Alternance & apprentissage in France: can international students do it?

Both run on a school/CFA + company rhythm, both are real employment contracts (fixed-term or open-ended), and in both cases your training is free for you - the employer’s OPCO pays. They differ on age, framework and how much time is spent in training.

For an international student, the contrat d’apprentissage is the one that opens the door as a primo-arrivant (see below). In practice the contrat de professionnalisation requires you to already hold a titre de séjour and a work authorisation.

An alternant earns a real salary, set as a percentage of the SMIC and rising with age and the year of the contract. As of 1 June 2026 the gross monthly SMIC (35h) is €1,867.02. The percentages below apply to the gross monthly figure.

Contrat d’apprentissage - % of SMIC

* For 21–25 and 26+, you get the higher of the % of SMIC or the relevant collective-agreement minimum wage; for 26+ the floor is 100% of the SMIC. Example: a 16–17 apprenti in year 1 earns at least 27% of the SMIC (≈ €504/month gross at the current SMIC).

Contrat de professionnalisation - % of SMIC

* For 26+, at least 85% of the branch/company minimum wage, never below the SMIC.

Yes, an international student can do an alternance in France - but the rules depend on your nationality and on the contract.

EU / EEA / Swiss students. You have free access to the labour market: no titre de séjour and no work authorisation are required, and you work like a national.

Non-EU students - the 964h rule. With a validated VLS-TS or a residence permit marked “étudiant”, a non-EU student may work up to 964 hours per year (60% of the legal annual working time) without prior authorisation.

The key exception. Once a contrat d’apprentissage is validated by the OPCO or the DREETS, the foreign student is “authorised, within their study programme, to work beyond the 964 hours.” The employer then does not need a separate work authorisation. For a contrat de professionnalisation it is different: the employer must obtain an explicit work authorisation before the job starts, and the 964h cap applies unless that authorisation lifts it.

Employer préfecture declaration. To employ a foreign student, the employer must file a nominative declaration to the préfecture of the head-office department, at least 2 working days before the start date.

Primo-arrivant rule (the most misunderstood point). Alternance used to be reserved for students after a first year spent in France. Since decree no. 2021-360 (31 March 2021), confirmed in July 2022, a primo-arrivant arriving directly from abroad can sign a contrat d’apprentissage without a prior year of study in France if enrolled in: a state-recognised Master; or a niveau 1 programme labelled by the Conférence des Grandes Écoles (CGE); or an engineering programme accredited by the CTI. Outside these, primo-arrivants cannot enrol straight into an alternance - you first come on a standard “étudiant” status, then switch.

Algerian nationals. Under the Franco-Algerian Agreement of 27 December 1968, their limit is 50% of the annual working time (≈ 804 hours/year), not 60%.

Golden rule: a student without a valid titre de séjour cannot be hired in alternance - the employer is legally required to check the permit.

An apprenti on a French contract can carry out part of the alternance abroad. The Code du travail (article L6222-42) states that the contrat d’apprentissage may be performed in part abroad for a duration that cannot exceed one year nor half of the total contract length - whichever is shorter applies.

There are two legal set-ups:

• Mise à disposition (secondment) - the French contract keeps running. You stay an employee of the French company and keep French social protection.
• Mise en veille (suspension) - the contract is suspended; you are no longer the French company’s employee and no longer covered by French social protection (you fall under the host structure / host country’s system; outside the EU, voluntary insurance).

The law of 27 December 2023 (“Erasmus de l’apprentissage”) removed the old 4-week cap: mise à disposition is now possible whatever the length of the mobility (within the overall 1-year / half-the-contract limit), and the employer chooses between the two set-ups. This also applies to the contrat de professionnalisation - useful if you want a mobile path while staying covered by your French contract.

• No training fees. The pedagogical cost is covered by the OPCO; “no financial consideration can be asked of the apprenti.”
• A salary. From 27% to 100% of the SMIC depending on age and year (see the grids above).
• Real work experience and stronger insertion. According to DARES, a majority of former apprentis are in private-sector salaried employment after the contract, and about 3 in 10 stay with the employer where they did their apprentissage. In 2024 France counted 1,015,400 apprentis (+4.7%).
• Integrated migration status. With “étudiant” status plus an apprentissage validated by the OPCO/DREETS, you can work beyond 964 hours without a separate authorisation.