Are people entitled to unemployment in France after a stay in Europe?
Verified 11 April 2022 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)
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You receive unemployment benefits from another European country
If you are receiving unemployment benefits in another country European (EEA + Switzerland + Monaco + Andorra), you can continue to benefit from it in France.
Before your return to France, you must respond to 2 conditions following:
- Be registered for at least 4 weeks as unemployed with the employment service of the country in which you lost your job (exceptions are possible)
- Requesting a U2 portable document (maintenance of entitlement to unemployment benefits) with the body paying your unemployment benefits.
With this document, you can to register as a jobseeker with the France Travail agency (formerly Pôle emploi) on which your home in France depends.
You have to do it within 7 days that follow the date of your cessation of registration as a jobseeker in the country you are leaving.
Your allowances can be maintained, in France, for 3 months (possible extension up to 6 months), within the limits of the rights open to you in the European country concerned. To do this, you must complete the 2 conditions following:
- Be fully unemployed (not partial or intermittent)
- Be entitled to unemployment benefits in the country where you lost your job.
Warning
in order to retain your rights to unemployment benefit in France, you must renew your rights, before they're over. You must ask the National Employment Service of the country in which you lost your job. Find out before you return to France.
As soon as you arrive in France, must register as a job seeker.
You must contact the France Travail agency on which your home depends.
You can enjoy the same rights as French nationals:
- Access to employment
- Employment Services Help
- Financial assistance to help you find work
You're in a different situation
If you resume a professional activity in France and later lose it, you will be able to collect unemployment benefit in France and you will be able to claim your periods for unemployment insurance already acquired in another country European (EEA + Switzerland)
(except in special cases, for example: if you are posted or if you work in several European countries).
Before your return to France, get the U1 portable document with the body paying your unemployment benefit.
This form summarizes the periods of insurance or employment completed in another State European (EEA + Switzerland). It allows these periods to be taken into account when calculating your unemployment benefit in France.
After you lost your job in France, you will need to register as a job seeker with France Travail (formerly Pôle emploi). You will then be able to ask for the totalization of your unemployment rights acquired in the European country or countries where you worked. If you do not have the U1 form, the France Travail agency on which your home depends can apply for it. Ask your agency for more information.
For the calculation of any rights to unemployment compensation in France, your agency France Travail takes into account the periods of employment completed in the 2 States.
For the calculating your unemployment benefit, France Travail takes into account only your remuneration received in France. Remuneration received in another European country is therefore not taken into account for the calculation of the amount of the allowance.
Example :
you come to France after working 5 years in Italy. You take over an activity in France and then you are fired. Even if this recovery was short-lived, you will be able to collect unemployment in France. Your benefits will be calculated on your completed insurance periods in Italy and France. However, the amount of the unemployment benefit will be calculated only on your wages received in France.
Register for France Travail (formerly Pôle emploi)
FYI
if you are frontier worker, you are not affected by these rules. You have special provisions.
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You receive unemployment benefits from another European country
If you are receiving unemployment benefits in another country European (EEA + Switzerland + Monaco + Andorra), you can continue to benefit from it in France.
Before your return to France, you must respond to 2 conditions following:
- Be registered for at least 4 weeks as unemployed with the employment service of the country in which you lost your job (exceptions are possible)
- Requesting a U2 portable document (maintenance of entitlement to unemployment benefits) with the body paying your unemployment benefits.
With this document, you can to register as a jobseeker with the France Travail agency (formerly Pôle emploi) on which your home in France depends.
You have to do it within 7 days that follow the date of your cessation of registration as a jobseeker in the country you are leaving.
Your allowances can be maintained, in France, for 3 months (possible extension up to 6 months), within the limits of the rights open to you in the European country concerned. To do this, you must complete the 2 conditions following:
- Be fully unemployed (not partial or intermittent)
- Be entitled to unemployment benefits in the country where you lost your job.
Warning
in order to retain your rights to unemployment benefit in France, you must renew your rights, before they're over. You must ask the National Employment Service of the country in which you lost your job. Find out before you return to France.
As soon as you arrive in France, must register as a job seeker.
You must contact the France Travail agency on which your home depends.
You can enjoy the same rights as French nationals:
- Access to employment
- Employment Services Help
- Financial assistance to help you find work
You're in a different situation
If you resume a professional activity in France and later lose it, you will be able to collect unemployment benefit in France and you will be able to claim your periods for unemployment insurance already acquired in another country European (EEA + Switzerland)
(except in special cases, for example: if you are posted or if you work in several European countries).
Before your return to France, get the U1 portable document with the body paying your unemployment benefit.
This form summarizes the periods of insurance or employment completed in another State European (EEA + Switzerland). It allows these periods to be taken into account when calculating your unemployment benefit in France.
After you lost your job in France, you will need to register as a job seeker with France Travail (formerly Pôle emploi). You will then be able to ask for the totalization of your unemployment rights acquired in the European country or countries where you worked. If you do not have the U1 form, the France Travail agency on which your home depends can apply for it. Ask your agency for more information.
For the calculation of any rights to unemployment compensation in France, your agency France Travail takes into account the periods of employment completed in the 2 States.
For the calculating your unemployment benefit, France Travail takes into account only your remuneration received in France. Remuneration received in another European country is therefore not taken into account for the calculation of the amount of the allowance.
Example :
you come to France after working 5 years in Italy. You take over an activity in France and then you are fired. Even if this recovery was short-lived, you will be able to collect unemployment in France. Your benefits will be calculated on your completed insurance periods in Italy and France. However, the amount of the unemployment benefit will be calculated only on your wages received in France.
Register for France Travail (formerly Pôle emploi)
FYI
if you are frontier worker, you are not affected by these rules. You have special provisions.
Warning
if you are non-European national, you can look for a job in France for 3 months. To settle and work in France after this period, you must apply for a residence permit from the prefecture of your residence in France.
European Commission
European Commission
European Commission
Center for European and International Social Security Liaison (Cleiss)