Look inside
The plan for France, from the inside
These are all 27 steps of the France journey, exactly as they appear in your personal plan — with the lead time and the costs next to them. Not a brochure: this is the file that feeds the platform. Pick another country below if you're heading elsewhere.
For which country?
Every country has its own steps, its own order and its own clocks. Switch as often as you like.
- Steps
- 27
- Phases
- 5
- Official sources
- 45
- Only for your situation
- 9
Phase 1
6 steps
Orientation
There's even less here that stops you than in Spain — no registration duty, no counter. That's exactly why you have to know yourself what does have to happen: healthcare, tax and an address you can prove.
- 1.1
Living there is simply allowed; that doesn't make you settled
- Lead time
- reading step
- Costs
- none
3 official sources
- 1.2
Know how you'll get into French healthcare
- Lead time
- an evening of research; arranging it can take months
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
- 1.3
Choose your region
- Lead time
- weeks of research, preferably with a scouting trip
- Costs
- none — a scouting trip is a choice, not an obligation
2 official sources
- 1.4
Get a picture of what it's going to cost
- Lead time
- 1-2 hours with the calculator
- Costs
- none
- 1.5
The family conversation
- Lead time
- weeks, not hours
- Costs
- none
- 1.6
Choose your target date
- Lead time
- decision moment
- Costs
- none
Phase 2
8 steps
Closing the Netherlands
France has no number to collect in advance — the head start you take here is paperwork in order, and healthcare cover that bridges the long French enrolment.
- 2.1
Collect your documents, and know the rules of the game
- Lead time
- 1-4 weeks
- Costs
- fees per extract, tens of euros in total
2 official sources
- 2.2
Arrange healthcare cover that bridges the French enrolment
- Lead time
- researching and taking out, 1-3 weeks; the CAK route you start two months before departure
- Costs
- premium depends on age and cover; with an S1 or French work no bridging needed
3 official sources
- 2.3
Know where you'll pay tax
- Lead time
- one good conversation with a tax adviser
- Costs
- advisory hours — depending on your situation
2 official sources
- 2.4
Deregister and close the Netherlands
- Lead time
- deregistering is possible from 5 days before departure; the whole takes 4-8 weeks
- Costs
- limited — cancellation costs per contract
2 official sources
- 2.5
Partner comes along without a job of their own
- Lead time
- an evening together, then a few things to arrange
- Costs
- none — the consequences are in the article
2 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 2.6
Living partly in the Netherlands: the eight-month rule
- Lead time
- one decision, before you commit to anything else
- Costs
- none
4 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 2.7
The house in the Netherlands: sell, rent out or keep
- Lead time
- one conversation with the mortgage lender and one with a tax adviser
- Costs
- advisory hours; when renting out possibly an interest surcharge from the bank
2 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 2.8
Children staying in the Netherlands: DUO, healthcare and the house
- Lead time
- an evening, and after that one report a year
- Costs
- none
1 official source
Only if this applies to you
Phase 3
5 steps
The move
The shortest trip of all destinations — but the car deserves the sharpest sum of the whole journey here, because a relocation exemption doesn't exist.
- 3.1
Choose your form of move
- Lead time
- decision moment
- Costs
- none — the consequences of your choice are in the calculator
- 3.2
Request quotes and plan the transport
- Lead time
- quotes 2-3 weeks; the trip itself is a day
- Costs
- according to your moving choices
Only if this applies to you
- 3.3
Pet along: chip, rabies jab and the EU pet passport
- Lead time
- start at least three weeks before departure
- Costs
- per animal — chip, vaccination and passport at the vet
1 official source
Only if this applies to you
- 3.4
Decide about the car — and work out the malus first
- Lead time
- decision moment; the conversion itself comes after arrival
- Costs
- if you bring it — inspection, carte grise and possibly a CO2 levy without exemption
3 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 3.5
Arrange your first accommodation
- Lead time
- booking can be quick; do it before your departure
- Costs
- falls under "the first months" in your budget
Phase 4
4 steps
Getting the basics in order in France
No registration counter, but an order: without proof of address no bank, without notification no healthcare — and the sécurité sociale takes longest, so you start that first.
