HSBC Premier

What you need to know

Visa and work permit

• Visa. Unless you are going to a member country of the European Economic Area (EEA), you will likely have to get a visa. Contact the consulate of your destination country, which will tell you about the steps you need to take. In any case, you must hold a valid passport.
• Work permit. If you are going abroad to work, find out from the local authorities whether your work contract must be registered.

Education

Did you know that there are around 450 schools in more than 130 countries that provide a French-standard education? These schools (a list of which is published each year in the Journal Officiel, the official government register) are sanctioned by the French Ministry of Education. Keep in mind, however, that most of them are private and most charge for tuition.

If you are going to a country that does not have a French-sanctioned educational establishment, contact the Centre National d'Enseignement à Distance (CNED), an agency of the French Ministry of Education that offers state-sanctioned education from kindergarten to post-secondary studies.

Health

At least six weeks before you make the big move, find out what vaccines are mandatory or recommended in your destination country. Your family doctor can administer most of them.

A complete check-up for you and each member of your family is also a good thing to add to your "to-do" list before leaving.

Social benefits

• If you are being posted temporarily outside France your employer must undertake the necessary formalities so you will still be covered by French social benefits (e.g. health, unemployment and supplemental retirement).
• If you are an expatriate employee you will no longer be covered by French social benefits but rather the benefits of the country in which you work.

You can join the health-maternity-disability insurance scheme offered by the Caisse des Français de l'Étranger (CFE), but you must still pay contributions in the country where you have emigrated. Make any enquiries before leaving!

Taxes

Emigration usually entails the transfer of your tax domicile to your host country and taxation as a non-resident. However, France will be considered to be your tax domicile if your family lives there, if you exercise your main professional activity there, or if it is your main place of residence or the focus of your economic interests⁽¹⁾.

• The year after your departure. You may submit your tax declaration on-line at www.impots.gouv.fr or with the tax office of your former main residence in France, which will forward your declaration to the Centre des Impôts des Non Résidents (CINR).
• Subsequent years. You may declare on-line or with the CINR (only for income earned in France).

Although your tax domicile is no longer in France, you may also be required to pay other taxes, such as capital gains, wealth tax, property tax, estate taxes, and so on.

(1) e.g. your main investments, the headquarters of your business(es), the focus of your professional activities, the place from which you draw most of your income.
(2) According to the French tax law, individuals tax residents in France must declare when they file their income tax return, accounts opened, used or closed outside France. Failure to comply with these obligations could be punished by penalties and back taxes.