So HOW did I move to Paris? I kept overcoming all the resistance points at every turn. They will not make it easy and you will need more documentation than you ever thought possible.
You will need to give yourself a minimum of one year – and have financial documentation for 3-10 years depending on how expensive an apartment you are trying to rent.
Things to have on hand:
- Tax returns from past three years and / or w-2s
- Past three months of pay stubs – past three months of bank statements
- Past three month of investment accounts / 401ks etc.
- Passport
- Current lease (and other leases for up to 3 – 7 years)
- A letter from your current employer guaranteeing your employment while in France
To lease an apartment, you need 4x the monthly income to acquire a lease. That will be your maximum rent and can only be increased with a fairly large investment portfolio. I recommend finding a lease of a furnished apartment.
In Paris, furnished is a sliding scale but unfurnished means no appliances and no one has time for that. Once you’ve figured out your maximum rent, you need to go and get a guarantor.
In France, you need basically insurance that someone will pay your rent if you can’t for some reason. This is your first test to see if you can get approved:
Take your maximum rent amount and enter it and fill out all the paperwork. They will come back in 24-48 hours with the amount they are willing to guarantee. This expires in 30 days, but this will let you know your budget for rent.
Now go to https://PAP.fr to see what is in your budget. The other options for furnished are more expensive ex-pat apartments, but if you have the budget there are lots of options.
You can use these resources to see what is in your budget, but you need to start the actual search 60 days before your intended move. This is just to give a sense of what you can afford and get your ducks in a row for when you are ready to rent an apartment.
Paris Attitude
Paris Corporate Housing
Lodgis
Wunderflats
Vingt (my landlord)
