A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France • Hacker News Board

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

#451

Post by mathieuuu » Mon, Jan 16, 2017, 8:31 PM UTC

otoburb wrote: post #441

renaudg wrote: post #425

Regarding French salaries again : yes they are lower than elsewhere but with some exceptions, French employers are not the problem : they do pay the same price for you as in other European countries, more or less ! The difference is that your average engineer in France costs them around 1.5-2.5 times the total take home pay, because of high, compulsory labor taxes. In exchange, employees get as standard : * a top not…

Do you have the option to pay into the French state pension as a non-resident French citizen? For example, in Canada I'm not aware of any mechanism to voluntarily pay into the Canada Pension Plan for a strict Canadian non-resident. This would only be of note if you plan to retire in your original country of origin, in your case France.

If you are french working in a different country, you can contribute to the french pension plan through the "Caisse des Français de l´etranger" if you want to. However you would still have to pay the Canadian pension plan.

There is an agreement between France and several countries including Canada. Once you will retire, if you have worked 10 years in Canada and 30 years in France, then you will get 3/4 of your money from the French Pension plan, and 1/4 from the Canadian one.

This agreement works whether you are French or Canadian.

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

#452

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Jan 16, 2017, 8:31 PM UTC

true_religion wrote: post #179

finid wrote: post #165

So I tried to subscribe again and finally got a response, which reads: ` Bonjour, Nous vous confirmons que nous venons de recevoir votre email depuis http://visa.lafrenchtech.com Merci. A très vite. Bonne journée Envoyé depuis http://visa.lafrenchtech.com ` No big deal, I have a pretty good idea what that means, even though I don't speak French, but if they're trying to market to an English-speaking audience, me thin…

Why do you think they're trying to market to an English speaking audience, as opposed to a French speaking audience? French is the national language, and you'll be required to speak it in order to have a normal life.

[deleted]

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

#453

Post by esw » Mon, Jan 16, 2017, 8:31 PM UTC

School-Cotton wrote: post #285

esw wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>he pays $27 per month for his health insurance through his employer, and it's a nice plan. This is really an outlier. The US average for employee premiums is $104/month for individuals and $392/month for families.

That might be an outlier relative to the whole population, but is it one relative to good tech jobs? I pay $0 for health insurance, for example, and what I get is perfectly good.

The context seems to have been lost in the shuffle. Here's what I was responding to:

>I have a brother that works in a pretty normal job earning $42,000 per year (not an outsized salary in the US), he pays $27 per month for his health insurance through his employer, and it's a nice plan. That isn't unusual in the US

My point is that most people in 'pretty normal jobs' pay considerably more for healthcare.

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

#454

Post by lazaroclapp » Mon, Jan 16, 2017, 8:34 PM UTC

mgbmtl wrote: post #342

krzyk wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> even variable names in the code, all was in English As a English-is-my-second-language person I can't imagine naming variables using any other language but English. English is most of the times more concise than my mother language (Polish), and it is much easier to share code on the net, find help on stackoverflow, etc.

Say you're implementing a field-specific solution, do you use the US English term or the term that's written on the users know? (specs, documentation, etc) If another developer comes on board, will their English be fluent enough to know those terms? There's also a huge risk in having a translation error. We're programmers, not translators. For general variable names, I agree. On the other hand, in my experience, when…

One problem for a startup (as opposed to a consulting firm), is that you would eventually want to have geographically distributed offices and teams, though. So if you start with a code-base in something other than english and then end up opening an office in Ireland, Germany, Singapore or India you will likely end up rewriting into english anyways (never mind the Bay Area, Seattle or NYC, which you will likely need before your company reaches 10,000 developers...).

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

#455

Post by user5994461 » Mon, Jan 16, 2017, 8:34 PM UTC

manarth wrote: post #428

renaudg wrote: post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To me (working in London), the biggest difference in France is the attitude towards healthcare : it's not a business, rather a right. I first heard the words "Preexisting condition" when I moved to London and researched private insurance there.

"the attitude towards healthcare : it's not a business, rather a right" "I first heard the words "Preexisting condition" when I moved to London and researched private insurance there." Might that be a reflection that it's private healthcare in a country which already provides free healthcare? The human right to healthcare is already catered for in the UK, through the NHS, so private healthcare doesn't have to accommo…

There are both in France.

You have the official national healthcare that you're forced to pay "la securite sociale" and a wide range of private healthcare that you're forced to pay as well "une mutuelle".

