Wow all this makes for great reading!

But I am still confused.

So if I advertise to UK only clients and pay UK taxes (I am registered in the UK and you can pay UK taxes if you live in Britain for a minimum of three months each year) I can work in France? Is that correct? Why do they make it so ambiguous? I have been told the old law resectioning massage to Physios has been dropped and that is why beauty therapists can now offer massage, but what about internationally trained therapists like us?

I have spoken to my insurance company and I am completely covered for the whole season…and they said working in France isn’t a problem…should they know information like this though?

Gail – please can you explain to me how Pamper off Piste and Massage-Me can operate as a franchise in France, publicly advertising and not incurring the penalties for operating outside French law?

I have asked French friends to help me with the documents on http://www.ffmbe.fr and even they are confused!

So ultimately I am very confused still!

If either of you, or anyone else, can shed any light on this subject….its very much welcome!

Many thanks!!!

A word for the british/europeans, your E111 will not cover everyday medicine in france, that is only for accidents/hospital urgencies, therefore, you will still have to pay, pisters/helicopters, ambulances, xrays, medicines, room and food in the hospital etc. People often think this card even covers physio! but its to be sure if you were in a car crash etc, the country wouldn’t have to pay for your care, the bill is sent to the NHS in britain, but all the extras are not covered i.e. get a holiday insurance when coming here its not expensive, compaired to x rays!

Gail

Sorry, I don’t know if you will need to do a written exam to work in france, I didn’t need to do a written or verbal.

I am not sure what your degree/diploma consists of in India, but the first step is to contact the Ministre de Santé in Paris, they will give you a list of paperwork you need to get for them to check out your qualifications, its a pain to get all and some you need to get translated into French. Once you have sent all to them, its usually under 6months, if all is ok, before you get your Authorisation de Exercise, that is what you need to look for work in any part of France. Once you decide where you would like to work, you have then to take all your papers again to the local centre of Administration for that Departement, then lots more forms and finally you get a stamp with your number to work in that Department, (you can do that in one day if you have all though).

Hope that helps, if you are thinking of working within the Cabinets or Hospitals in France, you will need a good level of French, I picked up loads working on the job, it depends how much you want it I guess. Working with tourists, you can speak english, but that won’t pay a salary for the year.