Working visas and professional qualifications

If you are coming to work in a salaried or self-employment post then relevant professional qualifications that are recognised in France may be required.

It should be noted that there are some jobs that non-EU nationals cannot hold in France as they are restricted to French and EU citizens.

Britons working in such jobs before Brexit benefit from clauses in the WA on non-discrimination and equal treatment with fellow French workers and thus can continue careers in such posts (but not change to a completely different sector that is similarly restricted).

Jobs affected include notaires and those carrying out fonctionnaire (civil servant) roles such as teachers in state schools and nurses in state hospitals.

With regard to qualifications, there are two issues. The first is that ‘regulated’ professions have fixed qualification requirements.

For some, such as doctors, dentists, vets, midwives, pharmacists and architects, recognition is automatically given in an EU state to qualifications obtained within the EU due to common minimum training conditions.

For other such professions, EU states are obliged to consider qualifications obtained in other member states and recognition is generally given unless there is good reason not to.

However this is not necessarily the case with qualifications from non-EU states.

For such jobs it is best to make contact with a French professional organisation for the sector, which can advise.

In some cases, you will in any case be required to register with such a body as part of the requirements to do the job.

If your foreign qualification is not sufficient alone, the body should clarify your options, such as whether top-up training is needed or if you need to take a French qualification from scratch.

For example, a non-EU doctor needs good French and they must take and pass a theory test (Epreuve de Vérification des Connaissances), run on an annual basis.

They can apply to take this to the relevant Agence Régionale de Santé of the area of France where they live or plan to live.

They have to work for three years as an intern under supervision of another qualified doctor. Registration with the Ordre des Médecins is also required.

We note, however, that a new residency card for medical workers is set to be brought in, under France’s 2024 immigration law, so it is possible this will bring some further flexibility.

The second point to note is that even for French jobs without such rigid requirements, and even in sectors without set entry qualifications, some employers may feel less confident as to whether a non-EU diploma presented as part of your CV is similar to French ones they are familiar with.

A body called Enic-Naric can help by providing an attestation de comparabilité which will help an employer understand and evaluate the value of your foreign studies.

The UK and EU have expressed interest in having more dialogue about mutual recognition of qualifications but so far there are few concrete results from this.