 Poster: A snowHead
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Dear all, I hope I’ve come to the right place as this is my first post and I wasn’t sure which forum to include it in.
My wife and I would love to take a year’s sabbatical from our current jobs and take our two children (5 and 7) to a French ski resort for the cultural experience.
We are both experienced professionals as a PE teacher and a Physiotherapist, however, we are both open to taking on other roles if it allows our children to go to school and for us to live and work in a resort, whilst also maximising skiing opportunities.
Has anyone does this before?
Can anyone recommend any websites/have any contacts as to how to make our dreams a reality?
Also, any pitfalls to be aware of or best ways forward?
Thanks everyone, in advance… apologies if there are already forums on this! 
We are British passport holders btw.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Jerseymack wrote: |
Dear all, I hope I’ve come to the right place as this is my first post and I wasn’t sure which forum to include it in.
My wife and I would love to take a year’s sabbatical from our current jobs and take our two children (5 and 7) to a French ski resort for the cultural experience.
We are both experienced professionals as a PE teacher and a Physiotherapist, however, we are both open to taking on other roles if it allows our children to go to school and for us to live and work in a resort, whilst also maximising skiing opportunities.
Has anyone does this before?
Can anyone recommend any websites/have any contacts as to how to make our dreams a reality?
Also, any pitfalls to be aware of or best ways forward?
Thanks everyone, in advance… apologies if there are already forums on this!
We are British passport holders btw. |
Hi Jerseymack,
Firstly welcome to SH's.
Firstly without answering every point above thought would point a couple of things out.
1) getting kids into a school as a seasonnaire child is easy enough as most resorts are geared up for it. However the French side of things would be tough on them!
2) With your jobs as they are then you could consider looking at somewhere like Apex2100 in Tignes - they would look at employing person of both your skills.
3) The idea of 'living and working' in a resort whilst maximising skiing opportunities sometimes clash. I.e. you can get a job that allows plenty of ski time but doesnt pay too well or vice-a-versa! Also you have to consider the visa and legal requirements of it post brexit too!
Has anyone does this before? - there are loads of people out there who do this every year.
Can anyone recommend any websites/have any contacts as to how to make our dreams a reality? - id decide the 'type' of work / type of season you might like to do and work backwards from there. Dont know of specific websites no sorry! Personally decide the resort too you might like to base yourself at - smaller / lesser known resorts have fewer options.
Also, any pitfalls to be aware of or best ways forward? - If you really want to indulge in the cultural experience then maybe intentionally head for a smaller, lesser commercialised options. If you want to do loads of skiing then possibly scrap the option of working at all!
Certainly between where I live here in Val d'Isere with my 6 and 9 year old and Tignes our neighbouring options there are options!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Fantastic to get the kids into an environment where they can swiftly learn French!
I have no specific advice to offer, and clearly what @Steve Angus and his wife do reflects their both being highly qualified ski instructors!
Post Brexit, things have become a lot harder for Brits, obviously.
If you are not already fluent, focus 100% on improving your French. My son and daughter in law, with two girls aged 3 and 6, are dead keen on moving to France. She is already bilingual in French, having lived as a child and adolescent in France, and she and the girls have German passports, which helps no end. My son is fairly rubbish at French (though he speaks good Italian and German) but hoping to get a job in a tertiary education institute where a lot of the language focus is English. It takes a lot of determination - and lots of compromises.
Good luck!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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If you're going to need to work for the cash your journey starts and possibly ends and with leaping through the hoops to get a working visa and the employer that might sponsor that.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@Jerseymack, welcome to SHs.
your 2 biggest hurdles:
1. staying for a whole season - you'll need long stay tourist visas or working visas, for which you'll need jobs first
2. for jobs -if you want to do what you do now - you'll almost certainly (if you even can) need to convert them to French equivalent qualifications. Which I'm pretty sure will also require a certain level of French. E.g. you have to prove level A2 for a resident's permit, so I'd guess that would be the minimum. Probably a level or 2 higher for teaching staff?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| under a new name wrote: |
@Jerseymack, welcome to SHs.
