# Moving to France without proof of income



## cfb

I have a question regarding proof of income needed for opening bank accounts and renting apartments in France, but first I will provide a bit of background.

I am an US expat living in China with my fiancee, a French national, for a period of 3 years, and we are leaving in about 20 days for France to start the process of holding our marriage at the marie. We plan to stay in France indefinitely. However, over the next six months to a year I will likely not be able to work (long-term visitors visa) and she will, at best, be able to work part-time as she continues research as part of her doctoral project. She would prefer not to work this upcoming year.

I have been living off savings the past 3 years (I was a Chinese language student), so no work history or income during that time, also no ability to work on arrival in France, but with savings in a bank account in the US that I could transfer over (if I can open a French bank account) sufficient to cover 25-30 months of rent, She will have no salary income for a period of one year after arriving in France, an income history from the past three years in China only recorded in Chinese bank account statements (she was paid directly by clients and not in monthly regular payments from a company) and an amount of savings able to cover about 30-40 months of rent. 

My Questions:

1. When moving to France and renting an apartment, is proof of income from the job you worked prior to arriving in France (in which you are no longer employed) necessary? If so, will they take bank statements as proof of income? I believe they are not allowed to "request" them, but if we offer them would that work? Or are they banned from even looking at them?

2. If we want to try to rent an apartment before we are married, will they be considering our financial circumstances separately and therefore potentially refuse to rent to me, who has no proof of recent past income and no ability to work? Or will savings generally be enough to proof for a second tenant on a lease?

3. I have read others experience on this forum, and it sounds like savings is generally not regarded as proof of financial stability, at least for the primary lessee, but I am unclear about the role of securing a guarantor in applying to rent in France. There are services like Garantme that can act as a guarantor, or we could possibly ask a family member of hers in France. Wouldn't this do away with the need for proof of income? Or are both required?

4. Also, can I open a bank account in France with no job and no recent history of income? Would this be possible before we are officially married?

Sorry for the long message, our circumstances are a bit peculiar, and thank you in advance for any advice you can provide!


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## Bevdeforges

First of all, you may want to take a look at this page from Service Public. (Select the drop down for Époux de Français for the details.) As long as you are getting married in France, you can "regularise" your status after the marriage takes place, as long as you entered France on a legit visa (long or short term). Carte de séjour "vie privée et familiale" d'un étranger en France

As far as the banks and apartment rental goes, it will be tricky, but you should be able to negotiate your way around or through those arrangements. Will your fiancée/wife be receiving any sort of financial support or aid during her doctoral project? That will certainly help you get established or, depending upon her subject area, the school she will be at may have some sort of assistance, even in the form of a student association that offers access to various services (like rentals) for graduate students and their families.

You may want to look into establishing an account with Wise (formerly Transferwise) or Revolut, which you can use for day to day expenses while you are getting set up and to facilitate transfers and exchange of currency.


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## cfb

Bevdeforges said:


> First of all, you may want to take a look at this page from Service Public. (Select the drop down for Époux de Français for the details.) As long as you are getting married in France, you can "regularise" your status after the marriage takes place, as long as you entered France on a legit visa (long or short term). Carte de séjour "vie privée et familiale" d'un étranger en France
> 
> As far as the banks and apartment rental goes, it will be tricky, but you should be able to negotiate your way around or through those arrangements. Will your fiancée/wife be receiving any sort of financial support or aid during her doctoral project? That will certainly help you get established or, depending upon her subject area, the school she will be at may have some sort of assistance, even in the form of a student association that offers access to various services (like rentals) for graduate students and their families.
> 
> You may want to look into establishing an account with Wise (formerly Transferwise) or Revolut, which you can use for day to day expenses while you are getting set up and to facilitate transfers and exchange of currency.


That is a great suggestion to look at student associations that might provide access to living space for people with our sort of circumstances. Unfortunately, in our case the university is in Paris and we are going to be based out of Lyon, but it is still worth a shot. 

I am assuming from your answer that a guarantor is not generally considered a replacement for proof of income. It is something provided in addition to proof of income, and therefore, whether or not it bails us out of this problem just depends on what rentor or agency we happen to be talking to, is that correct?

My thinking in establishing a bank account in France was to provide rentors with proof that my savings were accessible to them in case they wanted to take legal action for non-payment. I remember reading on this forum that they do not really take foreign account holdings into consideration when looking at assets. Do you know anyone who has used a wise account as proof of assets?


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## Bevdeforges

As you say, you're in somewhat "unusual" circumstances.

Normally, for a student, a "guarantor" is a parent who promises to pay the rent if the student doesn't or can't. There are other arrangements (as with arranging with a bank to be your guarantor) but those all have their own requirements and policies. Never having rented a residence here in France, I can't really explain more than that. But someone here will come along to help out.



cfb said:


> I remember reading on this forum that they do not really take foreign account holdings into consideration when looking at assets.


You're probably best off doing what you have to do to open a French bank account. I suggested Wise or Revolut mainly to have a means of transferring a regular sum of money to your French account at regular intervals - thus showing a "regular" income. (What some retirees do if they have foreign pensions that must be paid into their foreign accounts - so transferring a regular amount to the French account shows a recurring source of income.) 

Having a chunk of money in a French bank account may not be a good way to "prove" your financial assets, since a regular (i.e. checking) account pays no interest whatsoever (and bank interest rates are pretty pathetic and have been for some time). Revolut I believe has recently announced that they are making a French IBAN available to its customers, which allows them access to the SEPA transfer system for paying bills. I think Wise still only has a Belgian bank number, which is valid for SEPA transactions, but some government offices won't accept accounts outside of France - but in any event, I think Wise actually charges you for parking large amounts of money in your Wise account. 

There is a system whereby you can park six months or a year's worth of rent in a sort of escrow account that the landlord can tap only if you miss paying your rent. But this is a complicated system and may or may not be strictly legal here (though it seems to be fairly common in some areas). Again, I'm hoping that someone with experience in this sort of thing will drop in to share their experience.


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