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Five long months later and I finally arrived at the not so pearly gates of the Val de Marne prefecture, ready to face the last step of the nationality process. After weeks of revising and repeating the President’s of the 5th Republic in order, it was time to see if I had done enough to…
And so it begins… After it took me roughly two months of resending the same email again and again, over and over just to get an appointment, I had mentally prepared myself for a really difficult time at the prefecture. They weren’t going to make life easy for me, I thought to myself , as…
When I first moved to France, like most people I imagine, I didn’t immediately start looking for a doctor. I waited until I needed to see one and after a few less than successful appointments with various doctors I eventually found a GP that I liked and she became my médecin traitant. When I finally…
As some of you may know, and if you’ve already read my first article How to Apply for French Nationality – Part One, I am currently in the process of applying to become a French citizen through naturalisation. After you’ve followed the steps in my first post, you’ll know what documents you need to be…
It’s ironic really, my blog’s name is My Life Living Abroad but I’ve never actually written a post about how I moved abroad and more specifically, how on earth I managed to get all my stuff over here! It was a bit of a logistical nightmare at the time and even now, almost 8 years…
Find out if you’re eligible to apply First things first, if you want to apply for French nationality you need to find out if you are eligible to apply. This information can be found on the servicepublic.fr website but, it’s only in French, so here’s a short translation: Nationality by Declaration through marriage to a…
I often pride myself on the fact that I can answer a lot of administrative questions about life in France. I know how to get a social security number, how to rent an apartment, how to pay taxes, how to open a bank account and even, how to get French nationality. However, this past week…
WE DID IT! WE ACTUALLY FOUND AN APARTMENT! I almost couldn’t believe it when I put my pen to paper and signed for our new apartment, it was such a relief! This was my first time really looking for an apartment and trust me, finding a flat in or around Paris isn’t easy. You need…
Thanks to the wonderful Melissa (Melissa in Paris), I recently got the chance to go to a Paris Fashion Week Party for Fashion magazine Wheretoget. The party reminded me of just how much I love and enjoy the PFW scene (and no, not just because of the free Moët!) In the summer of 2015 I actually got the…
I recently noticed that one of the most popular questions on the Expatriates in Paris Facebook group is: “Where can I find a reasonably priced certified translator?” As anyone who lives here knows, the French administrative services are obsessed with red tape so getting things done in France is a lot more complicated than in other…