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A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France

visa.lafrenchtech.com

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Re: A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France

#211
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i highly doubt it, especially if you speak english.

Don't a lot of people in France look at you badly if you only speak English? I read that this is especially true in more "proud French areas" like Paris etc.

Short answer: no.

This may have been true at one point in time, but it's certainly no longer the case. I think this myth comes from a mix of two things:

a) differences in intonation that some people (mostly Americans) interpret as aggressive or hostile, when really they're not

b) the possibility that this was true in the past (e.g. during the 50's, perhaps because the French were eager to see stationed GIs leave)

Re: A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France

#212
post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm French and I agree with this. I left a long time ago. Add: - the absurd administration burden to do anything - the absurd prices of anything in Paris - the lack of consideration for anything that is not in Paris - the denial of your rights because there might be some terrorists No way, no reviens Leon.

What if I don't want to live in Paris? After all, there are other cities, yes?

If you don't want to find clients, then by all means live somewhere else. ;)

France is very Paris-centric, especially in terms of the service industry.

Re: A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France

#213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can expect something from 50k to 70k€ (gross salary) dependending on the company and your experience. Remove 25% of that to have an idea of your net salary. (Those 25% are mostly for your retirement plan, social security and unemployment insurance. All of those are mandatory) Expect to pay between 1 and 2 months net salary in yearly incomes taxes.

That sounds like double or triple the amount of tax Americans in a similar role have to pay at home

That works out to 37.5% tax. I paid considerably more than that working in California when you include health insurance.

Re: A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France

#214
post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's "currently inflicting generational economic damage on themselves"? Would you do an ELI5?

Brexit! When the Prime Minister was asked what this means, she replied with "Brexit means Brexit." http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-36782922 When people have asked specific questions like "am I going to be able to continue to live here?" or "am I going to continue to receive scientific funding that is distributed by the EU?" or "how is this going to affect my business?", they haven't recieved answers. In the wor…

Why would they get answers? They might ask well as if any particular stock is going to go up or down.

Re: A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France

#215
post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some opinions are not only socially incorrect, they can get you to jail. Examples of forbidden topics: homosexuals, non-white people, jews, saying that you don't need health insurance… Of course not endorsing anything about those topics, just saying that forbiding any debate on those topics may not be a long-term solution to solve those societal questions. We get the popular far-right party FN for some reason I think…

You're linking a source that you don't understand. "Toute personne qui refuse délibérément de s’affilier ou qui demande à ne plus être affiliée à un régime de sécurité sociale" This has nothing to do with freedom of speech. And since when is it illegal to talk about homosexuals, non-white people or jews ?

>And since when is it illegal to talk about homosexuals, non-white people or jews ?

See: Eric Zemmour

You're allowed to talk about them provided the contents of your speech is "they're great and I love everything about them".

I'm not particularly fond of Zemmour, but his multiple condemnations absolutely qualify as political censorship.

Re: A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France

#216
post #172

French salaries are much lower and taxes are extremely high for high income earners. There's more than one tax on your income! There's the regular "impôt" but also the "contribution solidarité" which is legally considered "not a tax" but cost you a percentage of your income. And a "taxe d'habitation" too (which is proportional to your rent rather than income). There's quite a bit of misrepresentation and wordplay all…

I've lived in France and the US. At the lowend salaries are almost the same. In continental Europe its extremely hard to break the 6-figure salary barrier. Now that I'm working back in the US after 12 years abroad I find we're at about the same level if we'd stayed in Paris. Salary is up but so are healthcare costs, childcare costs, transportation. While my effectively salary is double my take home is only 20% higher. And I get 10 days paid vacation. Which is completely fucking laughable. Dining out is also very expensive. Just had a mediocre meal at an asian fusion restaurant and the final bill was 60 with taxes and tips included.

I'm typing this on a French MBP keyboard which is really impractical but it's what I'm used to.

Re: A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France

#217

Apropos of this, I was in Paris recently at a startup event, and was pleasantly shocked at the sheer number of startups and people I saw doing things. This is a good move by the French, and will help attract entrepreneurs away from other countries (particularly like those just across the channel currently inflicting generational economic damage on themselves.)

I feel the general consensus is that France is good at startup creation, but lacks the infrastructure, particularly capital, to support their growth. Many of the promising ones end up getting bought by an established player, often a semi-public company stemming from an administration, like Orange (former national telecom). In other words, good entrepreneurship, but no chance of disrupting anything.

edit: typos

Re: A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France

#219
post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Freedom of speech issues in France ?? I'd say a good reason not to come here is bureaucracy and taxes, but not issues with freedom of speech... Do you have some facts you'd like to share ?

France tries to regulate what people wear while sitting on the beach. It seems downright opposed to multiculturalism and diversity. Freedom of expression isn't just the right to write blog posts.

I sure do see a lot of people here who have zero actual experience of France, ready to pass judgement based on whatever clickbait they happened to read a few years back, after it's gone through a couple of translation layers.

Speaking as somebody who's lived in France, Greece, the UK, the US and Sweden: France is by far the most "multiculturalism-friendly" place of all these. Yes, even more than Sweden.

Like most French people, I'm not proud of my country. But this is something I can be proud of.

(Disclaimer: Some cities are of course less kind to strangers than others; it's not a uniform utopia)

Re: A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France

#220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can expect something from 50k to 70k€ (gross salary) dependending on the company and your experience. Remove 25% of that to have an idea of your net salary. (Those 25% are mostly for your retirement plan, social security and unemployment insurance. All of those are mandatory) Expect to pay between 1 and 2 months net salary in yearly incomes taxes.

That sounds like double or triple the amount of tax Americans in a similar role have to pay at home

Indeed! But then you get great health insurance, good public infrastructure and services, free top-notch education, etc.

Basically if you're without any dependent, you may not see it as worth it, but once you have a family it really starts paying off.

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