Why Are UK Expats Moving to France? Lifestyle, Cost, and Everyday Differences

Brexit was supposed to end the steady flow of Britons settling across the Channel, and for a few years the numbers backed that up. Then something shifted. French Interior Ministry figures show 172,312 Britons held an active residency document in 2025, a 1.4 percent rise on the year before, the first meaningful uptick since the post-Brexit slowdown began. The paperwork changed. The reasons for going did not.

Most of what draws British expats to France today is the same combination that always did: a lower cost of living outside Paris, a healthcare system that still works well once registered, and a pace of life that a lot of people moving from the UK describe as simply calmer. What has changed is the process required to get there, and the planning it now takes to arrive with the right visa and a realistic budget.

This article looks at both sides of that picture: why the pull toward France has held up despite Brexit, where the cost of living genuinely differs from the UK, and the everyday details, from healthcare to pensions to visa routes, that shape what life actually looks like after the move.

The Post-Brexit Numbers: How Many Britons Actually Live in France

The British community in France peaked in the years leading up to the Brexit referendum and declined for several years afterward, as the ease of free movement disappeared and a formal visa process took its place. That decline appears to have leveled off. Britons remain the fifth-largest non-EU group living in France, behind Algerians, Moroccans, Tunisians, and Turks, and the 2025 figures mark the first year-over-year increase since the transition period ended.

Roughly 91 percent of current British residency documents fall under a miscellaneous category that includes Withdrawal Agreement cards and visitor permits, largely retirees and people living on passive income rather than local employment. Work visas account for a much smaller share, around 5 percent, reflecting how much of the British presence in France remains retirement and lifestyle driven rather than career driven.

What Changed for UK Nationals After Brexit

Britons who were legally resident in France before the end of the Brexit transition period hold a Withdrawal Agreement Residence Permit, sometimes called a WARP or Article 50 card, which protects most pre-Brexit rights, including healthcare access and the path to permanent residency after five years. Anyone who arrived after that point follows the same visa process as any other non-EU national.

A long-stay visa, the VLS-TS, is now required before departure for any stay beyond 90 days, applied for through a French consulate in the UK roughly six to eight weeks ahead of the planned move. The main routes include the Visitor visa for retirees and those living on passive income, the Salarié route for employees, Profession Libérale for freelancers, and the Talent Passport for higher earners and specific professional categories.

Why the Lifestyle Pull Has Held Up

The reasons Britons give for moving to France have stayed fairly consistent for decades: more outdoor space for the money, a food culture built around fresh, regional produce, and a working culture that puts less emphasis on long hours than much of the UK. None of this changed with Brexit. What changed is that reaching it now takes a visa application rather than simply booking a ferry.

Geography also still works heavily in Britain’s favor compared to other nationalities considering the same move. Eurostar covers London to Paris in about two hours and fifteen minutes, and regular ferry crossings run from Dover, Portsmouth, Plymouth, and Newhaven, keeping return visits to family and friends far more practical than for expats relocating from North America or Australia.

Cost of Living: Where France Comes Out Ahead

Rent is where the difference tends to be most noticeable. Overall consumer prices, including rent, run around 6 percent lower in France than in the UK, with the gap widest in housing specifically, where French rents average roughly 20 percent below UK levels nationally.

The gap narrows considerably in Paris itself, where rents sit closer to London prices than to the rest of France. Smaller cities such as Rennes, Montpellier, and Dijon, along with rural regions, offer the sharpest contrast, often letting a British household secure significantly more space for the same monthly cost.

Where the Savings Are Smaller Than Expected

Groceries are not a clear win in either direction. Some pricing data shows French groceries running slightly higher than UK prices overall, while specific categories, particularly cheese, wine, and fresh produce, tend to be noticeably cheaper due to regional production and less concentrated retail pricing than in the UK.

Healthcare is not simply cheaper in France, since the comparison depends heavily on what a UK household already has access to. The NHS remains free at the point of use, funded entirely through general taxation, while the French system, PUMA, is residency-based and typically paired with a private mutuelle to cover the 20 to 30 percent that public reimbursement does not. For most UK arrivals, French healthcare is not a straightforward cost saving so much as a different funding structure to budget around.

Pensions: An Advantage UK Retirees Have That Other Nationalities Do Not

British retirees in France benefit from something Canadian, Australian, and New Zealand retirees moving abroad often do not: an uprated State Pension. Under the bilateral UK-France social security agreement, the UK State Pension continues rising annually in France in step with the rate paid domestically, reaching £241.30 a week for the full new State Pension from April 2026.

