if a French person is watching this and is struggling to open a bank account: law dictates that if 3 different banks refuse you their services, the national bank (Banque de France) will force the nearest bank to your appartement to open you an account :) -A French student studying economics in France.
@@damondominique True. It's easier when you already have a job. Coming in as an au pair, I had no problems getting an account. My banker even gave me a free Pikachu skin for my bank card! XD
Throwing in a pickup line to the cute bank employee in the middle of a rant about bureaucratic red tape is the most on-brand Damon Dominique thing I've ever heard
You know what’s funny: every French citizen opening a bank account nowadays needs to sign a paper saying they are not American or they will to deal with the IRS
Honestly bravo for sticking it out because adulting is hard enough when you live in your home country lmao. I probably would've had a mental breakdown if I had to jump through all these ridiculous hoops 😂
damon said that because. You need more POWWEEEEEEEER. Just fill the paperwork, get patient, fill the paperwork, avoid scam, fill the paperwork. And u might end up paying billions of taxes. With an ok health system. And food. Maybe dont try paris.
FRENCH GOVERNMENT: - I do enjoy seeing Damon and his life in Paris - I do enjoy seeing Damon and his life in Paris - I do enjoy seeing Damon and his life in Paris .... - I do enjoy seeing Damon and his life in Paris
Hi Damon, I just wanted to give you a heads up because now you might have some issues with Adsense. I opened my YT channel in Canada without a Canadian bank account (it was only an exchange year), so I could never collect the money from the Adsense revenue since you cannot change the country of an Adsense account. Therefore, you need to open the Adsense account with a new email and connect the YT channel to the new Adsense account if you want to receive the YT money on the French bank account. Hope it makes sense, it took me ages to figure it out and I don't want you to go through the same.
My friend and I saw you in Paris and I literally just stared shocked in your face whilst you were on the phone aoahakgakaba I’m sorry for that ! Hi! I love your videos and wish I had said something lmaooo
So freaking true and relatable - i feel you. As a foreigner, my worst nightmares living in France are the never ending amount of paperwork needed and time waiting, praying for things to get done! Recently just got my Carte Vitale ( health insurance card ) but only after 18 months... Bon courage!
I’m living abroad in Korea right now, and I FEEL YOU on shit like this. Living abroad is so awesome, but it also gave me VIP access to the struggle bus
In the Nordic countries most services are much easier and digitalized 😎 I live in Norway it’s pretty easy here, I went to France to help my sis move to study there, and gosh!! The terrible bureaucracy killed me, doing simple things like banc account, SIM card etc was hell we almost cried 😂
@Sabrina i live in spain at the moment, as a EU citizen, and still had and have to do a ridiculous amount or paper work to be able to get a job and even rent an appartment
I live in Paris and I've never had these problems to open a bank account, but nearly every government / private service I had to deal with had annoying pitfalls and hoops I needed to jump. Everything you shared is SO relatable!
I'm so evil I can't wait for the video where he needs to move and his internet provider starts its shenanigans. Or when his green healthcare card doesn't arrive. Or when he needs to officially declare what he makes as a freelancer, and to do so needs to create a "micro-entreprise" and then deal with "l'URSSAF". Those will be fun videos...But I also feel bad for you, and I apologize for our administration and paperwork: hang in there!
