The 90-Day Pre-Departure Checklist for Americans Moving to France: Everything to Handle Before You Leave the US

The move to France is not just an arrival event. It is the outcome of several months of US-side preparation that most Americans underestimate in scope and in timing. The visa appointment requires documents that take weeks to gather. The apostilles require ordering from state authorities that have their own lead times. The brokerage accounts need to be reviewed before you change your address abroad, not after. The US phone number needs a continuity solution before the French SIM replaces it, not the week you land. Most pre-departure tasks have lead times that run two to eight weeks, which means a 90-day preparation window is not generous: it is the realistic minimum for a clean, well-organized departure. This checklist maps every task by category and sequence, so nothing falls through in the months before you leave.

Before anything else, secure the right visa: see our guide to the France long-stay visa for Americans.

Week 0-4: Documentation and Legal Preparation

Before you start gathering documents, it is worth stepping back to weigh the real pros and cons of living in France as an American, so you begin this checklist already certain the move fits your situation.

Start the paperwork early, because getting your US documents apostilled and notarized from abroad takes longer than most people expect once an FBI check is involved.

Order your apostilles. Every US government-issued document you will need in France (birth certificate, marriage certificate, divorce decree if applicable) must have an apostille issued by the Secretary of State of the state that originally issued the document. Standard apostille processing runs two to four weeks at most state Secretaries of State, and federal apostilles from the US Department of State run six to eight weeks for standard requests. Order these before you do anything else. For the full list of which documents need apostilles and for which institutions, see our full list of which US documents need apostilles in France. The French government's administrative requirements for foreign documents are also described on service-public.fr. What we see most often is Americans starting apostille requests in month two of a three-month preparation window, which leaves no buffer for reorders if a document comes back from the state with an error or wrong version.

Engage a sworn French translator. Once your apostilled documents arrive, have them translated by a traducteur assermenté (a translator sworn in by a French Court of Appeal). This is required for CPAM, school enrollment, and other French government institutions. Allow five to ten business days for the translation. Do not use a commercial translator: French institutions only accept sworn translations. The translator registry is searchable on the French Ministry of Justice website.

Organize your financial documentation for the visa dossier and for future use. Gather three months of bank statements, two years of US tax returns, Social Security statements or pension letters if applicable, and any proof of income you will need for the visa application and for French landlords. Convert all dollar figures to approximate euro equivalents on a summary sheet. For exactly what landlords and the consulate need to see, and in what format, see our proof of income guide.

Gather your medical records and prescriptions. Request a copy of your complete medical records from your US physician. Ask for a written summary of chronic conditions, current medications, and relevant history in a format that can be shared with a French doctor. Get a current prescription for any medications you take regularly, including the generic (active ingredient) name, since French pharmacies use different brand names. Pack at least a three-month supply of all prescription medications, and six months if possible.

Get an International Driving Permit (IDP). If your US state is on France's reciprocal exchange list, or even if it is not and you plan to drive on your US license during your first year in France, an IDP is the official translation companion to your US license. Get one from AAA before departure. Lead time is same-day at AAA branches. For the driving license exchange and the non-reciprocal state full test path, see our guides on exchanging your US license and taking the French driving test.

Make certified copies or high-quality scans of every critical document: US passport, driver's license, birth certificate (apostilled), marriage certificate (apostilled if applicable), Social Security card, insurance cards, and recent tax returns. Store digital copies in a secure cloud location and leave a physical set with a trusted person in the US. Our guide to administrative French vocabulary for expats is worth reading before you leave so the paperwork you encounter on arrival is less disorienting. If you are registered to vote in the US, handle your absentee voter registration from France before you leave. The FPCA takes under ten minutes and ensures you do not lose your right to vote while abroad.

If you have not yet decided where in France to settle, that decision belongs in this first window too. Our guide to where to live in France as an American expat compares the main destinations on cost of living, administrative accessibility, and quality of life, with enough specificity to inform a practical choice before you book anything.

Week 4-8: Financial Accounts and US Institutions

Before any financial account decisions, it is worth reading our guide to preparing your US finances before moving to France. It covers which bank accounts to keep open, which brokerage accounts to address before departure, and how to structure transfers so FATCA does not create problems on the French side.

These tasks require advance research and in some cases cannot be reversed easily after departure.

Audit your US bank accounts. Not all US banks will continue serving customers with a French address. Some will freeze online access when they detect a foreign address; a few will close accounts. Contact your bank directly and ask whether they will continue serving you with a French mailing address and a French phone number. If your bank has restrictive policies, open an account at a bank that explicitly serves Americans abroad (Charles Schwab's international account and Fidelity's brokerage account have better track records here) before you leave. Do not discover this problem after you have moved and need to transfer your funds.

