UK Qualifications needed for a UK electrician to work in France

[Glen3000]

Hello all, I'm new to these forum so go easy on me!

Apologies if this has been brought up many times before but I have some questions about being an electrician in France.

Basically I'm currently an apprentice in the UK, a couple months away from finishing my Level 3, afterwards I have my NVQ and AM2 to complete. My wife is French and we are planning on moving to Savoy/Rhône-Alps permanently around August. My spoken French is so-so, I can carry very basic conversations but still need more time to improve, while my reading/written French is very bad...

Now I know in France i'll need to get a comparative statement so that I can get the French qualification equivalent, my question is that will the NVQ & AM2 be worth anything in France? Or will I be fine with just my Level 3? For multiple reasons we will need to move by August, and I'm worried I will not be able to complete them by that point, so I'm just hoping I won't be shooting myself in the foot by not finishing them now.

Now I have been working as an electricial apprentice for 3 years but also have 5 years of experience labouring and work with other trades, so I feel confident working by myself but naturally I still have a lot left to learn with this trade, UK or France. My experience has been almost entirely domestic and so I'm concerned working commercial might be a big jump along with all the reg differences and just general practices that aren't the same abroad. What would be the easiest work to find? Do many domestic firms exist or are larger companies mostly commercial?

Ideally I would like to find another electrician to work with as a mate at first, just for the experience.

My long term plan is to be a self-employed domestic spark but I want to feel confident with with the regs first, and I feel it would take time to establish myself. I've started looking into some of the differences and I assume I'll need to do a test on the NF C 15-100 (This is their equivalent of the BS:7671:2018 right?) as soon as possible, also I think i'll need something called formation habilitation électrique BE.

I do also know that I'll need a SIREN/SIRET number to be self-employed along with insurance for the Garanite Décannale.

Thank you to anyone taking the time to read this, any answers or general advice would be very greatly appreciated.

 

[LukeD]

All I know about working in France is NEVER be a employer etc !

 

[Mike Johnson]

A source for everything to do with French electrics is here: Norme électrique 2013 2015, Amendement A4 normes NF C 15-100 - https://www.schema-electrique.net/norme-electrique-NF-C-15-100-amendement-A4-2013-2015.html#circuit-dedie Scroll to the bottom and a drop down list for most information is available.

On your browser go into preference's and change Language setting to always translate French.

Some of the differences:
1. No T&E all cable to have the same CSA, singles in flexible conduit is the norm.
2. Only eight MCB's to any RCD.
3.. All MCB's to be dual pole.
4. Most if not all white goods on their own circuit, as with extract fans, electric towel rails, Hob, Oven, etc: the list is quite extensive.
5. Not unusual to find a domestic installation is three phase.

This is a very good guide to French electrics: Amazon.fr - L'installation électrique - Gallauziaux, Thierry, Fedullo, David - Livres - https://www.amazon.fr/Linstallation-%C3%A9lectrique-David-Fedullo/dp/2416000055/ref=asc_df_2416000055/?tag=googshopfr-

NF-C 15 100 I think is the equivalent of the UK Blue Book, as far as I know there is no equivalent to any of our BS's.

Forgot to add "All power circuits are radials"

 

[Avo Mk8]

NF-C 15 100 I think is the equivalent of the UK Blue Book, as far as I know there is no equivalent to any of our BS's.

It maybe I'm misunderstanding the comment, but just as BSI published the content of ISO/IEC standards as BS EN ISO/IEC nnnnn, the French standards body AFNOR do similarly, eg as NF EN ISO/IEC nnnnn, so I'm assuming (but don't know for certain!) there are equivalent French language versions of many of the generic ISO/IEC standards used in the UK (possibly with national differences).
I see the complete NF C15-100 from AFNOR is about 750 Euro's - and we complain about the price of the blue book!

 

[Mike Johnson]

Received a like today on this thread, but find it strange that the OP has not logged on since 8th November 2021, obviously not that concerned with his move to France.

FWIW, If I had any hair left I would have pulled the rest out trying to cancel the DD with the utility companies in France, they all seem to want affidavits and registered letters to even consider letting you cancel.