Are you entitled to unemployment in France after a stay in Europe?

Verified 17 February 2021 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

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You receive unemployment benefits from another European country

If you are receiving unemployment benefits in another country European (EEA + Switzerland + Monaco + Andorra), you can continue to benefit from it in France.

Before your departure to France, you must meet the following 2 conditions:

  • Be registered for at least 4 weeks as unemployed with the employment service of the country in which you lost your job (exceptions are possible),
  • Requesting a U2 portable document (maintenance of entitlement to unemployment benefits) with the body paying your unemployment benefits.

With this document, you can register as a job seeker with the Pôle emploi agency on which your residence in France depends.

You have to do it within 7 days that follow the date of your cessation of registration as a jobseeker in the country you are leaving.

Your allowances may be maintained in France for 3 months (possible extension to a maximum of 6 months), within the limits of the rights open to you in the European country concerned.

To do this, you must meet the following 2 conditions:

  • be wholly (and not partially or intermittently) unemployed,
  • Be entitled to unemployment benefits in the country where you lost your job.

Warning  

in order to retain your rights to unemployment benefit in France, you must renew your rights, before they expire. You must ask the National Employment Service of the country in which you lost your job. Find out before you leave for France.

As soon as you arrive in France, you must register as a job seeker.

You must contact the Pôle emploi agency on which your home depends.

You can enjoy the same rights as French nationals:

  • Access to employment
  • Employment Services Help
  • Financial assistance to help you find work

Sign up for Pôle emploi

Who shall I contact

You're in a different situation

If you resume work in France and later lose it, you can collect unemployment benefit in France and you can claim your periods of unemployment insurance already acquired in another country European (EEA + Switzerland)

(except in special cases, for example: if you are posted or if you work in several European countries).

Before your departure to France, get the U1 portable document with the body paying your unemployment benefit. This form summarizes the periods of insurance or employment completed in another State European (EEA + Switzerland). It allows these periods to be taken into account when calculating your unemployment benefit in France.

After you lose your job in France, you will need to register as a job seeker with Pôle emploi. You will then be able to ask for the totalization of your unemployment rights acquired in the European country or countries where you worked. If you do not have the U1 form, the Pôle emploi agency where your home is located will be able to apply for it. Ask your agency for more information.

When calculating your possible entitlement to unemployment compensation in France, your Pôle emploi agency takes into account the periods of employment completed in the 2 states.

When calculating the amount of your unemployment benefit, Pôle emploi takes into account only your earnings in France. Remuneration received in another European country is therefore not taken into account for the calculation of the amount of the allowance.

Example :

you come to France after working 5 years in Italy. You take over an activity in France and then you are fired. Even if this recovery was short-lived, you will be able to collect unemployment in France. Your benefits will be calculated on your completed insurance periods in Italy and France. However, the amount of the unemployment benefit will be calculated only on your wages received in France.

Sign up for Pôle emploi

Who shall I contact

FYI  

if you are frontier worker, you are not affected by these rules. You have special provisions.

If you are a national of a non-European country, you can look for a job in France for 3 months.

Warning  

to settle and work in France after this period, you must apply for a residence permit from the prefecture of your residence in France.