaucratic rhythms, even the new speedy post-Covid ones.

On October 21st a message appeared in my account asking for more documentation:

Attention merci de ne pas répondre à ce message, veuillez uniquement scanner en un seul document: Les bilans comptables annuels des années 2021, 2022 et 2023.

My first thought was, “Oh no, do the French want to audit my business?” But after I pondered it a bit longer, I realized it was the same thing I so often tell TAIP clients: the French are following a checklist, so give them everything they want on the checklist.

My French business accountant was kind enough to combine all three requested tax years into a single PDF, as the message demanded, and I submitted it the very next day, the 22nd.

Two days later, on the 24th, I received two messages, one right after the other.

The first one was a “Récépissé de Completude de Dossier de Demande de Naturalisation.” This was distinct from the original “Confirmation de Dépot” that I alluded to in the last article. The distinction seems to be that the first step is simply an acknowledgment that you have submitted the paperwork that was asked for. In contrast, the Récépissé implied, at least to me, that the entire dossier had been checked at least once, probably twice, by competent authorities and was found to have no serious holes (apart from the paperwork which they requested and I gave). Here’s some of the text:

RÉCÉPISSÉ DE COMPLÉTUDE DE DOSSIER DE DEMANDE DE NATURALISATION

(décret n° 93-1362 du 30 décembre 1993 – article 37)

Monsieur HEINER STEPHEN (my middle name) né à SINGAPOUR (SINGAPOUR) le (my date of birth) demeurant au (my address) 75012 Paris a déposé le 08/02/2024 à la Prefecture de Police un dossier n° (my dossier number) de demande de naturalisation, après l’avoir examinée, et constaté son caractère complet, la Prefecture de Police va procéder à son instruction.

In times past, and with less efficient processes, there may have been a lag between this Récépissé and my Convocation for my interview. In this case, there was no lag whatsoever. The very next message included:

CONVOCATION

ENTRETIEN D’ASSIMILATION

Monsieur HEINER STEPHEN (my middle name), vous avez déposé une demande de naturalisation n° (my dossier number) dans mon service.

Afin de pouvoir procéder à l’entretien réglementaire nécessaire à l’instruction de votre dossier, je vous serais obligé de vous présenter :

Le (a date in November) à 09:15 précises

Lieu : Préfecture de police – Délégation à l’immigration – Pôle de l’accès à la nationalité – 11 rue des Ursins 75004 Paris

Afin de poursuivre l’instruction de votre dossier, je vous prie d’apporter le jour de votre convocation l’ensemble des pièces d’état civil déposées lors de votre demande, en version originale.

That date was less than a month from the email I received, so my pre-planned studies went into high gear.

Now, let’s be clear, by “high gear” I don’t mean eight-hour study days. But I did set aside at least one hour a day every day until the interview to review what I wanted to know cold, which included, among other things:

History of the 5th Republic (who was the 3rd President?)
General French Geography (where is the Rhone River valley?)
The mechanics of government (who is elected for how long and what kind of power does that person have?)
Trivia (French authors and musicians, French actors and actresses, when was the death penalty abolished, etc.)

I had been generically familiar with these things but having combed the Internet for years in preparation (whenever anyone would publish the interview questions he/she was asked I saved them to an ever-growing Apple Note) I didn’t want to get caught out on something basic.

I’ve also added some B2 study modules to flex some additional tenses and vocabulary in the interview.

But let’s be clear here, the interview is not really about a sort of French Trivial Pursuit contest and getting every question “right” (more than one naturalized friend has told me he/she got at least one question “wrong” in the interview). At its heart, it is an “entretien d’assimilation,” an interview about how well I had integrated into France. The interview is to be conducted entirely in French, which also implies being able to use various tenses to talk about your past life, your present life, and your hopes for the future.

Things interviewers like to hear:

That you have French friends
That you have connections in France, whether that’s through joining associations or volunteer work
That you’ve traveled in France and have learned some things through that travel
That you accept French values and have incorporated them into your life
That you’re not a jerk

I half-kid on that last point, only to say that in recent times I think the authorities have taken to combing your social media profiles, so if you are at all critical of France and her government, that might be held against you, even if “liberté” is touted as a “republican value” that is treasured by the state (and hence, should be treasured by you). But it is reasonable for the French, or any nation, to put a barrier up against naturalizing people who openly criticize the country when they are still only residents, even long-term residents. Such privileges are reserved for citizens, at least one would hope.

