A ministerial order published in the Journal Officiel on 29 August but only widely reported this week standardises the reference salary for France’s flagship «Talent – Qualified Employee» residence permit at €39 582 gross per year—about eight percent lower than the previous benchmark tied to 1.5 × SMIC. Immigration specialists say the change, confirmed by multiple legal alerts on 30 December, makes France more competitive against Germany’s Blue-Card regime and the Netherlands’ Highly-Skilled Migrant route.
The decree is part of a broader overhaul that drops the word «Passport» from the permit’s branding, merges several sub-categories and moves all filings to the ANEF online portal. Eligibility criteria—Master’s-level qualification and a French employment contract longer than three months—remain unchanged, but employers must now reference the new flat figure instead of calculating 1.5 × the prevailing minimum wage.
Companies and individual professionals navigating these changes can streamline application logistics through VisaHQ, whose France-dedicated platform (https://www.visahq.com/france/) offers step-by-step guidance, document checklists and courier management for Talent – Qualified Employee permits as well as other work-authorisation categories. Leveraging VisaHQ’s online tools and in-house experts can reduce administrative friction and ensure dossiers meet the new salary benchmarks before they reach the ANEF portal.
![France cuts salary threshold for ‘Talent – Qualified Employee’ permit to €39 582]()
For multinationals, the lower threshold could shave roughly €3 500 a year off labour costs per assignee compared with 2024 packages. HR teams should adjust assignment cost forecasts, update template offer letters and ensure posted-worker declarations reflect the new remuneration. Companies already in the pipeline may submit updated contracts to prefectures without restarting the 30-day processing clock.
Practically, the reform simplifies compliance: a single nationwide amount replaces a moving target that changed every January when SMIC rose. However, payroll managers must still watch for sector-specific collective-agreement minima, which supersede the talent floor where higher.
French authorities frame the measure as a talent-attraction lever ahead of the 2026 Olympic afterglow and the planned 2027 opening of the CDG Express rail link, both expected to boost foreign investment and head-office relocations.
The decree is part of a broader overhaul that drops the word «Passport» from the permit’s branding, merges several sub-categories and moves all filings to the ANEF online portal. Eligibility criteria—Master’s-level qualification and a French employment contract longer than three months—remain unchanged, but employers must now reference the new flat figure instead of calculating 1.5 × the prevailing minimum wage.
Companies and individual professionals navigating these changes can streamline application logistics through VisaHQ, whose France-dedicated platform (https://www.visahq.com/france/) offers step-by-step guidance, document checklists and courier management for Talent – Qualified Employee permits as well as other work-authorisation categories. Leveraging VisaHQ’s online tools and in-house experts can reduce administrative friction and ensure dossiers meet the new salary benchmarks before they reach the ANEF portal.
For multinationals, the lower threshold could shave roughly €3 500 a year off labour costs per assignee compared with 2024 packages. HR teams should adjust assignment cost forecasts, update template offer letters and ensure posted-worker declarations reflect the new remuneration. Companies already in the pipeline may submit updated contracts to prefectures without restarting the 30-day processing clock.
Practically, the reform simplifies compliance: a single nationwide amount replaces a moving target that changed every January when SMIC rose. However, payroll managers must still watch for sector-specific collective-agreement minima, which supersede the talent floor where higher.
French authorities frame the measure as a talent-attraction lever ahead of the 2026 Olympic afterglow and the planned 2027 opening of the CDG Express rail link, both expected to boost foreign investment and head-office relocations.
