Between visas, insurance, and moving your belongings, it can cost a lot of money to move abroad. But how much? Keep reading for a complete breakdown of how much it has cost to relocate our family of three to France.
The Research Phase
Let’s start with an expense that isn’t necessarily required but that we considered a worthwhile investment: Research. Before our move, we paid for consultations with both a French-American immigration attorney and a CPA specializing in expat taxes. We did this in order to ensure that we applied for the correct visas, and because we wanted to fully understand the financial implications of our move. You can find a lot of information online, but a lot of it is incorrect! Paying to speak with actual experts was 100% worth it to us because it allowed us to move forward with our plans with complete confidence. We also took advantage of free introductory consultations with a couple of relocation specialists but ultimately decided that we didn’t need their services (although they were helpful and we could see how some others may benefit from that investment).
Research costs:
Consultation with immigration attorney Daniel Tostado: 270€
Consultation with accountant Benjamin Pik: 390€
Total: 660€ (approximately $707.22)
Visas
Once we’d figured out which visas we needed, the process of applying for our French visas was fairly straightforward. Mostly it involved collecting a lot of paperwork, although we were required to have several things in order to apply, including an apartment booked for our first three months, health insurance for the year purchased, and a school secured for our son. There are some paid services that will help with visa applications, but personally, I think they’re not worth it in most cases. Stay tuned for a post on our family’s French visa application process, but for now, here are the costs:
French visa application costs:
Application service fee: $34.29 x 3 = $102.87
Visa fees: $104 x 3 = $312
Courier service: $38.50 x 3 = $115.50
Photos at Walgreens: $16.99 x 3 = $50.97
Photos at VFS center because Walgreens photos didn’t show ears (!): $13.20
Total: $594.54
Side note, all visa applications in the U.S. are handled by only nine VFS Global centers around the country, and we were very lucky to live within driving distance of the Washington, D.C. office. Some people unfortunately do have to invest quite a bit more in travel costs just to get to the VFS center for their appointment. Although we are two hours from D.C., we did decide to stay overnight as we had a morning appointment. I would estimate the cost of a hotel, gas, parking, and food for a day and night in D.C. cost us close to $500.
Passports
This is an expense that was unique to our situation. When applying for our visas, we realized that our passports needed to be valid for at least three months past our planned return date. Ours were set to expire before then, and unfortunately we didn’t realize that until we were already in a time crunch so we had to pay up to get our renewed passports expedited. Luckily, our son’s passport had plenty of time and didn’t need to be renewed.
Expedited passport renewal total: $209.53 x 2 = $419.06
Health Insurance
To apply for a French visa, you need to show that you have health insurance to cover your entire stay. You can apply to the French public health system after 90 days of residency, and, depending on your policy, you can cancel once you receive your Carte Vitale (the French health insurance card). Our immigration attorney recommended some very low-cost options, but we opted for a more comprehensive policy through April International that is still extremely affordable compared to the nearly $20k we paid in insurance and medical costs in our last year in the U.S.
International health insurance (one year for family of 3) total: 2993.16€ ($3,207.32)
Plane Tickets
Of course, we had to pay to get from the United States to France. Luckily, we had plenty of time to plan and pounce on some great flights from Dulles to Paris. I opted to upgrade our Tap Portugal flights to the top level, which allows for two checked bags and one carry-on per person. This is how we are moving the majority of our things to France, which is saving us hundreds on shipping fees.
Total plane tickets, U.S. to France: $464.80 x 3 = $1,394.30
Car Rental
Bordeaux is about 360 miles south of Paris, so we had to rent a van to get all of our stuff from Paris to Bordeaux. Generally we’ve found it to be quite affordable to rent a car in Europe, especially if you’re returning it to the same place you picked it up. Because we are picking up and dropping off the van in different locations, and because we got one of the largest vehicles available, it was pretty expensive just for one day’s rental.
Total car rental: $336.38
So how much did it really cost to move our family of three from the United States to France?
The grand total of relocation costs for moving our family to France is $7,158.82. Keep in mind that this includes about $700 in expert consultations (not required), hefty passport fees (unnecessary if you plan ahead), and an entire year’s worth of high-quality health insurance for our family (partially refundable if we apply for the public healthcare system). While this relocation has been a huge expense for our family, we think it’s worth every penny to begin our new lives in France.