# Summer job in France for UK student



## Tamarisk33

Hi there, 
I am reaching out to you in slight desperation as I've been searching for information that I can't find...
I live in a small village in the south west of France and I have been contacted by the son of a friend in the UK who would like to come over this summer.
He is 19, and will be studying French at Portsmouth university in September.
I have said that I can host him and I have found him a job working in our local restaurant. 
So he has accommodation and employment lined up.
Now comes the tricky bit - with Brexit, we are not sure what he needs to do to be able to work legally.
It is a summer job - no more than 3 months.
I've found a lot of information about visas, work permits, but nothing seems to correspond exactly to his situation (it all seems to be about working for longer than 3 months, but no specific info if its less).
It says that the employer must prove they have tried to find a French person to do the job - I can't believe this really true for a summer job working in a restaurant???
As often, I'm finding French administration hard to get to grips with!
I would be so grateful if you have any info, advice, contacts or links that could help !
Thanks in advance
Alison


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## EuroTrash

This is all there is about seasonal workers as far as I can see.








Étranger en France : carte de séjour pluriannuelle - travailleur saisonnier


Si vous êtes étranger et souhaitez séjourner en France comme travailleur saisonnier, vous pouvez obtenir une carte de séjour pluriannuelle travailleur saisonnier, sous certaines conditions. Elle est valable 3 ans maximum et renouvelable. Vous ne pouvez pas demander le regroupement familial pour...




www.service-public.fr




but according to that page there is no way round the employer's obligation to attempt to recruit a French or EU candidate first.
I did have a vague notion that I'd once seen something about a less onerous option for seasonal jobs of less than 3 months but I can't find it now. Maybe I dreamt it or just maybe.there was a bilateral agreement about it in the WIthdrawal Agreement, I'm doubtful but it may be worth looking there if you haven't. If it's there I think it would be in the Appendix in the bit about when visas are / aren't necessary for short business trips etc.
It's possible also that there used to be a more lenient option and it has been tightened up, they've done a lot of tightening up on posted worker rules in recent years.
The bottom line is that the EU is serious about favouring its own citizens over non EU citizens when it comes to work. If a French/EU person is interested then they get first refusal. So I suppose you could look at it, why would it not apply to holiday jobs too because French and EU ados also want holiday jobs. But in most places there tend to be more summer jobs in tourism than locals who want to do them, so with a bit of luck nobody in your village will want that particular job, the employer will put it on pôle emploi and get no suitable applicants and will be able to put in a dossier for your young friend.
If you find a better way, do come back and share it, I would be very interested.


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## Bevdeforges

There are some programs in place to allow foreigners to work in seasonal type jobs in France (and probably in other EU countries) - but the jobs usually have to be those organized by the program. This is how the non-EU nationals have done this in the past. I'm not sure what sort of visa is arranged (though it is definitely arranged by the "employer" program). 

Another of the "joys" of Britain leaving the EU, I'm afraid.


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## Crabtree

What about a student visa?





Etudiants | France-Visas.gouv.fr


Étudiants : Toutes les informations utiles concernant votre situation d'étudiant en France.



france-visas.gouv.fr




It does permit a certain amount of work BUT he must have enrolled on a course at a higher institution so he would have to try and find a summer school which could well be difficult at this late stage
Yet another example of how the Brexit vote has shafted the young people of the UK


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## ARPC

This idea sounds rather anachronistic to me. I meet a lot of summer workers from the uk and us who work in bars, restaurants, hotels and campsites, but everyone works black (cash). If a legal option for such a thing ever existed for non-eu people, it ended a long time ago. That said, my French friends who work in restaurants are almost all working black as well, so if he didn’t say otherwise this may be what your restauranteur is expecting.


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## ccm47

A few random suggestions:
Contact Portsmouth , or any other uni, and ask what their students are doing. This cannot be a unique problem.
Contact the French consulate in London for advice.
Contact the Students Union in the UK.
Contact CenterParcs France who are desperately short of staff for the season, as they too must have the answer.
The lad comes simply for a holiday with OP for however long; and then things just evolve as he supposedly gets "bored" doing nothing.

Prior to Britain entering the EU it was possible for a student to work in France over the summer. I did it. I sourced the job (at a printers), the accommodation (uni halls), food (sandwiches in the park for lunch and student canteen otherwise) for myself and am pretty sure I did not need any special paperwork, nor did I work on the black.I got payslips.