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

#456

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Jan 16, 2017, 8:34 PM UTC

pmalynin wrote: post #448

otoburb wrote: post #441

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have the option to pay into the French state pension as a non-resident French citizen? For example, in Canada I'm not aware of any mechanism to voluntarily pay into the Canada Pension Plan for a strict Canadian non-resident. This would only be of note if you plan to retire in your original country of origin, in your case France.

Canadian here, as far as I know you can't pay into the CPP if you're not working in Canada (I have a friend who is in the exactly that situation). But, that said you can put a lot of money into TFSAs and RRSPs.

[deleted]

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

#457

Post by mgbmtl » Mon, Jan 16, 2017, 8:35 PM UTC

krzyk wrote: post #355

mgbmtl wrote: post #342

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Say you're implementing a field-specific solution, do you use the US English term or the term that's written on the users know? (specs, documentation, etc) If another developer comes on board, will their English be fluent enough to know those terms? There's also a huge risk in having a translation error. We're programmers, not translators. For general variable names, I agree. On the other hand, in my experience, when…

In Poland it is generally assumed that a programmer knows English, most of the companies here are just branches of companies from other countries (not only US/UK based) and to communicate we use English as a common ground. Another factor to consider is that if we write in language that has some constructs (e.g. C - if/then/else/while/return/int/double/class/void etc.) then writing: if (znalezione) { ... } looks awkwa…

As I said, I'm not talking about the basics, but more especially for field-specific terminology, comments, etc.

I agree with you, but the example you gave is more common than you think. We tend to over-estimate people's language skills. (keep in mind, English is not my native tongue, I'm including myself in there and it's not meant as an attack, just something we need to deal with, and I would not outright exclude bilingual code)

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

#458

Post by lllllll » Mon, Jan 16, 2017, 8:40 PM UTC

archagon wrote: post #142

Any avenues for self-employed/single-person-company folks? I know Netherlands has DAFT but I'm interested if this opens any similar options in France. I have dreams of living and coding by the Mediterranean Sea. :)

One word: Barcelona. Best city in Europe :)

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

#459

Post by otoburb » Mon, Jan 16, 2017, 8:41 PM UTC

pmalynin wrote: post #448

otoburb wrote: post #441

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have the option to pay into the French state pension as a non-resident French citizen? For example, in Canada I'm not aware of any mechanism to voluntarily pay into the Canada Pension Plan for a strict Canadian non-resident. This would only be of note if you plan to retire in your original country of origin, in your case France.

Canadian here, as far as I know you can't pay into the CPP if you're not working in Canada (I have a friend who is in the exactly that situation). But, that said you can put a lot of money into TFSAs and RRSPs.

>>Canadian here, as far as I know you can't pay into the CPP if you're not working in Canada (I have a friend who is in the exactly that situation)

I came to the same conclusion unfortunately. Would gladly pay to contribute to CPP on the assumption that I'll (probably) be retiring back home. Unsure how it is in France, but in Canada (for now), I believe future CPP payouts are based on contributions made today (i.e. supposedly we are paying our future retired selves). This is unlike the US social system where current payouts are based on contributions made with today's generation of workers.

>>But, that said you can put a lot of money into TFSAs and RRSPs.

I'm not an accountant or a lawyer, but my understanding is that unless you have contribution room left for your TFSA or RRSP prior to your departure from Canada, there's little point to contribute since the "contributions" will not be recognized as such and hence the tax "benefits" in both cases will also go unrecognized. I think the only exception is for Canadian income (e.g. rental property).

Transferring funds into Canadian TFSA/RRSP accounts may be possible, but the CRA will eventually ask for a reckoning unless your friends are willing to roll the dice. Based on personal experience, penalties and interest per year add up quickly.

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

#460

Post by ddebernardy » Mon, Jan 16, 2017, 8:42 PM UTC

ttoinou wrote: post #340

tn13 wrote: post #305

How favorable are France's labor laws ? Is it possible to have at will employment?

Labor laws are not favorable ; french like to feel protected by their state. "At-will employment" doesn't exists but since 10 years we have an easy-to-get freelance status ("auto entrepreneur") with low tax for under 36 K€/year.

That "but" is dubious advice. There also is a hefty fine/clawback awaiting you if you "hire" the latter as "employees" and treat them as such. It's not specific to FR, in that the criteria that make employees that are mostly the same as those in CA, but FR taxmen and labor inspectors probably pay more attention.