laurence raybois consulting is an experienced and effective company whose mission is to help Americans who want to live and work in France.
The following is a list of our most common services:
(if you are interested in living or working in a french rural area please visit RuralFranceResources.com)
Finding suitable employment in France
- Explaining your unique visa and carte de séjour options
- Assessing if a profession is subject to different regulations in France
- Obtaining recognition of educational credentials by the French authorities
- Translating a résumé and writing cover letters in a way that is sensitive to French professional and cultural protocol
- Researching whether the scope of a profession is the same in France
- Providing cultural information specific to a person’s professional goals
- Helping to identify alternative, non-traditional professional options
- Helping to identify self-employment options
- Helping to design a project in the context of the carte de séjour competences et talents, and seek support in France for this project
- Helping to uncover – and draw support for - options for life and work in a rural area
- Filing and reporting to French administration
Finding the optimal educational opportunities for children
- Giving you an overview of the school system in France
- Reviewing the differences in academic expectations between schools in France and those in the US, for each grade level
- Explaining requirements associated with home schooling
- Finding and helping you assess specific schools, such as international schools, schools for gifted children, or schools that cater to different learning styles
- Explaining how the French school system handles children with disabilities, such as Asperger Syndrome or ADHD, and finding alternative resources as needed
- Being your advocate, if necessary, for any need not met by the school
- Reviewing, with both parents and children, major cultural differences between France and the US as they apply to schooling, particularly in regards to issues such as authority, nurturing of children or communication styles with parents
Finding housing in France
- Pre-departure briefing — What you can expect in the following areas:
- Rights and obligations of tenants and landlords
- Nature and quality of the amenities found in the typical home
- Cultural issues as they affect housing, such as the vastly different notions of privacy and territoriality between the two cultures, and how it may affect the relationship with neighbor
- Housing data — Doing research and providing you with information about the factors affecting the cost, nature and availability of housing
- Home search for your purchase or rental — Providing you with hands-on, personalized, and assisting you on-site in locating a home to rent or buy
- Settling-in assistance — Assisting you with all the initial steps related to housing, including finalizing purchase or signing rental documents, establishing utility accounts and getting insurance
- Intervention services — Helping you resolve a disagreement with a landlord, neighbor, artisan or government official through direct intervention
- Host disconnect services — Assisting you with the final steps related to housing, such as settling everything with the landlord and closing the utility accounts at the time of departure
Miscellaneous services
Over the years, we have helped clients with numerous aspects of moving to France. Recent assignments have included.
- Helping a client assess his tax exposure in France
- Helping a client obtain authorization to bring his parrots to France
We encourage you to contact us and tell us what your needs are. If we feel that we can’t help you, we will say so and will refer you to another professional if appropriate.
Fees
The fees for our services are $120 per hour for the first hour, then $100 per hour thereafter; for returning clients the fee is $100 for the first hour, too. We do not require a minimum commitment, so amounts due for work lasting for less than an hour will be prorated accordingly.