From my research I’ve found that interviews have lasted as short as 15 minutes and have gone as long as 30 minutes.

Something Jean Taquet has always stressed to me over the years and that I’ve taken to heart is the importance of having a cover letter to present that tells your interviewer why you want to become French. The current digital process doesn’t really give a space for this (i.e. a place to upload “any other documentation you might find helpful,” something that Americans consider normal but the French would consider abhorrent, as it doesn’t fit on a checklist), though Jean told me later I should have simply included it as part of the PDF of another document. In any case, I will have a one-page version of said cover letter ready, along with letters of recommendation from two friends, to present in person at my interview. If the interviewer takes the time to scan it briefly, the content of the interview may go along the outlines of the points I’ve made in the cover letter rather than the standard questions that all the interviewers can draw from.

Doli, who you’ve seen wax lyrical on bilingualism on this site, told me that her interview was almost entirely on bilingualism, as the interviewer was intrigued with her course of study and Doli basically spoke for 30-45 minutes straight before the interviewer finally wrapped things up. Doli faced no questions on presidents or mountains or where the Senate meets (the Luxembourg Palace, in case you’re wondering), reinforcing the points I made above: the interview is less about reciting facts and more about explicating the case you are making in your dossier: I feel French (for these reasons) and let me tell you (in French) all about it while you ask me (in French) follow-up questions.

I can’t wait to tell you about how it went. You’ll hear in the next article.

The image is a screenshot from my dashboard on the Etrangers en France site, showing my current progress towards a decision on nationality.

Raising Children — Bilingually? Part 2

Posted by doli

Note from the editor: If you haven’t already, be sure to read Raising Children — Bilingually? Part 1 before jumping into Part 2. — MS

Bilingual Native-Language Acquisition

Children who are brought up bilingually will acquire two native languages according to the same processes as children who acquire language in a monolingual environment.

All children, whether they are brought up in monolingual or bilingual situations acquire language passing through the one-word and two-word stages as they build up language proficiency. However, bilinguals must learn to distinguish between two different streams of language and then develop their language accordingly.

Whether due to early non-discrimination or to the difficulty of acquiring first words, children in the early one-word sentence stage in a bilingual situation will use either language without differentiation according to whom they are speaking. This is comparable to monolingual language acquisition, where children do not acquire synonyms immediately, sometimes hypothesized as a measure of efficiency in the language acquisition process. At about the same time as when monolinguals start using synonyms, the bilingually-raised child then begins to use equivalents separately. This means that there should be no fear of a child’s ultimately “mixing” languages as long as caretakers specifically take heed not to mix languages themselves. What children hear, they imitate.

Brain Studies and Cognition

Studies of brain functioning in bilinguals have been and are still being carried out extensively. After much research into language competence, it is generally accepted that bilinguals have a single, integrated language system.

Also, “language and cognition may not be processed separately in the brain; instead they interact with and facilitate each other… Bilingualism appears to be associated with more effective cognitive control, particularly with executive control and executive function (EF) abilities.” (Higby et al.)

Experience with two languages tends to lead to greater cognitive efficiency. Bain has carried out a longitudinal study comparing two bilingual children and two monolingual children using cognitive testing as set up by Piaget and Vygotsky, He concludes that the bilingual brain is a better tool for learning.

Children learning two languages from infancy are not impaired cognitively or academically. It may even be possible to conclude that bilinguals have superior language skills as well as other cognitive abilities as compared to those of monolinguals. For example, it seems the tendency for bilinguals to be better in mathematics than monolinguals might be due to their having learned to handle abstraction from an early age. For a monolingual, the object “bed” and the word /bed/ are bound together such that the word is the thing. Piaget once asked five-year-olds to give him a long word, and many of them answered “train.” On the other hand, a bilingual has learned that the object can be called either /bed/ or /li/; words, which are abstractions, are thus separate from the objects they designate.

