Going abroad during your apprenticeship in 2026: secondment, Erasmus+ and the "European apprentice" status

Your classmate on a full-time course is heading off to Dublin for a semester. You're an apprentice, and the idea has never even crossed your mind: an employment contract, an employer, an imposed alternating schedule — leaving seems impossible. That's a misconception, and it's costing you dearly.

Since the Act of 5 September 2018 on the freedom to choose one's professional future, the French Labour Code has explicitly organised international mobility for apprentices. Articles L. 6222-42 to L. 6222-44 provide that an apprenticeship contract may be partly performed abroad, for up to one year, without termination or loss of the qualification. The scheme also exists for the professionalisation contract. That said, few CFAs (apprentice training centres) offer it spontaneously, and the formalities vary enormously depending on the length of the stay. Here's how to go about it concretely for the 2026 academic year.

Does an apprentice really have the right to go abroad?

Yes, and the wording leaves no room for doubt. Article L. 6222-42 states that "mobility may take place within the European Union or in a third country" and that its duration "may not exceed one year". It can take place in a host company, a foreign training centre, or both.

The point that changes everything: during the period abroad, performance of the contract is either suspended or the apprentice is seconded to the host organisation, depending on the duration. In both cases, the French contract is not terminated. You remain an apprentice, you remain enrolled for the qualification, and the time spent abroad counts towards your training period.

Three practical conditions govern departure, and none of them is optional:

• The employer's agreement. No mobility can be imposed on them. This is the real negotiation.
• The CFA's agreement, which must validate that the stay is pedagogically consistent with the qualification framework.
• A written agreement signed by the apprentice, the French employer, the French CFA, the foreign host organisation and, where applicable, the foreign training body.

A model agreement was published by ministerial order of 22 January 2020 (annexes 1 and 2 depending on the duration). Your CFA should have it. If they tell you "that's not something we do", it's untrue: ask for the mobility officer, whose presence has been mandatory in every CFA since the Avenir professionnel Act (Article L. 6231-2 of the Labour Code).

Four weeks: the dividing line that changes everything

This is the threshold to keep in mind above all else, because it determines two radically different legal regimes.

	Mobility ≤ 4 weeks	Mobility > 4 weeks
Regime	Secondment	Suspension of the contract
Salary paid by the French employer	Yes, maintained in full	No
Occupational accident cover	French employer (via CPAM)	Host organisation / local law
Social protection	French scheme maintained	Law of the host country
Agreement	Annex 1 of the order	Annex 2 of the order
Relationship of subordination	Remains French	Transferred to the host company

Under four weeks, the formula is simple: you go, your employer keeps paying you, your CPAM keeps covering you, and the foreign company hosts you without becoming your employer. It's the easiest format to get accepted, and by far the most common on BTS and Bachelor's programmes.

Beyond four weeks, the French employer stops paying your salary and is relieved of liability. That's financially welcome for them — a useful argument to bring up in a meeting — but it assumes you have secured a source of income: an Erasmus+ grant, pay from the host company, or regional support.

One reassuring detail for many candidates: in both cases, the period abroad still counts towards the duration of the apprenticeship contract. You don't push back your end date, you don't lose seniority, and your leave entitlement continues to accrue.

How do you convince your employer?

This is where most projects die. The employer hears "absence", "paperwork", "risk". You need to flip the framing.

Argument 1: cost. For a long mobility, they no longer pay a salary during the period. Over three months, the saving is real. For a short mobility, they do pay, but they're funding an upskilling they wouldn't otherwise have paid for.

Argument 2: the skills you bring back. Frame the stay as an assignment, not a trip. "Three weeks at a German supplier to map their quality process" makes a stronger case than "an experience abroad". If your company has subsidiaries, clients or suppliers abroad, intra-group mobility is the easiest version to sell — and often the easiest to organise.

Argument 3: timing. Suggest a window that suits them: a quiet period of activity, or a block that already coincides with CFA weeks. Turn up with two possible dates rather than an open-ended request.

Prepare the case in writing. A one-page note — objective, host organisation, dates, legal regime, who pays what, what the company gets out of it — is worth more than a corridor conversation. An A5 hardcover notebook for recording exchanges with the mobility officer and the host company will stop you losing track of a file that often stretches over four months.

Erasmus+: what an apprentice can actually receive

Erasmus+ isn't reserved for university students. The "vocational education and training" (VET) strand specifically funds apprentices and pupils on vocational pathways. The Agence Erasmus+ France / Éducation & Formation, based in Bordeaux, is the national operator.

Two things to watch out for in how it works:

You don't apply on your own. Funding is awarded to organisations — CFAs, vocational lycées, groupings, regional consortia — which then redistribute the grants to their learners. If your CFA isn't Erasmus+ accredited, ask whether it belongs to a consortium. Many do without advertising the fact.

Eligible durations in VET start at 10 consecutive days (excluding travel) and run up to 365 days. The "ErasmusPro" format, dedicated to long mobilities, covers stays of 90 days and over.

The amounts combine subsistence support (a daily rate that tapers according to the host country and duration) and a travel allowance indexed to distance. In practice, expect figures in the region of €30 to €60 per day over the first weeks, with top-ups for people with fewer opportunities (disability, financial hardship) and a bonus for travelling by train or coach under the green travel scheme. The exact rates are published each year in the Erasmus+ Programme Guide: check the current edition with your mobility officer, as they change.

