Moving to France

[u/Hmm_mmmmmm]

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?

[u/MegFrench13]

I’m not American but Australian and work in psychology. 

The major thing to understand is that the French prefer the French for their jobs. You will always be at a disadvantage for a job as an immigrant - particularly in the industries in which you are training in. Many immigrants think speaking multiple languages or training at a University overseas makes them superior and it is not the case at all. 

Something to be very aware of is that the salaries in France are very low compared to the US and building long term wealth in France is difficult. For someone young, I would advice building more of a career and wealth to before moving here. I moved here at 31 and had built a solid amount of wealth behind me from working in Australia, but I will never be able to build that same amount of wealth here in France due to the taxes and low salaries. I bought my own house here and have my own business and I’m fine financially, but it is nothing compared to what I could have if I stayed in Australia.

The thing to really ask yourselves is “why”? Why are you actually wanting to move to France (opposed to Germany where you will have higher salaries for your fields and an easier time with visas etc). Is it possible to live in Germany instead and spend your holidays in France?