practical
Some workers for British companies now exempt from French work permit requirements
Residency permit applications must also be responded to within 90 days under new decree
Some staff of British companies posted to France will now be able to make the move more easily, under new rules introduced this week.
Employees in certain fields will be able to continue employment with their company while carrying out contractual services in France for up to a year, without needing to obtain a work permit.
At the same time, the deadline for prefectures to respond to residency permit applications has dropped from four months to 90 days.
Both these changes were included in a decree covering a range of rules relating to residence and employment permits for France that were published in the Journal officiel on Thursday (October 29).
The decree seeks to synchronise rules in France with European directives, as well as respond to criticisms over long delays for residency permit renewals.
Sectors to be revealed
One of the major changes included in the decree was an additional category of employees who do not need a work permit (permis de travail) to carry out employment in France.
Most non-EU nationals working for a French employer, including those who have been posted in France by a foreign company, require a work permit to undertake paid work in France, even if only for short periods of up to three months (with limited exceptions including sportspeople, performers and people in domestic service jobs).
This work permit was also a prerequisite for a long-stay visa application to remain in the country for more than 90 out of 180 days (the Schengen visa-free allowance) to carry out contractual employment for a company.
Employees who work habitually for a UK employer and are posted to France to carry out contractual services for the company are now exempt from these requirements, under certain conditions.
To qualify, employees must:
Only work in France for a maximum cumulative duration of 12 months
Have at least one year of prior service with the same employer in the same type of role, immediately preceding the application for entry into France
Have at least three years of professional experience in the relevant sector, a university degree (or an equivalent qualification), and the professional credentials required to perform the work
In addition, the services they carry out must fall within specific fields of activity. This is to be defined by a future ministerial order, details of which are not yet available.
Longer postings still need visa
The changes, however, do not mean the employee no longer needs a visa if they are staying for more than 90 days.
Workers posted for longer than this need to obtain a long-stay visa to remain in France.
Applications are made through the usual consular services, for example TLScontact in the UK.
Those staying for less than 90 days do not need to make any visa application if they benefit from visa-free short-stay access to the Schengen area (Britons, Australians, Canadians, Americans, etc).
The two scenarios below explore the difference.
Worker A is temporarily moving from her company office in London to Paris to work on a six-month project. She does not need a work permit for the move, however, she will need to apply for a long-stay visa.
Worker B is contracted to an office in Bristol, but is co-ordinating on a project in Toulouse. He works two weeks on and two weeks off in France for a period of five months, spending less than 90 days overall in the country. He does not need a work permit, nor to apply for a long-stay visa.
Quicker response times for residency permits
Alongside the changes to employment rules, the decree included several changes to residency and work permit applications.
Most notably, prefectures must respond to residency permit applications within 90 days of receiving a ‘complete’ file, down from a previous limit of four months.
This 90-day limit begins from the moment that an application is submitted including all required supporting documents and the sender receives confirmation their application has been received.
In ‘complex cases’, the prefecture can extend the deadline by a further 30 days, after informing the applicant.
If there is no response after the 90 days, it is considered an implicit rejection of the application (as opposed to after four months currently).
Certain residency permit applications retain their own deadlines, including EU Blue Card holders and their family, and ‘talent - chercheur’ (talent card) permits.
Note that these general rules cannot cancel the residency rights of a five-year Brexit card holder upgrading to a 10-year card because they have lived more than five years in France simply because the prefecture takes too long (as their right of residency is an international treaty right).
What else is included in the decree?
Residence permits associated with temporary transfers within the same corporate group are now subject to a salary requirement.
These are known as "ICT" (Intra-Corporate Transfer) permits, and exact salary thresholds will be laid out in a future ministerial order.
Employees who receive a work authorisation permit must stay with the same employer for six months. Previously, this was 12 months, but this has been reduced.
Employees with a temporary work authorisation (travailleur temporaire) who lose their initial job through no fault of their own cannot see their permit revoked for the three months following their dismissal.
If they find a new job, they can remain in the country while their work authorisation for the role is processed, without having to leave and return.
If a worker with temporary authorisation suffered exploitation in their previous role (human trafficking, for example), their permit can be extended by a further three months.
Finally, there are changes for the mutli-year ‘EU Blue Card’, a residency permit for highly skilled third country (non-EU) workers.
This includes increased validity periods to the permit based on the length of their initial contract, and faster mobility between member states.
A non-EU national who has an EU Blue Card can apply for the French version of the card after 12 months of living in a different EU country, down from 18 months.
Blue Card holders who are to see their residency permit revoked, or otherwise not renewed, must be notified and given time to find new employment.
During this time, they will be given temporary residency rights and the right to work to help them look for a new job.
For more about visas, residency cards and formalities for working and living in France see our dedicated help guide.
