European resident: how to look for work in France?

You can stay and look for a job freely in France. You must have a valid passport or national identity card.

You can settle and search for a job freely in France. You do not have to hold a residence permit. However, if you request it, the prefecture can issue you a residence permit "European Union national".

You must submit your card application to the prefecture or sub-prefecture of your home, within 2 months before the end date of your VLS-TS. Find out more on your prefecture's website.

If your file is complete, you will receive a receipt awaiting the response of the prefecture.

You must request a residence permit with the prefecture of your place of residence, within 3 months of your arrival in France.

You must submit your card application to the prefecture or sub-prefecture of your home, within 2 months before the end date of your VLS-TS. Find out more on your prefecture's website.

If your file is complete, you will receive a receipt awaiting the response of the prefecture.

You can come to France to look for a job for a period of 3 months, renewable once, under conditions.

If you wish to stay in France for more than 3 months, you must request an extension of the authorization from 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 1^re three-month period. The authorization may be extended from 3 to 6 months.

You must:

• Provide proof of the steps you have taken during the first 3 months to company a job in France (for example answers to your job searches or job interviews, proof of spontaneous applications or participation in job fairs...)
• Demonstrate that you have a better chance of finding a job if you extend your stay in France (e.g. benefit from the support of Pôle emploi, respond to job offers from local newspapers or specialized sites, participate in capacity-building training in France.....)

• Provide information about your employment opportunities within a short time (for example, if you have a sought-after professional qualification or have a promise of employment)

It is the unemployment institution of the country you have just left that continues to pay you your benefits. Pôle emploi keeps track of your job search in France.

Hand over to Pôle emploi the U2 portable document, which will have been previously issued to you by the unemployment institution of the country you have just left.

This document attests to the precise duration of the retention of your rights to unemployment benefits (3 months, within the limits of acquired rights, this period possibly being extended up to 6 months, at the decision of the Member States).

If you do not comply with the job search control, Pôle emploi may be required to provide you with a U3 portable document

This document mentions certain facts that may affect your entitlement to unemployment benefits (for example, refusal to respond to a job offer).

These facts, if they are found, are transmitted to the institution which pays your allowances (the institution of the country you have just left), which may take any action (for example, suspension of payment of the allowance).

You must request the portable document U1 from the competent institution of your former European State of Employment.

This form summarizes 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 completed 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 solely on the remuneration received during your period of employment in France.

Remuneration received for an activity carried out in your European country of origin is therefore not taken into account for the calculation of the amount of the allowance in France.

To enter and look for a job in France, you must also inform yourself, before you leave, about the maintenance of your rights to health insurance in France. If your rights are maintained, you will obtain, from your previous insurance fund, a certificate of entitlement to health insurance benefits (European Health Insurance Card or certificate in lieu or portable document S1).

In the absence of a period of retention 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 Universal Health Insurance Protection (PUMA), based on the criterion of stable and regular residence in France.