Moving to France to work and get residency from non-EU country

Question

I want to settle in France. I am a 39 year old Australian living in Australia. I am single and I have no dependants so I am only concerned about myself in this process.

My understanding of the process is this:

1. Get a job offer from an employer in France (while I'm still in Australia)
   • Wait for them to fill in the temporary work permit paperwork and submit it to the appropriate French government department
2. Fly to Sydney from my home city to apply for a working visa in person
   • Fly back home
3. Wait at least 2 weeks for notification of whether the visa was approved or not (could be up to 2 months)
4. If the visa was issued, fly to France and start working!
5. After five years of living in France start the process for permanent residency or citizenship
   • Alternatively, marry a French citizen and wait two years, but I'm not banking on that!

I have completed a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) course so I am qualified to work as an English Teacher, which I understand is one of the easiest jobs to get in France as an English speaking foreigner. I have been in contact with an agency that would hire me instantly... if only I already had a working visa! They employ over 1000 foreigners every year but they don't submit the form for the temporary work permit. Most people they hire are students, who are allowed to work up to 20 hours a week on a student visa. If you want to apply for a student visa you have to do so before your 31st birthday, so I am too old to qualify for that.

The TEFL industry is huge in France, with most jobs being placed in August/September and January. I am planning to go in January if I can get everything worked out. This will give me three months to finalise my life in Australia. I rent a house by myself so I need time to dispose of my car, whitegoods, furniture, books, DVDs, etc. Fortunately, I don't own the house I live in so I don't need to sell it, just notify my landlord giving them sufficient advance notice.

I usually work as programmer in Australia but I am not planning on changing jobs quickly in France. As long as I enjoy what I'm doing, I can live off the income and it's in France I don't mind. I have enough savings that I could support myself for a short time if money was tight. It's probably hard for me to get a programming job in France anyway as French employers are required by law to fill all positions with French or EU citizens if available first.

I am also interested in working in the Netherlands on a short-term basis but not settling there. I mention this only in case there is a way of working in one EU country, then easily transferring to another one.

As far as I can tell, the only option for me is to get a working visa before I go to France (Australians can only be issued French visas in Sydney). I can't go to France to look for work because if I was offered a job I'd have to fly back to Australia and wait at least 2 weeks before being issued a visa, which is not guaranteed. Most of the advice I'm reading online says that to get a job as an English Teacher you need to be in France for face-to-face interviews.

Am I missing some relatively easy way of making this happen? Is there another way I could work in France long-term with a view to staying permanently?

Answer 1

Your understanding is basically correct and unfortunately I think it will be quite difficult to get a visa in your situation.

Apart from highly-paid professionals, scientists and artists (who qualify for another type of visa) or selected occupations, the work permit (Autorisation de travail) is quite difficult to get. Being a native English-speaker and a qualified teacher might help but there are many other people (students, British and Irish citizens, people on family visas) who are already in France or can easily go there to fill those positions, which explains why the agency you found would not help you with the visa.

There is in fact a way to live in another EU country and then transfer your residence rights to France (the EU blue card) but it also has pretty steep requirements (including a minimum income threshold) and you won't get one to teach English. Depending on your specific expertise, you could perhaps find a job as a software developper in the Netherlands or Germany (I mention Germany because I think it's more welcoming to English speakers in IT positions and is doing much better than the Netherlands or France on the unemployment front). It's not easy but it could be a solution.

For completeness, there is also a residence permit that would allow you to live in France long-term but not to work, if you have sufficient resources (meaning an income of about €1200 per month or significant wealth from which you could draw) but I assume that's not your case. It's called the carte de séjour mention “visiteur”.

But the easiest solution is certainly the spouse visa for the partners of French citizens (or people from other EU countries actually, with the caveat that citizenship would be more difficult to get in this case). The rules are slightly different but marrying is not necessary, a registered partnership would be fine as well. I would in fact consider this the “classic” route to citizenship for people born abroad, either directly or after a string of student visas.

Incidentally, I am not sure where you got the two weeks figure but it seems quite optimistic. Do not count on it.