Did you qualify as an occupational therapist in a European Union country and want to work in France? 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 the occupational therapists' committee. Good news, unlike physiotherapists and healthcare assistants: if you have no answer four months after a complete file, your application is accepted. This guide tells you, step by step, where to submit your file, which documents to gather and what to do before your first day at work.
EU-qualified occupational therapist: 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. Occupational therapy is not one of them: your training is examined case by case.
Under Article L4331-4 of the French Public Health Code, you can apply for the authorisation in three cases:
- your qualification allows you to practise lawfully as an occupational therapist 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 occupational therapists' committee (a doctor, two occupational therapists, representatives of the State and of the ARS). 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. There is no Ordre (professional body) for occupational therapists: after the authorisation, the ARS (regional health agency) where you work registers you.
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 (in Occitanie, for example, « Diplômés européens : Demande d'autorisation d'exercer »). 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 reproduced on Légifrance: open the form (annex to the order of 20 January 2010); the guide below the table explains each section.
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 and Occitanie, the DREETS points to an online application that mentions occupational therapists.
- No online application: send your file in two copies, by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt, to the secretariat of the region's occupational therapists' committee. 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 20 January 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 — Wait for the decision (4 months at most)
Once your file is complete, the authorities have 4 months to answer. Good news: if you have had no answer after 4 months, your application is accepted. It is the opposite for physiotherapists and healthcare assistants. Keep proof of submission and the acknowledgement of receipt: they date your file.
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 let you choose between an adaptation period and an aptitude test, impose one of them, or both. The decision states its reasons; the aptitude test takes place within six months of its notification.
Step 7 — Before you start, register with the ARS
Before your first day at work, register your authorisation, free of charge, with the ARS for the place where you work. Afterwards, tell it about any change in your situation within a month (Article L4333-1 and Article D4333-1 of the French Public Health Code).
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 occupational therapists' committee; silence for four months after receipt of the complete file amounts to acceptance (Article R4331-9 of the French Public Health Code). That order designates the region in which you intend to settle. The order of 20 January 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 20 January 2010:
| Document | When to provide it | What it is and who issues it |
|---|---|---|
| Application form | Always | An official form you fill in yourself: personal details, contact details, qualification, posts held. Open the form (annex to the order of 20 January 2010, 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 an occupational therapist 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 (Article 5 of the order, in French). |
| 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 L4331-4, 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.
Reading the form (it is in French)
The application form is in French. Here is what each section asks for, in the order of the form.
| On the form | In English | What to write |
|---|---|---|
| « Profession : » | Profession | The French name of the profession you are applying for: ergothérapeute. |
| « Vous êtes de nationalité communautaire… » (3 sentences) | Your situation | Indicate the one that applies to you. (a) You are an EU national holding a qualification required to practise the profession in an EU or EEA state that regulates access to it or its practice. (b) You are an EU national and have practised the profession in an EU or EEA state that regulates neither access to it nor its practice. (c) You are an EU national holding a qualification issued by a country outside the EU and the EEA and recognised by an EU or EEA state other than France. |
| « Etat civil » | Personal details | Title (M. = Mr, Mme = Mrs, Mlle = Miss), surname (« Nom de famille »), married name (« Nom d'épouse »), first names, date, city and country of birth, nationality. |
| « Coordonnées » | Contact details | Home address, city, postcode, country, phone, mobile (« Portable ») and email (« Mél »). |
| « Diplôme de la profession considérée » | Qualification for this profession | Title of the qualification, date and country obtained, the body that issued it (« Délivré par ») and, if applicable, the date it was recognised by an EU or EEA state. |
| « Diplômes » / « Autres diplômes, titres et certificats » | Qualifications / other qualifications, titles and certificates | Two tables with the columns country (« PAYS »), title (« INTITULÉ »), date and place of training (« LIEU de formation »). |
| « Exercice professionnel : fonctions exercées à l'étranger ou dans un Etat membre ou partie » | Professional practice | Posts you have held abroad or in an EU or EEA state: type of post (« NATURE »), place and country, period. |
| « Projets professionnels éventuels (facultatif) » | Professional plans (optional) | You may describe what you plan to do in France; this section is not compulsory. |
| « Formulaire à retourner dûment complété au secrétariat de la commission compétente pour l'examen de votre demande. » | Where to send the form | Send the completed form to the secretariat of the commission that will examine your application. |
| « Date » / « Signature » | Date and signature | Date and sign the form. |
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 acceptance |
| 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.
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 L4333-2). 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 occupational therapy 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 occupational therapists' committee. With it, you work like an occupational therapist 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 and Occitanie, 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 occupational therapists' committee (order of 20 January 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?
For an occupational therapist, silence works in your favour: if you have had no answer four months after your file is complete, your application is accepted. Keep proof of submission and the acknowledgement of receipt, which arrives within a month.
Is there an Ordre for occupational therapists?
No. After the authorisation, you register it free of charge with the ARS for the place where you work, before you start working, and then tell it about any change in your situation within a month.
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 20 January 2010. If your DREETS online application asks for a certificate of conformity, ask the DREETS what to attach instead.
Can I work as an occupational therapist in France while my application is being processed?
Not to settle. The freedom to provide services only allows an occupational therapist established in another EU country to come and work in France on a temporary and occasional basis, after a declaration to the regional prefect; it is not a way to settle or to wait for the authorisation. Practising without authorisation is a criminal offence. 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.
Official sources
- French Public Health Code, Article L4331-4 — authorisation to practise
- French Public Health Code, Article R4331-9 — regional prefect, committee, 4-month silence
- Order of 20 January 2010 — content of the file
- French Public Health Code, Article D4333-1 — registration with the ARS
- Directive 2005/36/EC, consolidated version — EUR-Lex