First, congratulations to all of you who got your US tax returns in before the final deadline of the year. Well done! It seems fitting that we move away from the subject of taxes to something you might not have thought of if you are planning a move to France – your driver’s license.

Here in France, you can continue to use a US drivers license for the first year of your stay so long as you carry a translation of it with you when you are driving. Many of you, bogged down with an endless list of other arrangements, requirements and adventures (all in French), neglect to do anything about that one-year limit until it’s too late.

And this is where the personal finance comes in. Do a quick search in France for “cours permis de conduire” (driving classes), and you will find that a course is going to set you back anywhere from 700 € to 1000 €. These classes are required. They are generally in French. And even the French find the final driving exam to be intimidating. There are a few programs for English speakers, but that is likely to raise your costs to double or triple the amount.

You obviously want to avoid this entire scenario. How? Well, some people can exchange their drivers licenses from their home countries for a French license. It is not particularly hard to do, but the administration that handles this, l’Agence nationale des titres sécurisés (almost always known as ANTS), is very, very slow. So this is your first tip:

Do not wait until the end of the year.

Send off for a certified translation of your license and your driving record shortly before you come or just after you get here. Then go on to the ANTS website here: https://www.service-public.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F1460?lang=en. This is the English version of the page on the off-chance the you are still working on your French language skills.

From there, you are just going to do a bit of uploading: your driving record with translation,proof of residency, etc… This should only take you 10 minutes or so. They will have you send in your physical license, and you will use a temporary print out in the meantime. After a fairly decent wait, you will get your new French license in the mail. Simple, right?

There is one more problem. Do you remember how every state in the US has its own DMV, it’s own traffic rules and its own procedures? French bureaucrats had to negotiate separately with each state to come up with the agreement that allows for the exchange of drivers licenses. Some of your home states played ball. Some did not.

Which brings me to this link:

https://www.service-public.fr/simulateur/calcul/PermisEtrangerPermisFrancais?lang=en

On this page, ANTS lets you type in your country to see if you have an exchange arrangement with France. After you choose “États-Unis d’Amérique” you will be given a separate, special box to type in your state. Go ahead, try it!

California? Nope.

Colorado? Yes!

New York? Nope

Massachusetts? Yes!

You get the idea.

It is not for me to say whether you will be moving directly from California to your new life in France. But if you happened to move back home to Illinois first, well, your bank account will thank you.