"this dude is modern and cool and knows how to use email" is basically the French in one sentence. I love the "let's save the planet" PAPER LETTERS But for real though, that whole "bank account" thing is so stupid. A friend of mine was turned down at multiple banks for over a month for all of the reasons you listed, it's stupid af. And me, I was "lucky" to have the first bank I walked into (which was, unfortunately, Société Générale) to open an account for me. I too had to fill out a bunch of forms even though I'm not American. And they gave me the card before giving the PIN code which is like.. what?! And then there's my funny story. The letter with the code secret failed to reach the mailbox for whatever reason, so like two weeks later I go to their office to ask for help and what they say is....... we can't help you because we're not YOUR agency. That was a new concept to me, I must say. And I also moved so I had to travel around Paris to Issy-les-Moulineaux to ask them to send me a new code secret. But since my salary was on that card and I had to wait for at least one more week and I didn't have any money, I asked them to cash me out some money from the account, to which they said, we're sorry, but we don't have money here, please, go to a different office. I was getting angry, but okay, I go to another office and there they say "we're sorry, but we're not your agency, go back" I was soooooooooo mad After I came back the lady started to apologize and gave me some money from the account. I've also had funny situations with CAF. They asked me to send them my revenues from 2018. Wtf? I'm not French, I came here in 2019 and I'm leaving in 2020 WHY ON EARTH WOULD YOU NEED TO KNOW HOW MUCH MONEY I MADE TWO YEARS AGO????????????????????????????????????????????????? I'm sorry for this little rent. The system really gets to me And thanks for the video, nice to have someone to relate to, especially to someone who has been in Paris for quite a while
Ugh I'm always so early on you on accident but honestly like I don't even need the comment section to entertain me when your videos are extremely entertaining by themself omggggg I stan
So this probably won't get read, but I think you should do a series on learning french, Like the basics, how to spell them, say them and etc.. I know this would help me, and many others :D
HA! This is actually hilarious and way too relatable. Getting a French bank account would be so helpful but it's actually impossible in my experience. This and your apartment search video are incredibly the same exact experiences I've had here in France. Having friends in the system are truly the best way to get around everything.... and as you said.... "it only takes 5 five years". I cried at this because of how true it is. Thanks for putting everything I know into understandable words that I can share with people hahaha
That may be why there is so many tax evasion... It's not that our richest people don't want to pay, it's because it's too hard to open an account ! It's easier for them to put it in Switzerland or something.
congratulations my dude, you just scraped the top of the french bureaucracy iceberg. Strap in, you're in for the slowest moving most convoluted ride of your life XD
Sean 션 The answer is no. It’s really easy to open a bank account in the United States compared to most countries. Walk in with your ID, walk out with your bank account.
You are just so adorable. You realize that may be the most difficult thing you ever have to do.in France! so congratulations! PS: attn. French Government, I enjoy Sat Bing Damon Domenique's captivating videos of his life in your beautiful country! And I look forward to reading many many more! So do my friends. We went to Paris for the first time last April and have tickets to come again in March.
I would have gone to CitiBank in Paris on the Chemps-Elysees and they could have opened up a french bank account for you. My father had this problem many decades ago trying to start his import business in Asia. In order to buy merchandise to import back to the states, he needed a bank account in that country. He discovered that Bank of America could do this for him as they had actual bank branches in most Asian countries. All he had to do was open a bank account at their San Francisco offices and then they would open up a bank account in the country where he needed the money and then they would transfer the funds from his account in San Francisco to his bank account in Asia (Hong Kong, India, Japan, etc.) Millions of American work and live abroad and there is no one that can serve their banking needs better than American banks.
thanks for this absolutely relatable content. as an european citizen, my life should be easier, but it is stilllll super hard with the bureaucracy when moving to other countries in europe. probably easier than being an american. still super hard in some european countries. love it though.
imagine how hard it will be to close a french account. i had a friend who lived in france a bit and then when he came back they wouldn’t let him close his account because he owed 7 cents.
I was stressing out with you in this video. I had similar stress when I moved from Florida to NYC....you would think it's a foreign country!!! Similar issues with guarantors, bank accounts, utilities. Ugh. Glad you got it all worked out.
I feel you so much! The same thing happened to me here in Greece, lol.. They asked me for payslip of electricity from previous like 3 months even tho I had my address, residency, tax declarations, working for Greek company.. but back than I had only a month in my new apartment lol
This is hilarious but I also feel so sorry for you, I'm French but I've been living for 3 years in the UK now and it's really made me realise how complicated French bureaucracy is. Took me two hours to open a French bank account as a French person with all the right documents but it took me half an hour to open a UK bank account as a French person. It makes NO SENSE. They always seem to come up with unnecessary absurd rules which drives me insane. Good luck with whatever's next 😂
This is so true, as an international living & working in France, it took me ages to close my french account, I kept emailing my account manager for since August 2019, I just called them last week again to close my account... it's a new level of frustration
I feel this so hard! As an expat in Germany, I couldn't open a bank account until I had a lease with my name on it. I, like you, was in temporary housing at first that was not in my name. Of course, I couldn't get paid at work until I had a bank account. So my supervisor calls the local bank branch (this is a small town) and explains my situation, and asks very respectfully if they could please begin processing my account given that I will have a lease very soon. They miraculously agree! So I get there, and the lovely, small-town German teller has never opened an account for an American before. But we're chugging along until she goes to the printer to get the forms I need to fill out. She comes back and says "when I put that you are American in to the system, all these American tax forms printed out and I have no idea why or what to do with them. But why don't you just fill them out incase and we'll see what happens." I'm like... not really wanting to give all this private information "just incase", but also don't want to admit that I also have no clue, so I agree that this seems like something the American government would do and fill them out. She tells me she'll get things started and that I need to come back as soon as I get a signed lease. Course finding an apartment is a whole other story, but I come back with the signed lease and it works! I received not one, but three or four separate activation codes in the mail (one for the atm, one for online banking, one for transfers...). Good times! I get mad flashbacks watching these videos.
