Thousands of Americans of all ages come here every year in hopes of a job, career, new friends, in short, a new life.

Paris is very "séduisant" (seductive) so if they came here on vacation once, or even twice, or many times for that matter, it's easy to get hooked. Beauty, culture, cuisine, language, style, art, literature, history, romance, architecture...

My story is pretty typical, having woven my way through the intracacies Paris over the last five years. I've been through it, over it, around it, under it, on top of it, behind it and in the middle of it.

Somehow, I have managed to live to tell the tale.

The story goes like this: 

I came here the first time and got hooked. Once every few years quickly turned into coming year after year, always staying in the same hotel in the same neighborhood, dreaming about calling that neighborhood home.

Then, with some planning, my family and I sold our house, our cars, packed up our furniture, shipped our belongings to Paris and moved into a furnished apartment less than half the size of our California home with no closet space and just enough money to last

The first year I took French lessons, went to museums, visited monuments, joined organizations, made new friends, hung out in brasseries drinking espresso and writing in my journal. My money was dwindling.

The second year I looked for work:
made calls, read how-to books, sent out resumés, went on interviews, networked. In vain, I discovered that I was too old, too experienced and too damned "American." Let me be more specific: 1) my cover letters were typewritten on a computer instead of handwritten in fountain pen in French with all the correctly placed margins, 2) my resume (CV – curriculum vitae) listed too many different jobs with too much broadly covered experience, 3) my level of French wasn't quite up to par (not fluent), 4) in interviews my attitude was too intimidating by being optimistic, out-spoken and self-confident,

Getting a work visa is a "Catch 22." If you're not married to a French person or don't have any European Union relations, then you can't get a job without working papers and you can't get working papers without a job. It's virtually as simple as that. (I could write an entire volume on this one subject alone.) People do have them so they are not totally impossible to get, but how you get them or how to work without them is the challenge.

Most Americans employed here were sent by their U.S. companies who applied for and secured their visas before they came. That's the best and easiest way.

There is also a large number of Americans who manage to work here in Paris for employers located in the States or elsewhere. Writers are among the group – journalists, guidebook authors, novelists, etc. Also, photographers, film and video producers, researchers of all types, etc. – anyone whose work brings them here for a company not based here.

Still, you need a "carte de séjour visiteur" just to stay here legally more than 3 months, and you can't get that unless you apply for it long before you come, fill out all the forms in eight (by hand, no copies allowed) and get the seal of approval from the French government by proving you can support yourself here without working!