ending contracts and social security

pickarooney

If anyone has any reliable advice or informed opinion on this I'd be grateful to hear your input. It's a fairly specific scenarion, but if anyone has similar experience...

I've been living in Holland for the last four years, three and a half of which I spent working, and six months on the dole. I was allowed the six months of dole as I'd had a full-time job for six months before that and had been laid off.
Before moving here, I'd worked three years without interruption in Ireland.
In my current job, I've worked two six-month contracts and am on a three-monther now, which finishes at the end of October. My girlfriend's company is moving to Poland at the end of the year, and we decided that as neither of us had permanent contracts we'd go travelling a bit and then move to France, for good.
Meanwhile, one of my colleagues has left, and they've decided not to replace him, which quite possibly means I'll be offered a permanent contract in two months' time. I won't accept it should I be offered, as we've made other plans and are set on them.
The thing is, I want to be able to sign on in France for the time it takes me to find a job, but am worried that if I refuse a contract here it will count the same as if I had quit my job, which would mean I have no grounds to claim social security.
Does anyone know if this is a legitimate worry or should I be able to claim dole in France if I need to? I should have accumulated enough tax contributions (I know it's something like five years, but don't know if the six-month interruption will affect that) between Ireland and Holland to compensate for not (yet) having worked at least six months in France.
How will I prove that I left at the end of a contract rather than in the middle of one? I of course have the contract, with the end date on it, but as I'll be arriving in France a few months later, after going travelling, I'm not sure that'll prove anything... plus I'll have to get it translated....

OK, this is coming out even less coherently than I thought it would. I may have to reformat this later when I've time.

nesf

I'm not sure if this helps you but it might be relevant:

From: oasis.gov.ie (Working in the EU section)

Job seeking

If you are unemployed, you have the right to live in another EU country for a "reasonable period" of time in order to look for a job. In the absence of a definition of "reasonable period", most EU countries are now operating a six-month period, though some EU countries are still operating a three-month period. You are advised to check the exact situation with the national authorities of the EU country in which you are looking for work. However, no matter how long you have to look for a job, you cannot be asked to leave the country if you can prove that you are genuinely looking for a job and that you have a real chance of finding one. For example, you have still got interviews or tests to attend.

You can register at employment agencies and centres without being resident in the country in which you wish to work and you will be given the same help to find work as nationals of that country.

If you are drawing unemployment benefit in one member state, you may continue to draw benefit from that same country for up to three months after you move to another member state. This is provided that you have been available to the employment services in the country where you have been drawing unemployment benefit for at least four weeks. The agency paying your unemployment benefit will issue you with Form E303. As a job seeker, you must take this form to the employment services in the country in which you are seeking work. If you do not find work, you must return to the first country within three months, otherwise you will lose your right to unemployment benefit.

As far as I can make out, you can draw unemployment benifit from the country you moved from. I'm unsure whether you could draw it from France itself when you are looking for work at first.

I'm not sure what the situation is with travelling etc. I assume that you could draw it after you finished travelling and settled down in France. But I could be wrong.

I hope this helps

Imposter

nesf wrote:

As far as I can make out, you can draw unemployment benifit from the country you moved from. I'm unsure whether you could draw it from France itself when you are looking for work at first.

That means he can fraw it from Holland in France proveding he has been getting it in Holland for 4 weeks or more prior to his move and has been looking for work there.

I don't think it's relevant here with the travelling he wants to do though.

nesf

Imposter wrote:

That means he can fraw it from Holland in France proveding he has been getting it in Holland for 4 weeks or more prior to his move and has been looking for work there.

I don't think it's relevant here with the travelling he wants to do though.

I meant in that he couldn't draw the French equivilant of the dole.

I do agree though, doesn't quite answer the question, but it was the only information I could get on it tbh. Maybe travel for a bit, then come back to Holland for a month, draw the dole, and then move to France?

[Jackass]

Hmm..It's a complicated one alright.

I suggest your best course of action would be to either contact the Irish embassey in France......

address:
4 Rue Rude
75116 Paris
Telephone:
00 331 4417 6700
Email:
paris@dfa.ie

Or, contact the French Social Security office Directly for more details:

Caisse d’Assurance Maladie des Professions Libérales d’Ile de France
22 rue Vilet
75730 Paris Cédex 15
Tel: 01 45 78 32 00.

They will have English speaking people to talk to you...if not, go to a hostel anywhere in Europe, find a english speaking french student, explain your situation, and give him/her €10 to call and take down all the details you need.

pickarooney

I'll give one of the French Soc Sec offices a bell. I might wait until September as they tend to be closed and clueless in July/August.
Cheers.