France · administrative route
Emigrating to France
As a Dutch citizen you live in France without a single form: no visa, no registration, no residence card. The pitfall is the exact opposite of the Spanish one — there's no counter forcing you, and so people only discover at the healthcare office or the bank that months have been lost. This page shows which clocks do tick.
€ 199 one-off · 27 steps · no subscription
- Kind of journey
- No visa, no registration duty
- The clock that counts
- Healthcare enrolment (CPAM) — count in months
- Lead time
- Three to nine months (indicative)
Last updated: August 2026
The journey
Five phases, from orientation to being settled
Nowhere in this journey do you wait for permission — but the order matters no less. Without proof of address nothing moves in France, the sécurité sociale is the longest clock, and whoever knows those two is settled months earlier.
- 1
Orientation
Living there is simply allowed; that doesn't make you settled
No registration, no residence card — as an EU citizen you live in France without a single form. The flip side: healthcare and the tax office only know you once you report yourself, and healthcare enrolment takes months. This is also the phase of choosing your region, and in France that's about more than climate: in parts of the countryside GPs take no new patients, and outside the cities English is no safety net. The language weighs heavier here than in Spain or Portugal.
- 2
Closing the Netherlands
No number to get in advance — but paperwork with a shelf life
France has no NIE or NIF you arrange in advance. The head start you gain here is different: fresh certificates (French authorities regularly want to see a recent birth certificate), healthcare cover that bridges the long French enrolment, the tax conversation — and closing the Netherlands neatly: deregistering, benefits, and the tax return for your year of emigration.
- 3
The move
Close by, so cheaper — but the carte grise is waiting
France is the nearest destination of the four: a day's drive, and the removal bill matches. Pets simply come along with an EU pet passport. If you bring your car, it has to go on French plates within a month — the carte grise, fully digital via ANTS, with a tax certificate (quitus fiscal) and an inspection. What that conversion costs depends heavily on your car; you work that out before the lorry drives, not after.
- 4
Getting the basics in order in France
Without proof of address nothing moves
No registration counter, but an order. First the home, because the rental contract and the energy bill in your name are the justificatif de domicile every French counter asks for. Then immediately start the enrolment with the sécurité sociale (CPAM) — the longest clock of this journey, count in months. After that the tax office and the bank, and if a bank is difficult: there's a legal right to a basic account.
- 5
Arrival
From settled to simply living
School for the children runs via the mairie — the town hall — and your home address decides the allocated school. Choose a médecin traitant before you need one: without a declared GP, healthcare reimburses structurally less. And the carte Vitale that lands on the doormat is the proof that the longest clock has run out — from that moment you're not only arrived, but also settled.
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.
What it costs
A rough indication for your situation
A few short questions, and you get a range instead of an amount. That's deliberate: an exact figure would suggest a precision nobody has.
Count on a total of
€ 2.500 – € 6.500
Where does that difference come from?
- De eerste maanden€ 2.500 – € 6.000
Open the breakdown below: there you'll find per item where the upper and the lower limit come from.
- Aanvraag en papieren
- € 0 – € 100
- De verhuizing
- € 80 – € 350
- De eerste maanden
- € 2.500 – € 6.000
View the itemsPer item the amount, the source and whether it's a rate or an estimate
Aanvraag en papieren
- Verse akten en eventuele vertalingen(estimate)€ 0 – € 100
De verhuizing
- Reis(estimate)€ 80 – € 350
De dichtstbijzijnde bestemming: één dag rijden, of een korte vlucht. Wie zelf rijdt is er zonder overnachting.
De eerste maanden
- De eerste maanden(estimate)€ 2.500 – € 6.000
Borg is in Frankrijk wettelijk beperkt — één maand kale huur bij ongemeubileerd, twee bij gemeubileerd — dus de klap bij het tekenen is kleiner dan elders. Wat net zo zwaar telt: tijdelijk wonen, leven zolang er nog geen inkomen binnenkomt, en de mutuelle (de aanvullende zorgverzekering die vrijwel iedereen neemt) in het maandbudget. De regio is de grote knop: Parijs huurt boven Nederlands niveau, de province op ongeveer de helft daarvan.
And if you buy a house?
This calculation assumes renting: the first months include deposit and rent in advance.
If you buy, count on 8 to 9% of the purchase price on top of this amount. On a home of € 250,000 that's € 20.000 to € 22.500.
In Frankrijk heet vrijwel alles "frais de notaire", maar het is grotendeels belasting. De droits de mutation zijn sinds april 2025 in ongeveer 95 van de 101 departementen verhoogd naar 5,81%; elders staan ze nog op 5,09%. De notaris zelf houdt daar maar een klein deel van over. Bij nieuwbouw ligt het veel lager — 2 tot 3% — want daar geldt btw in plaats van overdrachtsbelasting.
An order of magnitude based on averages, not a quote. The real amounts depend on your occupation, your route, the season and dozens of choices you still have to make.
The rates in this calculation haven't been checked against the official sources yet.
Your complete, personal cost picture — with your route, your documents and your deadlines — you get in Vertrekklaar.
That was the move. And once you live there?
Who may tax your pension once you live in France, is there a favourable regime, and how do you become insured? That depends on where your income comes from. Tick it and you see which rules apply to you — with the source.
See the financial conditionsThe 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 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.
