A four-day strike by DHL Express handlers at Paris-CDG and regional hubs ended on 13 December after management agreed to reopen wage talks, but unions warn that it left a backlog of roughly 12,000 parcels per day in the run-up to Christmas.
For globally mobile employees this matters more than missed holiday gifts: December is peak season for shipping tax documents, medical records and school transcripts needed for January assignment start dates. Mobility vendors say some time-critical shipments are already rerouting to Metz and Brussels, adding 24–48 hours and, in some cases, import VAT exposure when goods transit via Belgium.
![DHL strike ends but parcel backlog may hit assignees’ year-end relocations]()
To mitigate the impact of such delays, organisations can also lean on VisaHQ’s expertise. Through its France portal (https://www.visahq.com/france/), VisaHQ offers expedited visa processing, document legalisation and secure digital copies of critical paperwork—services that help ensure immigration timelines stay on track even when physical originals are stuck in courier backlogs.
DHL insists that outstanding parcels will clear “within days,” yet forwarding agents note that downstream networks—Chronopost and Colissimo—are also close to capacity. HR teams should therefore contact relocation providers to verify that immigration originals (for example, apostilled birth certificates) have been despatched and consider using digital notarised copies pending delivery.
Under French labour law, logistics operators must give seven days’ notice before any new strike action, but unions have not ruled out walk-outs in January if wage talks stall. Businesses with relocations scheduled for early 2026 should build express-courier contingencies into their budgets.
For globally mobile employees this matters more than missed holiday gifts: December is peak season for shipping tax documents, medical records and school transcripts needed for January assignment start dates. Mobility vendors say some time-critical shipments are already rerouting to Metz and Brussels, adding 24–48 hours and, in some cases, import VAT exposure when goods transit via Belgium.
To mitigate the impact of such delays, organisations can also lean on VisaHQ’s expertise. Through its France portal (https://www.visahq.com/france/), VisaHQ offers expedited visa processing, document legalisation and secure digital copies of critical paperwork—services that help ensure immigration timelines stay on track even when physical originals are stuck in courier backlogs.
DHL insists that outstanding parcels will clear “within days,” yet forwarding agents note that downstream networks—Chronopost and Colissimo—are also close to capacity. HR teams should therefore contact relocation providers to verify that immigration originals (for example, apostilled birth certificates) have been despatched and consider using digital notarised copies pending delivery.
Under French labour law, logistics operators must give seven days’ notice before any new strike action, but unions have not ruled out walk-outs in January if wage talks stall. Businesses with relocations scheduled for early 2026 should build express-courier contingencies into their budgets.
