Moving to France
As elsewhere, relocation services provide assistance in moving to and settling in France. The professional services offered vary from local orientation and contacts to comprehensive packages of familiarisation, training, guiding and housing location services, as suits companies relocating executives. Typically, services are offered by specialist companies, usually with offices in major international business cities. They range in size from global networks to local bureaux. Two networks of agencies, one European and one French, offer online lists of member agencies on their websites:
European Relocation Association (EuRA) with 250 member agencies operating in 46 countries, including 26 agencies in France; head office: PO Box 189, Diss IP22 1PE, UK, Tel: +44 08700 726727, www.eura-relocation.com, enquiries @ eura-relocation.com.
Syndicat National des Professionnels de la Relocation et de la Mobilite (SNPRM) with member agencies across the country, 3 rue Leon Bonnat, 75016 Paris, www.relocation-france.org.
Removal Companies
The removal business is competitive, so you can shop around for both prices and services offered. In moving to France, be sure to engage a company that has a liaison agreement with a French removals company. Likewise, in moving from France, engage a company that has a liaison agreement with a company in your destination country. Most international liaison agreements are between removals companies belonging to international removal company associations, of which the two largest are:
FIDI, the abbreviation for Federation Internationale des Demenageurs Internationaux, the "International Federation of International Furniture Removers", 69 Rue Picard B5, 1080 Brussels, Belgium, Tel: +32 2 4265160, www.fidi.com, fidi@fidi.com. The website has an interactive map for locating the more than 500 affiliated removal companies, including 18 in France. FIDI supports a quality standard, FAIM, the abbreviation for FIDI Accredited International Mover, now the de facto standard of the removals trade.
OMNI, the abbreviation for Overseas Moving Network International, Priory House, 45-51 High Street, Reigate, Surrey RH2 9AE, UK, Tel: +44 1737 222022, www.omnimoving.com, omnihq@omnimoving.com. The website has a locator for finding more than 260 companies in 70 countries, including five in France.
In France, you can find a removals company by looking under Demenagements in the Yellow pages, by visiting the FIDI or OMNI websites mentioned above, or by using the interactive locator map for the more than 800 removals companies in France, at www.csdemenagement.fr, the website of the national movers association, Chambre Syndicate du Demenagement, 73 avenue Jean Lolive, 93108 Montreuil Cedex, Tel: 01 49886140 or 08 00010020 freephone [N° vert].
Most removal companies with international trade now standardise on Containers, particularly when sea transport is involved. The contents of a typical house will fill a 20 foot container, though the 40-foot size may be needed for the contents of a large house. The removal company will bring the container to your house, most often on a truck fitted with a hydraulic lifter that can place the container alongside the truck bed, on the ground, and lift it back again when it is filled. The standard container is about 2.5 m wide, so the truck will need a width of at least 6 m to drive in and manoeuvre the container.
