Working in France

France treats the EU Blue Card as the high-skill branch of the talent family. The current legal and Service Public position is a 6-month minimum contract plus degree or accepted experience and pay at least 1.5 times the reference average gross salary, but the first visa step still depends on whether the planned stay is below or above 12 months.

Min salary

At least EUR 59,373 gross per year under the 21 August 2025 order; verify the live amount before filing.

Timeline

If the stay is under 12 months, Service Public says a VLS-TS talent visa is issued and must be validated within 3 months; at 1 year or more, file for the card online within 2 months after entry.

Talent Passport is a route family rather than one flat permit. France uses different evidence depending on whether the case is a researcher, employee on assignment, innovative-company hire, founder, investor, or another eligible talent profile, so the exact checklist matters more than the umbrella label.

Min salary

Subcategory-specific; there is no single talent-wide floor, and some branches publish their own live threshold or form.

Timeline

For stays under 12 months, France uses a VLS-TS talent visa to validate after arrival; for stays of 1 year or more, the long-stay visa is followed by an online or prefecture card filing within 2 months.

This is the standard route for ordinary employment that does not fit the talent family. The employer usually has to obtain work authorisation first, and the residence label then follows the contract type: employee for CDI and temporary worker for CDD.

Min salary

No single national floor is published for the route; eligibility turns on the authorised contract and work-authorisation rules.

Timeline

Work authorisation first, then the visa, then VLS-TS validation within 3 months after arrival.

The ICT route is for intra-group secondments rather than ordinary local recruitment. The worker must already have group employment abroad, the French stay is tied to a management or high-level expertise mission, and France distinguishes missions of up to 1 year from longer assignments.

Min salary

Verify the live remuneration and contract details in the current ICT route notice and employer form.

Timeline

For stays above 3 months and up to 1 year, Service Public says a VLS-TS salarié détaché ICT is enough; longer stays use the card route, valid up to 3 years.

France has a separate seasonal route with its own multi-year card. It allows at most 6 months of seasonal work per year, expects you to keep your habitual residence abroad, and still starts with employer-backed work authorisation before travel.

Min salary

Contract-specific; the official route focuses on the seasonal contract and work authorisation rather than a separate salary threshold.

Timeline

Employer work authorisation before travel, visa issue through the consulate, then the seasonal-card filing in the 2 months before the visa ends.