Employer's Guide to Hiring a Foreign Worker in France: Work Permits, DREETS, and Compliance in 2026

This guide covers the full sequence, from determining whether you even need a work authorization to filing on the ANEF portal, coordinating with the consulate, and meeting the compliance obligations that continue long after day one. It is written for HR managers, founders, and general managers at companies operating in France who are hiring internationally for the first time, or cleaning up a process that was improvised the first time around. 

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Before filing anything, the first question is whether your candidate actually needs an autorisation de travail. A significant number of foreign nationals in France already hold permits that carry full or partial work rights. Hiring one of these individuals without checking first wastes weeks and creates unnecessary legal exposure in the opposite direction: filing for a work authorization the person does not need can delay onboarding and flag your company for procedural confusion.

EU, EEA, and Swiss Nationals

✅​ Citizens of any EU member state, EEA country (Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein), or Switzerland can work in France without any work permit, visa, or employer-initiated authorization. 

The only document you need is a copy of their national ID card or passport proving citizenship. 

One exception : UK nationals. Since Brexit, British citizens are third-country nationals under French immigration law. If you are hiring someone with a British passport who does not already hold a valid French residence permit, they need a work authorization and visa like any other non-EU hire.

Non-EU Nationals with work-exempt residence permits

Several residence permits authorize the holder to work in France without the employer filing for a separate autorisation de travail. The most common are the Talent permit (formerly Passeport Talent), the carte de resident (10-year resident card), and the vie privee et familiale card. Student visa holders can work up to 964 hours per year (roughly 60% of full-time) without employer-initiated authorization, though you must declare the hire to the prefecture two working days before the start date.

The exemption from the autorisation de travail does not exempt you from the employer's verification obligation. You still must check the authenticity of the permit with the prefecture at least two working days before the hire. And a critical trap during renewal periods: a recepisse (renewal receipt) only authorizes work if it explicitly states "autorise a travailler." Without that mention, employment is illegal for both you and the worker, even if the previous card carried full work rights.

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The Autorisation de Travail: What is it ? When do employers need the autorisation de travail?

➡️​ The autorisation de travail is the formal work authorization that French law requires before a non-EU national can begin paid employment in France. 

It is filed by the employer, not the employee. This is the single most important procedural distinction foreign companies miss: in France, the hiring company initiates and owns the work permit process. Your future employee cannot start it themselves.

The authorization is issued by the DREETS (Direction Regionale de l'Economie, de l'Emploi, du Travail et des Solidarites), the regional labor authority that replaced the former DIRECCTE. Once approved, the authorization is brought by the French applicant to the French consulate in their country of residence, unlocking their visa application.

Work authorization vs. Work visa vs. Residence permit

These three documents serve different functions, and confusing them is a common source of filing errors.

• The autorisation de travail is the employer's permission from the French state to hire a specific foreign worker for a specific role. 
• The visa de long sejour (VLS-TS) is the travel and entry document the employee obtains at the French consulate, tied to the approved authorization.
• The titre de sejour (residence permit) is what the employee holds once in France, either through validating their VLS-TS online via OFII or through a separate card issued by the prefecture. 

📝​ The sequencing matters: authorization first, visa second, residence permit on arrival. Each depends on the one before it.

When the autorisation de Travail is not required

Beyond the permits listed above, certain categories bypass the authorization entirely. 

• Talent permit holders (qualified employees, EU Blue Card holders, researchers, artists, company creators) do not need a separate work authorization because it is embedded in the permit issuance process. The employer still files via the ANEF portal, but under the Talent track, which skips the labor market test and operates under a faster statutory review timeline.
  
  
• Intra-company transfer (ICT) permits also follow a separate track and no labor market test. If your hire involves moving an existing employee from a foreign office to a French subsidiary, the ICT permit is the dedicated route, and it carries an exemption from the employer immigration tax.

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How to apply for a work permit through DREETS and the ANEF Portal?

This is the core of the employer's process. The standard autorisation de travail for a salarie (employee) or travailleur temporaire (temporary worker) follows a five-step path. Plan for a minimum of three months from start to the employee's arrival date.

Step 1: Verify whether a labor market test applies

By default, the employer must demonstrate that no suitable candidate from the French labor market is available for the role. This is called the opposabilite de la situation de l'emploi, and it is the primary criterion DREETS uses to evaluate your application.

In practice, this means publishing the job on France Travail (the public employment service) or a similar platform for a minimum of three weeks before filing the work authorization request. The posting must be genuine: a pro forma listing with artificially narrow requirements will be flagged. You must be able to show that the EU candidate pool was insufficient or inadequate for the position.