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## EuroTrash

I know y'all think I'm a goodie two shoes but is it only me that's uncomfortable with all this advice to just let the lad to work on the black? Yes of course it's an option, and if you and your employer decide to do that, knowing the facts and taking responsibility for any consequences, good luck to you. But how would you feel if you were the OP and your friends in the UK are entrusting their son to you for the summer, would you feel easy about putting him in what is technically an illegal situation? Of course it's very unlikely that there would be consequences, largely a blind eye is turned but there are a few inspections every year just to discourage too many people from doing it. Even then it would be the employer that was prosecuted, the boy would be regarded as the victim, so for a French or EU person there is essentially no comeback. But here, there is also be the visa issue which could complicate things for the employer, plus the boy could theoretically find himself banned from re-entering France for a period.
If I was the OP and I wasn't averse to the working on the black option, I would make sure that the boy and his parents fully understood the implications and I would make it clear that it was their decision and I wasn't advising them to do it. Otherwise if I felt I'd put him up to it I would have it on my conscience all summer.



ccm47 said:


> Prior to Britain entering the EU it was possible for a student to work in France over the summer.


But prior to Britain joining the EEC as it was then, there was no FoM directive. EU citizens' rights hadn't evolved and the rules that prevent it didn't exist then but they do now. Leaving the EU hasn't put the clock back to the good old days when we could drive without seatbelts and buy a gallon of petrol for ten bob, life has changed and the EEC/EU has changed.


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## Bevdeforges

One point in addition to what ET has already said. It's the employer who usually suffers the worst of the penalties if they are discovered to have paid an illegal worker under the table. The fines are pretty steep and honestly most local small merchants aren't aware of them until they get caught like this.

But it's not a bad idea to contact a large "entertainment center" like Center Parks or even Euro Disney. The hiring season for those outfits generally ends in April - but if there is a shortage, they might be willing to consider taking someone on at this point. Just be aware that foreigners working at the big amusement centers are often housed on site.


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## EuroTrash

Bevdeforges said:


> But it's not a bad idea to contact a large "entertainment center" like Center Parks or even Euro Disney. The hiring season for those outfits generally ends in April - but if there is a shortage, they might be willing to consider taking someone on at this point.


Well that is exactly how it is designed to work isn't it. Employers start by trying to recruit EU workers, and if after a couple of months of advertising they haven't managed to recruit their full quota, then they can recruit TCNs. From the point of view of the French / EU economy, best case scenario is for all jobs to be filled by French / EU workers, second best case if that's not possible is for TCNs to fill the jobs that were left over rather than leave them vacant. Hence why the employer simply has to demonstrate that they tried to recruit from within the EU but couldn't fill the posts.


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## Bevdeforges

My point was simply that, while the traditional "recruiting season" for these posts may be over, there might be some positions still available from employers who have been handling this sort of thing for eons. (I first got into this years ago when a French family member wanted to find a summer job/stage in the US in the "hospitality industry" and was looking at the various big amusement parks. It is apparently some sort of reciprocal arrangement, but the visa stuff is taken care of by the employer.)


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## Crabtree

And presumably as the lad is going to be studying French at a UK Uni there will be a period of study probably a whole year at a French Uni for which he will require a student visa so putting him in a position where he could get caught working illegally is totally irresponsible as he may not be allowed to return to France for his studies and that my friends will mess up(I wanted to say something stronger) his future if he acts on the advice of the corner cutters


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## EuroTrash

Bevdeforges said:


> It is apparently some sort of reciprocal arrangement, but the visa stuff is taken care of by the employer.)


I don't know about reciprocal arrangements apart from posted worker schemes. I do know that in practice when it comes to work authorisations the individual DIRECCTEs used to get to know the local employers who regularly needed to recruit TCNs each year, and their requests for work authorisations used to go through more or less on the nod with no questions asked. Most DIRECCTEs used to be pretty approachable, they did actually try to work with local businesses and understand their needs, although I know at least one that was a bit the opposite..
I believe that the system has changed though, applications for work authorisations are now dematerialised and I believe handled centrally, and DIRECCTEs have morphed into a different acronym that I once knew but have forgotten and I don't know how much their remit has changed. You would think there would be some kind of fast track system for the likes of Eurodisney and PGL who need to bring in workers every year or maybe they just get quick at filling in the forms.


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## ARPC

I think it depends on the person, and if someone is going spend their whole summer freaking about their worker status, obviously such an arrangement is not for them. But I also think it’s worth knowing that foreign and local people doing seasonal and tourism jobs off the books is common. When you see it happening, don’t assume that some legit worker permit system exists and that you can sign your friends up for it. The risk of these arrangements, though commonly considered heavier for the employer, is as much for the worker ultimately, as when they are poorly treated or not paid they have no recompense (this has happened to close, French friends of mine working in off-resort ski town restaurants). Obviously this forum and many people always err on the side of doing things right, but that isn’t reality and I think it’s worth letting the full picture be known. As for the OP, they can’t change the system or invent a visa that doesn’t exist, and may end up having to explain that they just didn’t understand the complex and varied landscape of foreign worker rights. From there it’s up to the individuals involved to decide. But to simply say it’s either 100% on the books or nothing is just not accurate in my observation.


