Internship of a student in a professional environment

Verified 01 January 2026 - Public Service / Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

During their studies, a student can do internships in company or in another professional environment. The trainee is not considered to be an employee, but he must respect the rules of his host institution. The trainee benefits from a number of protections: signature of a traineeship agreement, maximum duration of the traineeship, mandatory remuneration, delay between 2 traineeships in particular.

A student can do an internship in a professional environment.

The internship can take place in a host organization of the private (company, association) or public sector.

A foreigner student may complete an internship, regardless of his nationality, but he must be regular situation in France.

Warning  

This does not apply to vocational trainees or minors under 16 years of age in observation course in company.

Permitted conditions

The internship is a temporary situation in the professional environment of the student.

It allows the trainee to acquire professional skills related to his training.

The assignments entrusted within the framework of the internship must be in accordance with the educational project of the educational institution.

Prohibited conditions

A student internship cannot be offered for the following missions:

  • Replace an employee in the event of absence, suspension of his employment contract or dismissal
  • Perform a regular task corresponding to a permanent workstation (the trainee has no production obligation as an employee)
  • Coping with a temporary increase in activity
  • Hold a seasonal job

Number of authorized trainees

Company with less than 20 employees

Companies with less than 20 employees can accommodate 3 interns at most at the same time.

Each tutor follows a maximum of 3 trainees during the same period.

Company of at least 20 employees

In a host organization with at least 20 employees, the number of trainees whose internship agreement is in progress during the same period calendar week cannot exceed 15% of the workforce.

Example :

a company of 45 employees can accommodate at the same time 7 trainees maximum (45 x 15% = 6.75). The headcount is rounded up to the next integer.

Each tutor follows a maximum of 3 trainees during the same period.

Yes, the trainee must sign an internship agreement.

The agreement specifies the skills to be acquired or developed during the internship.

The agreement also indicates the planned internship time in the training course.

The internship must take place within the framework of an agreement signed between the different parties:

  • Trainee (or, if a minor, his or her legal representative)
  • Host organization (company, public administration, local authority, health institution, association or any other organization)
  • Educational or training institution
  • Teacher referent within the educational institution
  • Traineeship tutor at the host organization

The agreement must the following particulars must appear :

  • Full title of the trainee's course or training and its hourly volume per year or semester of teaching
  • Competent to acquire or develop during the internship
  • Activities entrusted to the trainee according to the skills to be acquired
  • Names of the teacher and tutor
  • Start and end dates of the internship and maximum weekly duration of the intern's presence
  • Weekly actual presence of the trainee in the host organization
  • Conditions for authorization of absence
  • Hourly rate of pay (called gratification), calculated on the basis of the actual presence of the trainee, and the conditions for its payment
  • Conditions under which the trainee is supervised and monitored
  • Potential benefits to the trainee (e.g. catering, accommodation or reimbursement of expenses)
  • Social protection scheme for the trainee, in particular in the event of an accident at work, and, where appropriate, the trainee’s obligation to prove that he has insurance covering his civil liability
  • Terms of suspension and termination of the internship agreement
  • Methods of validation of the internship in case of interruption
  • Clauses of the receiving agency which are applicable to the trainee
  • Conditions for issuing the probationary certificate.

The employer must keep up to date the list of internship agreements concluded and enter the full names of the interns admitted in a specific part of the single register of staff.

The labor inspector may request a copy of the internship agreements from the educational institution or the host organization.

If the internship takes place abroad, an information sheet setting out the host country's rules on the rights and duties of the trainee must be annexed to the traineeship agreement.

Please note

The internship agreement may be subject to'addenda .

Maximum duration

The duration of training carried out in a professional environment is 6 months maximum per host organization and per year of education.

This period shall be determined taking into account the actual presence of the trainee in the host organization as follows:

  • 7 hours of presence, consecutive or not, represent 1 day of presence
  • 22 days of presence represent 1 month

The maximum duration of 6 months of traineeship is reached once the trainee has completed, during the teaching year, 924 hours actual presence in the host organization.

Please note

if the trainee is hired, within 3 months after the end of the internship, the duration of the internship is deducted from the trial period and shall be taken into account for the calculation of entitlements related to seniority.

Waiting period

The employer must comply with a waiting period between 2 internships in the same position: it is 1/3 of the duration of the previous internship.