The S1 form complements this by registering UK-funded healthcare entitlement directly with the French system for eligible pensioners, easing part of the transition into PUMA. This combination, pension uprating plus S1 healthcare registration, is a meaningful part of why retirement remains one of the most common reasons Britons give for choosing France specifically over other options.

Where British Expats Tend to Settle

British retirees have historically concentrated in the Dordogne, Brittany, and the Côte d’Azur, regions offering rural space, coastal access, or established English-speaking communities built up over several decades. Working-age professionals on Talent Passport or employment-based visas tend to cluster instead around Paris, Lyon, Toulouse, and aerospace hubs such as Sophia-Antipolis, where employment opportunities concentrate.

British property purchases in France have fallen well below their early-2000s peak, with non-resident UK buyers now accounting for roughly 17 percent of international property purchases, compared with over 40 percent two decades ago. The overall British population in France appears to have peaked around 2011 and declined gradually since, even as the 2025 residency figures suggest that decline may be leveling off.

Everyday Differences That Surprise New Arrivals

• Shop hours run shorter than many UK arrivals expect, with a widespread midday closure in smaller towns and many shops closed entirely on Sundays.
• Bureaucracy leans heavily on physical documents and in-person appointments, even for processes the UK has largely digitized.
• Workplace culture places more legal weight on set working hours and time off, though this varies by industry and employer.
• Meals run on a different schedule, with lunch treated as a substantial midday break rather than a quick desk lunch in many industries.
• Administrative processes, from opening a bank account to registering with CPAM, tend to take longer than the UK equivalent, even when the outcome is ultimately the same.

The Visa Reality Check for New Arrivals

The most common misconception among prospective UK movers is assuming the process still works the way it did before 2021. It does not. A long-stay visa is now a prerequisite rather than a formality handled after arrival, income and savings thresholds apply depending on the visa category, and processing timelines mean the application needs to start months before a planned move rather than weeks.

Remote workers face an additional layer of complexity that changed again in mid-2025, affecting how passive and remote-work income is treated under certain visa categories. Confirming the current requirements directly with a French consulate or a qualified relocation professional before assuming eligibility is worth the extra step, given how frequently the specific thresholds and categories are adjusted.

Common Misconceptions About Moving to France Post-Brexit

• Assuming a WA card applies to anyone who has ever lived in France, rather than only those resident before the Brexit transition period ended.
• Underestimating how much longer visa processing and administrative registration take compared to the pre-Brexit process.
• Assuming French healthcare is automatically cheaper than the NHS, rather than a different funding model requiring its own budget.
• Overlooking the ETIAS requirement for short trips, separate from the long-stay visa needed for an actual move.
• Comparing only Paris prices when researching cost of living, rather than the wider regional range where most British expats actually settle.

Conclusion

Brexit added a real amount of paperwork to a move that used to require almost none, but it did not remove the underlying reasons Britons have chosen France for generations: more space for the money outside Paris, a slower daily pace, and, for retirees specifically, a pension arrangement that keeps rising with them. The 2025 uptick in British residency figures suggests the appeal has settled into a new, more deliberate pattern rather than disappearing. For anyone considering the move, the difference now is less about whether to go and more about starting the visa and budgeting process early enough to do it properly.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many British people currently live in France?

French Interior Ministry data shows 172,312 Britons held an active residency document in 2025, a 1.4 percent increase on 2024 and the first year-over-year rise since the post-Brexit decline began.

Do UK citizens need a visa to move to France after Brexit?

Yes. Any stay longer than 90 days requires a long-stay visa, the VLS-TS, applied for before departure through a French consulate in the UK. This replaced the free movement that applied before the Brexit transition period ended.

Is the cost of living actually lower in France than the UK?

Generally yes, particularly for rent, which runs around 20 percent lower nationally. The gap narrows significantly in Paris, and grocery prices are roughly comparable rather than consistently cheaper.

Does Brexit affect the UK State Pension for retirees in France?

No. The UK State Pension continues to be uprated annually in France under the bilateral UK-France social security agreement, unlike in countries such as Canada or Australia where the pension is frozen at the emigration rate.

Is French healthcare cheaper than the NHS?

Not straightforwardly. The NHS is free at the point of use through general taxation, while the French system is residency-based and typically paired with a private mutuelle. It is a different funding structure rather than a guaranteed cost saving.

Where do most British expats settle in France?

Retirees have historically concentrated in the Dordogne, Brittany, and the Côte d’Azur, while working-age professionals tend to settle around Paris, Lyon, Toulouse, and aerospace hubs such as Sophia-Antipolis.

Sources

France-Visas, official French visa portal

Service-Public.fr (French government public service portal)

UK Government, State Pension if living abroad

INSEE, Institut National de la Statistique et des Études Économiques