Other funding streams can often be combined with Erasmus+:

• Regional mobility grants (every regional council has its own scheme, often under-used).
• The Office franco-allemand pour la Jeunesse (OFAJ) and the Office franco-québécois pour la Jeunesse (OFQJ), which fund professional placements.
• Support from your sector's OPCO, which can cover incidental costs.

Social protection: the issue people discover too late

This is the technical point where applications come unstuck, and it needs handling at least two months before departure.

Within the European Union, the EEA and Switzerland. Apply for the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) from your Ameli account. It's free and covers medically necessary care during the stay. Stated processing time: around two weeks, but allow plenty of margin over the summer. A provisional certificate can be issued urgently.

For a short mobility (≤ 4 weeks), your employer remains your employer: they must apply for the A1 form (posting) from Urssaf, certifying that you remain affiliated to the French social security scheme. Without an A1, an on-site inspection at the host company can go badly — for them as well as for you.

For a long mobility (> 4 weeks), since the contract is suspended, you switch to the local scheme. Occupational accident cover falls to the host organisation. Cleiss (the Centre for European and International Social Security Liaison) publishes country factsheets setting out precisely what you're entitled to: that's the source to consult, not the forums.

Outside the European Union, the EHIC is worthless. You'll need private insurance covering medical expenses, repatriation and third-party liability. Check what your bank card already covers — often more than you think — then top it up. Third-party liability insurance abroad is frequently required by the host organisation before the agreement is signed.

Finally, two administrative reflexes: keep a digital and a paper copy of all your documents, and register with Ariane, the service run by the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs that allows you to be contacted in the event of a crisis in the country. An RFID travel wallet for passport and documents will save you from having to rebuild your paperwork from a consulate.

A realistic reverse schedule

A mobility can't be put together in three weeks. Here's the timeline that works, counting back from the departure date.

D-6 months — Scoping. Identify the CFA's mobility officer, check accreditation or membership of an Erasmus+ consortium, target a country and a type of host organisation consistent with your qualification.

D-5 months — Negotiating with the employer. Present the written note, decide between a short and a long format, set the dates.

D-4 months — Finding the host organisation. If the CFA has a partner network, this is where everything speeds up. Otherwise, call on the French chambers of commerce abroad, the EURES network and your company's contacts.

D-3 months — Financial package. Grant application, regional support, a realistic provisional budget including accommodation, local transport and deposits.

D-2 months — Agreement and social security formalities. Signature by all five parties, EHIC application, A1 application by the employer for a short mobility, insurance.

D-1 month — Logistics. Accommodation, travel tickets, opening a bank account if needed, checking identity documents and passport validity.

On language preparation, don't rely solely on the Erasmus+ online platform: it mainly serves as a level test. Three months of steady work with a language course with audio files will do more for the quality of your first weeks on site than any improvised immersion stay.

And if the employer says no?

They're entitled to. No legislation obliges them to accept. But a refusal isn't always final, and there are three fallback options.

Shift the mobility onto CFA weeks. Some centres organise short study trips built into the training calendar, without touching company time. The employer has nothing to arbitrate.

Use a period without a contract. Between two apprenticeship contracts — typically between a BTS and a Bachelor's — a two- to three-month mobility funded by a grant is perfectly feasible, and it depends on no one.

Postpone to the final year. The argument changes in nature once you've proved yourself: an employer considering hiring you sees mobility as an investment, not an absence. This is often the best window.

Either way, note the refusal politely and keep the door open: "I understand for this year — can we revisit it in January?"

What mobility really changes on a CV

Let's be precise, because the institutional narrative tends to over-promise. A three-week mobility doesn't make you an international profile. What it does produce, however, is measurable: a demonstrated ability to work in an environment that isn't your own, a comparison of professional practices that few candidates know how to tell, and an interview talking point that instantly sets you apart from the other fifty applications.

Two tools formalise the experience and are worth asking for:

• The Europass Mobility document, an official European record describing the skills acquired during the stay. Request it through the CFA, before departure.
• The host organisation's certificate, in English or the local language, listing your actual duties.

Fundamentally, the most solid benefit remains linguistic and professional: seeing how another country organises the same trade as yours. Recording those observations as you go — a mobility logbook filled in each evening is enough — will give you the raw material for your report, your oral defence, and the interviews that follow.

Key takeaway: the four-week threshold governs everything else. Under four weeks, you remain a French employee, paid and covered. Beyond that, the contract is suspended and you must secure income and social protection before signing anything.

The legislation has existed since 2018, the funding exists, CFAs have a mandatory mobility officer. What's missing, in almost every case, is someone to ask the question. Start with an email to your mobility officer this week: it's free, and it's the only step that genuinely sets everything else in motion.

Sources to consult directly: French Labour Code, Articles L. 6222-42 to L. 6222-44 and L. 6231-2 (Légifrance); order of 22 January 2020 setting the model mobility agreements; Erasmus+ Programme Guide (European Commission, current edition); Agence Erasmus+ France / Éducation & Formation; Cleiss, country factsheets; Ameli, European Health Insurance Card; Urssaf, A1 form; Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Ariane service.

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