Did you qualify as a healthcare assistant in a European Union country and want to work in France as an aide-soignant? Your qualification is not recognised automatically: you need an authorisation to practise, granted case by case by the prefect of the region where you want to settle, after the opinion of a committee. With it, you work under the same conditions as an aide-soignant trained in France. This guide tells you, step by step, where to submit your file, which documents to gather and how long to wait.
EU-qualified healthcare assistant: no automatic recognition
The Directive 2005/36/EC provides for automatic recognition, based on minimum training coordinated at European level, for seven professions: doctor, nurse responsible for general care, dental practitioner, veterinary surgeon, midwife, pharmacist and architect. The aide-soignant occupation is not one of them: your training is examined case by case. Equivalence between your qualification and the French one is never automatic: comparing the two is precisely the committee's job.
Under Article L4391-2 of the French Public Health Code, you can apply for the authorisation in three cases:
- your qualification allows you to practise lawfully as a healthcare assistant in an EU or EEA country that regulates this occupation;
- your country regulates neither the training nor the occupation, and you have worked in it for at least one year full time (or the equivalent part time) during the last ten years;
- your qualification comes from a non-EU country, it has been recognised by an EU or EEA country, and you have worked there for three years full time (or the equivalent part time).
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DREETS or regional prefect: who does what?
It is not the DREETS that authorises you to practise: it is the prefect of the region where you want to settle, after the opinion of the committee for aides-soignants. To submit your file, the practical starting point is the website of the DREETS for that region (the regional directorate for the economy, employment, labour and solidarity, the State's office in the region): several DREETS explain there how to apply. The French Public Health Code provides for no professional body (Ordre) for this occupation.
Authorisation to practise: the procedure step by step
Step 1 — Find the DREETS page for your future region
All the DREETS are listed on dreets.gouv.fr (in the Île-de-France region it is called the DRIEETS). Choose the region where you want to settle, then look on its website for the page about European qualifications or applications for authorisation to practise: its title varies from one region to another. Where it exists, it tells you how to apply in that region. The pages are in French: your browser's translation tool is enough to find your way around them (but not to translate the documents in your file: see the translation rules below).
Step 2 — Prepare your file
Gather the documents in the table below and have those not in French translated. The official form is annexed to the order of 24 March 2010, published in the French Official Journal.
Step 3 — Submit your file
Two cases:
- The page offers an online application (on demarche.numerique.gouv.fr): use it. In the regions whose website we read, for example Bretagne, the DREETS points to an online application that mentions aides-soignants.
- No online application: send your file in two copies, by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt, to the secretariat of the region's committee for aides-soignants. If the address is not on the page, ask the DREETS for it.
Watch out for the « attestation de conformité ». The online form marks this certificate of conformity as « obligatoire » (mandatory), along with a proof of address and a summary table of placements. None of these three documents is on the official list set for your occupation by the order of 24 March 2010; the certificate of conformity is mainly used for automatic recognition, for example that of nurses responsible for general care. The content and length of your placements still have to be proven by the training certificates described in the table of documents. Don't hold up your file looking for a document your country may not issue for your occupation: ask the DREETS what to attach instead.
Step 4 — Watch for the acknowledgement of receipt (1 month)
Within a month of submitting your file, you receive an acknowledgement of receipt. If documents are missing, it tells you: complete your file as quickly as possible. Keep this document: the decision period only starts once your file is complete.
Step 5 — Keep an eye on the 4-month period
Once your file is complete, count 4 months. Be careful: if you have had no answer after 4 months, your application is considered refused. Before that period ends, ask the department that received your file (the DREETS or the committee's secretariat) how it is progressing.
Step 6 — If the decision requires a compensation measure
The committee compares your training with the French training, taking your professional experience into account. If there are substantial differences, the prefect may ask you to complete:
- an aptitude test (written or oral), to be taken within six months of the decision being notified; it is marked out of 20 and passed with an average of 10, with no mark below 8;
- an adaptation period, in a healthcare establishment approved by the ARS (regional health agency).
The prefect may let you choose between the two, impose one of them or impose both. The decision states its reasons. If you are offered a choice, you have two months to make it known.
What the texts say. The authorisation is issued by the prefect of the region designated by order of the Minister of Health, after the opinion of the committee for aides-soignants (Article R4391-2 of the French Public Health Code). That order designates the region in which you intend to settle. The order of 24 March 2010 provides for the file to be sent in two copies, by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt, to the committee's secretariat. The online applications offered by some DREETS are an administrative practice: the texts we consulted do not say whether they replace this postal submission, or whether a file containing all the documents in the order, but not the extra documents requested online, counts as complete.