Two major exemptions exist : 

• First, if the role falls on the official metiers en tension list (shortage occupation list), the labor market test is waived entirely. The national list covers about 80 occupations across construction, healthcare, hospitality, transport, IT, agriculture, and logistics. Regional prefets can add local occupations on top of the national list. 
• Second, Talent permit applicants (including EU Blue Card candidates) are fully exempt from the labor market test regardless of occupation.

​➡️​ Check whether your role qualifies by matching its ROME code (Repertoire Operationnel des Metiers et des Emplois) against the published list. The France Travail website maintains the ROME classification and the current metiers en tension inventory.

Step 2: Prepare and submit the ANEF Application

The employer files the work authorization request online through the ANEF portal.  Submit at least three months before the planned start date to allow for processing, consulate scheduling, and travel logistics.

The core documents you will need:

✅ Cross-document consistency is the single biggest determinant of a clean filing. The job title, salary, start date, and duties must match word for word across the contract, the CERFA, and the ANEF portal submission. A mismatch between the contract salary and the CERFA figure, or a job title discrepancy, will trigger a request for clarification at best and a rejection at worst.

Step 3: DREETS review and decision

Once submitted, the DREETS evaluates the application against several criteria:

• the salary level relative to the role and sector
• the working conditions offered
• the employer's compliance history (including any prior convictions for illegal employment)
• and the labor market situation for the role in question.

There is no fixed statutory deadline for standard salarie authorizations, but most DREETS offices process applications within two to eight weeks. Complex cases, incomplete files, or applications during peak periods (spring and summer) run longer.

✅ On approval, the DREETS notifies the employer and transmits the authorization to the French consulate in the employee's country of residence. 

❌​ On refusal, the decision letter states the grounds. The employer can file a recours gracieux (informal appeal) with the DREETS or escalate to the tribunal administratif within two months. If DREETS refuses on labor market grounds and the role has since been added to the metiers en tension list, a fresh application under the exemption is often faster than an appeal.

Step 4: The employee's visa application at the Consulate

Once the DREETS authorization is in the consulate's hands, the employee applies for a visa de long sejour valant titre de sejour (VLS-TS) with the mention salarie or travailleur temporaire. This is the employee's step, not the employer's, but delays here stall the entire timeline.

The employee completes the online form, books an in-person consulate appointment, and submits the required documents. Processing typically takes one to two weeks, though consulates in high-demand regions and during peak season (April through July) can stretch to four weeks.

If the visa is refused, the employee has recourse through the CRRV (Commission de Recours contre les Decisions de Refus de Visa) in Nantes within 30 days, or an informal appeal to the consulate within two months. 

➡️​ For a detailed breakdown of the appeal process and how to strengthen a reapplication, see our guide on what to do when your French visa is refused.

Step 5: Arrival and OFII validation

Within three months of arriving in France, the employee must validate their VLS-TS online through the ANEF portal. This step converts the visa sticker in their passport into a functional residence permit. Without validation, the employee is technically in irregular status, and you are technically employing someone without a valid titre de sejour.

The OFII (Office Francais de l'Immigration et de l'Integration) may also require the employee to attend a medical examination and sign the Contrat d'Integration Republicaine (CIR), which includes civic education sessions and a French language assessment. 

✅ As the employer, you do not manage this step directly, but you should track it. An unvalidated VLS-TS means an employee who cannot prove their right to work if inspected.

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Salary is a legal condition that DREETS evaluates before approving any work authorization. The minimum depends on the permit category, and falling short is grounds for immediate rejection.

SMIC and standard salarie salary requirements

For the standard salarie or travailleur temporaire authorization, there is no fixed minimum above the SMIC (Salaire Minimum Interprofessionnel de Croissance). 

However, DREETS may reject an application if the offered salary is significantly below prevailing rates for comparable positions in the sector and region. Paying the bare SMIC for a software engineering role, for example, will raise immediate questions.

Talent Permit and EU Blue Card salary floors

The Talent permit categories carry fixed salary thresholds set by decree.

These thresholds are updated periodically. Always verify the current figures before filing, and structure the employment contract to meet or exceed the threshold from day one. A salary that clears the threshold only with variable bonuses or overtime is a risk: DREETS evaluates the guaranteed base.

Using the metiers en tension exemption

The metiers en tension (shortage occupation) list exempts employers from the labor market test for roles where France faces documented recruitment difficulties. The current list was established in May 2025, replacing the previous 2021 list entirely. 

