Teaching Assistant Program in France: Information

Useful Things to Know Before Applying

Moving to France for almost a year is quite an experience. This program is a great way to spend time in France without having to work or study full time (and get paid to be there!) However, there are a lot of things about this program that you should know before you apply and accept your position, especially if you're not an EU citizen.

First of all, you may or may not receive your paperwork from France on time, which would delay your getting a visa (and you MUST get a visa, but it's free). In most cases, you must go to the French consulate to get your visa - you cannot get it by mail; and therefore, you must pay for transportation to the consulate as well as lodging if it's far from where you live. (Click here to see which consulate serves your permanent address.) And of course, you must pay for your own plane ticket to France.
You may have to find housing when you arrive, or it may be provided for you by your school. If your school decides to not help you find housing, it may be very stressful for you to find a place to live as well as expensive if you have to stay in a hostel for a while. You will have to open a bank account in order to be paid, and you must register with the Office of Immigration shortly after your arrival. In order to do so, you need to have a medical visit, which will be scheduled for you. The medical visit is mostly a chest X-ray and they will also check your weight, height and eyesight. (However, American women should be warned that you will not be given anything to cover up with during the chest X-ray - you really do have to walk around topless). British and Irish assistants don't need to register with the Immigration office or have the medical exam because they are already residents of the EU.
Success in this program depends more on luck than preparation, because it's really up to your school to help you or not. You could arrive in France with no clue how to use public transportation, no place to live and no one to help you, so you need to be prepared for the worst. You need to have a lot of money saved before going to France too. If you rent an apartment instead of living at your school or living with French people, you will most likely need two month's rent as a security deposit, which might exceed 1,000 €. Plus you might not get paid for your first month of work until November, depending on when your paperwork goes through.
Finding an apartment is also extremely difficult if it's hard for you to speak French on the phone, or if you don't even speak French that well. Some people will be patient with you and talk slower, but others won't even care if you don't understand them. I do recommend this program to people, but I also think it's important to know about the stressful things that could happen. I was homeless for a while when I first arrived in France, and completely miserable, but as soon as I found a place to live, everything turned out great. If you can survive the first week or two of finding housing, opening a bank account and filling out mounds of paperwork, then you will be fine for the rest of the year. Plus you will be paid 780 € a month to work only 12 hours a week (and possibly even less than that), including seven weeks of paid vacation.
Renter's insurance is a legal requirement in France, so make sure you sign a contract with an insurance company or your bank. In many cases, you will have to get insurance before you can even sign a lease for an apartment. If you are renting a room in someone's house or apartment or living in foyer, you will need to make sure to take out the insurance on your own because it's unlikely that anyone will remind you about it - and you do not want to lose everything if there is a fire or someone steals your stuff. I paid 95€ a year for my one bedroom apartment in Chambéry, with the furniture and everything else I own valued at a maximum of 15,000€.
France offers assistance to people with low incomes, so you may get extra money each month from CAF (Caisse d'Allocations Familiales). I was paying 280€ to rent a room in an apartment, but I received 160€ each month (minus the very first month) from CAF, so it made life a little easier. But as with everything in France, it takes time for the paperwork to go through, so even if you do receive CAF, it might not be until a month or two before you're scheduled to return home! Other sources of extra income are babysitting and giving private English lessons. I did both and managed to make an extra 140€ per month. Assistants are allowed to get a second job as long as it is approved by the school and the salary is not more than 30% of the assistant salary but good luck getting all the paperwork approved...
Assistants do not make enough money to have to declare income tax (it is not a pay-as-you-earn scheme like in the US), but there is another tax that you might have to pay: the taxe d'habitation. This is basically an occupancy tax on the apartment that you are renting on January 1st (as long as you signed a lease and are not subletting or just renting a room in a person's apartment), but it is not due until October/November of the same year. For most assistants, that means you will receive the bill at your permanent address in your home country after returning from France. This tax can be more than one month's rent, but you won't know the exact amount until you receive the bill. The amount varies depending on the city where you live, how big your apartment is, your income, etc. For a one-bedroom apartment in the suburbs of Annecy, my taxe d'habitation was 550€ and in Chambéry, it was even higher at 736€.

Obviously there are advantages and disadvantages to this program, but I do believe this is a great way to live abroad and I am glad I decided to do it.

All EU citizens, except those with Croatian citizenship, have full working rights in France. If you are an EU citizen, or have dual nationality with an EU state, then you do not need to obtain a visa in order to enter France legally and you do not need to register with the Office of Immigration once you are in France. In short, life in France will be very easy for you!

TAPIF: Teaching Assistant Program in France - guide for English assistants in France