France Residency quesiton: Was interested in moving to france for awhile and working. EU Permit and visa???

Question

I just graduated college with a degree in Hospitality foodservice and Hotel management or Hospitality/Tourism whatever you want to call it. I've taken many trips to France before and speak the language(6 year of schooling) well when I go there to shake off the rust. Now i am interested in working there for a year or a so and was reading job listings about having to have an EU Permit and a carte de sejour. If it's June 2nd and i was planning on leaving in August to go stay with a friend to get back into the language before work, I didn't know how to go about doing this. Could i use my 90 passport days to get there, get a job then get a carte de sejour or what? Any help would awesome.

Answer 1

Assuming you are not an EU citizen what you need to do is find a job first then have your potential employer endorse your application for a long stay visa.

Its a sort of chicken and the egg problem. You usually need a permit to get a job and you can't get a job without a permit.

To be frank, you're approaching this problem way too casually. Its a major problem for anyone, including a French citizen, to get a job since unemployment is considerably higher than in the USA.  For a foreigner who doesn't speak fluent French its going to be very hard, especially in your field where its not uncommon for ordinary desk clerks to speak three or four languages.

Answer 2

You say you've been to France many times so perhaps that suggests you are in the UK not USA?

If you are a UK national you don't need a work permit - but you can't work for the state (civil servant, teacher etc).

Unemployment is VERY high in France but many French people don't want to take low paid casual jobs that don't have a fixed contract. It's depends on how much you need the job to survive. If you have a friend you can stay with and you aren't putting all your savings into traveling over there totally dependent on getting a job to survive then give it a go. By August though you'll have missed all the summer seasonal jobs and you'll be too early for the winter (ski resort) ones.

Can your friend find you a job before you arrive?

Answer 3

I'm assuming you live in the United States. I'd suggest contacting your nearest French Consulate. Their websites all have visa and work permit information, which should be available in both English and French.

http://www.consulfrance-atlanta.org

http://www.consulfrance-boston.org

http://www.consulfrance-chicago.org

http://www.consulfrance-houston.org

http://www.consulfrance-losangeles.org

http://www.consulfrance-miami.org

http://www.consulfrance-nouvelleorleans....

http://www.consulfrance-newyork.org

http://www.consulfrance-sanfrancisco.org

http://www.consulfrance-washington.org

Answer 4

I'm guessing you are American because you said you graduated from college and not uni ;)

It's very true about the work permit and carte de sejour. You will need to be hired before you go to France because you can't get the long stay visa without your employer. You can't get the carte de sejour and work permit without this visa.

Typically, it's very hard to get a French company to sponsor you to do this. (Why would they go through the hassle of hiring a foreign employee (ie paying extra money, justifying to the government why they are hiring a foreigner and not a French person)?)

The only people that REALLY succeed with this is high up business executives. You are young with limited experience. It's really unlikely you will get this. Furthermore, your American diploma will essentially be worth nothing in France. Unemployment is really high in France. They will first hire French people, then Europeans, then other foreigners. And the salaries are nothing in comparison to the US.

I'm sorry to be so negative but I was in the same situation as you and you will be screwed over if you just show up in France expecting to be able to work.

I suggest you do a year of schooling in France. You could do it in your area (hospitality) or even French language studies. This will get you a student visa--certain student visas will give you the right to work--this student visa will get you the carte de sejour. You could improve your french at school and work at the same time. You could look into "alternance" where you are going to school and working at the same time--often internships. This would give you experience in france in your field.

good luck!!!!!