- Salary floor
- EUR 39,582 a year (2025 figure)This is the reference average gross annual salary set by the Arrêté of 21 August 2025, and the same figure applies to each of the three parcours of this card. Service-Public was still publishing it on the page verified 1 June 2026, but the figure is fixed by arrêté and moves with it: confirm the amount in force on the date you apply.
- Qualification
- Three parcours lead to this card and they do not share a test. The salarié qualifié parcours requires a qualification obtained in France — awarded there, not merely equivalent to one awarded there — at master level or above, or a niveau 1 qualification labelled by the Conférence des grandes écoles and awarded by a nationally accredited institution, plus a contract of more than three months. The entreprise innovante parcours requires a job with a young innovative company or a company recognised as innovative by the economy ministry, in duties directly tied to its R&D project. The salarié en mission parcours requires three months' seniority in a group that is posting you to its French entity. All three require the same gross annual pay floor.
- Card validity
- The same length as the employment contract, up to a maximum of four years
- Filing window
- Within two months of entering France on a long-stay visa, or between four and two months before an existing permit expires
- Stamp duty and tax on the card
- €350 in total: €50 stamp duty plus a €300 tax, paid in tax stamps
- Employer costs
- None of the usual ones. This card exempts the employer from applying for a work authorisation and from the tax on employing a foreign national
- Consular visa fee
- Charged by the consulate and not published on the procedure page
Everything about Multi-year residence card "talent – salarié qualifié" →The procedure, step by step7 steps · 5 possible outcomes
- Read the first condition literally before planning anything around this card. For the salarié qualifié parcours the state's own page says the qualification has to have been obtained in France — a master-level diploma awarded there, or a niveau 1 diploma labelled by the Conférence des grandes écoles and issued by a nationally accredited institution.A degree earned outside France does not satisfy this parcours, however strong it is. That is not a judgement about the degree: it is the condition as the page states it. If yours was awarded abroad, the EU Blue Card route below is the one built for it, and it asks for a higher salary in return.
- Check which of the three parcours your situation actually fits, because the documents differ. The innovative-company parcours needs the economy ministry's attestation recognising the firm, or the tax document establishing it as a young innovative company, plus an employer statement tying your duties to its R&D work. The intra-group parcours needs a social-security posting certificate, a letter setting out the assignment, and proof of at least three months' seniority in the group abroad.
- Get the pay right in the contract itself. Each parcours requires gross annual pay at or above the reference average gross annual salary, and the figure is the same for all three.
- Apply for the visa at the French consulate in your country of residence. For a stay under twelve months the consulate issues a long-stay visa equivalent to a residence permit marked "talent", which you validate online within three months of arriving. For a stay of a year or more it issues a three-month long-stay visa and you apply for the card itself online.
- File the residence card application on ANEF, the interior ministry's online service. From abroad with a long-stay visa, file within two months of entering France; if you already hold a card or a validated long-stay visa, file no earlier than four months and no later than two months before it expires. You get a dated electronic receipt the moment you file.
- Assemble what the file asks for: your valid long-stay visa or residence permit, your passport, proof of address less than six months old, an e-photo code, the diploma, and a signed undertaking to respect the principles of the Republic. Where the occupation is regulated in France, you also have to prove you meet the conditions to practise it.
- Once the préfecture confirms the card is ready, pay €350 in tax stamps — €50 stamp duty plus a €300 tax — and collect the card at the préfecture or sous-préfecture of your home address. Most of them require an appointment.
Possible outcomes
- A multi-year card running as long as your contract, up to four years, with no work authorisation for your employer to obtain.
- A simplified accompanying-family procedure: your spouse and minor children get a "talent-famille" card without going through family reunification.
- An explicit refusal, notified by a reasoned letter that, barring exceptions, comes with an order to leave French territory.
- An implicit refusal after four months of silence, challengeable before the administrative court.
- No route at all through the salarié qualifié parcours if your qualification was awarded outside France, whatever its level.
- Salary floor
- EUR 59,373 a year (2025 figure)The condition is stated as at least 1.5 times the reference average gross annual salary, and Service-Public prints the product of that on the page verified 1 June 2026. The reference figure itself is set by the Arrêté of 21 August 2025, so both the multiplier and the base are worth re-checking on the date you apply.
- Qualification
- A diploma attesting at least three years of higher education, OR five years of professional experience at a level comparable to a higher-education qualification and relevant to the sector or occupation you will work in. That experience requirement drops to three years acquired within the seven years before the application for the occupations fixed by an arrêté of the minister responsible for immigration. A contract of at least six months is also required.
- Card validity
- For a contract of two years or more, the length of the contract capped at four years; for a shorter contract, its length plus three months, capped at two years
- Silence from the préfecture
- 90 days with no answer is an implicit refusal — 30 days if you already hold an EU Blue Card from another member state
- Stamp duty and tax on the card
- €350 in total: €50 stamp duty plus a €300 tax, paid in tax stamps
- Employer costs
- No work authorisation to obtain, and the employer is exempt from the tax on employing a foreign national
Everything about Multi-year residence card "talent – carte bleue européenne" (EU Blue Card) →The procedure, step by step6 steps · 4 possible outcomes
- Check which of the two qualification tests you meet. Either three years of higher education evidenced by a diploma, or five years of relevant professional experience at a comparable level — and if your occupation appears on the arrêté the immigration minister publishes, three years acquired in the last seven are enough.Which occupations that arrêté covers is not stated here, because the arrêté itself is published on a site that could not be read from here. Ask the consulate or the préfecture whether yours is on it before you rely on the shorter experience route.
