If you are moving to France from a non-EU country, there is the question of which visa to apply for. Many people might be surprised to find that they are eligible for a multi-year visa that also allows them to being family members with them.
The entire process is now done online, which makes it more user friendly.
What's a 'titre de séjour talent'?
The titre de séjour portant la mention talent (residency card with the 'talent' status) - which was previously known as the passeport talent - is part of France's efforts to bring international talent into the country.
It is a visa status available to people who can demonstrate certain business, creative or academic skills, or who have a provable reputation in their field - for example, scientific, literary, artistic, intellectual, educational, or sporting.
Depending on your situation, the card could be issued for a period of up to four years. Once you receive the visa, you can validate it within three months of arrival in France and switch over to a renewable residency card (carte de séjour).
While businesses can use the 'talent' card to bring non-EU employees to France, the programme does not require a holder to have a job waiting for them.
Holders can, for example, look for work or set up their own business after they arrive in the country. It also allows the holder's immediate family to live in France.
Is the scheme any good?
It is. Fiona Mougenot, the former managing director of immigration consultancy Expat Partners told The Local in a 2021 interview that it is one of the best around.
"Talent attraction and retention is one of the hardest things for any country. Everyone's trying to attract talent," she said.
"France has the most wonderful immigration category - this talent category. It's very unique what they have set up. In my opinion it's one of the best visa methods for attracting talent.
"When you see that young students who have finished a Masters degree here - or a qualification at that level - can remain in France and could get a talent passport, that's really saying France doesn't just want to offer an education, it's also offering the possibility for that person to stay … and France retains the talent.
"France is genuinely searching for talent."
What has changed about the card recently?
There were some changes to the 'talent' status, including to its name, thanks to the 2024 immigration law, but one benefit is that these statuses will remain exempt from several of the language-related changes to be brought in.
The first change is that the status is no longer called passeport talent. Instead, the umbrella term is now titre de séjour portant la mention “talent”, or just titre de séjour talent. Apparently the word 'passport' was confusing, so it has been scrapped.
The second change has to do with simplifying what were 11 different categories, so there are now two broader categories for skilled workers and people looking to start businesses.
The titre de séjour - talent salarié qualifié groups together what used to be the salarié qualifié, salarié d’une jeune entreprise innovante and salarié en mission statuses.
The talent-porteur de projet groups together previous categories of création entreprise, projet économique innovant, and investissement économique.
There is also the creation of a new category intended to attract healthcare workers to France, the titre de séjour talent - profession médicale et de la pharmacie.
Keep in mind that these changes only apply only to new applications, people who already have a talent passport do not need to do anything until their card comes up for renewal.
Who's eligible?
Importantly, the talent status is not limited to research scientists or mega-rich business leaders, but it's not a free-for-all. There are still several categories, and some are harder to qualify for than others. Here are the statuses:
Talent salarié qualifié (Skilled worker)
You can qualify if you fit one of the following requirements.
- Hold a master's degree or equivalent higher education from a French institution, with an employment contract of more than three months with annual pay of more than €43,243 (as of 2024)
- Were recruited by a 'young innovative company' (recognised as such by the Finance Ministry) whose duties are directly related to the company's research and development project, with an employment contract promising gross annual pay of more than €43,243 (as of 2024)
- An employee of a company based abroad who is coming to work in France as part of a mobility scheme (either within that company or its consortium/group). This person should have been working there for at least three months and they should be offered an employment contract with the branch in France, as well as a gross annual salary of at least €38,918 (as of 2024)
Salarié hautement qualifié (Highly skilled worker)
You have an employment contract of at least one year with a gross annual salary of at least €53,836.50 (as of 2024). You also have a degree or diploma of at least 3 years‘ higher education or 5 years’ comparable professional experience.
Talent porteur de projet (Project initiator)
You can qualify if you fit one of the following requirements:
- Hold a diploma equivalent to a master's degree or at least 5 years of professional experience of a comparable level, as well as plans for a real and serious business project
- Plan to start a new innovative business/ economic project, as recognised by a public body (DREETS)
- Plan to provide a direct economic investment in France. For this, the plan must include creating, safeguarding or promising to safeguard jobs on French territory, as well as undertaking to make or making an investment of at least €300,000 in France
READ MORE: France's 'entrepreneur visa' and how to apply for it
Chercheur (Researcher)
You have a diploma at least or equivalent to a master's degree and you are coming to France to conduct research or teach at university level.
You must be able to show a hosting agreement with the approved public or private organisation involved in research or higher education, and this must state that you are a researcher, as well as the purpose of your research and duration of your stay in France. If you are planning to carry out research in another EU country, the agreement must specify that you are a member of a "mobility programme", which is its own category.
Mandataire social (Corporate representative)
You must be a legal representative for a company established in France, and you must have been employed at this company or in its group for at least three months. Your gross annual pay is at least €64,864.8 (as of 2024).
Profession artistique et culturelle (Artistic or cultural profession)
This could be applicable to anyone in an 'artistic' field - whether they are a photographer, designer, artist, musician, actor, writer, painter, dancer, choreographer, or some other artistic profession. The required documents depend on whether or not you are pursuing salaried employment in France. You can find more information on the Service-Public website.
Personne renommée internationale (Foreign nationals with a national or international reputation)
You can qualify for this if you can prove that you have a national or international reputation and that you are likely to make a significant and lasting contribution to France. You must come to France to carry out an activity in a scientific, literary, artistic, intellectual, educational or sporting field.
Profession médicale et de la pharmacie (Healthcare workers)
This was added as part of France's 2024 immigration bill. More information to come about the details of who would qualify, but speaking good French is highly likely to be a requirement.
There must be a catch…
Not really. There's a lot of paperwork, and the requirements for most categories are strict.
For example, people applying under the investor category cannot simply stump up €300,000, or buy an apartment in Paris and expect to be handed a passeport talent, Mougenot said. They must take an active role in the business in which they are investing.
Financial records and business plans will be required as part of the application process. And applicants must be able to demonstrate that they would not be an immediate drain on the state - so there's no applying for one and then promptly trying to claim French unemployment benefits.
But in 2023, 19,674 new talent related cards (including for family members) were issued, representing an increase of 3.6 percent from 2022, according to the ministry of interior. Clearly plenty of people managed to fit into those categories.
For more information and to start the application process, go to the France-Visas website. If you don't fit into any of those categories, there are plenty of other visa types, find out more in our visa guide HERE.
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