Moving to France from Canada

Canadian passport holders can visit France visa-free for up to 90 days, but living there takes a residence permit. The self-funded residency routes we track start at an income of about $1,720 a month or an investment of about $349k, and our residency index rates France 60/100 for Canadian citizens (possible, with conditions). We estimate €3,665 a month for a couple living centrally in Strasbourg and €3,993 in Paris. France is in our high tax tier. Check the official requirements before you apply.

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Short stays
Visa-free 90 days
Canadian passport
Residency
60/100
Possible, with conditions, our index
Tax tier
High
High personal income tax
Est. cost for two
From €3,665/mo
Strasbourg, our estimate

Living there long term

Our residency index: 60/100, possible, with conditions. It is our own rating of how realistic long-term residency in France is for Canadian citizens, based on the routes France publishes. Realistic routes are the long-stay visitor visa for those with sufficient passive means (no work permitted), the Talent Passport for skilled workers, founders and investors, and standard employer-sponsored work permits, with permanent residency reachable after five years.

The cheapest self-funded routes we track:

  • Income: about $1,720 a month (France long-stay visitor visa (VLS-TS visiteur), means benchmarked to net monthly SMIC, EUR 1,477.93/mo as of June 2026; converted at EUR/USD 1.1637; as of June 2026)
  • Investment: about $349k (France Talent Passport 'Economic Investor' permit, EUR 300,000 in tangible/intangible fixed assets; converted at EUR/USD 1.1637; as of June 2026)

Check the official requirements before you apply: amounts, conditions and exchange rates change, and what a couple needs can differ from a single applicant's threshold.

For short visits, Canadian passport holders can visit visa-free for up to 90 days, according to the passport-index dataset. Short-stay entry covers visits; living there takes a residence permit.

Source: OurNextCity residency dataset, hand-reviewed approximations researched against published immigration rules, figures as of June 2026. Not legal advice: check the official source before you apply. Short-stay entry from the passport-index dataset (ilyankou, MIT).

Where in France to start

Ranked by our match model for a typical couple who both hold Canadian passports, using the preset answers of our best places to live list. Your own answers would change the order. We pick the cities, up to five, by how often English Wikipedia readers looked them up over the past year.

  1. 1. Nice

    84% match
    Est. cost
    €3,700/mo
    Avg temp
    16°C
    Safety index
    52/100

  2. 2. Marseille

    83% match
    Est. cost
    €3,851/mo
    Avg temp
    16°C
    Safety index
    52/100

  3. 3. Lyon

    80% match
    Est. cost
    €3,767/mo
    Avg temp
    13°C
    Safety index
    52/100

  4. 4. Strasbourg

    78% match
    Est. cost
    €3,665/mo
    Avg temp
    12°C
    Safety index
    52/100

  5. 5. Paris

    76% match
    Est. cost
    €3,993/mo
    Avg temp
    13°C
    Safety index
    52/100

Cost of living for two

Our estimate for a couple living centrally runs from €3,665 a month in Strasbourg to €3,993 in Paris. For comparison, we estimate €3,991 a month in Toronto. Use these figures to compare places rather than to set a budget.

Source: our cost model: a country-level cost-of-living index scaled for city size, from our city dataset (last rebuilt June 2026). An estimate, not a survey of current prices.

Taxes

France is in our high tax tier (high personal income tax); Canada is in our high tax tier (high personal income tax). Tiers describe each country's own income tax. They do not cover tax you may still owe in Canada after you leave, or the treaty between the two countries, so check both with a tax adviser before you move.

Source: OurNextCity tax tiers, assigned by hand from each country's top marginal personal income tax rate and overall tax reputation, with no fixed rate cut-offs. Coarse by design; not tax advice.

Compare cities in France

Lists with cities in France

Moving to France from elsewhere

Every country and origin we cover

How we built this page

Every figure here comes from the datasets behind our city and country pages:

  • Short-stay entry: the passport-index dataset (ilyankou, MIT license), which records the entry rule for short visits on each passport.
  • Residency index, routes and thresholds: the OurNextCity residency dataset, hand-reviewed against published immigration rules, figures as of June 2026. It is a summary, not legal advice.
  • City ranking: our match model, the one behind the quiz, run with a typical couple's preset answers and both partners holding Canadian passports. It ranks up to five of the country's best-known cities: of the cities in our quiz (100,000 people or more, capitals and a few towns movers seek out, such as Faro), the five most read about on English Wikipedia over the past year. It folds suburbs into their main city and leaves out countries with a residency index under 40 and areas under a US State Department Level 4 advisory, as our best-cities lists do.
  • Costs: our cost model, a country-level cost-of-living index scaled for city size, from our city dataset (last rebuilt June 2026).
  • Tax tiers: three coarse bands we assign by hand from each country's top marginal personal income tax rate and overall tax reputation.