Seasonal work, au pairs, jobseeker, working holidays

Specific types of residency cards exist for temporary work including cartes de séjour travailleur saisonnier (seasonal worker cards), jeune au pair, stagiaire (intern), ‘working holiday’ and recherche d’emploi/création d’entreprise. 

The latter lasts for up to one year and is for people who have studied in France and want to remain to look for work or set up a business. It is not renewable if you have not succeeded in doing so within this timeframe.

Seasonal workers

The seasonal worker card is issued for a period of up to three years to come to France to work for a period or periods not exceeding six months a year and only in the periods fixed by your card. It is renewable. Your place of ‘habitual domicile’ should remain abroad. This would be suitable for working in a ski resort, on Christmas markets, picking grapes etc.

The process starts with finding a CDD (temporary work) job offer conditional on a potential employer obtaining an autorisation de travail (work permit) for you. The contract must be for at least three months but no more than six – seasonal workers can only stay in France for six months maximum in any 12-month period.

Highlight relevant experience and language skills to would-be employers. To obtain authorisation, apart from in sectors designated as ‘under pressure’ (currently including agriculture), employers must first advertise the job for three weeks, and have to justify any decision to refuse applicants in that time.

Your employer can send you a copy of the authorisation, which is needed for you to apply for a travailleur saisonnier visa, and a contract can be exchanged at a distance. If using the visa wizard on the visa website, click long-stay, travailler and embauche (meaning ‘being taken on’).

This free visa does not allow you to bring family members with you. Once you are in France, in order to stay for more than three months you will have to apply for a seasonal worker’s residency card online at the Anef site. It will have to be collected at the local prefecture.

This will be a multi-year residence permit for a travailleur saisonnier. It costs €75. A text message is sent when it is ready to collect.

Legal expert Marta Nahay, of Exilae in Nice and Paris, said: “It can take three or four months, but mostly people come on contracts of over three months. It's rare an employer would bring someone for a very short period.” A receipt attestation issued on applying for the card allows work until it is issued.

Although you cannot be in France for more than six months a year, this could be split into two different periods if your contract provides for this. Also, as the card often lasts for three years, you can come back to France for subsequent seasons for similar work during its validity – but, you will need a contract from an employer each time, and they must obtain a new work permit for you (but you do not need a new visa or residency card).

Avocate Fatou Babou, from Bordeaux, said those interested should start months in advance, checking the website of France Travail for jobs. Interviews are often at a distance. It would be possible to look for potential employers during a visit to France, but the visa application has to be done in your own country.

“The meeting can take place by any means,” Ms Babou said.

She said that it is best, if possible, for the employer to provide accommodation so the applicant has a French address they can give in their visa application. “If there is no address, the visa will generally be refused,” she said.

Note that under the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement deal the status of ‘posted worker’ is still possible between the UK and EU countries, including France, meaning that employees such as ski chalet staff can still be sent from the UK to France with this status.

However, this status only affects where the workers’ related tax and social charges are paid and does not replace the requirement for a visa/French residency card.

EU posted worker arrangements allow people employed by a UK firm and paying UK tax and national insurance to be sent to work in France on secondment to a branch of the same company or to a French firm that then bills the UK firm for their work.

There is no special visa for touring musicians wanting to come to France, however, they can come for up to three months maximum without a work permit or visa, as long as they are employed by a venue while in France.

Touring artists from outside the EU also have to deal with customs issues including buying a ‘carnet’ for their instruments and equipment, however such details are outside the general scope of this guide.

If going to other EU countries, musicians also have to bear in mind factors such as the 90/180 rule and that other working rights rules can vary country by country.

Essentially, it can be complicated for lower-paid artists to tour and can even be difficult for wealthy stars who can pay an agent to carry out all the arrangements for them.

Au pairs

This relates to people aged 18-30 who will be employed with a family to carry out simple domestic tasks and care for children in order to improve their language skills and knowledge of France. The family should not be their relatives.

You need at least basic French and must have a written agreement with the family.

Au pairs receive ‘pocket money’ of at least €320/month and cannot be asked to do more than 25 hours of work a week.

They receive a VLS-TS, with a validation fee of €50 in timbres fiscaux. This can be extended for a further year with a residency card, with a €75 fee when the card is issued.

Stagiaires

It is possible to complete a work placement of less than three months without formalities.

If you are coming to France for more than three months for professional training in a firm or, for example, in a French public hospital then you need a visa.

There has to be a three-way partnership between you, the business and a training organisation in your home country. This needs to be formalised with a written agreement, and you should obtain a diploma at the end.

It is necessary to show that you have income of at least €615/month to support yourself in France.

It is possible to obtain a VLS-TS stagiaire and this can be prolonged with a temporary carte de séjour if appropriate.

Working holiday

This is a kind of visa aimed at people aged 18-30 allowing them to visit France for a year on a holiday but also to work to supplement their income while on the trip.