Visa, Immigration, Green Card, Property Investment, Real Estate Europe, Investment Immigration

France or French Republic is one of the most developed countries in Europe. France is a great country to immigrate as it has a strong economy. People of France enjoy high living standards, outstanding healthcare facilities and exceptionally good education level.

Instead of being Europe’s most excessively 'protected' labor market, work permit application processing for France immigration has relatively become more faster and easier overtime. The local Direction Departmentale du Travail, de L'Emploi et de la Formation Professionale (DDTEFP) looks into the French work permit applications. All the applications are processed on the basis of town to which the immigration is desired.

Boom in the IT sector within France resulted in terrible dearth of IT professionals which lead the French government to develop immigration plans for highly skilled workers.

• Temporary Secondment Permit Scheme
• Full Work Permit Scheme

This plan is tailored for those non-French organizations which are serving French clients. Such non-French companies usually have a requirement of recruiting their employee at the French client’s office/site. Only a non-French or a foreign company can apply under this scheme. Though, such company needs full support from its French counterpart or client. The recommended employee is called seconded employee. Once the seconded employee reaches France he must stay in the employ, pay and line management of the foreign organization.

• The fresh employee can immigrate and work at the concerned French client’s site if a valid employment contract and client service contract has been signed between the foreign firm and the French company.
• The monthly salary of the seconded employee should be more than 3,835 EUROS/ month
• He should have knowledge of the French language

The application is submitted with the local DDTEFP which gets approved between 4-6 weeks. After getting the approval from the DDTEFP, the candidate can submit his visa application for immigrating to France which is processed in about a week’s time. The visa application is lodged with the French consulate situated in the country of residence. The applicant must submit all his papers and documents in French. The budget of the candidate must allow the translation whenever required.

After the candidate reaches France, he has to get his medical done from the Office des Migrations Internationales (OMI). For this service, the candidate’s French organization has to pay 160 EURO as fee. Hereafter, the candidate gets a residence card called carte de sejour.

Initially, the seconded employee is permitted to stay for a maximum period of 18 months. The permit can later be extended for up to 9 months.

This scheme is meant to facilitate the immigration of skilled workers from the non-EEA countries. Only recognized firms can apply under this scheme. As per this plan, a French company can hire a skilled resource from any non-EEA country. The French company must take in the resource as a full-time employee and pay him in Francs or Euros only. This permit has no limit or duration.

The DDTEFP exercises authority to a great extend in issuing Full French Work Permit to a candidate and also, in deciding the type of work permit that is to be granted to the applicant. In determining the issuance of a work permit, three things mentioned below are taken into account :

• Salary level
• Education
• The statute of "cadre" and a CDI contract (which is full-time employment)

To acquire Full French Work Permit, the candidate must meet the following requirements :

• He must be a professional (cadre) and should have high-level work experience
• He should have qualification relevant to his job
• He should have knowledge of the French language
• His salary should be more than 3,835 Euros per month and must be paid in Euros by his French employer

The complete procedure to lodge the work permit application and reach the on-site takes about 1-2 months. The candidate must submit all his documents in French. Therefore, the candidate’s budget must allow the translation whenever required. The candidate is granted a Long Stay Visa which allows him to immigrate to France and work there.

The French company must sign a direct employment contract with the candidate. The contract also requires the company to take all the responsibility for managing taxes and issues related to social security.