Things in France required to get a French bank account: residence and utility bill with your name on it. Things in France required to get a residence and utility bill with your name on it: French bank account. They make it an impossible loop on purpose just to make it impossible for foreigners, how nice...
The best and fastest way when you go to the bank and he refuses to open an account, you must ask him for a rejection letter, then send the message to the Bank of France with your address and a copy of your passport, then wait for him to send you a message in which the nearest bank to you with a message that forces the bank to open an account for you I know is a lot Work but this is how it works in France
It’s funny that they ask for an appointment when there’s NOBODY IN THE FUCKING AGENCY!!! Your rant videos are too funny and relatable, feel I could’ve scripted them.
...I moved to Australia after living in Spain, where it took several months to open a bank account. I opened a bank account in Australia in 5 minutes. I was so confused at how easy it was, I walked across the street into different bank and opened a second account.
This is so familiarly frustrating and I felt sick. Also, I saw everything coming segment after segment 😂I'm glad you got everything together! Hope things are going to be smoother now that the most annoying parts (apt hunting and bank account) are done!
A tip: even if you live in France, nothing stops you from opening a bank account in a Belgian or German bank for example, which are waaaaay more efficient and have great apps. Personally I use Belfius, eventhough I live in France.
@@damondominique first: LOVE your videos and your take on Europe ❤️ but yeah you need and account for like, official reasons, but what we did is just using our modern foreign bank for everyday life, and only the French account for "official" things... Which is still a DAMN hastle not gonna lie #BanquePopulaireNeverAgain
Congratulations Damon that you finally got your bank account, I think it is kind of a thing how European banks treat foreigners and their system is way out of date, I’m a Chinese living in Madrid, trust me it’s the same, they won’t open bank accounts for us
This reminds me of when I lived in Argentina for a couple months, long enough that my 90 day tourist visa wasn't enough and I needed a more permanent temporary visa. There are three main steps that you have to do at various points, the last step being a DMV-like situation where you wait a couple hours, and everything was all fine and good (last step took around 2 hours waiting there), and then they give you a slip of paper that lasts a month, in which time your temporary visa should appear online; mine never appeared online and I had plans to leave and reenter the country, which meant I needed that visa ASAP, so I had to go back to the place and I spent 8 hours there, and I swear each person there sent me to another station and all of them seemed to think that because my Spanish was accented I therefore didn't know what I was talking about (and it definitely didn't help that a lot of the words I had to use were bureaucratic ones I'd never learned). As it was closing and I was chatting up a girl from Colombia about how awful the whole visa process was they finally just opted to renew my month-long visa, and the temporary just never showed up. It was such a mess.
Having also recently opened a French bank account in Paris, I relate to this on so many levels. Took 2 months for my account to be opened, then my card didn't even work and I had to wait for another. I never thought it was possible to love and hate a place so much at the the same time.
Stuff is so comicated in France. My dad has been living there for a year and they ask for SO many documents for the smallest thing. And he has a european passport...
Omg hahah I studied abroad in France and they are really so slow and relaxed about everything but glad you finally got it sorted with some persistent. Also, when I was in France, the government actually gave money back on my rent as an incentive to live there so maybe you can get that too and it’ll all be worth your hassles 😂
While dealing with an insane system like this I got a friend to photoshop my name and address on some bills and used those 😂 Worked like a charm though 😉
Ture story about my french friend. She recently got cancer hence she had to quit her job. she is 63 so not old enough for pension either. she decided to sell her house in France and rent a smaller apartment. but after she sold the house for like half a million euro, she couldn't find a place to rent because, in order to rent, you need to prove that you are making 3 times salary than the rent and her half a million bank statement obviously can't prove she can afford the rent. She had to live in a hotel during the searching. Eventually, a friend's friend rented a studio to her after 6 months of struggling. How fucked up is that?