Review your brokerage accounts separately from your bank. Brokerage accounts have different policies from bank accounts under FATCA, and some major brokerages restrict trading or close taxable accounts for customers with foreign residential addresses. Retirement accounts (IRAs and 401(k)s) are generally treated differently and are more portable. Contact your brokerage before changing your address, and read their policy documentation. In practice, the accounts most at risk are taxable brokerage accounts at larger US firms: these are the ones that trigger compliance reviews when a French address is added to the account profile. Retirement accounts held at the same firm are typically unaffected. Our guide on what happens to your Fidelity or Schwab account covers the major brokerages' current policies in detail.

Set up a US mail solution. You will continue to receive important US mail after departure: IRS correspondence, bank statements, brokerage confirmations, state tax notices, insurance renewal notices, and similar. Decide how you will handle this. Options include: a trusted family member or friend who can scan and forward mail; a commercial mail forwarding service that provides a US address and scans or forwards your mail; or a mailbox service at a UPS Store or similar with scanning. Set this up before departure and update all your US institutions with the forwarding address or service address.

Notify your credit card companies of your move. Most US credit cards can continue to be used internationally. Notify your issuers of your French address so they do not treat foreign transactions as fraud. Keep at least one US credit card active with no foreign transaction fee. These remain useful in France for online purchases from US merchants and for maintaining your US credit history, which matters if you ever return.

Update your US address with the IRS. File IRS Form 8822 (Change of Address) to notify the IRS of your new address. This is important because IRS correspondence, including any notices or refund checks, will otherwise go to your old US address. If you are using a mail forwarding service, provide that address. If you are using a family member's address, use that address on the form. Do not simply stop receiving IRS mail: it is administrative record-keeping that protects you if a notice-response deadline ever arises. In our experience, Americans who skip Form 8822 and rely on mail forwarding alone miss IRS notices that their forwarding service delays or loses, creating avoidable response deadline problems months after the move.

Notify the Social Security Administration of your new address if you are receiving or approaching eligibility for Social Security benefits. The SSA can send benefits to French bank accounts, but the address update should be done proactively through your My Social Security account. See our our US Social Security in France guide for the full framework on receiving Social Security while living in France.

Review Medicare enrollment if you are enrolled or approaching age 65. Medicare does not cover healthcare in France. Decide before departure whether to keep or suspend Part B (the monthly premium component), understanding that suspended Part B incurs a lifetime re-enrollment penalty. This is one of the decisions with the highest irreversible financial consequences for retirees, and it should be made before the move with advice from a Medicare specialist, not after arrival. Our our Social Security and Medicare in France guide covers the penalty structure and the available options.

Meet with a cross-border tax advisor. Before moving, understand how your US income will be taxed in France and how your US tax obligations change once you establish French tax residency. This consultation is worth doing before the move so you make no irreversible financial decisions (about retirement account rollovers, asset sales, or income timing) that you would have structured differently as a French resident. For the overview of how US and French taxes interact, see our US taxes in France guide.

Week 4-8: US Home and Property

If you own your US home, the departure timing question intersects with a significant tax deadline.

Understand the Section 121 timeline before deciding to rent or sell. If you own a US home and are moving to France without selling it, understand that the Section 121 principal residence capital gains exclusion requires two years of use within the five years preceding the sale. If you leave the home in, say, September 2025 and do not sell before September 2028, the exclusion is unavailable and the full gain is taxable. If your home has significant appreciation, this three-year window is a financial planning deadline, not just a logistical one. For the full framework, see our our guide on selling your US home.

If selling the home before departure: coordinate the closing date with your departure date so you are not managing a US real estate closing from France while also managing visa appointments and a move.

If renting the home after departure: put rental management arrangements in place before you leave. US rental income as a French resident has reporting obligations in both countries. Discuss this with your cross-border tax advisor.

Cancel or transfer US utilities, internet, and subscriptions. Set end dates for utilities, internet, subscriptions (streaming services, gym memberships, magazine subscriptions, and anything else billed monthly). Do this at least two weeks before your departure date, not on the day you leave. Give utilities notice periods required by your contracts.

Week 6-10: US Phone Number and Digital Infrastructure

This category is systematically underestimated by Americans preparing to move. Your US phone number is embedded in dozens of two-factor authentication systems, banking verifications, and account recovery flows. Losing access to it after arrival in France creates cascading access problems.

Decide on a US number continuity solution before you activate a French SIM. Options include: porting your US number to Google Voice (a free or low-cost VOIP service that keeps the number accessible via app from anywhere in the world); keeping your current carrier plan on a reduced international plan; or switching to a carrier like T-Mobile or AT&T that offers reduced-cost international plans. Google Voice porting is the most popular solution for Americans in France: the number remains reachable for calls and texts from any internet connection. Port the number to Google Voice before you cancel your US carrier plan, or the port becomes much more complicated. What we see most often in the first week of arrival is Americans who switched to a French SIM without addressing their US number, and who spend their first three days in France locked out of their US bank accounts because the SMS verification code is going to a number they can no longer receive.