Code-Switching and Interference

That a bilingual’s two languages co-mingle in a single language system where both languages remain continually activated implies possible alternation between the two languages. One language needs to be inhibited when speaking in a context where the other language is being used. This imperfect separation leads to code-switching when bilinguals speak among themselves or to interference when speaking in a monolingual situation. The former refers to using elements of a different language within the speech stream of the language in which an exchange is taking place. In this case, these elements are not affected by the host language. “Interference” is the transference of elements of one language to another at various levels, namely phonological, grammatical, lexical, and orthographical. In this case, the foreign elements are modified to fit the host language (Amenorvi). Alternation in the case of code-switching is considered to be positive as it often refers to language choice; however, interference is viewed as negative as it is often involuntary.

The abundant code-switching observed in conversation between and among bilinguals has led to the recently developed concept of “translanguaging” whereby bilinguals express themselves across languages to best communicate nuances that may not exist in both languages.

Bilingual communication may lead to what is referred to as “negotiation of language” whereby each participant tends to pull exchanges toward their preferred language. This can often be observed between children preferring to speak in the majority language as they converse with a parent or grandparent whose preference is the minority language. Often when my son came home from French public school, totally immersed in French, he immediately began telling me about his day in French. Pulled in this direction I found myself responding in French until at some point I had difficulty making my ideas clear in this language and wondered why I was even trying to do so. I then switched to English, pulling him in that linguistic direction.

Life-long Bilingualism

As bilinguals grow older their language experiences modify their language use. Language dominance may change over time, as they use one language more than another. They may learn other languages, or they may lose some ability in one of their languages, known as language attrition. Language dominance and attrition are dependent on language exposure and can evolve: more exposure at a given time will improve language ability, reduced exposure can lead to more or less attrition. Losing some vocabulary, for example, in a native language that is not being used, is not unusual and not to be worried about. Increased exposure would bring renewed competence.

More and more research is being carried out on the relationship between bilingualism and dementia. It would seem that “actively using two languages seems to have a protective effect against age-related dementia.” The lifelong usage of two languages contributes to neuroplasticity and has been shown to delay cognitive decline “with a delayed age at onset of dementia” (Kamenetz). Furthermore, older bilingual adults are better able to cope with the pathology of neurodegeneration. One study shows that should bilinguals with dementia present greater neurodegeneration, their cognitive performance remains comparable to monolinguals with dementia. The hypothesis is that “Bilingualism recruits alternative brain networks to compensate for those that become damaged during aging and dementia (Marian and Shook, 2012). There would then exist a greater cognitive reserve to enhance brain functioning during aging.

Some Anecdotes

I was very strict in my use of English until my son became much older and we fell into code-switching modes. When visiting friends, I even read French-language children’s books to him in English, at least until the simultaneous translation became too difficult. Once, friends remarked, “We didn’t know we had English books in the house.”

When bicycling in Finland with my two-year-old, and not keeping very regular meal hours, one day my son called out, “Mommy. Eat, mange.” Clearly, he was using every linguistic tool in his possession to cry out his hunger. It was definitely time for lunch.

Once, when chatting with my neighbors, my three-year-old turned to me and asked, “Can I go to Maryse’s?” I said, “Ask Maryse.” He then turned to her and asked, “Je peux venir chez toi?” After her responding, “Oui,” he turned back to me saying, “She said ‘yes’.”

When coming home from kindergarten with my son one day, we stopped at a Chinese take-out to get lunch. As the server prepared our dishes, she complimented my son on his bilingualism. I immediately asked her what language she spoke with her own little boy I had seen behind the counter. Looking down and hiding her face she responded, “Mandarin,” as if she were ashamed. I immediately launched into compliments on how wonderful she was to speak to him in Mandarin and the fantastic effects on the brain of being brought up in two such different languages. By the time our food was ready, she was standing much straighter and smiling broadly.

If any of a child’s caretakers speak a native language other than French in this country, I implore you to speak with them and play with them in your own native language. It can only serve them well.

Photo of our bilingual bookshelf.

