Moving to "La Douce France"
Relocating your family across borders is never just about packing boxes and booking flights — it’s also about paperwork. And for Daniel, a software developer from Portland, Oregon, that part of the process was anything but simple.
Daniel, his wife Amelia, and their two children, Ellie (10) and Max (7), had long dreamed of starting a new chapter in the south of France. Tired of rainy winters and remote work burnout, they were dreaming of a slower pace of life — croissants, bike rides through vineyards, and fresh starts.
“We were really drawn to the culture,” Daniel explains. “And we wanted the kids to experience another language and way of life. But once we started the visa process, things got complicated fast.”
The Paper Trail
The French administration requires a slew of official documents for residency registration — birth certificates, marriage certificates, school records, proof of insurance — all translated by a court-appointed sworn translator.
Daniel had already had some of the documents translated in the U.S. by a certified translator, assuming they’d be accepted in France. They weren’t.
“That’s when we found Translations for Europe,” Amelia recalls. “They explained why our previous translations wouldn’t work and connected us with their sworn translators in France who could do it properly. It was such a relief to talk to people who actually knew the system inside and out.”
A Bump in the Road
But the journey wasn’t without hiccups. Just days after arriving in Toulouse, Daniel ran into a bureaucratic roadblock at the town hall. The official refused to register their children as legal residents, claiming the translated birth certificates didn’t meet the required standard.
“At one point he called me in panic,” says Justine, a sworn French translator on our team. “The official at the town hall didn’t want to accept the translated certificates he had just submitted and refused to register the kids. There had been a change in the law on specific certification requirements just a few months before and the official wasn’t aware of it. So I just explained it to him calmly in French on the phone and everything was OK after that."
“At these moments I feel I can make a real difference in people’s lives, so that makes me happy too.”
Settling In
After that, things smoothed out. The kids started school and picked up French shockingly fast. “Max already corrects my pronunciation,” Daniel laughs, Amelia found a pottery studio in the village, and Daniel kept his U.S. job but now works from a sunlit terrace surrounded by lavender.
“I honestly don’t know what we would’ve done without you guys,” Daniel says. “Every step of the way, you were there. It wasn’t just about the translations — it was about feeling like we weren’t alone navigating all this red tape.”
Helping Families Make the Leap
Every move is unique, and every country has its own quirks — but at Translations for Europe, we’re here to help families like Daniel and Amelia’s take the leap with confidence. From handling sworn translations to navigating evolving legal requirements, we make sure your documents are ready when and where you need them.
Planning your own move to Europe? Let’s talk about what you’ll need — and how we can help you make it happen.
