How the convention de stage works for international students interning in France
By Muntasir • Published Feb 02, 2025 • Updated Sep 27, 2026 • Career Planning, Study in Europe
A convention de stage is the three-way contract between you, your school, and the host organization that makes a French internship legal. You sign it before starting, and once your internship passes two months, the employer owes you a minimum monthly gratification set by law.
📩 Three signatures required: you, your school, and the host organization.
⏱️ Gratification becomes mandatory once the internship passes two months, consecutive or not, in the same academic year.
💶 The gratification rate is set as a percentage of the hourly social security ceiling and changes every year.
🏠 Without a signed convention, the placement is not a legal internship and does not count for your degree.
What a convention de stage is
A convention de stage is a written agreement that turns a work placement into a legal internship in France. French law requires this document for every student internship, whether you study at a French university, a grande école, or a business school. Without it, the host organization cannot legally call the placement an internship, and your school cannot count it toward your degree.
Who signs it
Three parties sign the convention: you as the intern, the host organization, and your educational institution. Your school issues the template, since French regulations set the minimum content the document must include: the internship's start and end dates, your assigned tasks, your supervisor's name at the host organization, your tutor's name at school, weekly working hours, and the gratification amount if one applies.
Some schools allow extra clauses, such as remote work arrangements or a trial period, as long as the added terms do not reduce your legal protections below the statutory minimum.
Step by step: getting your convention de stage signed
Find your internship and agree on the start date, tasks, and hours directly with the host organization.
Request the convention de stage template from your school's internship office, often called the bureau des stages or service des relations entreprises.
Fill in the organization's details together with your host supervisor, including their SIRET number and the internship's exact dates.
Submit the draft to your school's internship office for approval, before your start date, since late submissions delay or block your internship.
Collect all three signatures: yours, the host organization's, and your school's authorized representative.
Keep a signed copy for yourself throughout the internship, since visa, insurance, or tax processes sometimes require it.
Gratification: when the internship must pay you
An internship under two months legally stays unpaid. Once your total internship time in the same organization, during the same academic year, passes two months (44 working days or the equivalent), the host organization must pay you a minimum gratification for every day worked, including the first day. The rate is fixed as a percentage of the hourly ceiling used for French social security contributions, and it changes when that ceiling changes each year, so confirm the current rate on service-public.fr before you sign.
Gratification is not a salary, so it comes with different tax and social treatment. Up to a set annual threshold, gratification stays exempt from income tax and from most social contributions, one reason employers list it separately from a regular payslip.
Your legal status as an intern
You are not an employee, so French labour law protections built for employees do not automatically apply to you. The convention de stage instead sets your specific rights: maximum daily and weekly hours aligned with the host's normal staff, access to the staff canteen or luncheon vouchers on the same terms as employees, and paid or authorized absence for illness, exams, or family events written into the agreement.
You keep your student status throughout, including continued access to student health cover and, if you study in France on a visa, your residence permit conditions.
If you are an international student
Non-EU students need a valid residence permit that allows internships, and your convention de stage should state the internship explicitly if your permit ties directly to your study program. Ask your school's international office to confirm your permit covers the internship dates before you sign, since a mismatch between your permit and your convention creates problems at renewal.
You also need a French social security number to receive gratification through a normal bank transfer, so start that paperwork as soon as you accept a placement rather than waiting for your first day.
If something goes wrong
An organization that has you work without a signed convention de stage operates outside the law, and the arrangement does not count as a real internship for your degree. Report the situation to your school's internship office immediately, since your institution has an obligation to intervene, and a placement without a convention will not appear on your academic transcript even if you complete the work.