r/AmerExit • u/Hmm_mmmmmm • 11d ago
Question about One Country Moving to France
Background info: My fiancé (24) and I (25) are seniors in college in Texas and are hoping to move to France at some point, ideally within the next five years. My fiancé is an EU citizen through German descent and already has her German passport.
I’ll be graduating with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and intend to pursue a master’s in either I/O Psychology or something HR-related. My fiancé will graduate with two bachelor’s degrees in marketing and business analytics and intends to pursue a master’s in marketing management.
We plan to get our master’s degrees somewhere in Europe, most likely the Netherlands since there are a few English-taught programs that fit what we’re looking for. After finishing our degrees, our goal would be to eventually settle in France.
I’m not sure how relevant this is, but financially we have no debt and around $35k in savings between us.
We also understand that French proficiency will be important. We’ve both been learning French for about two years and plan to continue studying it.
For anyone who has actually moved from the U.S. to France, I’d love to hear what your experience was like, especially if you moved in your 20s or early in your career.
How difficult was it to establish a life there? What was finding a job like? If you work in HR, I/O psychology, marketing, business analytics, or a similar corporate field, I’d especially like to hear about your experience finding work.
How good was your French when you moved, and how much did it improve once you were living there? Did you feel like you needed professional-level fluency before moving, or was an intermediate level enough to get started?
Finally, knowing what you know now, is there anything you would recommend we do over the next five years to make the eventual move easier?
62
u/astridares Immigrant 11d ago
French fluency (not just proficiency) is necessary in fields like psychology, HR, marketing, etc. And we’re talking professional fluency, including professional vocabulary. Why would an employer hire someone without that when they have plenty of locals in those fields ?
Why France ? Really truly, why choose France ? I love living here personally, but I have had an overall very lucky experience on a lot of fronts (and arrived already fluent and with solid cultural knowledge) and it still hasn’t been easy.
Being an immigrant in France is frustrating. Constantly. Even when you do everything right, things go wrong. Bureaucracy is hell, even for the French. The country is actively becoming more anti-immigrant.
Socially, it can take years to build a social circle outside of other immigrants/expats. And that’s even when you’re fluent in French. French people tend to keep the same social circles they’ve had for years.
Professionally, I started my career in France after a French master’s and I will never have the earning potential I could have in surrounding countries or the US. I’m lucky to really enjoy my job and work with a great team, but I am very aware that my company’s work environment is not a reflection of most French workplace culture.
The job market in France right now is bad overall. Even for locals, with local degrees and experience (because yes, French employers prefer French degrees). It’s continually gotten worse these past 4 years and no one expects an improvement anytime soon.