I need yoga.
Damon Dominique me 2
Mood
But you would need three different documents to even sign on a yoga class
Yoga With Adriene is my fave!!
Pleaee do a vid if u gonna start yoga 😊
if a French person is watching this and is struggling to open a bank account: law dictates that if 3 different banks refuse you their services, the national bank (Banque de France) will force the nearest bank to your appartement to open you an account :) -A French student studying economics in France.
Ok merci, mais tu pouvais juste le dire en français alors mdrr
Biba Oreo mdr de ouf oops
Only for french people?
@@amirasou1738 No, for anyone
@@kalfch1 oh that's so cool ! Thank you
you look so good its distracting
Yes. I can’t concentrate on negative while he’s being so cute. Doesn’t work
IFKR
@@theaileenwilson ^^
This is why french people are mad all the time bureaucracy is awful here.
agreed!
tout à fait mdr
HONEYYY that’s just the tip of iceberg
Worse than Stalin USSR!
Bureaucracy Paper Work aux USA est encore encore PIRE que La FRANCE !
Me: wants to move to France
Damon: you thought this would be fun?
YOU CALL THIS FUN? But I'll admit: most of my problems are because I'm self-employed!
Even french peoples struggle... I can't imagine how painful it must be if you're foreigner on top of that. So good luck! And don't give up :)
@@damondominique True. It's easier when you already have a job. Coming in as an au pair, I had no problems getting an account. My banker even gave me a free Pikachu skin for my bank card! XD
@@KinkajusRevenge ^^
This is better than HBO
Kieran DeGrada ofc!!
Throwing in a pickup line to the cute bank employee in the middle of a rant about bureaucratic red tape is the most on-brand Damon Dominique thing I've ever heard
Totally! ^^
No wonder everyone there is so skinny, they have to go back dozens of time to get anything done
^^
Lmaoo who's skinny ? We're not skinny though especialy me i'm *T H I C K*
I LIIIIIVE for these rantssss they are soo RAW and HONEST and FUNNYYYYY
RAWWW RAWW RAW
You can make the most irrelevant, uninteresting topics to me sound funny, entertaining, interesting and useful. That's a really worthy skill.
Exactly! :)
You know what’s funny: every French citizen opening a bank account nowadays needs to sign a paper saying they are not American or they will to deal with the IRS
AND We have to declare accounts we have outside of France...
My friend it is not just in France.
I remember opening bank account in my country; Malaysia back in 2013 . I needed to do the same.
Andipo Thank you President Obama
@@npineapple3077 Not in Romania :D
I don't understand. Are you saying that as an EU & American citizen, or they deal with the IRS?
Honestly bravo for sticking it out because adulting is hard enough when you live in your home country lmao. I probably would've had a mental breakdown if I had to jump through all these ridiculous hoops 😂
You in 5 years: How I got my french citizenships and gave up my american
In 10 years
Me: *dreams of living in France since I was in sixth grade*
Damon: lemme stop you right there
Exactly
No, no.. it's worth it though
LOL.. right!?!!
KinkajusRevenge it seems so as Damon keep coming back anyway 😅
damon said that because. You need more POWWEEEEEEEER. Just fill the paperwork, get patient, fill the paperwork, avoid scam, fill the paperwork. And u might end up paying billions of taxes. With an ok health system. And food.
Maybe dont try paris.
FRENCH GOVERNMENT:
- I do enjoy seeing Damon and his life in Paris
- I do enjoy seeing Damon and his life in Paris
- I do enjoy seeing Damon and his life in Paris
....
- I do enjoy seeing Damon and his life in Paris
Hi Damon, I just wanted to give you a heads up because now you might have some issues with Adsense. I opened my YT channel in Canada without a Canadian bank account (it was only an exchange year), so I could never collect the money from the Adsense revenue since you cannot change the country of an Adsense account. Therefore, you need to open the Adsense account with a new email and connect the YT channel to the new Adsense account if you want to receive the YT money on the French bank account. Hope it makes sense, it took me ages to figure it out and I don't want you to go through the same.
