An American trying to work in Paris!

Hi Monica and welcome to the forum!

I wish you good luck in your search.

Harmonie.

Hi Monica,

i am in the same situation in Florida ( from France) and there is no other option if you are not sponsored by an employer and qualify for a workign visa then marriage. Its sad but we have to cheat some how to live the life we want and that can make us happy.

Alex

lucky you at least you are getting to go  for job interviews... i will alway sprescribe the legal route - why not try ur embassy maybe they will help? just got back from uk in begining december - tho cant work yet...

I am romanian-american and my name is Emilia and I want to work nn Paris too. I try to find permis for work me too .you can to contacte me too elacjusa@yahoo.com I wil tolk with my lawer how I can to work in France .and afer i will tell you ! we can to learn toghether french . Do you speak french ?? ok you contacte me to elacjusa@yahoo.com  and i amvery glad to meet you !have a nice day ! Emi

Hi there! I'm an American living here in France for the next year. Sadly, the only way to work legally is getting a work visa. It's quite a lengthy process, and actually somewhat difficult to obtain, since the government wants to decrease the number of foreign immigrant workers.

My employer had to sponsor me, then I had to go to my consulate in Florida, get my paperwork and add the visa for my passport. Then once arriving in France, I had to send more paperwork to the Immigration office with copies of my passport that stated my arrival in France. Then I was required to go to the Immigration office for a medical exam, language test, and had to watch some information about France. Then the final step was to sit in the French Civic class, it's an 8 hour class that the Immigration office puts together (and they have classes in English and some with a translator if you need help)

So if you need a timeline....

June 1st- my employer files paperwork

July 14th- I go to my consulate, file my side of paperwork, get visa

August 30th- Arrive in France, send paperwork

October 20th- Immigration Office exams and such

November 25th- French Civics class.

Thanks for your information! It definitely sounds like a lengthy process. What company do you work for? It seems like most Americans working here that I've met are in Finance or IT work...I'm nowhere in that realm of work and in fact have very little professional experience...!

I'm actually a nanny.... one of the easiest ways for me to live and work here in France.

Hope you can find something soon... you're only allowed to stay 90 days without a visa. Check the classifieds here on ExPat, Craigslist, and maybe the American Embassy has something.

Hello Monica,
If you want to stay and work in France permanently I believe your only option is to come back to the US and get your visa there. Maybe if you have a little time left in France for now you can keep interviewing with different companies and see if they would sponsor you. I guess you could stay and work illegally as a nanny or a dog walker or English tutor but that's not a desirable situation since you could get in trouble with the immigration and also you couldn't get social security, government help, etc. The other option would be to marry a French citizen...
Immigrating to France is a long and complicated process but it's worth it if you know that living in France permanently is right for you:)

AlexMiami wrote:

Hi Monica,

i am in the same situation in Florida ( from France) and there is no other option if you are not sponsored by an employer and qualify for a workign visa then marriage. Its sad but we have to cheat some how to live the life we want and that can make us happy.

Alex

well, I am looking to work in France too (American), and it is like this in most of Europe.
But French people cannot live and work in the US either, without being sponsored by a US company, so it is the same in the US.
I just wonder how I can find a company that WILL sponsor me...?
Any ideas?

SucreBleu wrote:

Hi there! I'm an American living here in France for the next year. Sadly, the only way to work legally is getting a work visa. It's quite a lengthy process, and actually somewhat difficult to obtain, since the government wants to decrease the number of foreign immigrant workers.

My employer had to sponsor me, then I had to go to my consulate in Florida, get my paperwork and add the visa for my passport. Then once arriving in France, I had to send more paperwork to the Immigration office with copies of my passport that stated my arrival in France. Then I was required to go to the Immigration office for a medical exam, language test, and had to watch some information about France. Then the final step was to sit in the French Civic class, it's an 8 hour class that the Immigration office puts together (and they have classes in English and some with a translator if you need help)

So if you need a timeline....

June 1st- my employer files paperwork

July 14th- I go to my consulate, file my side of paperwork, get visa

August 30th- Arrive in France, send paperwork

October 20th- Immigration Office exams and such

November 25th- French Civics class.

hi,
well I understand, I am an American and want to do the same, work in France.
but when you say "Sadly, the only way to work legally is getting a work visa", I would like to add that it is the same for French people wanting to work in the US legally.(or any other European, for that matter)
They too would need a sponsor in the US.
The only good news is that the US seems less xenophobic than the French...

The above information is basically correct: if you wish to live and work in France, you cannot simply move there. Sorry about that. workpermit.com has good information about the process, though it's mostly aimed at employers.

Essentially, it's a hard process because popular countries would be flooded with immigrants if they open up their floodgates too much. I have a Young Person's Guide to Moving Abroad on my Web site and you'll likely find it disappointing because it really doesn't have ways of magically moving to Paris or something like that.

When you say you're "qualified", what does that mean? My blog is specifically aimed at helping people move abroad, but without a pretty good idea of what "qualified" is, I'd be stumped in offering any better advice.