The documents in your file
The content of the file is set by the order of 24 March 2010:
| Document | When to provide it | What it is and who issues it |
|---|---|---|
| Application form | Always | An official form, to be filled in completely. It is annexed to the order of 24 March 2010; Légifrance does not reproduce it and refers to the Journal officiel no. 74 of 28 March 2010 (text no. 18): see the annex on Légifrance (in French). |
| Identity document | Always | A legible copy, still valid on the day you submit your file. |
| Copy of your qualification | Always | The qualification that allows you to practise as a healthcare assistant in the country where you obtained it. |
| Additional qualifications | Only if you have any | Copies of your additional qualifications. |
| Evidence of continuing education and experience | Always | Any document showing your continuing education, your experience and the skills you gained in practice. The text gives no list. A CV is not required. |
| Statement of no sanctions | Always; issued less than one year ago | A document from the competent authority of the country where you are established, confirming that you have not been sanctioned. |
| Detailed training programme | Always | Certificates from the authorities that issued your qualification: level of training, content and hours of teaching year by year, content and length of placements. If you cannot obtain them, the commission's secretariat may request them itself. |
| Evidence of practice in a country that does not regulate the profession | Only if you practised in a country that regulates neither the training nor the profession | Documents showing at least one year of full-time practice (or an equivalent period part-time) in that country during the last ten years (Article L4391-2, in French). |
| Recognition of your qualification by an EU country | Only if your qualification comes from outside the EU and EEA | The decision of the EU or EEA country that recognised your qualification; you must also have practised there for 3 years full-time (or an equivalent period part-time). |
Apart from the application form and the identity document, the documents in your file (qualification, certificates, evidence of experience, declaration of no sanctions) must be in French or translated by a translator approved by the French courts or authorised to work for the judicial or administrative authorities of an EU or EEA country or Switzerland. An online machine translation is not enough.
Timelines: what the law sets
| Stage | Timeline set by law |
|---|---|
| Acknowledgement of receipt of the application | 1 month |
| No answer after receipt of the complete file | 4 months of silence amount to a refusal |
| Aptitude test, if required | Within 6 months of the decision being notified |
No text sets the actual processing time or the total length of the process: they depend on your file, on any compensation measure and on translation times.
After the authorisation
With your authorisation, you hold the title of aide-soignant and work under the same conditions as an aide-soignant trained in France. You may also use your original title, in its language, with the place and institution where you obtained it (Article L4391-3). The French Public Health Code provides for no Ordre for this occupation.
French: what the texts say
The law requires the knowledge of French needed for the job, checked in a proportionate way after your qualification has been recognised; it sets no level (Article L4391-5). The file contains no language document: ask the department handling your file (the DREETS or the committee's secretariat) whether and how your French will be checked, and work on your professional French in the meantime.
Frequently asked questions
Is my EU healthcare assistant qualification recognised automatically in France?
No. You need an authorisation to practise, granted case by case by the prefect of the region where you want to settle, after the opinion of the committee for aides-soignants. With it, you work like an aide-soignant trained in France.
Do I really have to send my file by registered letter?
Not necessarily. Start with the page of the DREETS for the region where you want to settle (list on dreets.gouv.fr): several DREETS, for example in Bretagne, point to an online application, and that is then the route they indicate. The texts themselves provide for the file to be sent in two copies, by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt, to the secretariat of the committee for aides-soignants (order of 24 March 2010): that is the procedure to follow if your region offers no online application. The texts do not say whether the online application replaces this postal submission: if in doubt, ask the DREETS.
What happens if I get no answer?
You first receive an acknowledgement of receipt within a month. Then, if you have had no answer four months after your file is complete, your application is considered refused. Ask about your file before that period ends.
Do I need a certificate of conformity, a CV or a cover letter?
No: none of these documents is on the list set by the order of 24 March 2010. If your DREETS online application asks for a certificate of conformity, ask the DREETS what to attach instead.
Will I have to sit a test or do a placement?
Not necessarily. A compensation measure is only required if there are substantial differences between your training and the French training, taking your experience into account. The prefect may then let you choose between an aptitude test and an adaptation period, impose one of them, or both.
Can I work as an aide-soignant in France while my application is being processed?
Not to settle. The freedom to provide services only allows a healthcare assistant established in another EU country to come and work in France on a temporary or occasional basis; it is not a way to settle or to wait for the authorisation. There is no European Professional Card for this occupation.
What level of French is required?
The law requires the knowledge of French needed for the job, without setting a level. The proportionate check takes place after your qualification has been recognised. Ask the department handling your file (the DREETS or the committee's secretariat) whether and how your French will be checked.