Until recently, young Australians going to France on a Working-Holiday Visa (WHV) had to apply for a "Temporary Work Permit" (Autorisation Provisoire de Travail - APT in French) every time they got a job offer: they had to ask the French authorities if the job offer complied with French laws before taking up any job.


Few days ago, the French government published a notice stating that Australian citizens on a working holiday visa wouldn't need to obtain a Temporary Work Permit anymore: https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affic...tegorieLien=id.


The French ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Australian embassy in Paris agreed to modify the agreement signed in 2003 to allow that exemption.


The French law regarding Working Holiday visa holders states that a working holiday visa already includes a temporary work permit: holders of a working holiday visa don't need to apply for a Temporary Work Permit as it is already on. This law was passed just few years ago.


Unfortunately, some working-holiday agreements signed by France (with New Zealand, Japan, Australia and Russia) state that nationals of these countries need to get that temporary work permit. Given that international agreements have a higher value than French national laws , nationals of these countries have to wait that France and their counterparts approve the change on the previous agreement to facilitate administrative procedure. That's what Australia and France did few weeks ago. The Temporary Work Permit will already be included in the Australian Working Holiday Visa for France. France and Australia agreed to make the change starts as of March 1st 2016.

This new agreement only applies to Australians who have been granted their visa after March 1st 2016. If you are Australian and got your visa before this day, you still need to apply for a work permit everytime you find a new job.

If anyone of you got the answers, feel free to let us know!


For Australian wishing to apply for a working holiday in France, the French Consulate-general in Sydney gives all the information you need on this page: Long stay visa for France - La France en Australie (look for Long stay visa [WORKING HOLIDAY] > only for [AUSTRALIAN])