Working in France

Working in France without finding a job and without being self employed? Why would I want to do that then?

 

Well a job would be nice, working as a salaried employee with a regular income for an established French company would be pretty comforting. However, I just don't have the French language skills for the kind of work that I can do and I don't have the kind of skills that employers want so much they would overlook the communication problems. So that's out.

Self Employed in France

So I need self employed work in France but, I wasn't too sure how much money I would earn and if my ideas would work. This is a problem in France because before you can start your own business you need to register as being self employed.

Part of that registration process involves being pretty specific about what type of work you are going to do and what it is that you are going to do determines who you register your business with. No doing a little bit of this and a little bit of that.

The second problem with  self-employed work in France was money, in that there are fees to be paid up front and cotisations (social security payments). These are set at a value of something like 3,000 euros for your first year regardless of your earnings. What if I didn't earn 3,000 euros? Sure it would even out eventually over three years to reflect my true earnings but that felt like a bit of a commitment.

Freelance in France

So I needed a solution where I could work in France on a freelance basis but only pay social security deductions on money I actually earned. My solution was to work for a Portage Salarial. This works in the following way.

• You find clients who need your services.

• You agree terms and do their work.

• The Portage company bills your clients and your clients pay them.

• The Portage are your employers and pay you a salary from your client's payments deducting social security contributions on a P.A.Y.E. basis and of course their commission.

• Create a website and advertise your service in my case admin services.

Voila! as we say in France.

French Social Security

So that's sorted then the next step was getting a social security number. I recommend you take the following documents with you when you go to your local CPAM office

E106 from UK
Contract of employment
Pay Slip
Passport
Birth Certificate
Marriage Certificate
RIB (this is the slip that has details of your French bank account)
Utility Bill
Bank Statement
Mother's school photo when she was six (no not really)

You may then be able to sort it out in one visit.

Useful Links About Working In France

CPAM for Limousin region in English. This also has information about signing up with a doctor etc.

Guide du Portage in French but hey it's good practise. They have a directory of Portage companies.

Service Public France in English the French civil services web site