opening TD bank account

We use Wise for this purpose - easy to open an account and you can have different sub-accounts for different currencies. It's a money transfer service but works like a bank. I also hear Revolut is good and works in a similar way.

Lavandula

Do you have a Toronto Dominion account in Canada? If so, maybe speak to the bank?

I would suggest using Wise, as mentioned above. It's very easy and relatively inexpensive. I used it earlier this year to make payments to someone in Romania, and it worked out very well.

Wise is the go-to for Americans living in France who don’t want to open an account with a local, sticks and mortar bank. You won’t have checks but you can do transfers and use their cards. BTW credit cards are rare here. Most cards issued by banks are debit. Since your time is limited to a year, Wise is a good option.

As someone living in Germany (which is slightly different, but not much) I use my Stateside account for most everything, including ATMs. But, there are times when it's nice to have a local bank, especially if you need to get funds in something other than Euro prior to travel. Without an account you'll have to wait to arrive in England, Czech Republic, Romania, etc. before you can have hard currency, and that can be a disadvantage.

You're Canadian, which is going to be even harder, because the exchange rates vary. You need to expect this. (FYI the US$ has changed 20% against the Euro in the past year.)

And Americans now have to look at the new taxes on remittances (transferring moneys between international banks.)

thanks for all the helpful replies. I am actually from the USA, so I wonder what the comment about new charges by the US on remittances between US banks and foreign banks. Any idea what the new charges will be, or when they will go into effect? I may want to transfer a bunch of money to my bank here in France before the new charges go into effect.

As for the remittances issue I can only say that this is part of the big bill that recently got passed. I just heard of it Friday, and have some of the same questions.

This is what I've found: https://brighttax.com/blog/remittance-tax/

The above is correct for some groups but does not apply to all transfers. From the linked article, which verifies the way I had understood the law:

“When it applies: The 1% remittance tax will apply to outbound transfers from the United States to another country only when the sender provides cash, a money order, a cashier’s check, or a similar physical instrument to the remittance provider, beginning January 1, 2026.
Which transactions: The tax does not apply to most electronic fund transfers (such as ACH, wire transfers, or app-based remittances) that are sent directly from your U.S. account, nor to transfers funded with a U.S. debit or credit card. It only applies to cash-based and similar physical transfers made in-person at a remittance provider or financial institution. Inward remittances (money coming into the U.S.) are not taxed.”

In other words, the small earner who takes his or her money to Western Union to send it back to his or her home country is taxed. People who are transferring using a service where the money doesn't leave the electronic system, ie the higher earners, are not taxed.

A place where you can have questions such as this answered by others who live in France and have money from elsewhere is the closed FaceBook group "France Fiscal Support." There are several volunteer experts (accounts, lawyers) including an American lawyer/accountant/investor who is answering questions for the flood of arriving Americans. In this group and in France Legal Support answers must have the citation attached and aren't just opinions or experiences. Because you are here for a year, he'll be able to tell you about tax filing, even if you have no obligations in France.

Hopefully you're looking at expat sites as well, since this will not be an unusual question.

You might also reach out to Les Frenchies, I was watching one of their videos last night and when they moved to Paris they had a heckuva time doing the monetary shuffle.