Moving to France - Help with paperwork please !!

[titounette]

Hello,

We are moving to France at the end of February and I need help with the paperwork. I am actually French but I have been working here in UK for 12 years and I have never worked in France (except during my PhD). I don't know/remember much about the French system.

A bit of background... I am French and my partner is English, we have 2 kids 2.5 and 5 yo. My partner will be on a French contract. I have resigned from work in June 2011 and I will be looking for a new job in France. Our 5 yo will go to school and (fingers crossed) my little one will be accepted at nursery.

So, my questions (some of them may seem a bit silly, sorry):

1-We need to fill the P85 to have any money back from the taxman. Anything else?

2-Registration to French 'securite sociale'. I have read somewhere that we need to have a 'portable document S1'. Has anyone done that? Where can you ask for that?

3-Bank account. Can you keep you 'normal' bank account with an address abroad?

4-Registration for school. We need to have a copy of the immunisations done on the kids. Did you have the 'red book' translated? If yes, by an official translator?

5-Car insurance. We have a no claim bonus here in UK. Have you managed to have to transform it as a 'bonus' in France? If yes, do you need a specific document from your car insurance?

6-If you have any tips, advice, they will be more than welcome!

Thanks for reading!!

I can only answer a couple of your questions, and we moved from NZ to France rather than from the UK, but here goes:

immunisations - we just took the book we had from NZ to the GP (or a paediatrician is probably better) and he gave us a Carnet de Santé and noted the details in that and put his stamp on it. This was fine for the school registration.

car insurance - this was a few years ago but we did manage to get some kind of bonus by giving a document from our NZ insurer stating what our no claims bonus was and how many years it covered. Basically you need something to say how long you have not made any claims for.

sécu - I've never heard of that document... check out the CPAM website for your area and hopefully it will give details of what you need.

3 - Bank account: yes you can, but sites like paypal may not accept your cards in the future

5 - yes, we carried our no claims over from the UK. Yes your insurance needs to give you a declaration of your bonus.

I found this about the S1 document:
www.cleiss.fr/particuliers/je_viens_travailler__detachement__ue883_en.html and somewhere else I saw that you can get it from HMRC in the UK.

It looks as if it is more for people posted to France (or another EU member state) but working for an employer in the UK for example. I think if your partner is working on a French contract he will just be affiliated to the French social security and you will be his 'ayant droit' - but do check this out further as I could have it all wrong!

Actually this page looks like it covers your situation:
www.cleiss.fr/particuliers/je_viens_travailler__expat_ue883.html

Thanks very much for these answers! I will contact HMRC.

We moved 10 years ago but in the same circumstances, DH had work with French company so automatically affiliated, and I was 'ayant droit' on DH's number for a while until I got my own number; Got this from department of work and pensions

Car insurance, best prices obtained if you have records covering the last three years so if you have changed in the last few years, get No Claims discount proof from all the insurance companies.

Oops, meant to say got the doc I needed to apply for my own social security number from DWP. DWP don't issue French social security numbers!