clothmama

Hello, you may have seen me poking my head in every now and again but I thought I'd introduce myself. My name is Tory and I'm in a rather strange ping pong like situation. I am an Aussie who lived in France (hubby is 1/2 pom 1/2 French) for a few years, did up a house, had a baby and returned to Australia with little family. Arrived to find house prices had doubled in the 18 months previous to our arrival (this was back in 2003) so decided to return to France for a couple of years and do up another house. 4 years ticked by, another house, another baby and another return to Oz! We have been back here a bit over 2 years and are looking at being here at least another year and more likely 2 - 2.5 but we want to come back to France!

Lots of reasons - family in the UK (dont' want to live there) that are getting older and all the cousins etc are there too, we really miss the French way of life - and dare I admit after spending almost all my adult life there I've 'gone native' and miss it desperately!

We were living in Aude (Languedoc) but are seriously considering Brittany for ease of visits to / from the UK, value for money house wise, easier access to Paris etc etc etc.

I'm currently training as a nurse and only have 1 year to go so am in the middle of what is the nightmare of trying to work out how (I refuse to think 'if) I can get qualified over there. It appears I'm a 'cas particuler' in that I am EU with a non-EU qualification so in theory if I can get a letter form the UK saying that Aussie qualifications are recognised then I may be ok from that side of it (just need to get my French up to scratch (I'm pretty fluent but not quite responsible for someone's life fluent!). Another option is not going to Brittany but to the Ardennes and going across the border to Belgium to either complete my nursing degree or study midwifery so I would then have a EU qualification. Am also considering if that is all too much hassle looking at another health profession where I can perhaps get credit for part of a course because of my nursing degree.

If any of you have any advice on Brittany I'd love to hear it?!

And I would really love any career advice or ideas if anyone knows anything about transferring nursing qualifications / Aussie qualifications. Am I worthwhile starting to contact IFSI / the embassy etc now or worrying about it once I"m there?

Re re-establishing our life there. We have our carnet de famille and a carte vitale. Will they still be valid when we come back or are we going to be in for a lot of hassle?

I've not really seen much of Brittany but am thinking from what I've looked at that the area just south of St Malo in Cote D'armor looks like a good spot - easy access to Rennes (poss needed to study), transport etc. Any other suggestions gratefully recieved. I have 2 boys 4 and 9 so being nearish to a town with schools also an issue although we would rather be in a hamlet / edge of small village environment.

Thanks for reading if you got this far!

Roger O

Just to mention the Brittany (passenger and car) Ferries options to/from the UK in case you're not familiar with them..
http://www.brittanyferries.com/

(My wife is from Concarneau (Sud Finistère) - milder climate but more remote from UK connex!)

clothmama

Thanks Roger , yep pretty OK with the different routes from planning various journeys when we lived in the South!

Anyone else??

clothmama

Boo hoo still no replies to any of my questions!!!

Just in case anyone else stumbles on this looking for info I was interested in looking into the 'cas particular' of an EU citizen trained in a non-EU country. The French text I've quoted to says that if that is the case I can get my qualifications recognised with a 12 month adaptation period in France providing I have a letter from the UK to say that they accept Aussie nursing degrees.

I've now spoken to the NMC (Nursing and Midwifery Council) in the UK about getting a letter to say that they accept Australian degrees as being valid and because they don't have any system such as this they told me it can't be done .

I know that with my foreign nursing qual I can work as an AS so I think for the short term this is what I'm going to do and once I'm on the ground I can see if there is any way around it for me.

France is facing and enormous nursing shortage in the next few years (as are many countries) so hoping that someone coming out with a degree full of distinctions adn high distinction may be in with a chance to work somehow! Where there is a will there is a way I reckon!

I'm happy to do the AS work initially to get my language skills up to where they need to be and not have the responsibility of beign an RN while the kids are little. From pole emploi etc sites it seems there is a lot of work around too for this so I"m feeling positive