Moving to France from Canada

These income figures follow the French minimum wage (Smic), which changes at least once a year. The requirements for 2027 need reconfirming, so check the current figure when you apply.

Neither route is approved for you, and visa permission and tax are separate questions.

Silence from the authorities for 2 months counts as a refusal.

Civil documents must come with a certified French translation.

If you are issued a VLS-TS, you must validate it online within 3 months of arrival, and pay a tax. For the liberal-profession visa, Service-Public says to request a card within 2 months of arrival, and one France-Visas page gives 15 days. Confirm which deadline applies to the visa you are issued.

We found no official processing times, so they are unknown.

Form T1161 applies if everything you owned was worth more than CA$25,000. You can elect to defer the tax until you sell, but security is needed if the federal tax deferred is over CA$16,500 (CA$13,777.50 for former Québec residents).

Under the Canada–France agreement in force since 2017, you are generally covered where you work. It has no health insurance coordination.

Employees sent temporarily by a Canadian employer can stay in Canadian cover for up to 3 years. Self-employed people need an exceptional agreement from the CRA and the French side, shown on form CPT52. Micro-entrepreneur contributions are 25.6% of takings for non-regulated services, under €83,600 a year. Employees pay CSG and CRDS of 9.7% on 98.25% of pay. These show how it works, not your bill.

The agreement covers the Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security, not the Québec Pension Plan. Québec and France have their own social security entente, so Québec contributors should check it separately. A CPP retirement pension can be paid abroad with one valid contribution. OAS can be paid abroad only after 20 years' residence in Canada since age 18, and an agreement may help you qualify.

You usually become a non-resident of Canada on the latest of leaving, your family leaving, or becoming resident abroad.

If the tax office has not written to you, ask your local tax office (SIP) with your civil status, a postal address and a copy of an ID. You then get an email to create your online account. Online filing is compulsory if your home has internet, and returns for 2026 income open in April 2027.

If you emigrate, you must tell Canadian payers and your financial institutions that you are no longer resident.

Anyone living in France who is refused a bank account can ask the Banque de France to name a bank that must open one with basic services. You need the refusal letter, or proof the bank did not reply, plus ID and proof of address.

For an unfurnished lease, the deposit is capped at one month's rent before charges. For a furnished lease, it is two months. A landlord may accept a foreign tax notice where your income was not taxed in France.

Emergency payments abroad under OHIP are capped. Other provinces, including Québec and British Columbia, set their own rules.

Summers are hot. Météo-France's 1991 to 2020 normals for Toulouse-Blagnac give an average August high of 28.5°C and about 33 days a year at 30°C or more.

The same normals give about 27 frost nights and 627 mm of rain a year.

We found no official source for energy bills, transport passes, internet, groceries or health cover, so those costs are unknown here. We give no total because it would be incomplete, and personal tax and social contributions are not included.

Lyon: for leases signed since November 2021, base rent must stay under a published upper reference rent unless a justified supplement applies. The 2025 indicator for small flats is about €19 to €20 per m² in central arrondissements.

Lyon: Météo-France normals for Lyon-Bron give 821 mm of rain a year and about 31 days at 30°C or more.