Macca1995

So I'm thinking of moving to France with my family, this year or maybe next. I'm a fully qualified electrician with experience in solar, commercial, rail and domestic sectors. My partner is a French native and we have 2 kids together, one isn't talking yet but the other is bilingual.

I've been looking into my options, my main concern is finding work if we move there. I currently have a fairly decent level in French. I'm not fluent but understand 70-80% of what's being said and I can have conversations, albeit with limited grammar.

I guess I'm looking for opinions, part of me thinks that I should just go for it, and the other part is full of doubts. Any recommendations on regions ? Can you make a decent living as an electrician I'm France ? Are my British qualifications transferable?

Thanks in advance for any responses 👍👍👍

dmu

Hi, and welcome to the forum!
Since UK and French electrical standards are different, you'll probably have to do some retraining and obtain French qualifications before you can work. Some one more in the know will confirm....
In my present neck of the woods, there's a dearth of electricians (and plumbers) and you shouldn't have problems finding work when you're able to, wherever...
Good luck with your venture!

EuroTrash

Hello Macca1995

Electricians always seem to have plenty of work and presumably they make a decent living.
As dmu says, UK qualifications aren't recognised in France any more and in any case you would need to work to French normes not UK normes, so you would need to do a certain amount of retraining, but if you speak reasonable French and have all the basic knowledge it shouldn't be an issue. I believe you can study online. No doubt your partner will help you find your way around what's on offer.
Were you planning on looking for a job with a company, or setting up on your own? If you'll be looking to be employed, that might be a factor in choosing where to live, obviously employment opportunities tend to be focused around larger towns. Under most conventions, salaries for tradespeople are dependent partly on their qualifications, people are encouraged to progress up the salary scale through ongoing training to develop and expand their skills (all workers in France are entitled to state-funded training, and employees are encouraged to use their training allowance each year). If you're thinking of being self employed, again your partner will help you negotiate the rules on running a business but in terms of qualifications, you'll need a minimum qualification in order to be able to set up the business. Also you will also require trade decennial insurance and obviously the insurers will examine your qualifications and experience when deciding what cover to offer you and what premium to charge. So either way, it will pay off to get the highest diploma you can.

As for what region to choose, well that's a matter of personal choice, what do you want. Dramatically mountainous, gently undulating or accessibly flat, coastal or forest or open countryside, predominantly agricultural or predominantly viticultural or predominantly industrial, mainstream French as in Ile de France or Centre or somewhere with a strong regional character like Brittany or Alsace? Hot summers and cold winters, or a milder year round climate? Also suggest you check out which regions are increasingly being hit by flooding, which regions regularly suffer droughts and impose water restrictions, which regions get the mistral. Everyone has their own preferred regions, I'm not sure how useful it is to recommend a region to somebody when you have no idea what they are looking for.

Good luck with your planning

cyrian

Hi
You are talking about your partner and you need to be aware that France does not recognise partners.
This effects several different aspects of life in France.
It would make your proposed move to France much easier if you were married or in a civil partnership.
If you are not then your visa application would be different and you would have to justify to the authorities why you want to move to France.
I think that you would be better looking to find employment with a company (electricians or builders) because being self-employed is more difficult in France than in the UK.
You would need to get qualified as a French electrician and (as said above) get appropriate insurance and have a business registration number.
You would have to register your business with the appropriate business structure and pay the relevant social charges (NIC) .
The cost of running a business in France is greater than in the UK - because of social charges.
You cannot just put your number in a shop window or on social media and start working as an electrician.
You would also have to do quotes for customers and charge accordingly.

HTH

Macca1995

Hi everyone,
Thanks for all of your replies I appreciate it.
So I've actually reached out to an English electrician currently operating in France and he says that my qualifications would be enough but that I would need to work for a French company for 3 years. In all honesty this is my preferred route anyway because think it makes more sense to become accustomed to French culture/life before even considering starting a buisness.
Me and my partner plan do plan to marry before moving to France.
As far as regions go, we're struggling to decide where, as France is a beautiful country, although, I would prefer somewhere either by the sea or mountains. Pays Basque is high on my list, Côte d'Azur also. But realistically I will more than likely find a job and go wherever that takes me.

EuroTrash

Just be aware that British sparkies who have been working in France since pre Brexit will have had a different experience because pre-Brexit, UK qualifications were automatically recognised throughout the EU, and for anyone who was already established in France pre 2021 with qualifications tobtained in the UK they continue to be valid, because this was agreed in the Withdrawal Agreement. But for anyone arriving since then who isn't protected by the WA, they're not, So I guess it depends what your friend means when he says your qualifications would be 'enough'. If an employer is simply looking for experience and knowledge then it would be enough, but UK qualifications are no longer recognised as qualifications, as such. If your friend is going by his own experience, he may not be fully aware of this.