The State of Coffee in Paris (and what is Cafe Richard, anyway?)

Posted by Stephen Heiner

“So anyway, that’s part of why I think France has more of a cafe culture than a coffee culture,” I concluded, having just explained how much I appreciated the growth of specialty coffee in Paris.

We were dining outside of the cathedral at Chartres and I was enduring the prison coffee so often served in many otherwise lovely restaurants in France. One of the Baby Boomers in the party heartily disagreed with my sentiment. “I think this is very good coffee,” he sniffed. I wasn’t sure why he felt the need to defend the general state of coffee in France, but I certainly feel no such need, despite loving life here.

The General State of Coffee in France

The coffee in France in general and in Paris in particular is, at best, average. At worst, it’s dire, reminiscent of the strange brew you would find inside a Shell gas station in America in the late 1980s. No love, no care, just some grounds and hot water. And why have the French been okay with this? Because, as I contend, coffee in this country is, like a cigarette, more of a ritual. It’s about what is going on when you have a coffee, not the quality of the coffee itself. This isn’t to say that the French don’t know good coffee when they taste it. They just aren’t going to go out of their way to find it.

The Coffee Ritual

Coffee ticks so many boxes in France. Many Parisians push a button on their Nespresso machines every morning before going to work. That first sip of the hot, dark beverage helps to wake them, and if they are so disposed, to enlighten them about the possibilities of the day. At 10h00 and 14h00, coffee is often taken with colleagues: outside if the weather is nice, in a lounge area if not. Here the coffee is a lubricant for the conversation. It allows the French to hold something hot and comforting in their hands while they share the difficulties of their jobs. If you’re out during the day to meet with a friend, that coffee is a shared understanding — we’re here to talk about important details of our lives, and coffee often accompanies those conversations, whether those details be light or grave. After a coursed meal, coffee helps to summarize a culinary experience, and perhaps give you just what you need in stimulus to make it home on the métro before collapsing into a (lovely) food coma. In none of these circumstances is good coffee required, and hence, the French have never really asked for it.

Here you might reasonably argue, “Why are you being such a snob, Stephen…not everyone needs a V60 or a particular type of bean from Ethiopia.” It’s not about that. We have never had access to so much good coffee from around the world and so more and more people are getting to taste this good coffee and when they go back to the prison swill we so often experience (even in our favorite restaurants) the difference is palpable.

Add in the ever-growing number of places in Paris that care about coffee, and often, there’s no going back to the bad stuff, often made from robusta (instead of Arabica) beans. You’d rather just have a chocolat chaud or nothing.

What is Café Richard?

I’m sure I had my very first Café Richard coffee somewhere in Montmartre in 2009, when I first visited Paris as a tourist. I was starry-eyed, and at the time, not that interested in coffee, so I was enjoying the ritual of sitting on a Parisian terrasse, taking in the crowds, and feeling like everything was right in the world. That’s where Cafés Richard (pluriel for the corporate name) comes in.

This (still) family-owned business was founded in 1892 and is probably the single largest supplier of coffee in Paris. The thing is, they don’t just supply the coffee, they supply the whole infrastructure to deliver it.

There’s the machine. The cups. The saucers. The tools and implements. The beans. And if the machine breaks, they have someone who can come out right away to fix it.

Do you know how much that would cost if you had to cover it all yourself? As if starting a cafe or restaurant wasn’t already expensive enough? Cafés Richard knows, and they are very happy to solve this problem for you by letting you lease their machines and everything that goes with them. No upfront cost in tens of thousands of euros, no big bill when the machine goes bust. You pay one fee each month which correlates to all the services you might ask for.

Many a restaurateur gladly takes on this arrangement. Most French don’t care about good coffee and Cafés Richard has nourished a good reputation over the years such that the name is recognizable all throughout Paris. And, since the French don’t really care about the quality of the coffee, can we blame Cafés Richard for delivering a mediocre product? Non. They deliver a product and services that both restaurateurs and guests appreciate. Who am I to interfere?