When I lived in France, I hired an agency to help handle this nonsense. It was absolutely worth it.
Edith Spencer hello Edith, can you please tell me the name of the agency?
@@sasagi1871 Adrian Leeds Group, which is geared towards Americans.
How much did it cost?
@@EMSpdx ^ Yeah how much did that cost you?
@@fanfoona6608 At the time ot was like $200 or so. It may be more given inflation.
So basically you've had a taste of French customer service.
mlu007 🤣
My friend and I saw you in Paris and I literally just stared shocked in your face whilst you were on the phone aoahakgakaba I’m sorry for that ! Hi! I love your videos and wish I had said something lmaooo
So freaking true and relatable - i feel you. As a foreigner, my worst nightmares living in France are the never ending amount of paperwork needed and time waiting, praying for things to get done! Recently just got my Carte Vitale ( health insurance card ) but only after 18 months... Bon courage!
omg I'm never going to get that. A year and a half, and I'm still on step 1: opening my account.
you really didn't have to go through all that, you could've just showered at his place lmfaoo
^^
That leather jacket coordinating with the couch and the undershirts with the fireplace and exposed beam ceiling - okkk so aesthetic!
THIS IS THE MOST SURPRISING VIDEO EVER TO BE EVEN REMOTELY FUNNY. LIKE I DIED WHEN U WERE TALKING ABOUT THE DUDE WHO DIPPED THE BANK !!!!! LMAOOO
Damon would do that. Can make everything funny, even painful and/or mundane ones. ^^
Your video editing >>
“People are just making up rules” 😂😂🤣 I feel for you Damon. Hang in there.
I’m living abroad in Korea right now, and I FEEL YOU on shit like this. Living abroad is so awesome, but it also gave me VIP access to the struggle bus
I too live in Korea. For the past 3 years. I can relate to his videos in a dark humour kind of way.
L'administration française in a nutshell
europe being a burocratic mess whats new
uk is the same or worse even if theyre like "no we're not europe we are more advanced" lmaoooooooooo
In the Nordic countries most services are much easier and digitalized 😎 I live in Norway it’s pretty easy here, I went to France to help my sis move to study there, and gosh!! The terrible bureaucracy killed me, doing simple things like banc account, SIM card etc was hell we almost cried 😂
Estela Espinós i literally opened a bank account 2 days after moving into the country WITHOUT A SINGLE PROBLEM!! 😂😂😂
@Sabrina i live in spain at the moment, as a EU citizen, and still had and have to do a ridiculous amount or paper work to be able to get a job and even rent an appartment
I’m German... it’s hell
Damon saying “got em!” after a pick up line is everything 😂
True. ^^
I live in Paris and I've never had these problems to open a bank account, but nearly every government / private service I had to deal with had annoying pitfalls and hoops I needed to jump. Everything you shared is SO relatable!
The color coordination...
I'm so evil I can't wait for the video where he needs to move and his internet provider starts its shenanigans.
Or when his green healthcare card doesn't arrive.
Or when he needs to officially declare what he makes as a freelancer, and to do so needs to create a "micro-entreprise" and then deal with "l'URSSAF".
Those will be fun videos...But I also feel bad for you, and I apologize for our administration and paperwork: hang in there!
Trop! ^^
Nice glasses
Of course! I got it. Orange is the color. Thanks a lot. It's never been cooler
"this dude is modern and cool and knows how to use email" is basically the French in one sentence. I love the "let's save the planet" PAPER LETTERS
But for real though, that whole "bank account" thing is so stupid. A friend of mine was turned down at multiple banks for over a month for all of the reasons you listed, it's stupid af.
And me, I was "lucky" to have the first bank I walked into (which was, unfortunately, Société Générale) to open an account for me. I too had to fill out a bunch of forms even though I'm not American. And they gave me the card before giving the PIN code which is like.. what?! And then there's my funny story. The letter with the code secret failed to reach the mailbox for whatever reason, so like two weeks later I go to their office to ask for help and what they say is....... we can't help you because we're not YOUR agency. That was a new concept to me, I must say. And I also moved so I had to travel around Paris to Issy-les-Moulineaux to ask them to send me a new code secret. But since my salary was on that card and I had to wait for at least one more week and I didn't have any money, I asked them to cash me out some money from the account, to which they said, we're sorry, but we don't have money here, please, go to a different office. I was getting angry, but okay, I go to another office and there they say "we're sorry, but we're not your agency, go back" I was soooooooooo mad
After I came back the lady started to apologize and gave me some money from the account.
