French visas and residencies

Three questions decide it. Do you have a French employment contract, do you have capital to invest, and do you have an innovative project. No contract and no capital, but a project or a strong track record: the founder route. A French contract at threshold salary: skilled employee or EU Blue Card, depending on the exact salary. We confirm the fit on the consultation.

Founders, senior specialists and experienced operators with a project France can recognise as innovative. You do not need a degree, an investment or a job offer.

No. You can join an existing project as a co-founder, an advisor or a technical partner. We match you with French startups actively looking, then build the case around that match, so what you need is a track record we can package.

Not to apply. You can file without a registered company. Setting one up later helps at renewal and opens the company tax reliefs.

€22,404.20 a year for the main applicant, which is one French minimum wage, plus €12,000 to €15,000 on a bank statement for each family member joining you.

No. You can keep your business and your life elsewhere and still hold the card. A French permit also does not automatically make you a French tax resident: that depends on where you mainly live, where you mainly work and where your main economic interests sit. Only the citizenship route needs 183 days a year in France.

Yes, from the first day. The Talent, Famille permit carries open work rights with no separate sponsor and no employer tie. Children under 18 get residence cards. Adult children can join only if they are financially dependent on you or in full-time study.

No. Remote employment for a foreign company, freelance invoicing and running a foreign company are all prohibited on the Visiteur route. That was settled in law in April 2025. Only passive income is allowed.

Highly qualified employees with a French contract paying €59,373 or more can apply for it as a first-time route. Separately, if you already hold a Blue Card in another EU country and have lived there on it for at least 18 months, you can move to a French role on a contract of six months or longer, filing within one month of arriving.

They are the other two Talent routes. Company officer is for directors and legal representatives of a French company, decided on the role and the pay conditions, and it effectively needs a French appointment. Recognised talent is for people with established standing in science, the arts, sport or their profession, decided on the evidence of that standing, with no job offer. Both carry a card of up to four years and the same family rules, and neither asks for an investment.

Yes, if the company qualifies as a young innovative company. That can mean no corporate tax in the first profitable year, a 50% reduction in the second, a 30% refund on R&D spending, and a 15% corporate rate for small companies. We check whether your company can apply as part of the case.

Yes. Talent is the current name and Passeport Talent is what the same permit family was called before June 2025, when the old subtypes were merged into a smaller set. If a source still says Passeport Talent, it was written before the rename.

For cases we run directly in France, if the refusal comes from a documentation or filing error on our side, we re-file at no extra service fee, as long as your document set was complete. Government and third-party fees are separate. The French authorities make the decision, and our job is to make sure the file gives them nothing to refuse on.

Five years of legal residence, with 183 days a year in France counting toward it. You can also take a ten-year residence card instead. B2 French is required for citizenship.

Yes. If you run a relocation agency or a startup incubator, you can refer clients or offer the France founder route under your own brand through our partner programme.