The french university system is quite rough towards people who wish to come and study there...
A medical student (whatever his/her level) has to go through the first-year "concours" (PCEM1, where only the students with the best marks can go on with medical studies. Each university allows 10% of students from abroad to pass that concours (if 100 french students can pass, then 10 foreigners can pass too). Then he/she has to sit for the ECN (Examen Classant National) the next year (at the end of the 6th year for those who have to do the whole course, or at the end of the 2nd year for those who have already done 5 years in their home country). Once they're internes (junior doctors, after the ECN), it's exactly the same course than for french student.
As for those who've already qualified and are MD, it's a bit easier, because they can come and practice in an universitary hospital as FFI (Faisant Fonction d'Interne - working as junior doctor). The salary isn't great, and they can't practice alone (they're still student-like and have to have a senior doctor with them to aprove their prescriptions or supervise a surgery). And then, they have to negociate with the head of unit to get a senior doctor's job (PH, pracitien hospitalier - hospital practitioneer). Besides, there's an exam for all those (french or not) to become a hospital practitioneer.
I remember what a german doctor once told me : "In my country, I was a respected practitioneer - once I was in France, I was treated like an old student." (she had been in France 8 years and had become a PH two years after her coming).
