Work in France as a foreign health professional (2026)

• CNGCentre national de gestion (CNG)

  EVC knowledge tests and authorisation to practise for doctors, dentists, midwives and pharmacists trained outside the EU

  How to register with the CNG

1. 1

   1. Work out which procedure applies to you

   The CNG looks at three things: the country that issued the diploma that lets you practise, your nationality, and your basic and specialist diplomas. With a diploma from outside the EU, whatever your nationality, you start with the EVC. University diplomas taken in France (DU, DIU, DIS) and the AFS/AFSA or DFMS/DFMSA training certificates do not count as specialist diplomas and do not turn a non-EU diploma into an EU one.
2. 2

   2. Get proof of French at B2

   You must attach proof of French with your EVC registration: a TCF or TEF result at B2 or above, a DELF at B2 or above, a French baccalauréat or a French diploma at an equivalent or higher level, or a certificate from your university that your whole medical, dental, midwifery or pharmacy course was taught in French. French nationals and nationals of countries where French is an official language are exempt. Book the test months ahead, because the registration window is short.
3. 3

   3. Prepare and translate your documents

   For the external route you need a valid identity document, your non-EU doctorate or midwifery diploma, your non-EU specialist diploma in the specialty you are entering, and the language proof. Every document must be in French or translated by a translator approved by a French court or, if you live abroad, certified by the French consular authorities. Untranslated documents lead to rejection, and nothing can be added once the file is submitted.
4. 4

   4. Register for the EVC in the annual window

   The CNG publishes the session on its website and registration is online only. In 2026 the window ran from 17 June to 16 July and was extended to 21 July; the CNG says registrations are usually around one month a year, so missing it means waiting a year. Registration is free. The ARS checks your file and, in 2026, had until 4 September to do so.
5. 5

   5. Sit the EVC

   On the external route you sit two anonymous written papers of two hours each, one on fundamental knowledge and one on practical knowledge, each marked out of 20 with equal weight. A mark of 6 out of 20 or less in either paper rules you out. On the internal route, for people already working in France under qualifying statuses, there is one multiple-choice paper on fundamental knowledge. The exams take place at the Espace Jean Monnet in Rungis, near Paris.
6. 6

   6. Choose a post and complete the PCC

   If you are ranked within the posts available, the CNG runs a national choice of posts and assigns you to a hospital. You then complete the parcours de consolidation des compétences: two years of paid hospital work as praticien associé for doctors and pharmacists, one year for dentists and midwives. From the 2024 session, successful candidates must also enrol at a university, as set out by the arrêté of 28 August 2025.
7. 7

   7. Apply for authorisation to practise

   You file your authorisation request online through the démarches simplifiées platform, up to two months before your PCC ends. The file includes the official application form, your diplomas, your EVC results, attestations from the hospital director showing your status and working time, and the half-yearly evaluation reports. The CNG warns that processing takes several weeks, not days, and asks candidates not to chase by email.
8. 8

   8. Receive the commission's decision

   With a favourable opinion, you receive an individual notification and an authorisation order is published in the Journal officiel. If the commission is not satisfied, it can recommend further training or another consolidation period, or defer its decision until it has more information; you then send the required proof and your file is examined again. You stay in your assigned post while the decision is pending.
9. 9

   9. Register with your professional order

   With the authorisation you register on the roll of the Ordre des médecins, or the dental, midwifery or pharmacy order. Registration lets you practise in hospital or in private practice. Keep your authorisation order and notification safe: you will need them for the order, employers and the prefecture.
10. 10

    10. Keep your residence status in line

    Your residence permit must match each stage: the post you are assigned to, a provisional practice certificate, or your final authorisation. The CNG notes that candidates renewing a residence permit near the end of the PCC can file their authorisation request early in order to request a provisional certificate from the ARS. Family reunion is not provided for in the assignment rules, so plan your family's move through the residence permit route.

• The language requirement in France is French, not English. IELTS and OET are not accepted for the EVC or the authorisation procedure.
• For the EVC you show French at level B2 or above with one of the documents listed in article 2 of the arrêté of 27 October 2014: a TCF or TEF result at B2, a DELF at B2, a French baccalauréat, or a French diploma at an equivalent or higher level.
• If your whole course leading to your medical, dental, midwifery or pharmacy diploma was taught in French, your university can issue a named attestation instead. Refugees, stateless people and beneficiaries of subsidiary protection can prove their French by any means.
• French nationals and nationals of countries where French is an official language do not have to prove their French for the EVC.
• Non-EU nationals with an EU specialist diploma who apply under the separate quota procedure must include a TCF result or a DELF diploma in their authorisation file.
• Nurses: the Ordre national des infirmiers checks the level of language knowledge when it processes a registration, alongside your diploma, your contracts and your good character.

• Talent: medical and pharmacy professions

  Service-Public describes a multi-year residence card, talent-professions médicales et de la pharmacie, for doctors, dentists, midwives and pharmacists. You need an authorisation under the public health code (an assignment decision, a certificate allowing temporary practice, or your authorisation to practise) and gross annual pay of at least the second step of the praticien associé scale, which it gives as €41,386.48. Your employer does not need a work authorisation.

• Applying from abroad

  You apply for a long-stay visa at the French consulate in your country of residence. For a stay under 12 months the consulate issues a long-stay visa that serves as a residence permit, which you validate online within 3 months of arrival. For a year or more it issues a 3-month talent visa, and you apply for the card at your prefecture within 2 months of arriving.

• Card length and cost

  The talent card lasts as long as your employment contract, up to a maximum of 4 years. If it is granted you pay €350 in tax stamps (a €50 stamp duty plus a €300 tax), bought online or at a tobacconist.

• Family members

  Your spouse and minor children can use the simplified accompanying family procedure and receive a talent-famille multi-year card for the length of your stay, without going through the standard family reunion procedure.

• Salaried worker permit

  For other health jobs, such as a nurse who has qualified in France, the usual route is the salaried worker (CDI) or temporary worker (CDD) residence permit. Your employer applies online for a work authorisation before you travel; you then apply for a long-stay visa, validate it within 3 months of arrival and pay a €300 tax.

• EU, EEA and Swiss citizens

  You do not need a residence permit to work. If you are an EU or EEA national with a diploma issued or recognised by an EU or EEA state, you apply directly to the authorisation commission without sitting the EVC; depending on your file this can lead to direct authorisation or to an adaptation period or aptitude test.

France does not publish one simple national pay table for every health profession that we could confirm for 2026. Public hospital doctors' emoluments are fixed by ministerial order and rise by step (échelon); the CNG points to annex II of the arrêté of 8 July 2022 for the praticien hospitalier amounts and offers a step calculator. The figures below are those stated on official pages. Nurses and other staff in public hospitals are paid on civil service grids set nationally; we could not confirm the current grid figures from an official page, so we do not quote them.