Can Americans Live in France? Visa, Residency, and Tax Rules

Americans can live in France, but any stay longer than 90 days requires a long-stay visa (visa de long séjour) issued by a French consulate in the United States before you travel. France does not let you convert a tourist visit into residency after you arrive, so the visa category you choose, and the paperwork you file on both sides of the Atlantic, decide whether the move is straightforward or painful. You should also expect to file taxes in both countries every year once you’re settled there.

The 90-Day Rule Comes First

A U.S. passport gets you into France and the wider Schengen area without a visa for up to 90 days in any rolling 180-day window. That window covers tourism, family visits, and short business trips. Overstay it and you risk a re-entry ban across most of continental Europe.¹

If you intend to live in France beyond those 90 days, you need a long-stay visa before you fly. There is no exception for retirees, remote workers, or Americans who already own French property. The visa is typically valid for three to twelve months depending on your situation and doubles as your first residence authorization on arrival.²

Which Long-Stay Visa Fits Your Situation

The visa you pick must match how you plan to spend your time in France. Switching categories after you arrive is difficult, so choose carefully.

Visitor Visa (Retirees and the Financially Independent)

The visitor visa is for people who want to live in France without working there. Retirees, financially independent individuals, and anyone planning to live off savings, investments, or a foreign pension usually apply here. You must show income or assets meeting or exceeding France’s minimum wage (the SMIC), which as of January 2026 sits at roughly €1,823 gross per month.³ Prefectures often require 100% to 120% of the net SMIC for a single applicant, with higher thresholds for couples and dependents. You’ll also need proof of housing in France and private health insurance.

Student Visa

With acceptance from a French university or educational institution, you apply for a student visa. You must show at least €615 per month in financial resources for the full academic year, sourced from personal savings, a scholarship, or a guarantor.⁴ American students must also go through the “Études en France” procedure on the Campus France platform, which handles enrollment and links to the visa application.⁵

Work Visas and Passeport Talent

A standard work visa requires a French employer to hire you and secure authorization from immigration authorities before you apply. You can’t arrive first and look for a job later.

France also offers a Passeport Talent residence permit for skilled professionals, entrepreneurs, investors, and researchers. It lasts up to four years and covers several sub-categories, each with its own salary or investment threshold. A highly qualified employee, for instance, needs an employment contract of at least one year and a salary meeting a minimum reference threshold (€59,373 gross as of August 2025). An entrepreneur must invest at least €30,000 and hold a master’s-level qualification or equivalent experience. Researchers need a hosting agreement with a public or private institution and at least a master’s degree.⁶

Family Reunification Visa

If your spouse or parent already lives in France legally, you may qualify for a family reunification visa. The sponsor in France must have resided there for at least 18 months with a valid residence permit and must show stable income and adequate housing. The sponsor starts the process through OFII (France’s immigration and integration office), and the local préfecture verifies conditions before the visa is issued.⁷

How the Application Works

Every long-stay visa application begins on the France-Visas portal, where you create an account, complete the form, and upload supporting documents.⁸ Then you book an in-person appointment at a visa service provider such as TLScontact, or at a French consulate in the U.S., to hand in originals, provide biometrics, and pay.⁹

The application fee for a long-stay visa is €99, plus a service fee capped at €45 where an outsourced provider handles intake.²⁹ Apply no earlier than three months before your intended departure, and give yourself a buffer, because processing times vary by consulate and season.

What You Do After You Arrive

Getting the visa is only half of it. You still have to register with French authorities to formalize your residency, and the deadlines are short.

Validate Your VLS-TS Within Three Months

Most long-stay visas function as a combined visa and residence permit called a VLS-TS (visa de long séjour valant titre de séjour). Within three months of entering France, you must validate it online through the French government’s digital portal for foreign residents.¹⁰ Validation may also trigger an OFII appointment for a medical exam and civic or language courses. Skip this step and your residency becomes irregular, which creates problems for everything from healthcare enrollment to permit renewals.

Move to a Multi-Year Card

Your VLS-TS covers roughly the first year. Before it expires, you apply at your local préfecture for a multi-year residence card (carte de séjour pluriannuelle), generally valid for four years and renewable as long as you keep meeting the conditions of your original visa category.¹¹ You must also show you’ve complied with the Republican Integration Contract, which includes civic training and, where required, French language courses.

The Ten-Year Card After Five Years

After five continuous years of legal residence, you can apply for an EU long-term resident card (carte de résident), valid for ten years and renewable. This card removes the tie to a specific visa category and lets you work freely.¹² Reaching this stage generally requires demonstrating integration into French society, including language ability.