The most important structural change: the list is now organized region by region, not as a single national inventory. A role may qualify as a metier en tension in Ile-de-France but not in Bretagne, or vice versa. Approximately 80 occupations are listed across France, with significant regional variation. 

The heaviest concentrations are in healthcare (aides-soignants, aides a domicile, infirmiers), construction (macons, ouvriers du batiment, techniciens en electricite), hospitality (cuisiniers, serveurs), cleaning (agents d'entretien), agriculture (maraichers, viticulteurs), and IT (informaticiens).

✅ To check whether your role qualifies, the arrete uses familles professionnelles (FAP) classifications, with a correspondence table mapping FAP codes to ROME codes. 

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Employer compliance obligations before, during, and after the hire

The work authorization is the beginning of your compliance obligations, not the end. French labor law imposes specific duties on employers of foreign nationals that extend through the entire employment relationship and beyond.

Pre-Hire: Verifying the right to work

➡️ Before any foreign national starts working for you, you must verify the authenticity of their residence permit with the prefecture of the place of employment. 

This must be done at least two working days before the effective start date. Since February 2025, this verification is handled electronically, replacing the old registered-letter process. You upload a copy of the permit, receive an acknowledgment (accuse de verification), and retain the receipt for a minimum of five years.

If the prefecture does not respond within two working days, your verification obligation is legally deemed fulfilled. But do not interpret silence as confirmation that the permit is valid. If the permit turns out to be fraudulent or expired, the absence of a prefecture response does not shield you from liability.

During employment: Record-keeping and reporting

• Record the employee's residence permit details in your Registre Unique du Personnel (mandatory staff register) immediately upon hire. Keep a copy of the permit on file. 
• File the standard Declaration Prealable a l'Embauche (DPAE) with URSSAF as you would for any employee. 
• Register the employee with the local CPAM (Caisse Primaire d'Assurance Maladie) for social security coverage, which activates their access to the French healthcare system.

Any material change to the employment terms (promotion, title change, salary adjustment, remote work relocation, early termination) must be reported to the relevant authorities. If the change affects the basis on which the work authorization was granted, a new authorization may be required. A new employment contract with a different employer always requires a fresh autorisation de travail.

Renewal and expiration tracking

Track expiration dates internally and initiate the renewal process via ANEF within two months before the permit expires. A lapsed permit means an employee who cannot legally work, and every day of employment after expiry is a compliance violation.

For Talent permit renewals, the salary must still meet or exceed the threshold at the time of renewal. If the employee's gross compensation has dropped below the applicable floor for three or more consecutive months, the renewal will be refused. Monitor this actively, especially if your compensation structure includes variable components.

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Common Mistakes employers make when hiring foreign workers in France

The process is not conceptually difficult. It is procedurally unforgiving. These are the errors that cause the most damage in practice.

• Filing too late is the most frequent problem. The combined DREETS processing, consulate scheduling, and travel timeline runs three to four months in a normal case. Employers who start the process two months before a desired start date will miss the date, and rushed filings produce errors that cause rejections. Start the ANEF application at least three months before you need the employee at their desk.
• Mismatched data across documents is the leading cause of DREETS requests for clarification, which add weeks to processing. The job title on the contract must match the CERFA, which must match the ANEF submission, which must match the job description. The salary figure must be identical everywhere. If you change the offer between the contract signing and the ANEF filing, update every document before submitting.
• Skipping the France Travail posting when the labor market test applies guarantees a rejection. Some employers assume the requirement is a formality that can be backdated. It cannot. The posting must predate the ANEF filing by at least three weeks, and DREETS will verify the dates.
• Assuming a Talent permit when the salary falls below the threshold is another frequent misstep. The Talent (Qualified Employee) category requires 39,582 euros gross per year. If your offer is 38,000 euros, you are on the standard salarie track, which means a labor market test, a longer timeline, and different documentation. Choosing the wrong track wastes the entire filing.
• Not verifying the recepisse mention during renewal periods has caught employers who assumed continuous work rights during the gap between an expired card and its replacement. The recepisse must explicitly say "autorise a travailler." If it does not, employment during the renewal window is illegal.
• Relying on the employee to manage their own renewal is a compliance failure that becomes the employer's problem. The employee's permit expires, they forget to file, and suddenly you are employing someone without valid authorization. Build an internal calendar with alerts at four months, two months, and one month before every permit expiration.

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