The Particular State of Coffee in Paris

I first moved to Paris in 2013 and the specialty coffee scene was still quite new. All coffee lovers in Paris will know that many specialty coffee roads here in the capital lead back to le Cafeotheque near Notre-Dame and that many of the people who have continued on in coffee in Paris first got their start there. Here is a very short (not exhaustive) list of places (which reflects my unapologetic rive droite bias) where you can get excellent coffee in Paris. Please feel free to add more in the comments section.

1er Kitsune — right by Palais Royale if I want to take a cup “to go” and sit by the fountain there.
1er Kawa — if you want to feel totally out of your depth, surrounded by people very knowledgeable about coffee, and are willing to learn and try something you have likely never tried before, come to Kawa.
3eme Maison Plisson — come for the amazing cheese and lovely comestibles, stay for the coffee and pastries? 🙂
3eme Fringe — if you’re wandering around the Marais and need your coffee fix, duck into this lovely spot.
4eme la Cafeotheque — does it get any more serious than this place for coffee in Paris? Not sure. 🙂
4eme le Peloton — not too far from la Cafeotheque is the Peloton Cafe, which often has delicious baked goods for the sweet of tooth.
5eme Shakespeare and Co Cafe — don’t let the swarm of tourists scare you off: the coffee is good and the view of Notre Dame is probably the best of any public cafe in the city.
7eme Coutume — I know they have lots of locations, licensed and otherwise, in the city. I happen to like this (relatively) quieter location on rue Babylone.
9eme KB — amazing coffee + lovely neighborhood = can’t miss (they also operate Back in Black just a few steps from Bastille, I think).
10eme Holybelly — Craig Carlson (owner of Breakfast in America) and I were at some expat meetup years ago and someone complained to us about the lines outside Holybelly. “I enjoy eating at Craig’s,” I said, “but Holybelly might be the best breakfast in Paris.” Craig humbly nodded his assent. They make good coffee too. (fair disclosure: I’ve worked for Holybelly in the past)
10eme Ten Belles — it’s a location that’s so cute some may squeak when they see it for the first time.
11eme Passager — when I want a breakfast bagel sandwich and a V60 and people-watching on a quiet weekday, I come here. Too busy on the weekends.
11eme The Hood — there’s so much I love about this place (and, fair disclosure, I’ve worked for them in the past as well) but apart from getting exposed to some foods you may have never tried before, you’re always going to get good coffee, made with love, here.
14eme Hexagone — look, I’m never, ever, down this far south, but if I happen to be, I’ll be here.
18eme Hardware Societe — you’re probably coming here for the food first, but if it’s a less busy time, stop in for the coffee.
18eme Cafe Lomi — brightly lit, filled with friendly staff and attractive patrons, and so much good coffee.
18eme la REcyclerie — I love this place for many reasons not just related to coffee, but they also offer a menu item that allows you to anonymously buy a coffee for someone in financial need (note that they are only open Fri-Sun).

Well, what if you’re not a coffee person? There are plenty of other options, and perhaps that’s an article for another time (and another writer). For now, I’ll just leave you with Plaq, on Rue du Nil (my favorite food street in Paris), which is a bean-to-bar chocolate shop that has some of the best chocolat chaud in the city (pace Angelina, which is an experience on its own).

Photo on Rue Reaumur near my old apartment in the 2nd.

mini american and french flags in a cup on a wooden table

US Taxes for Americans Living in France

Posted by Guest Writer

Note from the editor: One of our most asked questions here at TAIP is: how do I file my taxes as an American expat in France? Do you have any accountant recommendations? As such, I’ve made it a goal to come into contact with some reputable CPAs. Universal Tax Professionals specializes in US taxes for Americans living abroad. Josh Katz, CPA and Founder of UTP shared this very helpful overview of everything you need to know about filing as an expat in France, as well as ways UTP may be able to help. — MS

For Americans living in France, the issue of taxes can seem complex, as they need to address both French and US tax obligations. While living abroad provides many opportunities, it does not absolve US citizens from filing and paying US taxes. The US operates on a citizenship-based taxation system, meaning Americans must file a tax return annually, no matter where they live.

Who Needs to File US Taxes?