I've also had funny situations with CAF. They asked me to send them my revenues from 2018. Wtf? I'm not French, I came here in 2019 and I'm leaving in 2020 WHY ON EARTH WOULD YOU NEED TO KNOW HOW MUCH MONEY I MADE TWO YEARS AGO?????????????????????????????????????????????????
I'm sorry for this little rent. The system really gets to me
And thanks for the video, nice to have someone to relate to, especially to someone who has been in Paris for quite a while
In Spain, I would show up at the banking hours...and the banks would still be closed...because let's just make lunch keep going...
hhahahahahahahah I'm Spanish and this is freakin true
Who is following les péripéties de Damon since the ig storyss !
me, unfortunately
I live in France and I can literally relate to everything you say in your videos about living here
The french doing you dirty is honestly the most entertaining thing 😂
I relate to your never-ending struggles of hoops to jump through SO MUCH. I feel like its ALWAYS me and that there are 1000 hoops to jump through.
Ugh I'm always so early on you on accident but honestly like I don't even need the comment section to entertain me when your videos are extremely entertaining by themself omggggg I stan
So this probably won't get read, but I think you should do a series on learning french, Like the basics, how to spell them, say them and etc.. I know this would help me, and many others :D
Listening to this stressed me out because I can relate. Saying French bureaucracy is a nightmarish hellscape is an understatement.
HA! This is actually hilarious and way too relatable. Getting a French bank account would be so helpful but it's actually impossible in my experience. This and your apartment search video are incredibly the same exact experiences I've had here in France. Having friends in the system are truly the best way to get around everything.... and as you said.... "it only takes 5 five years". I cried at this because of how true it is. Thanks for putting everything I know into understandable words that I can share with people hahaha
That may be why there is so many tax evasion... It's not that our richest people don't want to pay, it's because it's too hard to open an account !
It's easier for them to put it in Switzerland or something.
thank you SO much for sharing!!
The most frustrating video on RUclips rn
AGREED❗️
Damon Dominique ayyyye love you! Livin the dream and congrats on finally getting everything sorted haha 🥰
Hey, I'm an expat here too, wait to see when time comes to renew your visa :D Good luck lol
will you ever become a french citizen?
if he marries one...maybe.
eligirl100 he’ll only get a green card if he marries un homme Français
@@thecrap17yearsago35 yea but after a few years, he'll be able to apply for the nationality
@@eligirl100 he can apply without being married
@@manuellab3333 allegedly... but with all the bureaucracy France has 😧 I don't even want to imagine
congratulations my dude, you just scraped the top of the french bureaucracy iceberg. Strap in, you're in for the slowest moving most convoluted ride of your life XD
Hahaha l'administration française, quel bonheur !
I am English and been living here for over 30 yrs. Never had a problem with banking, ID, taxes, driving license or buying and renting property.
Thank god you are not a citizen of Freedom land...
This makes me really curious how hard it is for people living this lifestyle in the States like are our banks this pissy???
Sean 션 The answer is no. It’s really easy to open a bank account in the United States compared to most countries. Walk in with your ID, walk out with your bank account.
no you just need an id and proof of residency etc even immigrants without a SSN can get bank accounts
My mother is french comes visits me in the states and opens a bank account within 30 min. This is my mom 😳😵
You are just so adorable. You realize that may be the most difficult thing you ever have to do.in France! so congratulations!
PS: attn. French Government, I enjoy Sat Bing Damon Domenique's captivating videos of his life in your beautiful country! And I look forward to reading many many more! So do my friends. We went to Paris for the first time last April and have tickets to come again in March.
Yeah, I don't wanna live in France. What the hell? I am stressed and it's not even me!
