Re Registration In France

suzanne4, RN · Mar 7, 2004

Suggestion for the French----------------------do you have any Vietnamese neighbors or know of any in your area? When I was studying French I did a trade, tutoring in English for the help in French, and it really helped. Remember, Viet Nam used to be a french colony, so most of them are bilingual in French. You can try sending an e-mail to the National Federation of Nurses at [email protected] , they should be able to give you better information and answer your specific questions.

Good luck.. :)

johnathan crisp · Apr 29, 2004

Dear Sharon

I just came across this website whilst looking for info. on working in France. I am also planning to work in France - later in the year and am desperately trying to find out what documentation I will need. I wondered if you had found any further information? I think the 'nursing board' may be DASS? I may be wrong though! What makes you want to go from New Zealand to France? I'm in UK - worked in France (pre-nursing) years ago and that's how I learnt the language fluently although it's rusty now! My father lives out near La Rochelle in France so visit France regularly and the language is coming back...

Hope to hear from you soon.

Lesley

DavidFR, BSN, MSN, RN · May 13, 2004

Dear Sharon,

I'm British and I've worked in France over three years now.

Learning French is your first step as you can't actually register until you're proficient. If you can spare the time and money to take a couple of months to come and do a full time French course it's the best way. Langue Onze (11 rue Gambay, 75017 Paris - they have a website, search "Langue Onze") is an excellent little school offering intesive courses; I did 4 months there when I first came here and they were excellent. If you're in a large city look for an Institut Français or Alliance Française to get started - but you must immerse yourself in the language; films, TV, radio, music - as much as you can. And if you can find a French person for language exchange all the better.

There's no nursing council as such. You register in person with your local health and social security department (known as the DDASS: Direction Départementale des Affaires Sanitaires et Sociales) who regulate all health care professionals. You must register in the locality where you work, hence you must have an offer of work to actually register. I don't know how the land lies for non-EU trained nurses, but for info you could try writing to the the Paris DDASS at rue de Tocqueville, 75017 Paris. Foreign nurses sometimes have to work a period as an Aide Soignante (care assistant) if their qualifications aren't instantly registerable in France. As an EU national your residency is no problem. You must go to your local Préfecture de Police to get a Carte de Séjour (permit to stay) within three months, but with an Irish passport this cannot be refused to you.

You will save yourself a lot of time if you come prepared with your original birth certificate and nursing qualifications translated into French and stamped by an official translator approved by your embassy. France is the land of beareaucracy and getting anything official done is lengthy and frustrating, but ultimately worth it. This is a wonderful place to live.

DavidFR, BSN, MSN, RN · May 13, 2004

Sharon, there's more information posted on the "Nursing in France" thread in this section. Good luck.

Nurse GOODNIGHT · May 14, 2004

Am enjoying this discussion. Am new here. Was thinking about the same thing when I graduate and stumbled upon this thread. Can anyone tell me what it is like working overseas(& therefore being a minority in a strange land). Many thanks!

suzanne4, RN · May 14, 2004

:balloons: I live and work in Bangkok, Thailand. :balloons:

And there is definitely no other place that I would rather be. Can't get much different from the US than this. Food vendors on the street with a fabulous Thai meal for about $0.50 or less. I can provide lunch for about 10 people in my office for under $3.00 with grilled fish (the whole fish), grilled chicken, and about 8 different side dishes, along with the brown rice. Try doing that in the US. No such thing as frozen vegetables over here, everything is extremely fresh, from the farm just the day before. Same for fruits, some quite exotic, such as rambutan, mangosteens, longan, and lychees. These are just a few of my favorites....................and can't forget the freshly picked pineapple. 1/2 peeled and sliced for $0.25. No comparison to what they serve in the uS.

Try doing something different, you may like it or even love it.

I know that I do............. :)

DavidFR, BSN, MSN, RN · May 14, 2004

Am enjoying this discussion. Am new here. Was thinking about the same thing when I graduate and stumbled upon this thread. Can anyone tell me what it is like working overseas(& therefore being a minority in a strange land). Many thanks!

Living in another country, learning a new language and adaptng to a new culture is the most enriching thing I've ever done in my life. Go for it!

johnathan crisp · May 17, 2004

Dear David,

It's great to hear from someone working over in France - thanks for all the information you've sent regarding the 'thread'. I have another question - I contacted the NMC (old UKCC) and they sent me a verification form - do I need to have my qualification 'verified' first (costs £35) or can I get my original certificate translated? Can you remember the cost of the official translation?

