We report on the favourable immigration measures recently introduced in France for foreign executives and their families.

France continues to improve procedures by making the transfer of foreign executives and their spouses to France easier following some recently introduced amendments to the circular DPM/DMI2 n° 143 of 26 March 2004.
 
The new circular DPM/DMI 2/2006/132 dated 15 March 2006 completes and amends the 2004 document.

New conditions
 
The new conditions stipulate that the foreign executive must have at least 6 months seniority within the group, instead of a year, and the criteria concerning the parent company – share capital, three years of existence – no longer apply.
 
The other conditions of the Circular of 26 March 2004, of having an employment contract with a French company and a salary of at least EUR 5,000 gross per month, remain valid.
 

The spouse must arrive in France within 10 months of the partner's arrival.

The French authorities require the French company to provide up-dated legal and social documents once a year.
 
In addition to the usual documents concerning the executive, the authorities ask for the detailed employment contract and not just the specific OMI employment contract - CERFA form.

Time-frame
 
Now, since the 15 March 2006 amendments, the processing time for the work authorisation to be issued should be 2 weeks (in practice, between 2 to 4 weeks) from the date the complete application is filed with the authorities, depending on which regional office is dealing with it.  Prior to this the standard process took between 2 to 3 months.

Residence and work permits should be issued at the time of the mandatory medical examination with the French authorities.
 
Changes for accompanying spouses

The French authorities have introduced two new steps for the spouses of foreign executives, whether they wish to work in France or not.
 
The spouse now has the right to use the above simplified procedure if the spouse has an offer of an employment contract with a French company before arrival in France and the spouse earns at least EUR 2,000 gross per month.
 
The spouse may arrive in France as 'accompanying family' later, if the spouse's application is filed at the same time as the foreign executive's application.

This also applies if the spouse arrives in France within a maximum of 10 months, instead of an administrative practice of 6 months, following the approval of the spouse's application file. This 10-month period starts on the date that the French employment contract of the foreign executive is stamped as valid by the labour authorities.

Changes for families of 'other foreign execs' and scientists

Up until now, the practice of the French authorities was 'flexible' concerning the transfer to France of the accompanying family of foreign executives.

However the French Labour ministry's recent Circular (Circular DPM/DMI 2/2006/133) dated 15 March 2006 has toughened up the procedure:

The new procedure only affects the spouse and children (minors) of foreign executives known as 'cadres dirigeants ou supérieurs'.

Other Foreign executives, 'détaché' included, must earn at least EUR 4,043 gross per month. Prior to this circular, there was no strict salary level for the 'détaché'.

On the other hand, the procedure is easier in terms of filing the application and arrival in France and the changes for spouse application are the same as noted above.  For instance, the spouse's application must be filed at the same time as the foreign executive's with the labour authorities, instead of the family authorities 'DDASS'.

The spouse must also arrive in France within a maximum of 10 months – instead of an administrative practice of 6 months – following the approval of the spouse's application file.

Exemptions for scientists

Scientists' families are granted a residence permit 'vie privée et familiale' immediately, which allows the spouse to work in France.

For all other cases, it is mandatory to use the so called procedure 'regroupement familial'.

May 2006

For more information please contact, Anne Vaucher (avaucher@taj.fr), Chairman, Tax Partner, Agnès Monard-Rault (amonardrault@taj.fr), Senior Manager, or Gildas de Berranger, Manager, (gdeberranger@taj.fr ).
 
Taj, is one of the leading French law firms and a member of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, specialising in corporate and tax law. Taj is based at 181 avenue Charles de Gaulle, 92524 Neuilly sur Seine Cedex, France. 

Subject: Managing expatriation to France, permits and paperwork for expats in France