Doctors with foreign diplomas who have not passed a competitive exam will be able to continue working, announces the government

They were threatened with losing their jobs. The government will extend the work authorizations of doctors with foreign diplomas, who risked losing their jobs after failing a selective competition, the government announced on Monday January 22. It will also allow the winners of the competition to remain in their current services.

In a press release, the Minister of Labor, Health and Solidarity Catherine Vautrin, at the request of the President of the Republic, explains that she wants “secure the situation of Padhue (practitioners with qualifications outside the European Union), doctors who have become essential to our health system”. Doctors who did not pass the competition “will not be left without a solution: the government will authorize them to continue working in the months to come”she assured.

In 2023, these practitioners were forced to pass a selective competition to be able to continue practicing. The limited number of places in the competition – 2,700 positions for thousands of candidates – had left a large number of them in the lurch. Some even found themselves “without papers”, their residence permit being conditional on their work. A derogation regime allowing establishments to hire non-laureates, under various precarious statuses, has been implemented in parallel “extinct” as of December 31. This made it impossible for them to remain in their positions.