- Secure a contract of at least six months with gross annual pay at or above the threshold. The card's length is tied to that contract: a contract of two years or more gets a card for its length capped at four years, and a shorter contract gets a card for its length plus three months, capped at two years.
- Apply for the long-stay visa at the French consulate where you live, then file the card application on ANEF — within two months of entering France on a long-stay visa, or between four and two months before an existing permit expires.
- If you already hold an EU Blue Card issued by another EU member state, you can come in on that instead: after a year there you may apply in France, and you have to file within the month of your arrival. From a second move onwards the qualifying period drops to six months.That intra-EU move also shortens the deadline on the other end: silence from the préfecture becomes an implicit refusal after 30 days instead of 90.
- File your valid long-stay visa, residence permit or Blue Card from the other member state, your passport, proof of address less than six months old, an e-photo code and the employer attestation, for which the administration publishes a downloadable template. Where the occupation is regulated in France, add proof that you meet the conditions to practise it.
- Pay €350 in tax stamps — €50 stamp duty plus a €300 tax — once the préfecture confirms the card is ready, and collect it there.
Possible outcomes
- A multi-year card tied to the contract, with no work authorisation for your employer to obtain and the same accompanying-family procedure as the other talent cards.
- A route that accepts a qualification obtained anywhere, and one that accepts experience in place of a diploma.
- An explicit refusal by reasoned decision, or an implicit one after 90 days of silence — 30 where you moved on another state's Blue Card.
- A higher bar than the talent card above: the salary floor is half again as high, and the contract has to run at least six months.
- Salary floor
- EUR 1,867.02 a month (2026 figure)Pay may not fall below the SMIC, France's statutory minimum wage, or below the rate in the company's collective agreement where that is higher — and in many sectors it is. This gross monthly figure is the SMIC as printed on the page verified 18 June 2026; it is revised at least once a year, so treat it as a floor to re-check rather than a target.
- Qualification
- No qualification level is set. What is tested is the job: it must either appear on the shortage list for its region, or have been advertised for three consecutive weeks within the six months before the application with no suitable candidate coming forward.
- Prior advertising of the vacancy
- Three consecutive weeks within the six months before the application, unless the job is on the shortage list
- Silence on the work authorisation
- Two months with no answer is an implicit refusal, challengeable within two months
- Validating the long-stay visa
- €300, on top of the consular visa fee
- Stamp duty and tax on the card
- €350 in total: a €300 tax plus €50 stamp duty
- Employer tax at first admission
- For a contract of 12 months or more, 55% of the gross monthly salary, capped at €2,567.15 where the salary is €4,667.54 or above; €74, €210 or €300 for a contract of 3 to 12 months, by pay band
Everything about Residence card "salarié" (open-ended contract) or "travailleur temporaire" (fixed-term contract) →The procedure, step by step7 steps · 4 possible outcomes
- Have your employer check the labour-market test first, because it decides whether this route is open at all. Either the job is on the list of shortage occupations for its region, or the vacancy has to have been advertised through the public employment service for three consecutive weeks within the preceding six months, with no suitable application received.The shortage list is fixed by arrêté, region by region, and has been updated annually since the January 2024 immigration law; separate lists exist for Guadeloupe, Guyane, La Réunion and Martinique. Whether any given occupation is on it for a given region is not stated here — the arrêté is published on a site that could not be read from here, and the answer is region-specific in any case.
- Know which card the contract produces: an open-ended contract leads to a "salarié" card, a fixed-term one to a "travailleur temporaire" card. The difference bites later — a person holding a "travailleur temporaire" card whose work authorisation was granted for an open-ended contract may not work on it, and has to apply to change status first.
- Your employer files the work authorisation application online before you enter France. The préfecture weighs the job, the employer's standing and the pay, which may not be below the SMIC or below the applicable collective agreement.
- Expect the employer tax that comes with a granted authorisation, because it is substantial and falls due at your first admission for work. For a contract of twelve months or more it is 55% of the gross monthly salary, capped at €2,567.15 where that salary is €4,667.54 or more; for a contract between three and twelve months it is €74, €210 or €300 depending on the pay band.It is owed once, by the first employer whose job gets you a residence permit for work. It becomes payable again if you leave France after your permit expires and come back for a job that needs a new authorisation.
- With the authorisation granted, apply for the long-stay visa equivalent to a residence permit at the consulate. You may start work as soon as you arrive; within three months of arriving you validate the visa online and pay a €300 tax on top of the visa fee.
- File for the card itself at the préfecture of your home address no later than two months before the long-stay visa expires, and pay €350 in tax stamps — a €300 tax plus €50 stamp duty. The card is valid for one year and renewable.
- Plan for the condition that arrives at the first renewal. If you are still employed, the renewal is a multi-year card valid four years, and issuing a first multi-year card requires meeting a republican-integration condition: attendance at the training prescribed under the republican integration contract, French at level A2, and passing the civic examination — the last two waived only above the age of 65.
Possible outcomes
- A one-year card tied to the job the authorisation was granted for, renewable into a four-year card.
- A new work authorisation for every new employment contract — this card does not travel between employers the way the talent cards do.
- A refusal, notified or implicit after two months of silence, with a two-month window to challenge it before the préfet, the interior minister or the administrative court.
- A language and civics requirement at the first multi-year renewal: French at A2 and the civic examination, with the last two waived only above 65.
