What's required for British citizens to work in France?

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rosbif

You can go to the social security office and register for a social security number before you get a job, you should go and get a "titre de sejour" at the prefecture as well before you start job hunting - lots of employers will ask you to have this document before they employ you. Here comes the catch 22...you need an address in France to get the "titre de sejour" and you need a job to get somewhere official to live, as Frog landlords are really picky and don't like to rent to foreigners who don't have a lot of money (or you need someone's floor to sleep on, someone who will write you an affadavit stating that you are "herbergÃ©" at their address). You will need enough money to support yourself for at least 4 to 8 weeks while the bureaucracy gets itself together. Then you have the problem of actually finding a job in a country with 10% unemployment. As you didn't go to school in France, you don't have French qualifications, which means that employers won't take you for anything where they can choose someone with the right bit of paper instead (forget spending a lot of time and money doing "equivalences" of your qualifications, no-one pays any attention to them).
Unless you have an unusual skill or lots of significant experience (15+ years top level) then you're pretty much going to have to teach English or work as a barman in a ski resort.

Oh yes, you're going to have to learn French too. Just doing the bureaucracy is a nightmare even with excellent French, and no French bureaucrat is going to go out of their way to help you: if you don't fit in a nice, prefabricated box in france, then they don't want to know about you.

cherub

When you get to your destination you need to go to the Prefecture or town hall if the place is small and ask to apply for a carte de sejour{a permit allowing you to stay longer than holiday}. They will tell you what documentation you need to apply for it. You also need to apply for the carte vitale which is the national security card and you use it for medical visits etc. The unemployment exchange is called the assedic and the job centre is called the ANPE. Good luck. Hope that helps.

pepe

A bit of french will help,
.. and you can move "freely" inside the eec and work, when you get your contract, you can ask for a national ins number, it works the same way as in the uk for foreigners coming from the EU.

Pelayo

What you'll need is proof of your nationality. Passport is certainly the best. You could register with the ANPE (french equivalent of Job centres), if you've got no job on arrival, register for the securite sociale (NHS). You will not need a carte de sejour, although it could be useful and be used as an ID (which is compulsory in France) if you don't want to have your passport with you all the time.
You'll find that french administration is very very very tedious....and it can be queue after queue after queue....long wait....
Speaking french would definitively be an asset and it could be well appreciated from your neighbourhood

lukee

Check out the French Embassy webpages - http://www.consulfrance-londres.org/article.php3?id_article=378

Hazel

Hiya,

Nothing ! Because you are a EU Citizen you are free to work in France as you like.
You just need to have a passport as proof of identity.
You don't need to ask for a NI number. Your employer will request it for you as soon as you will start working.

Good Luck !
: - D

Sunny Magali

First of all : you HAVE to speak French.
Second : Motivation
Last : Don't worry for the registration, everything is will be done by the company who would hire you.

you should ask on the french version of yahooanswers if you need more details.

Marie-Charlotte aux Fraises

You need to come to France. Once you get a job, you will start paying for social security (health cover + unemployment insurance) and you will get a national insurance number after 3 months of working. As a member of EEC you will have the same right as the French for work, health unemployment and retiring rights. The difference with UK is that you will have to keep your payslips to be able to claim for all your rights and retirement pension.

pete m

you have to have a valid EU passport initially.if you don't have a job when you arrive you will have to register at L'ASSEDIC,the french equivalent to the English job centre.once you have a job you will then get your social security number.i advise you get good medical insurance also because the french dont have NHS its all private,if your planning on staying a long time then i suggest you apply for a carte vitale,its a medical card which you use,you pay for your treatment but with this card you can claim most of the money back.the admin you have to do is here crazy so be prepared.

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