Update two-factor authentication on your critical accounts (banking, email, investment accounts, IRS online account, Social Security account) to use an authenticator app (Google Authenticator, Authy, or similar) rather than SMS to your US phone number. Authenticator apps work without cell service. A US phone number on a canceled plan cannot receive SMS messages. Making this change before departure prevents post-arrival access lockouts.

Update your US email and secure delivery addresses with your French address or mail forwarding address before departure. This affects paperless statements, tax documents, and institutional notices.

Week 8-12: Moving Logistics and French Arrival Preparation

Hire a moving company and determine what you are shipping versus what you are selling, storing, or donating. For the full framework on international shipping costs, container versus parcel options, and French customs for household goods, see our our shipping your belongings guide.

Book temporary housing in France. Unless you have a signed lease already, plan to arrive at a furnished apartment or hotel for the first four to six weeks while you conduct your apartment search in person. Searching for a long-term rental before arrival, especially from the US, is difficult and exposes you to scams. For the full rental search approach and how to structure your dossier, see our our renting in France playbook.

Order your apostilled documents and have them translated. If you started the apostille orders in Week 0-4, you should have received them by now. Confirm the sworn translation is complete before your departure date.

If you have pets, complete the USDA health certificate and microchip requirements. For dogs and cats entering France from the US, a USDA-accredited veterinarian must issue a health certificate within ten days of travel. The timing is strict. For the full EU entry requirements including the microchip, rabies vaccination timing, and airline rules, see our our moving to France with pets guide.

If you have children, obtain their apostilled birth certificates and school transcripts. For school enrollment in France, see our our school enrollment guide and our our French school system explainer.

Your long-stay visa keeps you out of it, but it is still worth understanding what the EES means at the French border before you land.

Purchase your private health insurance policy that meets the French consulate's coverage requirements. This policy must cover France as a territory of residence, have at least €30,000 in annual health coverage, and be valid from your entry date. For the policy requirements and which insurers Americans use, see our pre-CPAM health insurance guide. If you are on a US prescription, read our guide to bringing prescription medications to France before you pack, customs rules vary significantly by drug class and some require advance documentation. If you are moving with pets, the logistics are significant enough to warrant a separate read, see our guide to moving to France with your dog or cat from the US, including the USDA health certificate timeline. If you have household goods or excess luggage to bring, read our guide to shipping your belongings from the US to France before you book. Costs, customs clearance, and moving company timelines all vary significantly depending on volume and destination city.

Before you finalize your departure date, check whether your US state has a driving license reciprocity agreement with France. The one-year exchange deadline runs from your French entry date, not your license date. Our guide to US driving license exchange in France lists every reciprocal state and explains the exchange process.

The Week Before Departure: Final Checks

Confirm your visa is stamped and valid, and that you understand the OFII validation requirement: you must validate your VLS-TS online within three months of arrival in France. For the OFII validation process, see our our OFII guide.

Confirm your private health insurance certificate is in your departure documents and will be accessible on arrival.

Confirm your moving company's schedule and your temporary housing booking.

Set up email out-of-office if needed, and make sure your French address (or temporary address) is accessible to people who need to reach you during the transition.

Withdraw a small amount of euros as cash for your first days in France before you have a French bank account. Most ATMs in France dispense euros, and your US debit card will work at most French ATMs, but having €200 to €300 in cash for taxis, small purchases, and utilities during the first week is practical.

What Not to Do Before Departure

To go alongside this checklist, our breakdown of the 12 most common mistakes Americans make when moving to France covers the errors that no pre-departure checklist prevents on its own.

Do not close all your US bank accounts. You will need at least one US account to receive any US income, manage US financial obligations, and act as a receiving account for FBAR-reportable purposes. The account also provides continuity if your French banking setup takes longer than expected. Close down to one or two accounts, not zero.

Do not sell your US investments without modeling the French tax consequences first. As a French resident, you will owe French income tax and potentially prélèvements sociaux on capital gains from the sale of US investments. Selling significant positions in the same year you establish French tax residency, without a cross-border tax advisor's review, can produce an unexpected French tax bill.

Do not cancel your US health insurance until you have French coverage in place. The bridge period between your US insurance ending and your CPAM rights activating needs to be covered. If your employer-sponsored US plan terminates on your last day of work, make sure your French private insurance policy begins on or before that date.

Do not assume your French phone plan will handle all your authentication needs from day one. The cascading access problems from switching phone numbers without preparing your digital infrastructure are among the most disruptive early experiences Americans have in France. Solve the US number continuity first.

Practical Master Checklist

• Documents (Weeks 0-4): birth certificate apostilled, marriage/divorce certificate apostilled if applicable, sworn French translations ordered, medical records and prescription summary gathered, IDP obtained, document copies stored digitally and with a trusted US contact.