Macca1995

He's not actually a friend, just someone I sent a message to ask for info. By the looks of it, he's been in France for years so yes perhaps he doesn't realise it's not as easy now.
What a pain in the a** Brexit is. Not sure I could handle years of re-qualifying in something I'm already established in 😒

EuroTrash

It is worth investigating whether any equivalence has been set up for UK/EU electrical qualifications. There may be a process you can go through to have your UK qualifications recognised. It's no longer automatic like it used to be, but that doesn't mean it is not possible.
Either way I don't see it would take years to get your CAP. Why not have a look at online training courses to see what's involved. You might even be able start the training from the UK if the provider permits this, there's no actual need to be in France to study online. Since you already have the knowledge you should be able to get the course module ticked off quickly with no great effort. Although of course there is the matter of course fees if you are self financing.
e.g. https://formation.atelierdeschefs.fr...SAAEgKIiPD_BwE

There would in any case be some re-learning to do, I'm sure you're aware of the differences between UK and French normes. If you're like most UK sparkies, you'll start off very skeptical and scornful of the French system and you'll resent having to do things "their" way because you think the UK way is so superior, then after a few years you'll find you've come round to the French way of thinking and you'll even start explaining to UK sparkies why the French do it like that and what the advantages are.

Was it Jonathan Badger that you contacted? If not, he would be a good chap to talk to.

cyrian

I have noticed some differences in electric installations in my French home.
It is a modern building and doesn't have ring mains.
The domestic consumer unit has more breakers than a UK equivalent with each breaker controlling a single socket or a restricted number of sockets / functions e.g. roller shutters.
All the wires are enclosed in flexible conduit tubes which can be in any direction behind the wall - not just horizontal or vertical.
Two-way or three-way switches are controlled in the consumer unit by a circuit breaker (sorry I am not sure if that is the correct term) and any of the switches cause the light to switch on/off.
This means that you don't have a complex circuit (e.g. the neutral is actually the live) as in the UK.
I really like my electric wiring in France which seems to be a more modern system than we have in the UK.
When they installed fibre optic cable in France, they just pushed it through the conduit.
I don't think that it would be difficult for a time-served UK electrician to convert to French electrical standards.
Good luck

EuroTrash

I'm sure it wouldn't be difficult at all but it would involve erasing UK normes from your memory and replacing them with current French normes because the basic rules you have to adhere to will be specific to France, e.g. for domestic installations, the dstance sockets have to be from the floor, from a water source etc, how many sockets must be installed as a minimum per room, which appliances need their own power supply, etc etc. My house was last rewired just over 10 years ago and already it's technically non conforme because these days a bedroom must have a minimum of three sockets in it and mine only has two.

graham.miln

Once qualified, I have no doubt that you will be able to find work.

One fun challenge will be learning the various shorthand notation used by electricians and builders.

I remember watching in confusion as our project manager noted various initials (SA, VV, …) across the floor plan for light switches. Only after some research could I decode the various meanings:

- L'interrupteur simple allumage (SA)
- L'interrupteur va-et-vient (VV)
- Le télérupteur (TL)

TL is for three (or more) way switches. Those get wired back to a common physical switch (le télérupteur) in the fuse box.

The use of conduit for cabling is great in the long run.

See https://stories.miln.eu/tags/electrics/ for lots of photos.

Macca1995

Haha, "neutral is actually the live". Well it's actually just a peice of copper that happens to be covered by blue PVC, and should be sleeved with some brown sleeving to indicate it's a switch live, not a neutral. Not at all complicated but confuses most people (me included) in the beginning.
I have read about telerupteurs, which is what I think you're referring to regarding the multiple switches for one light. I'm keen to learn more, like you say, learning the electrical side of things shouldn't be an issue. It's the paperwork side of things that I'm stressed about !

Macca1995

Do you know the reason the French use telerupteurs and not intermediate switches ? Seems over-kill to me !! Do they have armoured cables in France?Presumably you've made the move to France as an electrician? How was it for you ?

Macca1995

I've already been looking at NF-C-15-100. It shouldn't be too hard to wrap my head around. Our regulations constantly change also, it's just part and parcel of being an electrician anywhere I guess.

Macca1995

No, it was a different chap.
The guy i spoke to said that it is difficult and will require lots of documentation supporting my experiences here in the UK. He said I would need to speak to my local Chambre de métiers to see their requirements. Do different chambre de métiers have different requirements? He did his pre-brexit and did admit that it may be more complicated now.