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## EuroTrash

ARPC said:


> The risk of these arrangements, though commonly considered heavier for the employer, is as much for the worker ultimately, as when they are poorly treated or not paid they have no recompense (this has happened to close, French friends of mine working in off-resort ski town restaurants).


Exactly and that is why the worker is always regarded as the victim. The employer is considered to be exploiting the worker, even if the worker was a willing victim.
The other issue of course is that it's unfair competition. A restaurant that employs staff on the black can easily afford to undercut the restaurant next door who does thing by the book. You seem keen to look at the full picture and that is part of the picture too, entering into work on the black helps dodgy operators steal business off their more reputable competitors and maybe put them out of business. When you're a kid you don't give a stuff about any of that social responsibility garbage, you just want a job, but as adults maybe we should be a bit more responsible? Just sayin'.
Anyway to get back to the actual thread


ARPC said:


> to simply say it’s either 100% on the books or nothing is just not accurate in my observation.


firstly where did anybody say that? but secondly, the question was specifically



Tamarisk33 said:


> we are not sure what he needs to do to be able to work legally.


which does sound like @Tamarisk33 is already aware of the difference, so bigging up working illegally is not really helping answer her question is it.


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## BackinFrance

If the proposed employer belongs to a French tourism organization or one for restaurateurs then that organization can probably assist the employer with approval to employ a TCN, especially since it is well known by the French government that the industry is having difficulty recruiting seasonal workers, including at inflated rates of pay.


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## EuroTrash

BackinFrance said:


> If the proposed employer belongs to a French tourism organization or one for restaurateurs then that organization can probably assist the employer with approval to employ a TCN, especially since it is well known by the French government that the industry is having difficulty recruiting seasonal workers, including at inflated rates of pay.


Yes indeed.
Although it really isn't that hard to get approval, I think perhaps it's perceived as being a lot harder than it is.
Someone I know who runs a tour business in the south used to bring in students from the UK every summer. This year she needed to recruit 8 staff. She managed to recruit 5 through the pole emploi, 3 French and 2 Dutch, and she had no difficulty at all getting authorisation to bring in Brits for the other three posts.
The hardest part looked as if it was going to be finding young Brits who were prepared to shell out the visa costs upfront but she got round that by undertaking to loan the money on the understanding that the loan would be written off if they complete the season, or if they want to leave early they have to pay it back. Win win.


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## Bevdeforges

ARPC said:


> The risk of these arrangements, though commonly considered heavier for the employer, is as much for the worker ultimately, as when they are poorly treated or not paid they have no recompense


Having once been an "undocumented alien" here (through no fault of my own, I must say <g>), I can say that there actually is a way for the undocumented worker to get his or her compensation and report mistreatment. But it involves going to court. The government is supposed to get any promised compensation to the worker. However, once the payment has been made and whatever penalties extracted from the employer, the worker is then required to leave the country. There is no penalty (at least no fines or jail time) for the exploited worker. But I don't know if this action affects the worker's immigration status going forward.

Just one of those "handy and memorable" bits of trivia you pick up when you're casting about for ways around immigration problems.


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## Tamarisk33

Wow - it's my first time on here & I did not expect so many replies - thank you everyone )
It looks like he'll have to apply for a short term visa - the "Schengen Visa" to allow him to work in Europe.
"Black" working is not an option in this restaurant - checks and controls are more & more frequent and I know the owner is not prepared to take the risk (he also told me that if necessary he can prove that he's already tried to find someone French - 2 months adversing for help & no candidates...)
I'm just worried about the amount of time it will take to get the visa processed...


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## EuroTrash

Tamarisk33 said:


> (he also told me that if necessary he can prove that he's already tried to find someone French - 2 months adversing for help & no candidates...)


That's good, so the employer needs to get the ball rolling by applying for permission to employ the boy. The boy will need to include proof of authorisation twork in France with his visa application and this is something the employer has to obtain, you/he can't apply for it. So it will save time if the employer applies straight away
Suggest starting here SdatPortailUsager and clicking Je sollicite une autorisation de travail


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## Tamarisk33

Thank you!
Any idea how long it takes ?


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## EuroTrash

My friend said it was taking on average just less than a fortnight to get hers through, this was a couple of months back. She was very relieved how smoothly it went.


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