Would I definitely need to have found a job before visiting the local DDASS office? I was planning on moving to France before obtaining a job but need to know that there wouldn't be a problem working there eventually. My french is heading towards being fluent - it was years ago and it is returning fast and furiously. I would need to gem up on the medical terms etc.

Hope to hear from you soon. Many thanks.

Lesley

Dear Sharon,
I'm British and I've worked in France over three years now.
Learning French is your first step as you can't actually register until you're proficient. If you can spare the time and money to take a couple of months to come and do a full time French course it's the best way. Langue Onze (11 rue Gambay, 75017 Paris - they have a website, search "Langue Onze") is an excellent little school offering intesive courses; I did 4 months there when I first came here and they were excellent. If you're in a large city look for an Institut Français or Alliance Française to get started - but you must immerse yourself in the language; films, TV, radio, music - as much as you can. And if you can find a French person for language exchange all the better.
There's no nursing council as such. You register in person with your local health and social security department (known as the DDASS: Direction Départementale des Affaires Sanitaires et Sociales) who regulate all health care professionals. You must register in the locality where you work, hence you must have an offer of work to actually register. I don't know how the land lies for non-EU trained nurses, but for info you could try writing to the the Paris DDASS at rue de Tocqueville, 75017 Paris. Foreign nurses sometimes have to work a period as an Aide Soignante (care assistant) if their qualifications aren't instantly registerable in France. As an EU national your residency is no problem. You must go to your local Préfecture de Police to get a Carte de Séjour (permit to stay) within three months, but with an Irish passport this cannot be refused to you.
You will save yourself a lot of time if you come prepared with your original birth certificate and nursing qualifications translated into French and stamped by an official translator approved by your embassy. France is the land of beareaucracy and getting anything official done is lengthy and frustrating, but ultimately worth it. This is a wonderful place to live.

DavidFR, BSN, MSN, RN · May 18, 2004

Dear David,
It's great to hear from someone working over in France - thanks for all the information you've sent regarding the 'thread'. I have another question - I contacted the NMC (old UKCC) and they sent me a verification form - do I need to have my qualification 'verified' first (costs £35) or can I get my original certificate translated? Can you remember the cost of the official translation?
Would I definitely need to have found a job before visiting the local DDASS office? I was planning on moving to France before obtaining a job but need to know that there wouldn't be a problem working there eventually. My french is heading towards being fluent - it was years ago and it is returning fast and furiously. I would need to gem up on the medical terms etc.
Hope to hear from you soon. Many thanks.

Hi there,

France is notorious for it's beaureaucrats, and rules often change from place to place or from day to day depending on the mood!

It might be worth calling your local DDASS to find out if they require you to have the work offer first, but when I first tried to register in Paris (without work) I was told I needed a "professional address" first, i.e. a work address. I simply went to an agency and registered and then went back to the DDASS with the agency as my "professional address" and they registered me. At first the agency thought they couldn't register me as I'd never worked in the French system, but they telephoned the DDASS who verified that they could register me. With hindsight, those first few agency shifts were nervewracking and it's probably best to have a permanent position first. I was lucky with my first few missions as I worked with other nurses who were very helpful, but it's increasingly common to be sent out on agency as 'THE' trained nurse for the shift, and I'd hate to have faced that before I'd worked in France a little bit!!!

I would have no worries about getting work if your French is reasonable, such is the shortage here they'll grab you with open arms. I believe Brittany is the only region where the shortage hasn't hit and where getting work can be probmematic. Elsewhere, no worries.

I needed both my UKCC verification AND a traslation of my certificate. The translation wasn't cheap (about 35 euros per A4 side), however you only need your RGN certificate doing (and your birth certificate - in the long form stating your father's occupation!! If like me you don't have this you'll need to get a copy; for UK births from Somerset House - costing 16 quid). Don't bother getting ENB course certs etc. translated as they mean nothing here. Be warned the UKCC verification only has a 3 month shelf life. The British embassy in Paris (tel: 01 44 51 31 00) gives out a list of recognized translators. I used a lady in Paris from their list called Hélène Varnica, who as I say wasn't cheap, but was very quick and is used to doing nursing/medical translations.

