Within hours of new Iranian drone and missile attacks in the Gulf, the Élysée announced on 3 March 2026 that a detachment of four Rafale fighter-bombers had arrived at Al-Dhafra air-base to reinforce the 700 French troops already stationed in the United Arab Emirates. The Jets will provide combat-air-patrol cover for French facilities and for evacuation flights organised jointly with the UAE authorities. Defence Minister Sébastien Lecornu said the deployment was “purely defensive”, but underlined that Paris would "protect French citizens wherever they may be". In a televised address the same evening President Emmanuel Macron confirmed that the first government-chartered A330 MRTT had air-lifted 250 vulnerable French nationals—including diplomatic dependants and TotalEnergies contractors—out of Dubai and Abu Dhabi to Larnaca, Cyprus, for onward travel to France. The operation is France’s largest crisis-evacuation since Kabul in 2021 and once again highlights the strategic value of the UAE defence agreement for safeguarding France’s expatriate workforce. About 30,000 French citizens live in the Gulf, half of them in the UAE.
![France Deploys Rafale Jets to UAE and Starts Assisted Evacuations of Nationals]()
In this context, navigating exit permits, emergency visas for dependants of mixed nationality, or transit paperwork through Cyprus can quickly become a bureaucratic minefield. VisaHQ’s France portal (https://www.visahq.com/france/) offers on-demand guidance and fast application processing, enabling mobility teams and individual travellers to secure the right documents while they focus on keeping people safe.
According to the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (MEAE), contingency plans envisage up to 10 daily rotations if commercial flights remain grounded beyond 5 March. For global-mobility teams the immediate task is to track staff whereabouts. Employers are urged to ensure that all assignees have up-to-date "Attestation de déplacement" letters—now a prerequisite for boarding the French military charters. HR should also check local payroll compliance: staff air-lifted to Cyprus will technically be in a new jurisdiction and may need temporary A1 certificates. Longer-term, the episode will feed into growing demands from French unions for hazard-pay supplements for expatriates in high-risk zones. It may also accelerate a shift towards "commuter assignments"—short, rotational deployments that keep families in France—rather than traditional three-year Gulf postings. Mobility suppliers should prepare for a surge in requests for split-payroll and emergency tax advisory services.
In this context, navigating exit permits, emergency visas for dependants of mixed nationality, or transit paperwork through Cyprus can quickly become a bureaucratic minefield. VisaHQ’s France portal (https://www.visahq.com/france/) offers on-demand guidance and fast application processing, enabling mobility teams and individual travellers to secure the right documents while they focus on keeping people safe.
According to the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (MEAE), contingency plans envisage up to 10 daily rotations if commercial flights remain grounded beyond 5 March. For global-mobility teams the immediate task is to track staff whereabouts. Employers are urged to ensure that all assignees have up-to-date "Attestation de déplacement" letters—now a prerequisite for boarding the French military charters. HR should also check local payroll compliance: staff air-lifted to Cyprus will technically be in a new jurisdiction and may need temporary A1 certificates. Longer-term, the episode will feed into growing demands from French unions for hazard-pay supplements for expatriates in high-risk zones. It may also accelerate a shift towards "commuter assignments"—short, rotational deployments that keep families in France—rather than traditional three-year Gulf postings. Mobility suppliers should prepare for a surge in requests for split-payroll and emergency tax advisory services.