Watching this vid was like therapy for me, thank you
Yes We Want You To Stay In Paris
I would have gone to CitiBank in Paris on the Chemps-Elysees and they could have opened up a french bank account for you. My father had this problem many decades ago trying to start his import business in Asia. In order to buy merchandise to import back to the states, he needed a bank account in that country. He discovered that Bank of America could do this for him as they had actual bank branches in most Asian countries. All he had to do was open a bank account at their San Francisco offices and then they would open up a bank account in the country where he needed the money and then they would transfer the funds from his account in San Francisco to his bank account in Asia (Hong Kong, India, Japan, etc.) Millions of American work and live abroad and there is no one that can serve their banking needs better than American banks.
thanks for this absolutely relatable content. as an european citizen, my life should be easier, but it is stilllll super hard with the bureaucracy when moving to other countries in europe. probably easier than being an american. still super hard in some european countries. love it though.
YES! We’re proud of you😂
I've recently moved to Paris for a temporary job and this video is so relatable!! French bureaucracy doesn't make any sense!!
I feel your pain. They are not easy to deal with. You literally have to argue with them for every little thing. Good luck :)
imagine how hard it will be to close a french account. i had a friend who lived in france a bit and then when he came back they wouldn’t let him close his account because he owed 7 cents.
😂😂😂
I was stressing out with you in this video. I had similar stress when I moved from Florida to NYC....you would think it's a foreign country!!! Similar issues with guarantors, bank accounts, utilities. Ugh. Glad you got it all worked out.
Chileeeee this stressed me out and it's not even my bank account or card. 😂😂
I feel you so much! The same thing happened to me here in Greece, lol.. They asked me for payslip of electricity from previous like 3 months even tho I had my address, residency, tax declarations, working for Greek company.. but back than I had only a month in my new apartment lol
Honestly, I have a headache listening to this...I cant imagine having to actually live it...i think i would explode. 😟
This is hilarious but I also feel so sorry for you, I'm French but I've been living for 3 years in the UK now and it's really made me realise how complicated French bureaucracy is. Took me two hours to open a French bank account as a French person with all the right documents but it took me half an hour to open a UK bank account as a French person. It makes NO SENSE. They always seem to come up with unnecessary absurd rules which drives me insane. Good luck with whatever's next 😂
This is so true, as an international living & working in France, it took me ages to close my french account, I kept emailing my account manager for since August 2019, I just called them last week again to close my account... it's a new level of frustration
I hate that you're struggling BUT I LOVE THESE VIDEOS
So I go the atm .......... I forgot my card
The way I screamed
This is literally my life the last 6 months!!!! American in Paris
I feel this so hard! As an expat in Germany, I couldn't open a bank account until I had a lease with my name on it. I, like you, was in temporary housing at first that was not in my name. Of course, I couldn't get paid at work until I had a bank account. So my supervisor calls the local bank branch (this is a small town) and explains my situation, and asks very respectfully if they could please begin processing my account given that I will have a lease very soon. They miraculously agree! So I get there, and the lovely, small-town German teller has never opened an account for an American before. But we're chugging along until she goes to the printer to get the forms I need to fill out. She comes back and says "when I put that you are American in to the system, all these American tax forms printed out and I have no idea why or what to do with them. But why don't you just fill them out incase and we'll see what happens." I'm like... not really wanting to give all this private information "just incase", but also don't want to admit that I also have no clue, so I agree that this seems like something the American government would do and fill them out. She tells me she'll get things started and that I need to come back as soon as I get a signed lease. Course finding an apartment is a whole other story, but I come back with the signed lease and it works! I received not one, but three or four separate activation codes in the mail (one for the atm, one for online banking, one for transfers...). Good times! I get mad flashbacks watching these videos.
Things in France required to get a French bank account: residence and utility bill with your name on it.
Things in France required to get a residence and utility bill with your name on it: French bank account.
They make it an impossible loop on purpose just to make it impossible for foreigners, how nice...
your determination is admirable. and hilarious.
You got your activation card!!! YAY!! LOL :)...beaucoup travaille :(
The best and fastest way when you go to the bank and he refuses to open an account, you must ask him for a rejection letter, then send the message to the Bank of France with your address and a copy of your passport, then wait for him to send you a message in which the nearest bank to you with a message that forces the bank to open an account for you I know is a lot Work but this is how it works in France
Damon really ran a train over my dreams of living in Paris💀
It’s funny that they ask for an appointment when there’s NOBODY IN THE FUCKING AGENCY!!! Your rant videos are too funny and relatable, feel I could’ve scripted them.