You’ll Owe Taxes in France

Once you become a French tax resident, France taxes your worldwide income, not just money earned on French soil. You’re considered a tax resident if your household or primary home is in France, if your main professional activity is there, or if you spend more than 183 days in France in a calendar year. You can also be classified as a tax resident when your spouse and children live in France, even if you personally spend fewer than 183 days there.¹³

France applies a progressive income tax with rates from 0% to 45%, with brackets adjusted annually for inflation. A high-income surcharge of 3% applies to income above €250,000 for single filers and 4% above €500,000. If you own French real estate worth more than €1,300,000 in net taxable value, you also owe the real estate wealth tax (IFI), at rates from 0.50% to 1.50%.¹⁴¹⁵

Your U.S. Tax Obligations Don’t End

Moving to France does not end your relationship with the IRS. The United States taxes citizens on worldwide income no matter where they live, so you’ll file returns with both countries every year. The U.S. does provide tools to prevent double taxation.

The Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (FEIE) lets qualifying Americans exclude up to $132,900 of foreign earned income from U.S. taxation for tax year 2026.¹⁶ To qualify, you must pass either the bona fide residence test (a genuine full-tax-year resident of France) or the physical presence test (in a foreign country at least 330 full days in a 12-month period). The exclusion applies only to earned income like wages and self-employment income, not pensions, investment returns, or Social Security.

The Foreign Tax Credit (FTC) often matters more in France, where tax rates run high. It gives you a dollar-for-dollar credit against your U.S. tax bill for income taxes you’ve already paid to France. You can use the FEIE or the FTC, and in some situations combine them, but you can’t apply both to the same income.

FBAR and FATCA Reporting

Two separate foreign-account reporting rules apply once you have money in France, and confusing them is a common expat mistake.

The FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) applies to any U.S. person whose combined foreign financial accounts exceed $10,000 at any point in the calendar year.¹⁷ Most Americans in France cross that threshold as soon as they open a local account. The FBAR is filed electronically with FinCEN (not the IRS), due April 15 with an automatic extension to October 15. Non-willful failure to file can draw penalties of over $16,000 per report; willful violations carry penalties of the greater of roughly $165,000 or 50% of the account balance, plus possible criminal charges. The IRS may waive penalties for reasonable cause.

The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) requires you to report specified foreign financial assets to the IRS on Form 8938 if their total value exceeds set thresholds. For taxpayers living abroad, those thresholds are $200,000 on the last day of the tax year or $300,000 at any point during the year for single filers, and $400,000 or $600,000 for joint filers.¹⁸ FATCA also requires French banks to identify American account holders and report them to the IRS.¹⁹

Healthcare Access Isn’t Immediate

France’s public healthcare system is one of the perks of living there, but you won’t have access on day one. Private health insurance is required to get your visa and initial residence permit. After three months of continuous legal residence, you become eligible to enroll in France’s universal health coverage (Protection Universelle Maladie, or PUMA), which reimburses a significant portion of medical costs.

Once enrolled, you receive a Carte Vitale, the green card that serves as your healthcare ID. PUMA typically reimburses around 70% of costs, so most French residents also carry supplemental private insurance (a mutuelle) to cover the gap. Medicare does not follow you to France; any coverage you had through Medicare effectively stops applying once you leave the U.S.²⁰

Driving on Your U.S. License

Your U.S. driver’s license works in France during your first year of legal residency. After that you must exchange it for a French license. The one-year clock starts from the date your first residence permit is issued or your VLS-TS is validated, not from your arrival.²¹ Not every U.S. state has a reciprocal exchange agreement with France. If yours does, the exchange is administrative. If it doesn’t, you may need to pass the French driving test, which is notoriously difficult and conducted entirely in French. Check your state’s status early.

Opening a French Bank Account

Opening a French bank account as an American is harder than it should be. FATCA’s reporting obligations create a compliance burden for French banks, which face heavy U.S. penalties for missing an American account holder and French penalties for reporting incorrectly. Some banks simply turn Americans away.

It’s not impossible. Larger French banks with established FATCA systems generally accept American customers, though the process takes longer and needs more paperwork than it would for a French citizen. Online banks and fintech platforms tend to be more accommodating. Start early and bring everything: your U.S. Social Security number, proof of French address, and your visa or residence permit.

Social Security and Retirement

The United States and France have a totalization agreement that prevents you from paying Social Security taxes to both countries at once and lets you combine work credits from each. If you’re employed in France, you typically pay into the French system rather than the U.S. one. If your U.S. employer sends you to France temporarily for two years or less, you generally stay in the U.S. system.²⁰

If you already collect U.S. Social Security, those payments continue while you live in France. Under Article 18 of the U.S.-France tax treaty, U.S. Social Security benefits paid to a resident of France are generally taxable only in the U.S. The exception is for U.S. citizens resident in France who receive French social security benefits, in which case France has the taxing rights.²² Social Security follows you abroad; Medicare does not.²⁰

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