European resident: how to look for work in France?
Verified 05 January 2023 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)
Yes. If you European resident or resident in Iceland, Liechtenstein or Switzerland, you are authorised to come to France to look for work as a job applicant. You must apply to Pôle emploi and can receive unemployment benefits, subject to conditions. Your situation differs depending on the country you come from, and whether or not you receive benefits from that country.
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You are a French national
You can stay and look for a job freely in France. You must have a valid passport or national identity card.
You are a citizen of another EU country, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein or Switzerland
You can settle and search for a job freely in France. You do not have to hold a residence permit. However, if you so request, the prefecture may issue you a residence permit "European Union citizen".
You must submit your card application to your home prefecture or sub-prefecture within 2 months of the end date of your VLS-TS. Find out more on your prefecture's website.
If your file is complete, you will receive a revived pending the prefecture's response.
You are a third-country national who has worked in the United Kingdom or in an EU country other than Denmark
You need to request residence permit in the prefecture of your place of residence within 3 months of your arrival in France.
You must submit your card application to your home prefecture or sub-prefecture within 2 months of the end date of your VLS-TS. Find out more on your prefecture's website.
If your file is complete, you will receive a revived pending the prefecture's response.
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You receive unemployment benefits from your previous country of residence
You can come to France to look for a job for a period of 3 months, renewable 1 times, under conditions.
If you wish to stay for more than 3 months in France, you must apply for an extension of the authorisation to the national employment service of the country in which you lost your job. Your request must be made as soon as possible, before the end of the 1re period of 3 months. The authorisation may be extended from 3 to 6 months.
You must:
- Provide evidence of the steps you have taken during the first 3 months to get a job in France (e.g. job search or job interview answers, proof of spontaneous applications or participation in job companies...)
- Demonstrate that you have a better chance of finding a job if you extend your stay in France (e.g. benefit from Pôle emploi support, respond to job offers from local newspapers or specialised sites, participate in capacity-building training in France...)
- Provide information about your job opportunities in a short time (for example, if you have a sought-after job qualification or a promise of hiring)
It is the unemployment institution of the country you just left that continues to pay you your benefits. Pôle emploi keeps track of your job search in France.
Hand in the mobile document U2 to Pôle emploi, which has been previously issued by the unemployment institution of the country you have just left.
This document certifies the precise duration of the maintenance of your entitlement to unemployment benefits (3 months, within the limits of acquired rights, this period may be extended up to 6 months, upon a decision of the Member States).
If you do not comply with the job search control, Pôle emploi may be asked to give you a U3 portable document
This document lists certain facts that may affect your entitlement to unemployment benefits (e.g., refusal to respond to a job offer).
These facts, if they are found, are passed on to the institution that pays your allowances (that of the country you have just left), which can give possible follow-up (for example, the suspension of the payment of the allowance).
Please note
the rules are different for Unemployment compensation in Europe: cross-border workersfrontier workers.
You do not receive unemployment benefits from your previous country of residence
You must request the U1 portable document from the competent institution of your former European employment status.
This form summarises the periods of insurance or employment completed in the territory of a Member State of the European Union, the European Economic Area or Switzerland.
It allows these periods to be taken into account in order to assert your unemployment rights in France. Pôle emploi takes into account the periods of work done abroad indicated on this form, if you find but lose a new job in France.
The amount of your allowance paid by Pôle emploi is based on the only remuneration received during your period of employment in France.
Remuneration received in respect of an activity carried out in your European country of origin is therefore not taken into account when calculating the amount of the allowance in France.
To enter and search for a job in France, you must also inform yourself, before you leave, about the maintenance of your health insurance rights in France. If your rights are maintained, you will obtain a certificate of entitlement to health insurance benefits from your previous membership (European Health Insurance Card or the certificate in lieu or portable document S1).
If you do not have a period of maintenance of your rights provided for by your previous country of affiliation, contact the primary health insurance fund of your place of residence in France. It will examine your rights to the Universal Health Insurance Protection (PUMA), based on the criteria of stable and regular residence in France.
Warning
If you are inactive, the benefit of the Puma is not automatic. It will depend on your situation regarding the right to stay.
Please note
the rules are different for frontier workers.
Upon your arrival in France, you must register as a job applicant.
You can enjoy the same rights as European citizens:
- Access to employment
- Employment services
- Financial assistance to help you find work
Warning
if you are a non-European citizen, you cannot register with Pôle emploi only with your residence permit issued by France.
You can view job offers on the Pôle emploi website:
Search for a job offer on Pôle emploi
You can also consult the database of job offers on the Eures website:
If you received unemployment benefits in another European country, you can continue to benefit in France.
Before you leave for France, you must however meet the following 2 conditions:
- Be registered for at least 4 weeks as a jobseeker with the Employment Service of the country in which you lost your job (exceptions are possible)
- Requesting a U2 portable document (maintenance of unemployment benefits) with the organisation paying your unemployment benefits.
With this document, you will be able to register as a job seeker with the Pôle emploi agency on which your home in France depends.
You have to do it within 7 days that follow the date of your termination as a jobseeker in the country you left.
Your allowances may be maintained for 3 months (extension to a maximum of 6 months), subject to the limits of the rights open to you in the European country concerned.
To do this, you must meet the following 2 conditions:
- Be completely unemployed (not partial or intermittent)
- Be entitled to unemployment benefits in the country where you lost your job.
Warning
in order to retain your unemployment benefit rights in France, you must renew your rights, before they end. You must apply to the national employment service in the country where you lost your job. Find out before you leave for France.
Who can help me?
Find who can answer your questions in your region
- Pôle emploi for jobseekers - 3949
By phone
39,49
- To update your situation, report a change of situation, inform you of a payment: automated service 7 days a week, 24 hours a day - Free service + call price
- To be contacted by an advisor to sign up, please inform yourself, change an appointment: service accessible at the times set by each Pôle emploi agency - Free service + call price
From the foreigner: + 33 1 77 86 39 49
By Email
Access via contact form
- Regulation No 883/2004 of 29 April 2004 on the coordination of social security systemsArticles 64 and 65
- Regulation No 987/2009 of 16 September 2009 on the coordination of social security systemsArticles 54 and 55
- Code on the entry and residence of foreigners and the right of asylum: Articles R233-1 to R233-6Right of residence for Europeans seeking employment in France: Article R233-3
- Code on the entry and residence of foreigners and the right of asylum - Article L411-1Documents of residence of foreigners in France
- Circular of 10 September 2010 on the right of residence of European and Swiss citizens and their family members (PDF - 1.3 MB)Item 3.2.6
- Search for a job offer on Pôle emploi
Online service
- Looking for a job in Europe
Search tools
- Sign up for Pôle emploi
Online service
- Registration in Pôle emploiService-Public.fr
- Presentation of the coordination of European social security systemsCentre for European and International Social Security Liaison (Cleiss)
- Coordination of social security in the European UnionEuropean Commission
- European Job Mobility Portal (EURES)European Commission
- Can a foreigner worker enrol in Pôle emploi?Pôle emploi
- You are European and you come to France to look for a jobCentre for European and International Social Security Liaison (Cleiss)
- Form U1 - Periods of time to be taken into account in granting unemployment benefitsCentre for European and International Social Security Liaison (Cleiss)
- Form U2 - Maintenance of Unemployment BenefitsCentre for European and International Social Security Liaison (Cleiss)
- Form U3 - Facts that may affect entitlement to unemployment benefitsCentre for European and International Social Security Liaison (Cleiss)