Employment Paperwork

Frequently asked questions about employment paperwork

When will I receive the official employment contract to read, sign and return?

It is mailed from France to an employee's home address within a week after hire.

Which documents will I be required to provide if I am hired by American Village?

Complete, legible, color scans of the following documents are required :

1. Passport : data page and signature page
2. Birth certificate or French social security number
3. Education: 
   • University diploma or 
   • transcripts or 
   • TEFL/TESL/CELTA or 
   • High school diploma.
4. Vaccination records that are up-to-date and include a Td booster within the past 10 years
5. Official criminal background check (county or state of residence)

Any document that is neither in English nor French must be accompagnied by official translations.

How do I submit these documents?

Hired counselors upload full, clear, color scans of each document onto their online American Village accounts. We do not accept documents via email or post.

Why do I have to provide a photocopy of my high school or university diploma?

Campers come to learn a language from us. Whether they learn in a fun classroom, out on the baseball field, or sitting around a campfire, a high school diploma from a school in an anglophone country is the minimum amount of formal education that we are able to accept when considering applicants. Using correct grammar and spelling are a part of the job of an American Village counselor!

If you do not have access to photocopy of your high school diploma, you may send univeristy transcripts or a university diploma.

• If you have a teaching diploma (TEFL, TESL, CELTA, or other teaching diploma), please send it along too. It is not required but is a plus to your application.

Which vaccinations are required?

Travellers coming to France must be up-to-date with their Tetanus, Diphtheria, Pertussis (Td, Tdap) vaccinations - (one-time Tdap vaccination followed by Td booster every 10 years.). A polio vaccination is also required. A copy of these records is required of all professionals working with children in France.

Click here for more information about: Td Booster and Tdap, from the Center for Disease Control

Click here for: information from the US government about how to get your shots up-to-date!

Click here for: health information for travelers coming to France.

How can I obtain a copy of my criminal background check?

American :

Contact to your local police department, or sheriff's office where you reside or last resided in the United States. Request that the police conduct a local or state criminal records search* and provide you with a document reflecting that there is no history of a criminal record. Often, you can request it online but sometimes you do have to go in person.

For current US or Canadian university students that have been living on campus full-time since starting university, you can ask your campus police.

* A 'federal level' check is not required, unless you have moved around the US multiple times. The length of this process varies, so we recommend that applicants start early

British :

British employees manage to get a check either by submitting a recent check used by another employer, or by contacting the Association of Chief Police Officers in your hometown/area. According to law , you can have a signed letter of any information that is stocked about you from the Police National Computer : “The data protection act 1998 places an obligation on the police when holding personal information on computer to provide a copy of that information to the individual concerned on request, unless an exemption applies.”

Foreigners living in France :

You can request one from the French government. 

Want to learn more? Click the images below!