Expat Academy

Courses

Explore retiring to France

Still deciding? Learn what changes, what it costs, and which path fits you.

For Americans thinking about retiring to France, part of the year or full time, who haven't decided yet: the four kinds of residence, what the IRS and your state still expect, your income and accounts abroad, Social Security and Medicare, money across the border, two homes on one budget, healthcare and estate basics, plus France's residence tests, the visitor visa and the cost of living.

Fifteen lessons: the Core and three France lessons, with the two-home budget, the day counter and the visa checker. When you decide, what you paid counts in full toward either full course, for as long as your 365 days of access last.

Try it first: C1 The four kinds of "residence", F1 France's four residence tests (free).

What you keep

Download these while your access lasts: they're yours to keep, to print, and to take to your attorney and CPA. PDFs carry your name.

Printable guides and checklists (7)

  • Comparison (PDF) Spain, Portugal and France side by side

    Visas, healthcare, residence rules, how each country taxes your US income, wealth, inheritance and paperwork, in one table per topic.

  • Guide (PDF) The four kinds of residence

    Immigration status, tax residence, state domicile and Schengen days on one page.

  • Guide (PDF) What the IRS still expects

    Form 1040, FBAR, Form 8938, PFICs and the June 15 extension.

  • Checklist (PDF) State domicile checklist

    What to change, file and keep when you move your US domicile.

  • Checklist (PDF) Documents and apostilles

    The papers to gather before you go, and the order to get them in.

  • Fact sheet (PDF) France fact sheet

    The 2026 numbers: tax scale, social charges, visa resources, inheritance and wealth tax.

  • Glossary (PDF) French glossary

    The French words on every form, letter and lease, in plain English.

What's inside: 15 lessons

The Core: retiring abroad on US income

What changes for any American who retires abroad on Social Security, IRAs, a 401(k), an HSA and a brokerage account, whichever country and path you choose: the four kinds of residence, what the IRS and your state still expect, your accounts and benefits, money across the border, paperwork, two homes on one budget, healthcare and estate basics.

Module 1: Residence, and what the US keeps (3 lessons)
  1. C1 The four kinds of "residence" Free preview
    Your visa, your tax residence, your US state and your Schengen days are four separate tests, and they can point in four directions.
  2. C2 What the IRS never lets go of
    The US taxes citizens wherever they live. The return, the foreign-account reports and the fund rules all come with you.
  3. C3 Your US state after you leave
    States aren't bound by tax treaties, and some are hard to leave. Your domicile decides whether a state still taxes you.
Module 2: Your income and your accounts (4 lessons)
  1. C4 Your income, source by source
    Social Security, IRA and 401(k) withdrawals, Roth, HSA, dividends, interest and gains each follow their own rule abroad. Here is the grid the country lessons fill in.
  2. C5 Keeping your US accounts open
    Some US brokers restrict or close accounts with a foreign address, and EU rules block buying US funds. Plan where your money will live before you move.
  3. C6 Social Security and Medicare abroad
    Social Security follows you to France; Medicare mostly doesn't. Decide about Part B before you go, because dropping it can cost you later.
  4. C7 Money across the border
    Your income is in dollars and your life in euros. How much the exchange rate moves your budget, how to move money cheaply, and how much to keep in euros.
Module 3: Setting up (2 lessons)
  1. C8 Identity numbers and paperwork
    Each country gives you a tax number before almost anything else works, and wants US documents with apostilles and translations. Here is the order to get them in.
  2. C9 Opening and keeping a local bank account
    Being American makes banking abroad harder because of US reporting rules. How to open an account, and how to stop it being frozen over a missed letter.
Module 4: Living in two places (3 lessons)
  1. C10 Running two homes on one budget
    Some costs follow you; others keep running in the home you've left. Separating them is what makes a two-home budget honest.
  2. C11 Healthcare models compared
    Medicare at home with travel cover, private cover abroad, or the public system there. Which one fits each track, and what each visa demands.
  3. C12 Estate basics across borders
    Wills in two countries, forced heirship, and inheritance tax where you die. The basics now; a full estate module comes later.

France

The French rules in detail: the residence tests, the visitor visa, income tax and the treaty credit on US income, social charges, how each kind of account is taxed, wealth and inheritance tax, the French return and Form 3916, identity numbers and banking, healthcare, the cost of living and renting.

Module 1: Becoming resident (2 lessons)
  1. F1 France's four residence tests Free preview
    Any one of four tests makes you French tax resident. How each works, how the treaty breaks a tie with the US, and how Track A students stay on the US side.
  2. F2 The visitor visa, step by step
    France's long-stay visitor visa is the usual route for retirees. The resources test, the insurance, the application, validation on arrival and renewal.
Module 3: Daily life (1 lessons)
  1. F10 The cost of living in France
    Where the money goes for a retiree in France, how cities differ, which costs are lower or higher than at home, and how to build your own budget in euros.