About EasyFranceNow

We are two French nationals who got tired of watching Americans hit the same walls

Aurelio and Maxime here. We are based in France, we know the administrative system from the inside, and we built EasyFranceNow because we kept seeing the same thing happen.

Americans moving to France are smart, organized, and motivated. They research their move thoroughly. They read the official sources. They follow the steps. And they still end up stuck, because the French administrative system does not work the way the official sources describe it. The gap between the written process and the actual process is wide, and it is not written down anywhere in plain English.

That gap is what EasyFranceNow exists to close.

What this site is

EasyFranceNow is a practical resource for US citizens relocating to or living in France. Every guide we publish is built around what actually happens in practice, not what the official documentation says should happen.

We cover the full relocation process: French long-stay visas and OFII validation, renting an apartment without a French guarantor, opening a bank account as a US person under FATCA, registering with CPAM and navigating the Carte Vitale process, understanding your US tax obligations once you are a French resident, exchanging your US driver's license before the one-year deadline, and everything in between.

The goal is simple. By the time you finish reading a guide on this site, you should know exactly what to do, in what order, and what to watch out for. No vague summaries. No links to government websites with no explanation of what you are actually looking at.

Why two French nationals and not American expats

We are not Americans who moved to France and wrote about the experience. We are French, we live here, and we know the system from the professional side. Aurelio has a background in business law and has spent years navigating French legal and administrative processes for international clients. Maxime has spent years in operational support, running the exact processes that trip most Americans up: rental dossiers, banking applications, CPAM submissions, ANTS filings.

What we bring is not the expat perspective. It is the insider perspective. We know which banks are currently accepting US persons and which ones are not. We know which prefecture offices process files quickly and which ones do not respond. We know the details that are not on any official website because they change, and because the people who know them are not writing guides in English.

That is the knowledge base EasyFranceNow is built on.

What we offer

EasyFranceNow has two sides.

The first is free. Every guide on this site is written to be complete and immediately useful, whether or not you ever contact us. We publish on visas, housing, banking, healthcare, taxes, daily life logistics, and the administrative sequences that connect all of these. If you want to handle your relocation entirely on your own, this site is built to make that possible.

The second is done for you. For Americans who want the process handled rather than explained, we offer a set of white-glove services: end-to-end relocation management, housing search support, bank account setup, healthcare onboarding, visa support, driver's license exchange, and an ongoing concierge membership for Americans already living in France. Every service is run in French, with follow-up, until you have a real outcome.

We are also building a library of in-depth guides and resources for Americans who want a complete reference on specific topics, from first arrival through year two and beyond.

A note on how we work

Everything published on EasyFranceNow reflects our direct operational knowledge of French administrative processes. When a procedure changes, we update the relevant guides. When something that used to work stops working, we say so.

We do not provide legal advice, immigration advice, or tax advice. When a situation requires a licensed professional, we say that clearly and, where relevant, help coordinate the right introduction. Our job is to make sure you arrive at that conversation organized, informed, and not paying for avoidable confusion.

If you have a question, a correction, or something you think we have got wrong, the contact page is there for exactly that reason.

Aurelio and Maxime Co-founders, EasyFranceNow