Example :

After a 6-month internship, the employer must wait 2 months before welcoming a new intern to the same position.

This obligation shall not apply if the trainee interrupts the traineeship himself.

Conditions for payment

Continuous internship

One minimum gratification is paid to the trainee if the duration of the traineeship is greater than 2 consecutive months (equivalent to 44 days to 7 hours per day) in the same academic year.

Below these duration thresholds, the host organization is not obliged to pay a gratuity.

If the hourly amount of the bonus is less than €4.50, the trainee shall be exempt from social security contributions.

Internship discontinuous

One minimum gratification shall be paid from 309e internship time even if it is carried out on a non-continuous basis.

Below these duration thresholds, the host organization is not obliged to pay a gratuity.

If the hourly amount of the bonus is less than €4.50, the trainee shall be exempt from social security contributions.

Amount

The minimum amount paid for each hour of actual presence shall be €4.50.

In some professional sectors, this amount may be higher than the legal minimum amount.

The employer must verify this in the collective agreement.

A calculation simulator is available:

Calculate the minimum bonus amount for an intern

Payment

The bonus is paid at the end of each month and not at the end of the internship.

It is due from the 1ster internship day.

Example :

For a full-time internship (7 hours per day) from 1er January to March 31, 2026:

  • January: 147 hours worked (21 days x 7 hours)
  • February: 140 hours worked (20 days x 7 hours)
  • March: 154 hours worked (22 days x 7 hours)

The amount of the total gratuity due is 441 hours, or €1,984.50.

The bonus can be paid in 2 different ways:

  • Either according to the actual number of hours worked per month
  • Either by smoothing by month all the hours worked during the internship
Tableau - Comparison of the 2 payment methods

Period

Actual Hours

Smoothing

(=€1,984.50/3)

January

€661.50

€661.50

February

€630.00

€661.50

March

€693.00

€661.50

Total

€1,984.50

€1,984.50

Any internship temporarily interrupted shall be readjusted on the basis of the actual number of hours worked.

Any definitively interrupted internship is subject to an overall regularization according to the number of hours worked.

When the internship lasts more than 2 months, the probationary agreement must provide for the possibility of taking leave and authorizations for absence.

If the internship lasts a maximum of 2 months, it is not mandatory to take leave.

Leave pay is optional.

Please note

In the case of maternity, paternity or adoption, the trainee shall be granted leave and leave of absence for a period equivalent to that provided for employees. During these absences, the maintenance of the gratuity is not mandatory

Reminder

The trainee is not considered an employee of the company.

Tutoring

The trainee is welcomed and accompanied by a tutor throughout the internship.

The tutor is responsible for ensuring compliance with the educational objectives set out in the agreement.

Rights identical to those of employees

The trainee shall enjoy the same rights as the employees of the host organization:

Reimbursement of public transport costs

The trainee benefits from the reimbursement of a share of transport costs under the same conditions as employees.

Protection against harassment

The trainee enjoys the same protections as employees in the fight against psychological harassment and the sexual harassment at work.

Prohibited Tasks

It is forbidden to entrust the trainee with tasks dangerous to his health or safety.

Retirement

Some internships may be taken into account for retirement.

In case of interruption of the internship

If the internship is interrupted before its end, it may be validated by the educational institution, in one of the following cases:

  • In case of interruption due to illness, accident, maternity, paternity or adoption
  • In case of non-compliance with the internship agreement
  • In the event of breach of the internship agreement at the initiative of the host organization

A postponement of the end of the internship is also possible, in whole or in part, if all the signatories of the internship agreement agree.

Penalties

In the event of non-compliance with the rules governing traineeships, the employer shall incur an administrative fine of up to €2,000 per trainee concerned.

The fine can go up to €4,000 in the event of a new infringement within one year of 1re fine.

Proof of traineeship

Yes, at the end of the internship, the host organization must give the intern a certificate of internship.

It shall indicate the total duration of the traineeship and, if necessary, the total amount of the gratuity paid.

You can access a template for an internship certificate.

Template for attestation of traineeship

Evaluation

The trainee must send his educational institution a document in which he assesses the quality of his traineeship.

This document is not taken into account in the graduation of the trainee.

Hiring

The intern may be hired by the organization in which he or she completed the internship.

The trainee then benefits from certain advantages, related to the duration of the trial period and seniority.

FAQ