your 2 biggest hurdles:
1. staying for a whole season - you'll need long stay tourist visas or working visas, for which you'll need jobs first
2. for jobs -if you want to do what you do now - you'll almost certainly (if you even can) need to convert them to French equivalent qualifications. Which I'm pretty sure will also require a certain level of French. E.g. you have to prove level A2 for a resident's permit, so I'd guess that would be the minimum. Probably a level or 2 higher for teaching staff? |
Good points but with my UK teaching (PGCE) qualification getting my French équivalent was actually really simple. Maybe working in an international school rather than the state school helped. But was easy. Already had my French residence of course so easy on that front.... Btw no French needed to get French residence (at the moment) and that of course is different to French nationality that needs a good level.
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Physiotherapy side though, no idea
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@Steve Angus, when did you get your French équivalent? Would brexit have changed anything? Many, many years ago (~1995) my ex-wife looked a little bit into getting her équivalence as a medical doctor and (then) that looked like a whole load of work and in that particular profession would have required adequate French to practice on patients (notwithstanding any formal requirements).
=> on which I only mentioned the language requirement as it would seem logical that if you need one for a residence card, you might need one for a professional qualification? & it looks to me like you do you do need ( well according to https://www.service-public.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F34501 ) a language test for a Carte de résident? + I know someone who had to do it ...
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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The dream surely would be to offer physio and pilates/yoga classes to English skiers on a self-employed basis, working from 4pm - 7pm. But you'd need a space to do it in. And I've no idea if people would turn up. And most importantly I've no idea if you'd get a self-employed visa either, but start here:
https://france-visas.gouv.fr/en/web/france-visas/professional-purpose
I was told recently (but I don't know if it's true) that the French visa system is currently clogged up with Brits applying for long-term residence visas and so you won't get a visa anytime soon, anyway.
Or just work illegally and run the risk of prison and never being allowed back into Schengen, but they'll probably never notice you so long as you don't outstay the 90/180 days. Depends on your attitude to risk.
I suggest googling 'living in france forum'!
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@James the Last, you would run foul of French social security which would not be any fun at all …
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Given a typical French ski season is barely 15-20 weeks max, and most French ski resorts are ghosttowns for the rest of the year, what you're outlining is really not worth the bureaucratic or tax hassle.
Just quit the UK. Get a 6-month French visa. Get a bankloan to fund it. Have fun with the fam from Dec to Apr. Go back to the UK in May and unquit.
Good luck.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| under a new name wrote: |
@Steve Angus, when did you get your French équivalent? Would brexit have changed anything? Many, many years ago (~1995) my ex-wife looked a little bit into getting her équivalence as a medical doctor and (then) that looked like a whole load of work and in that particular profession would have required adequate French to practice on patients (notwithstanding any formal requirements).
=> on which I only mentioned the language requirement as it would seem logical that if you need one for a residence card, you might need one for a professional qualification? & it looks to me like you do you do need ( well according to https://www.service-public.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F34501 ) a language test for a Carte de résident? + I know someone who had to do it ... |
Got my school teacher equivalence (well got registered as being allowed to teach on French soil (when I worked at the Apex2100 international school in Tignes)) in early 2021 so post Brexit! Getting my Ski instructor equivalence in 2009 was a lot harder as in the proof required for that!
The Carte de resident... so I have a Carte Sejour which is the same (as far as I know). However the 'flavour' of card is a WARP (Withdrawal Agreement Residence Permit)... which was invented to make it easy post Brexit as possible for Brits living here year round to become legal... definately no language needed for those. However given the hundreds of thousands of British left in limbo post Brexit the French (very kind of them) made it as easy as possible to get a WARP / Carte de Sejour.
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@Steve Angus, interesting re the prof qualification. Just because pre brexit there was an assumed (hahahah) grade equivalence I think wasn't there?
Yeah, I have my titre de sejour under WARP (although I have a 10 year one being married to a French person). No test required. But if not "Warp"ed, a language test seems necessary.
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