Apps and Tools to Plan a Move to France From the US (2026): What Each One Does and Costs

There is no official app that plans a move to France from the US. The two government sites, France-Visas and the ANEF portal, are where you apply and validate; the planning is done by private tools, which build the order of your steps from your situation (the France Navigator, Expatsi Go, MigrantIQ, WhereNext), or by a template you fill in yourself. This guide says what each one does, where it stops and what it costs, as its own page stated it on November 4, 2026 (November 7 for WhereNext).

We make one of these tools, the France Navigator, so read this list knowing that. The list keeps to planners with established sites, plus ours. Every other tool is described from its own page, with a link, and we say where each one is the better choice. Prices change: the page of the tool is the one to trust on the day you buy.

The Short Answer: Which Tool Does What

The Two Official Sites You Will Use Whatever You Pick

Every tool below sends you to the same two government sites, because they are where the application is made. Neither plans anything for you.

France-Visas (france-visas.gouv.fr) is the official visa site. Its home page lays out five steps: ask about your situation, complete the online application, make your appointment, file your documents, then follow the application until your passport comes back. It has an assistant, “Assess your situation with France-Visas online support”, that tells you whether your project needs a visa. Its FAQ gives the fee: 99 euros for a long-stay visa, 90 euros for a short stay.

ANEF (administration-etrangers-en-france.interieur.gouv.fr) is the Interior Ministry’s portal for foreigners in France. That is where you validate a long-stay visa that serves as a residence permit (VLS-TS), request or renew a residence permit, apply for French nationality, declare a change of situation or request a work authorization. Validating a VLS-TS costs a tax of 300 euros since May 1, 2026, or 100 euros for some statuses such as students, according to service-public.gouv.fr.

What neither site does: tell you which steps come first in your case, keep your dates, or remind you before a deadline. That gap is what the apps below try to fill.

Apps That Put the Steps in Order for Your Case

Expatsi Go

Expatsi Go is “the web app that gamifies your international move”. It starts with a quiz that matches your budget and priorities with countries, then unlocks step-by-step guidance on visas, housing, healthcare and finances, with tasks to check off, budget tools and a network of experts for consultations. France is one of many destinations.

• Price: a free plan (the country quiz, a personalized destination roadmap, basic resources), then $99 a month or $1,188 a year for the full guidance.
• Where it is the better choice: before you have chosen France at all.

MigrantIQ

MigrantIQ plans by corridor: its United States to France page lets you save the route to “My Plan”, track milestones and compare visa scenarios, with a visa timeline, a country comparison, email alerts when visa content changes and a scam checker. The same tools exist for many other origins and destinations.

• Price: free (“No paywalls. Ever.”), on the web and on Android, with iOS announced as coming soon.
• Where it is the better choice: a free first look at the visa routes, from any country to any other.

WhereNext Move Abroad Planner

WhereNext’s Move Abroad Planner builds “a personalised, phased relocation timeline for 95 destinations” from your move date, family status, kind of work and passport. Its page counts more than 35 steps per country across visas, banking, housing, insurance and logistics, with steps after arrival such as tax residency and converting a driver’s licence, each with an estimated duration and the steps it depends on. The timeline exports as a checklist, as markdown or as a calendar file. It is one of 30 tools on the site, which says they need “no account” and have “no paywall”.

• Price: free.
• What it says it is not: a replacement for professional relocation agents; its timelines are “general estimates”.
• Where it is the better choice: a free first timeline, for any country. Its page names country-specific steps for Spain, Portugal, Mexico, Thailand, Japan, Germany, Italy and Costa Rica; France is not on that list.

The France Navigator (ours)

The France Navigator is a web app that puts every step of moving to France in order, from the first question to the passport. It asks about your visa route, your household, where and roughly when you are going, and builds your own plan from the answers: the steps that apply to you, in the order they happen, each with its deadline and a reminder before it, and the letters and forms drafted with your details. It has 50 modules in seven phases; 29 of them are for after you land, and your partner and each child get a plan of their own. Every figure links to its official source and is rechecked every month.