Read on
The knowledge base on France
Per phase, the articles that are already there. They're written from the same journey and go deeper than what fits above.
Getting the basics in order in France
- 4 min
The CPAM and the number you wait months for: start the clock on day one
French healthcare only knows you once you report. For non-workers the entitlement begins after three months of residence, and after that the processing runs on for weeks to months. Whoever starts the registration straight away suffers least from it.
Updated 28 August 2026
- 2 min
The justificatif de domicile: the paper all of France asks for
No registration, no residence card — and yet *every* French counter asks for proof that you live where you live. What counts as proof, how fresh it has to be (that differs per counter), and how you start the chain on day one.
Updated 11 August 2026
Arrival
- 3 min
Buying a house in France: the notaire arranges almost everything — these are the three differences
Of all destinations, France resembles the Netherlands most here: the notaire collects the taxes, registers the transfer and you walk out as the owner. The differences are in the bill (count on 7 to 8% for existing property), your ten days of statutory cooling-off after the preliminary contract, and the taxe foncière that comes every year after that.
Updated 28 August 2026
- 2 min
Médecin traitant and mutuelle: the two choices that keep your French healthcare affordable
Whoever doesn't declare a GP in France is structurally reimbursed less — from 19 to 8.40 euros on a consultation of 30. And almost everyone (96%) has a mutuelle alongside the basic insurance. How both work, and when you arrange them.
Updated 28 August 2026
Leaving the Netherlands — for every destination
- 2 min
Keeping a bank account and DigiD: the two lines you never cut
After your deregistration you still need the Netherlands for years — for the M return, refunds and your pension. Within the EU your bank account is a right, towards Australia a favour from the bank. And your DigiD you arrange before departure, not after.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 3 min
The protective assessment: the bill that travels with you, and that never expires for one item
On emigration the Netherlands imposes an assessment on your pension, your annuity and your substantial shareholding that you don't have to pay — as long as you do nothing that makes it collectable. For pension and annuity it usually lapses after ten years. For a substantial shareholding it doesn't: that one remains valid indefinitely.
Updated 27 August 2026
- 2 min
Emigrating with children after a divorce: the consent that comes before everything
With joint custody you can't just go abroad with the children — you need the consent of the other parent, or substitute consent from the court. What the court weighs, and why leaving without consent is legally child abduction.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 3 min
Emigrating on early retirement: the CAK route is expected to close as of 1 November 2026
Whoever moves to the EU or Switzerland with a Dutch pension arranges their healthcare via the CAK. That door is closing to a crack: as expected, from 1 November only new applicants with AOW, Anw, WAO, WIA or Wajong will be admitted. Early retirement and RVU fall outside it — whoever is already a customer keeps their rights.
Updated 16 August 2026
- 2 min
The M form: the tax return for the year in which you emigrated
For the year of your departure you lived partly inside and partly outside the Netherlands, and a separate return goes with that. Nowadays it can be done online — but you have to think of it yourself, because an invitation rarely comes by itself.
Updated 9 August 2026
- 2 min
Your AOW accrual stops on departure — and you have one year to repair that
Every year outside the Netherlands costs you 2% AOW (the Dutch state pension), for life. The SVB has a voluntary continuation that closes that gap — but signing up is only possible in the first year after departure, and almost everyone misses that deadline.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 3 min
Your Dutch pension abroad: what comes along, and who levies
The AOW (the Dutch state pension) travels fully to the EU and to Australia — the latter thanks to a treaty from 2001. Your company pension too, but *where* you pay on it depends on the tax treaty, and the exemption you arrange yourself.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 3 min
Cancelling your health insurance without a gap
Your Dutch basic insurance is tied to living or working in the Netherlands and stops being a given on emigration. The art is to have the end date match your new cover — and to know which route belongs to your situation.
Updated 28 August 2026
- 2 min
Taking medicines across the border: certificates, supply and the 90-day ceiling
For medicines under the Opium Act you need a certificate — and the Dutch system only carries you for three months. What you arrange with the CAK, what Australia wants to see at the border, and why finding a local doctor simply belongs to your first weeks.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 9 min
Partner comes along without a job of their own: deregistering, healthcare, AOW and the house
Your partner has a job, a visa or a right of residence there; you come along without a job of your own. Administratively you're then no passenger: the deregistration, the end of your health insurance and your AOW accrual apply to you separately. What you get back if you arrange it well, what it costs if you let it slide — and why "just staying registered" isn't an option.
Updated 7 September 2026
- 2 min
Stopping allowances on emigration: do it yourself, and in time
Housing allowance, healthcare allowance, childcare allowance and child budget don't stop by themselves on the day you leave. Whoever lets them run gets a reclaim months later — this is what you arrange per allowance.
Updated 9 August 2026
- 3 min
Deregistering with the municipality: when exactly, and what stops then
Deregistering from the BRP is only possible from five days before departure, and is compulsory as soon as you're away for more than eight months a year. What stops at that moment, what stays, and which piece of paper you have to ask for right away.
Updated 9 August 2026
- 6 min
When does your pension stay taxed in the Netherlands? The three pots and the three conditions
"Your pension is taxed in your new country of residence" is right by approximation and not in the details. Your AOW, your company pension and your government pension each follow a rule of their own, and with the company pension the Netherlands can still levy if three conditions apply at once. This article explains which three, and which four questions you have to answer for your own situation.
Updated 27 August 2026
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.