...I moved to Australia after living in Spain, where it took several months to open a bank account. I opened a bank account in Australia in 5 minutes. I was so confused at how easy it was, I walked across the street into different bank and opened a second account.
This is so familiarly frustrating and I felt sick. Also, I saw everything coming segment after segment 😂I'm glad you got everything together! Hope things are going to be smoother now that the most annoying parts (apt hunting and bank account) are done!
And yes I can feel your struggle in France as an American, I studied there for 4 years and I can relate to everything you said
This was hilarious, you are my new fav youtuber! A breath of fresh air
I'm moving to Paris on March for work reasons, and these past couple of videos of yours are just scaring the shiiiiiiiiiiit out of me :(!!!!
Best of luck!!!
A tip: even if you live in France, nothing stops you from opening a bank account in a Belgian or German bank for example, which are waaaaay more efficient and have great apps. Personally I use Belfius, eventhough I live in France.
Getting your gas/electricity (EDF) + internet + phone (Orange + SFR) set up required it! Or at least for me they did....!?
@@damondominique first: LOVE your videos and your take on Europe ❤️ but yeah you need and account for like, official reasons, but what we did is just using our modern foreign bank for everyday life, and only the French account for "official" things... Which is still a DAMN hastle not gonna lie #BanquePopulaireNeverAgain
Me considering moving to Paris
Me after watching damons video: nope
I've been in France for the past 2months and a half and this is HELLA relatable, France isn't made for convenience
you can HEAR that they're just making things up
Congratulations Damon that you finally got your bank account, I think it is kind of a thing how European banks treat foreigners and their system is way out of date, I’m a Chinese living in Madrid, trust me it’s the same, they won’t open bank accounts for us
Are we gonna talk abt how long this must have taken to edit?! Give him a break France!!!
This reminds me of when I lived in Argentina for a couple months, long enough that my 90 day tourist visa wasn't enough and I needed a more permanent temporary visa. There are three main steps that you have to do at various points, the last step being a DMV-like situation where you wait a couple hours, and everything was all fine and good (last step took around 2 hours waiting there), and then they give you a slip of paper that lasts a month, in which time your temporary visa should appear online; mine never appeared online and I had plans to leave and reenter the country, which meant I needed that visa ASAP, so I had to go back to the place and I spent 8 hours there, and I swear each person there sent me to another station and all of them seemed to think that because my Spanish was accented I therefore didn't know what I was talking about (and it definitely didn't help that a lot of the words I had to use were bureaucratic ones I'd never learned). As it was closing and I was chatting up a girl from Colombia about how awful the whole visa process was they finally just opted to renew my month-long visa, and the temporary just never showed up. It was such a mess.
Having also recently opened a French bank account in Paris, I relate to this on so many levels. Took 2 months for my account to be opened, then my card didn't even work and I had to wait for another. I never thought it was possible to love and hate a place so much at the the same time.
This is honestly like one of my favorite videos:)
Stuff is so comicated in France. My dad has been living there for a year and they ask for SO many documents for the smallest thing. And he has a european passport...
OMG I just found your channel and you’re so funny! Hahaha! I agree! Oh French bureaucracy 😅
Omg hahah I studied abroad in France and they are really so slow and relaxed about everything but glad you finally got it sorted with some persistent. Also, when I was in France, the government actually gave money back on my rent as an incentive to live there so maybe you can get that too and it’ll all be worth your hassles 😂
This sounds horrible but let me just tell you, Spain is worse and in addition people are severely rude it’s scary.
While dealing with an insane system like this I got a friend to photoshop my name and address on some bills and used those 😂 Worked like a charm though 😉
Ture story about my french friend. She recently got cancer hence she had to quit her job. she is 63 so not old enough for pension either. she decided to sell her house in France and rent a smaller apartment. but after she sold the house for like half a million euro, she couldn't find a place to rent because, in order to rent, you need to prove that you are making 3 times salary than the rent and her half a million bank statement obviously can't prove she can afford the rent. She had to live in a hotel during the searching. Eventually, a friend's friend rented a studio to her after 6 months of struggling. How fucked up is that?
I just got my 10 years visa and damn I feel reborn ,a free soul ready to live and love in France.
I really feel like this video should also be on the DamonAndJo channel but that's just my opinion 🤷🏾♀️