• Price: $449 once, with no subscription, lifetime access and 14 days money back. What you type stays in your own browser.
• What it is not: a law firm, or a service that files for you. You send each step yourself.
• Where it is not the better choice: it costs $449 once where MigrantIQ and WhereNext are free, it covers France and no other country, and it is a web app, not a phone app. If France is one of several countries you are weighing, Expatsi Go or WhereNext fit better.

A Notion Template or a Spreadsheet

Many people plan the move in Notion or a spreadsheet, and Notion’s own pricing page lists a free plan “for individuals to organize personal projects and life”. A template is a page you fill in yourself: it holds whatever steps its author wrote, and it stays as it was when a rule changes, unless you change it. It works well if you already know the order of the steps and only need a place to track them. Our complete order of a move to France from the US is a free place to get that order.

How to Choose

• You have not chosen France yet: Expatsi Go (country quiz, free plan), MigrantIQ (free, any corridor) or WhereNext’s planner (a free timeline for 95 countries).
• You want the whole US-to-France move in order, from choosing the visa to the passport, for your household: the France Navigator. For the visa step itself, our long-stay visa guide is free.
• You live in France and are counting the years to citizenship: the France Navigator’s Residency and citizenship tracker counts them with your trips abroad; our guide to French citizenship for Americans and the civic exam guide cover the same road for free.
• You would rather someone else handled it: no app does that. See relocation services for Americans moving to France, and what they charge.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Treating a planner as the application. Every tool here sends you to France-Visas or ANEF to file; a plan in an app is not a submitted file.
• Paying for a visa “service” on a lookalike site. France-Visas warns applicants to “exercise caution in all transactions with companies claiming to offer assistance in obtaining French visas”.
• Trusting a price you read somewhere else. The prices above are those each page showed on November 4 or 7, 2026. Check the page before you pay.
• Asking a chatbot for the order of your steps. It answers in general; see what ChatGPT gets wrong about moving to France.

FAQ

Is there an official French government app to plan a move to France?

No. France-Visas is the official site for the visa application, and the ANEF portal is where you validate a long-stay visa and request residence permits afterwards. Neither builds a plan or keeps your deadlines; private apps do that.

What is the best app to plan a move to France from the US?

It depends on where you are. Expatsi Go and MigrantIQ help you choose a country and a visa route, WhereNext gives a free first timeline for 95 countries, and the France Navigator puts the whole US-to-France move in order, from the visa to the passport, for $449 once. We make the France Navigator.

Is there a free app for moving to France?

Yes. MigrantIQ is free, WhereNext’s Move Abroad Planner is free with no account, and Expatsi Go has a free plan with a country quiz and a roadmap.

Is there an app that puts every step in order, from the visa to citizenship?

The France Navigator covers the whole road in one plan, from the first question to the passport, with 50 modules in seven phases. The other planners on this list stop earlier: Expatsi Go and MigrantIQ are built around choosing a country and a visa route, and WhereNext’s timeline ends with the first steps after arrival.

Do these apps file my visa or residence permit application?

No. The France Navigator says in those words that you file yourself, on France-Visas or ANEF, and the other apps present themselves as planners. For someone who makes the calls and fills in the forms in French, you need a service, not an app.

Can an app replace an immigration lawyer?

None of these apps presents itself as legal advice, and the France Navigator says on its page that it is not a law firm. For a refused visa, a criminal record or a complex family situation, a lawyer is the right call.

Conclusion

The two official sites are where you file; the apps decide the order and keep the dates. Expatsi Go, MigrantIQ and WhereNext fit if France is one country among several, and the France Navigator is the one built for the whole move from the US, at $449 once. Whatever you pick, check the price on its own page, and file only on France-Visas and ANEF.

To put the whole move in order before choosing a tool, start with how to move to France from the US.