All US citizens and Green Card holders living abroad must file a US tax return if they meet the below income thresholds:

$13,850 for single filers
$27,700 for married filing jointly
$5 for married filing separately
$20,800 for head of household
$400 for self-employed

This means if your worldwide income, including earnings from French sources, exceeds these amounts, you must file a US tax return, regardless of where you live.

Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (FEIE)

To reduce the burden of double taxation, the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (FEIE) allows Americans living abroad to exclude a certain amount of their foreign-earned income from US taxation. For the 2023 tax year, this amount is $120,000. To qualify for this exclusion, you must pass either the Bona Fide Residence Test or the Physical Presence Test.

Bona Fide Residence Test: You must reside in a foreign country for an uninterrupted period that includes a full tax year
Physical Presence Test: You need to be physically present in a foreign country for at least 330 full days in any consecutive 12-month period

Foreign Tax Credit (FTC)

In addition to FEIE, US expats in France can also claim the Foreign Tax Credit (FTC). This credit allows you to offset taxes paid to the French government against your US tax liability. If you pay taxes in France, you may be able to avoid double taxation on the same income by claiming the FTC.

For instance, if you’re employed in France and pay French income taxes, the amount of tax you pay to the French government can be credited against the US taxes you owe. This credit applies to income, dividend, and interest taxes but not to social security contributions.

Reporting Foreign Bank Accounts: FBAR

If you have a foreign bank account, including accounts held at French banks, you may need to report this to the US government. The Foreign Bank Account Report (FBAR) is required if the total value of all your foreign financial accounts exceeds $10,000 at any point during the year. The FBAR must be filed electronically with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) by April 15 each year, though an automatic extension to October 15 is available.

FATCA Reporting

The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) requires US expats to report their foreign assets if they exceed certain thresholds. For US taxpayers living abroad, the threshold is $200,000 for single filers and $400,000 for joint filers at the end of the year. This includes bank accounts, investment accounts, and other financial assets held in France.

FATCA reporting is done through Form 8938, which must be included with your US tax return.

Self-Employment Taxes

If you’re self-employed in France, you must pay US self-employment taxes, which cover Social Security and Medicare. The US self-employment tax rate is 15.3% of your net income. However, if you’re covered by the French social security system, the US-France Totalization Agreement can help you avoid paying social security taxes in both countries.

Under this agreement, if you contribute to the French social security system, you won’t be required to pay US self-employment taxes. However, you’ll still need to file your US tax return and report your income.

Double Taxation and the US-France Tax Treaty

The US-France Tax Treaty helps avoid double taxation by providing rules for which country has the right to tax specific types of income. For example, the treaty outlines how pensions, investment income, and wages should be taxed to prevent them from being taxed by both the US and France.

Understanding how the treaty applies to your situation is crucial, as it can affect your tax liability in both countries.

Deadlines and Extensions

For Americans living abroad, the US tax filing deadline is June 15 — an automatic two-month extension beyond the standard April 15 deadline. However, if you owe any taxes, interest will still accrue from the April deadline. If you need more time, you can request an extension until October 15, but you must submit Form 4868 to do so.

Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures

If you’ve fallen behind on your US tax filings while living in France, you may be able to catch up without facing penalties through the Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures. This program is designed for expats who have not filed their tax returns due to non-willful neglect. To use the program, you must file three years of back taxes and six years of FBARs, along with a statement explaining your non-compliance.

How a Tax Professional Can Help with Your US Taxes

Handling US taxes while living in France can be challenging, especially with the complexity of filing requirements, credits, and exclusions available to expats. Working with a tax professional means you won’t have to worry about missing deadlines, filling out complicated forms, or determining whether you qualify for certain credits. They can help simplify the process and reduce the risk of penalties or overpayment.

Universal Tax Professionals has been offering tailored tax services to American expats in France for over ten years. Our experienced team specializes in US expat tax preparation, ensuring that you comply with US tax laws and maximize the credits and exclusions available to you. Whether you need help filing back taxes, claiming the right deductions, or understanding complex reporting requirements, UTP provides personalized support. Reach out to schedule a consultation today and let our team take the stress out of your US tax filing while living in France.

Photo by The Now Time on Unsplash