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Student Work Permit
Working
in France while a student
International students have the right to work in France if
they have a residency permit and are enrolled in an
institution that participates in the student health plan
of the French social protection system (Sécurité Sociale).
Even first-time visitors to France and students enrolled
in the first year of postsecondary education enjoy the
right to work.
The work
week in France (annually averaged) is 35 hours. French law
allows international students to work no more than 884
hours in a given year. That translates to half-time
employment (19.5 hours per week) during the academic year
and full-time during vacations.
CampusFrance, along with French educators and
policymakers, does not believe that full-time work is
consistent with student status.
Supplementing your income by working while studying is a
common practice. You won't be able to
meet all of your expenses by working half-time, but you
should be able to earn extra spending money.
The minimum
hourly wage in France (known as the SMIC, for salaire
minimum interprofessionnel de croissance) is 8,27 Euros
gross, that is, before withholding of mandatory
social-benefit taxes, which come to approximately 20 percent
of the gross payment.
Working in France after your studies
At the end of
your course a firm can recruit you even if you aren't a
national of the European Community.
You must
request a change of status (from being a student you become
a salaried employee) and in order to do so, you have to
follow a specific procedure.
According to
your place of residence, you will obtain the necessary
information concerning how to put together your application
from the town hall, main police station, sub-prefecture or
prefecture.
You must
present, among other documents, a work contract or an offer
of employment from a French company.
To assess
your application the administrative services will take into
consideration a certain number of criteria, such as the
company's motivation, your profile or the length of your
studies.
When your
application is accepted you will be issued with a temporary
residence permit for workers.
Finding a job
Be sure to get a written employment agreement or offer
of employment...
An employment agreement protects you in case of
conflict with your employer. You will need a written
offer of employment when you apply for temporary
employment authorization, which you must do before
working with a student visa.
Apply for temporary employment authorization
The French labor law provides as follow: "As a
condition of employment, individuals who are not French
citizens must hold a valid work permit." Students
wishing to work for pay must obtain a temporary
employment authorization. (Students from the European
Economic Zone, Algeria, and Togo are exempt from this
requirement.)
In the
first year of study students may obtain temporary
employment authorization for a maximum of 9 months. The
authorization is renewable as long as you are enrolled
in an institution of higher education that participates
in the national student health plan. (Participating
institutions include all universities, most schools of
engineering and business, some schools of French as a
foreign language (such as the Alliance Française of
Paris for programs of 3 months or more), and the
Institut Catholique de Paris (for programs involving at
least 12 hours of coursework per week).
Filing your request for temporary employment
authorization
There are
no forms to fill out. Just submit the items listed above
to your local labor and employment office (Direction
Départementale du Travail, de l'Emploi et de la
Formation Professionnelle, or DDTEFP). Applicants must
appear in person. Mailed applications are not accepted.
You can get the address of your local DDTEFP office at
your town hall (Mairie) or from the Web site of
the Ministry of Employment (French only).
The
Ministry of Labor's Authorization to work
An employer
in France who wants to hire an American citizen must obtain
an authorization from the French Ministry of Labor. The
authorization is a prerequisite document for the issuance of
a long stay visa by a French Consulate in the United States.
If the Ministry approves the contract, it is forwarded to
the Office des Migrations Internationales (OMI) for
transmission to the appropriate French Consulate in the
U.S.. The Consulate then notifies the applicant who can
proceed with visa formalities. After entering France with
the proper visa, he or she must apply at the local
Préfecture of Police for a Carte de Séjour.
Ministry of
Labor
Service de la Main d'Oeuvre Etrangère
127 Boulevard de la Villette, 75010 Paris
Tel: 1-44-84-42-86
Employment
Contracts
In France there are three types of employment contracts:
- Temporary employment contract
- Fixed term contract (contrat à durée déterminée - CDD)
- Permanent contract (contrat à durée indéterminée - CDI)
Temporary
employment contract
The employee is hired and paid by a temping agency.
Temporary employment contracts may be renewed once, on the
condition that the total days of employment doesn't exceed
18 months. The temping agency recruits to replace an
employee on a temporary basis, to cover a temporary increase
in work or for seasonal workers.
Fixed Term
contract (CDD)
A fixed term contrat must state in writing the duration of
the contract.
The
probationary period for a contract of less than six months
may not exceed 2 weeks and for contract of over 6 months the
probationary period may not exceed 1 month. The CDD is fixed
for a defined period of time up to a maximum of 2 years.
Permanent
contract (CDI)
When you are employed you will be given a copy of the
contract signed by both parties. The contrat will stipulate
the date of employment, social security details, the company
details and the place of work, the remuneration, notice
period, lenght of probationary period (1 to 3 months) and of
course the position occupied.
Labour law
After lengthy and intense debates among French legislators,
a new law on working time (35-hr workweek) has been adopted
by the French Parliament on December 15, 1999. The text has
been signed officially into an act on 19 January 2000 and
has been in effect since February 1, 2000.
Holiday
entitlement
The employee will be required to have worked at least 1
month (4 weeks or 24 days) before getting his first
holidays. You earn two and a half days holiday per month
worked, which is 5 weeks per year.
Maternity
leave
You are covered by the Social Security Office during your
maternity leave which is: six weeks before giving birth and
ten weeks after. On the birth of your third child, the
maternity period is increased to eight weeks and eighteen
weeks after the birth.
Embassy of
France in the U.S. - January 18, 2002
( http://www.ambafrance-us.org/visitingfrance/labor.asp
)
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