- 4.1
Find your home, and start your address chain
- Lead time
- weeks to months, depending on region and season
- Costs
- deposit — legally at most one month's basic rent (two if furnished)
2 official sources
- 4.2
Start your registration with the sécurité sociale (CPAM)
- Lead time
- the application is an afternoon; the processing counts in months
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
- 4.3
Report to the French tax office
- Lead time
- a few weeks
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
- 4.4
Bank account and running matters
- Lead time
- 1-2 weeks
- Costs
- limited — French banks often charge monthly fees; the basic account via the droit au compte is free
3 official sources
Phase 5
4 steps
Arrival
From settled to simply living: school via the mairie, a GP before you need one, and one hard one-month deadline for the car.
- 5.1
School for the children, via the mairie
- Lead time
- enrolling is possible all year; on moving within eight days
- Costs
- public education is free; materials, canteen and trips aren't
3 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 5.2
Choose a médecin traitant and complete healthcare
- Lead time
- a few weeks — the finding is the work, not the form
- Costs
- the mutuelle premium belongs in your monthly budget from now on
2 official sources
- 5.3
Put the car on French plates
- Lead time
- one month — and that's the deadline, not the lead time
- Costs
- carte grise (tens to hundreds of euros by region and horsepower); malus only if the sum from phase 3 pointed to it
2 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 5.4
Landed
- Lead time
- it's done
- Costs
- none
9 of these steps aren't always there. They appear only when your answers call them up — a pet, a car, children staying behind. That's the difference between a plan and a checklist in which you have to work out yourself what applies.
Look inside
This is what one step of your plan looks like
Not a brochure but the real thing: this is one of the steps of the France journey, exactly as it appears in your personal step-by-step plan — with the deadlines, the counters and the sources.
Step 4.2 of your plan
Start your registration with the sécurité sociale (CPAM)
- Lead time
- the application is an afternoon; the processing counts in months
- Costs
- none
The longest clock of this route, so the first one you start — even before the boxes are unpacked. The application is form S1106 at the CPAM of your place of residence, with your identity document, IBAN, birth certificate (certified; the fund itself says whether it wants a translation) and your proofs of residence. If you work, it can be done right away; if you don't work, after three months of residence — with your rent receipts and bills as proof. Retired: here you hand in the S1 form from the CAK.
What happens next shouldn't surprise anyone: first a provisional number (NIA) comes by letter, with which healthcare costs can already be reimbursed, but with which no carte Vitale and no online account is possible yet. For the definitive number a legal maximum of nine months' processing time applies — an upper limit for that procedure, not a period without cover. In practice you're done sooner, but count on several months and claim on paper in the meantime. Every week started earlier is a week done earlier.
This is step 4.2 of 27. The other 26 are ready for you — each with the same sources, the same counters and a planning that watches your dates.
And what you don't see here
This page shows the content. What a page can't show is the work the platform does for you afterwards:
- The clocks that start running the moment you begin, and a nudge at the moment something is asked of you — not earlier.
- Your documents in one place, with their expiry dates watched, so nothing lapses while you wait for something else.
- The ticking off, together with your partner on the same journey.
- The steps that drop out or appear based on your answers, so your plan holds only what really applies to you.
Ready to start on France?
All 27 steps, set to your situation and with the deadlines watched. € 199 once, no subscription.
The departure guide
Five mails, and you see your whole journey
Not ready to start yet? Then we'll send you the departure guide for France: five mails in a week and a half, with the order, the pitfalls and the real costs. After that one question about where your plans stand, and beyond that only a short update when something in France really changes — at most one a month, no newsletter, and you can switch it off at any time.
Ready to begin?
Thirty-six journeys are fully ready — Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, Canada, Panama, United States, Suriname, China, Dubai, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand, Turkey, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand: your step-by-step plan, your documents and your costs in one place, with the timing watched. Pay once, and it's yours.