France’s Official Journal of 16 November 2025 quietly introduced an important change for thousands of civil servants and public-sector employees working on long-term international assignments. An order dated 28 October 2025 replaces the annexed table that sets the number of working-days’ holiday and the maximum carry-over allowed per year for each host country under Decree 2002-1200. The last comprehensive update of this table was more than a decade ago, and HR departments in embassies, French schools and cultural institutes had long complained that it no longer reflected today’s posting realities.
Under the new table, hardship and climate coefficients have been recalculated using updated World Bank and WHO indicators. Postings in high-hardship locations such as Niamey, Juba or Kabul will now accrue up to 55 working-days of paid annual leave, while low-hardship capitals such as Berlin, Ottawa or Canberra drop to the standard 30-day ceiling. The reform also doubles the in-country carry-over ceiling—from 15 to 30 days—giving expatriate staff greater flexibility when regional crises, air-travel disruptions or visa issues make it impossible to take holidays inside the reference year.
![France updates annual leave table for state employees posted abroad]()
For mobility managers the practical impact is twofold. First, assignment cost projections must be updated because accrued paid leave counts as a payroll cost once taken in France. Second, companies that second staff under détachement agreements often align their own leave policies with the public-sector benchmark; they will therefore need to decide whether to follow the new table or maintain existing caps.
The Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs recommends that HR units brief affected employees no later than 1 January 2026 and update internal leave-tracking software by the same date. Failure to respect the new entitlements could expose the employer to pay-in-lieu claims at repatriation. For assignees, the message is more positive: the reform brings additional rest time in the most demanding locations and more flexibility everywhere else.
Corporate mobility teams should review assignment letters, budget models and travel-approval workflows immediately, and communicate the changes to host-country managers so that operational planning (especially in small missions) can accommodate longer absences.
Under the new table, hardship and climate coefficients have been recalculated using updated World Bank and WHO indicators. Postings in high-hardship locations such as Niamey, Juba or Kabul will now accrue up to 55 working-days of paid annual leave, while low-hardship capitals such as Berlin, Ottawa or Canberra drop to the standard 30-day ceiling. The reform also doubles the in-country carry-over ceiling—from 15 to 30 days—giving expatriate staff greater flexibility when regional crises, air-travel disruptions or visa issues make it impossible to take holidays inside the reference year.
For mobility managers the practical impact is twofold. First, assignment cost projections must be updated because accrued paid leave counts as a payroll cost once taken in France. Second, companies that second staff under détachement agreements often align their own leave policies with the public-sector benchmark; they will therefore need to decide whether to follow the new table or maintain existing caps.
The Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs recommends that HR units brief affected employees no later than 1 January 2026 and update internal leave-tracking software by the same date. Failure to respect the new entitlements could expose the employer to pay-in-lieu claims at repatriation. For assignees, the message is more positive: the reform brings additional rest time in the most demanding locations and more flexibility everywhere else.
Corporate mobility teams should review assignment letters, budget models and travel-approval workflows immediately, and communicate the changes to host-country managers so that operational planning (especially in small missions) can accommodate longer absences.