Getting through French beareaucracy can be daunting, but take comfort in the fact thet it's the same for French people! Rude "fonctionnaires" are something of a national joke, though in fact my experience has been that people are generally helpful, they're just obliged by the rules to verify your last fart and record it in triplicate!

Bon courage!

johnathan crisp · May 22, 2004

Thanks for the email David. So, the nurses role in France is very technical... IVs, venepuncture, drugs etc. I worked for 3 years as a Community Staff nurse so my blood taking skills are fine. I worked with Hickman lines/central lines too. Not peripheral IVs. That's my main experience of 'technical nursing'. Since then I have worked as a school health nurse which is more health education/promotion (mostly sex-ed due to the highest rate of teenage pregnancy in Europe). I feel that may be I need to update my clinical skills? Especially if french nursing is more technical than UK. Are you working in medical/surgical area? Do you know of school nursing in France? Merci bien. Amicalement,

Hi there,
France is notorious for it's beaureaucrats, and rules often change from place to place or from day to day depending on the mood!
It might be worth calling your local DDASS to find out if they require you to have the work offer first, but when I first tried to register in Paris (without work) I was told I needed a "professional address" first, i.e. a work address. I simply went to an agency and registered and then went back to the DDASS with the agency as my "professional address" and they registered me. At first the agency thought they couldn't register me as I'd never worked in the French system, but they telephoned the DDASS who verified that they could register me. With hindsight, those first few agency shifts were nervewracking and it's probably best to have a permanent position first. I was lucky with my first few missions as I worked with other nurses who were very helpful, but it's increasingly common to be sent out on agency as 'THE' trained nurse for the shift, and I'd hate to have faced that before I'd worked in France a little bit!!!
I would have no worries about getting work if your French is reasonable, such is the shortage here they'll grab you with open arms. I believe Brittany is the only region where the shortage hasn't hit and where getting work can be probmematic. Elsewhere, no worries.
I needed both my UKCC verification AND a traslation of my certificate. The translation wasn't cheap (about 35 euros per A4 side), however you only need your RGN certificate doing (and your birth certificate - in the long form stating your father's occupation!! If like me you don't have this you'll need to get a copy; for UK births from Somerset House - costing 16 quid). Don't bother getting ENB course certs etc. translated as they mean nothing here. Be warned the UKCC verification only has a 3 month shelf life. The British embassy in Paris (tel: 01 44 51 31 00) gives out a list of recognized translators. I used a lady in Paris from their list called Hélène Varnica, who as I say wasn't cheap, but was very quick and is used to doing nursing/medical translations.
Getting through French beareaucracy can be daunting, but take comfort in the fact thet it's the same for French people! Rude "fonctionnaires" are something of a national joke, though in fact my experience has been that people are generally helpful, they're just obliged by the rules to verify your last fart and record it in triplicate!
Bon courage!

susanna · May 22, 2004

Thanks for the email David. So, the nurses role in France is very technical... IVs, venepuncture, drugs etc. I worked for 3 years as a Community Staff nurse so my blood taking skills are fine. I worked with Hickman lines/central lines too. Not peripheral IVs. That's my main experience of 'technical nursing'. Since then I have worked as a school health nurse which is more health education/promotion (mostly sex-ed due to the highest rate of teenage pregnancy in Europe). I feel that may be I need to update my clinical skills? Especially if french nursing is more technical than UK. Are you working in medical/surgical area? Do you know of school nursing in France? Merci bien. Amicalement,

Bonjours a tous,

I was thinking of working in France as a nurse too once I got my degree but then thought, "That would probably be extremely difficult as I am an American" and the EU is here so priority is probably given to Europeans. Are most of you guys speaking from within the EU or from Canada?

I like the idea that French nurses can be more technical and are treated more professional too. Sometimes, when I was in France I was really intimidated by the cold professionalism workers exhibit. (Its a funny contrast with the warm bisous, isn't it?) But, I like it because it seems more starightforward and less superficial than our ways here.

I'm not sure how well I speak French to native speakers.

Another thing that really frightens me is the roughness of French society. While I was there as a student, I observed and was straight out told by the natives that their society was very, very stringent. I am asian. I'm wondering if I would have a harder time because of that?

Y'a quelqu'un qui peut me repondre? Courage a vous tous : )