|
How To Retire Without Money
By Bob Belmont
CHAPTER 10
FRANCE
Page 4 of 16
WORK PERMISSION. No work permit is needed if you can find
yourself a job with an American or other foreign firm. If you
want to work for a French concern, it's another matter. You
must apply for your work permit to the Services de Main
d'Oeuvre du Ministere du Travail, 391 rue de Vaurigard, in
Paris. You probably won't get such a permit unless you have a
request from your potential French employer, and he'll have to
explain why he needs an American and why some deserving
Frenchman can't handle the job. And even then you'll find
yourself with French wages which are shockingly low by
American standards.
§
PRICES. As we've already pointed out above, prices in France
are astronomical. They are the highest in Europe and for the
average American it is probably more expensive to live in
Paris than it is in New York. The average Frenchman might be
another thing, but invariably the American is charged higher
prices and he just doesn't know the ropes.
The same situation would probably apply if you took the
Frenchman to America. Not that he would be deliberately
overcharged in our country but he wouldn't know the ropes,
wouldn't know where or how to find cheap rooms and the more
economical restaurants. Wouldn't know what foods to buy, what
shops to frequent.
In Paris it is all but impossible to find an apartment for
less than $800 a month and even then it would be small, with
miserable plumbing facilities. As I write this I have before
me a copy of the Paris edition of the New York Herald Tribune.
I have gone through
the classified ads and note the following advertisements which
are the three cheapest listed. (1) is for a one room studio
with a bath, price $477 a month. (2) is a 2 room furnished
flat which is available for 5 months for $788 a month. (3) is
a four room apartment with kitchen and bath for $844 a month.
With rentals such as these many residents of Paris live
permanently in the cheaper hotels. One-star hotels in Paris
begin their rates at 900 francs for a single without bath,
1,250 francs for a double without bath. To this basic amount
is added a 15 % service charge. You wind up paying a minimum
of about $50 a night in the cheapest hotels the city affords.
One of the best neighborhoods for these, by the way, is in the
vicinity of the Sorbonne on the Left Bank. Most of the hotels
in this section are patronized by students and some are
surprisingly clean considering their classification.
>>> CHAPTER 10
FRANCE Page 5
|