• Finances (Weeks 4-8): US bank accounts reviewed for French address compatibility, brokerage accounts reviewed and any portability adjustments made, US mail forwarding set up, IRS Form 8822 filed, SSA address updated if applicable, Medicare decision made, credit cards notified of international use, cross-border tax advisor consultation completed.

• US Property (Weeks 4-8): Section 121 timeline calculated if home is not being sold, rental management arranged if applicable, US utilities and subscriptions set end dates.

• Digital (Weeks 6-10): US phone number ported to VOIP service or continuity solution confirmed, two-factor authentication updated to authenticator apps, email and address records updated.

• Logistics (Weeks 8-12): moving company booked and shipment contents decided, temporary French housing confirmed, private health insurance certificate received, pet entry requirements met if applicable, children's documents prepared if applicable.

• Final week: visa confirmed, OFII validation process understood, health insurance accessible, moving confirmed, euros obtained for first days.

When to Get Help

The pre-departure process is manageable independently for most Americans who start it with enough lead time. The tasks are defined, the deadlines are estimable, and the resources are available.

The areas that most benefit from professional support are the cross-border tax consultation (which has irreversible financial consequences if skipped) and the visa dossier preparation, both of which involve judgment calls that are hard to make without someone who has guided the specific situation before. Our end-to-end relocation service manages the full pre-departure sequence as a coordinated process rather than a parallel list of individual tasks, including timeline management, document coordination, and France-side arrival setup.

FAQ

How far in advance should Americans start preparing to move to France?

Ninety days is the realistic minimum for a clean preparation. Apostilles, visa appointments, document translations, brokerage reviews, and moving logistics all have lead times measured in weeks. Americans who start preparation six months before their target departure date have significantly more scheduling flexibility, especially for visa appointments at major consulates, which can book out several weeks. A 90-day window requires everything to move in parallel from the first week: starting apostille requests while simultaneously working on the visa dossier, while simultaneously reviewing financial accounts.

Do I need to notify the IRS before moving to France?

You do not need to notify the IRS of your move in the sense of filing a specific departure form for long-term residents (unlike green card holders, who have separate expatriation rules). As a US citizen, you remain a US taxpayer regardless of where you live. The practical step is filing Form 8822 to update your address with the IRS, and setting up a reliable mail-forwarding solution for any IRS correspondence that goes to your previous US address. You continue filing a US federal tax return each year as a French resident. For the full US tax picture as a French resident, see our US taxes in France guide.

Can I keep my US bank account when I move to France?

Yes, but with caveats. US bank accounts can remain open when you move to France, and most Americans should keep at least one active US account for US income, US financial obligations, and as a backup. However, some US banks restrict online access or close accounts for customers with non-US addresses. Check your specific bank's policy before changing your address. Brokerage accounts have separate considerations: some restrict trading once you declare a foreign address. For the specific brokerages and their policies, see our Fidelity and Schwab accounts guide.

What should I do with my US phone number before moving to France?

Port your US phone number to a VOIP service, with Google Voice being the most common choice for Americans in France, before canceling your US carrier plan. Once ported, the number remains accessible via app from any internet connection. This is critical because your US phone number is embedded in the two-factor authentication flows for your US bank accounts, investment accounts, IRS online account, and similar. If you cancel the carrier plan without porting the number first, and then lose the ability to receive SMS at that number, you will be locked out of any account that uses SMS-based two-factor authentication. Port first, cancel second, and update your authentication methods to app-based authenticators for all critical accounts before departure.

What documents do I need to apostille before moving to France?

The documents you will most certainly need with apostilles are your US birth certificate (required for CPAM, school enrollment, and some visa applications) and your marriage certificate if your French applications involve civil status. Divorce decree if applicable. US diplomas if you are applying under a visa category that requires educational credentials. The apostille must be obtained from the issuing authority: state-issued documents from the Secretary of State of that state, federal documents from the US Department of State Office of Authentications. For the full institution-by-institution breakdown of which documents need apostilles and which need sworn translations, see our apostille guide.

Conclusion

The 90-day pre-departure window is best understood as a preparation project, not a countdown. The tasks in it have dependencies: apostilles must arrive before translations can happen, translations must be complete before certain visa applications can be filed, and brokerage decisions must be made before you change your address to avoid losing access to accounts mid-process. Identifying the critical path through these dependencies, and starting the longest-lead-time tasks first, is what turns a stressful departure into a clean one.

All of this preparation pays off on the other side, so it helps to know how to settle into life in France during your first year once you have landed.

For Americans who want the full relocation sequence managed as a coordinated project, from pre-departure preparation through arrival-month setup, our end-to-end relocation service is available to handle the planning and execution from your current US location through your first month on French soil.