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A fixed threshold, no labour-market test

France
Talent — salarié qualifié

A job offer for a qualified position and a salary from €39,582/year — no labour-market test (opposabilité) applies. The threshold is fixed by decree and no longer tied to the minimum wage.

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Salary from
€39,582/yr
Labour-market test
not applied
Stay requirement
contract term
Maximum card term
up to 4 years

Talent Passport or a standard work permit

Two routes with different logic: the Talent Passport gives a fixed threshold with no labour-market check, the standard carte de séjour salarié has no fixed salary but requires a mandatory market test (opposabilité).

ROUTE
SALARY
WHAT TO KNOW
Talent — salarié qualifié
SALARYfrom €39,582/yr
A fixed threshold set by decree No. 2025-539 (29.08.2025), decoupled from the minimum wage (SMIC). Requires a master’s degree (Bac+5) or Bac+3 for shortage occupations.
EU Blue Card (France)
SALARYfrom €59,373/yr
A 1.5 coefficient over the base Talent Passport rate — for higher-qualification, higher-salary positions.
Standard carte de séjour salarié
SALARYno fixed threshold
Instead of a salary threshold — a mandatory labour-market test (opposabilité): the vacancy is posted for 3 weeks over 6 months unless the role is on the shortage-occupation list.

What the process consists of

Beyond visa and card fees, routes outside the Talent Passport carry a separate employer levy (taxe employeur).

COST ITEM
RATE
APPLIES TO
Long-stay visa (VLS-TS)
RATE~€99
per applicant
OFII fee on residence-permit validation
RATE~€200–300
per applicant
Employer levy (standard carte salarié, outside Talent Passport)
RATE€74–2,567+
employer

How the process runs

01
Job offer for a qualified position
The employer offers a role matching a master’s degree (Bac+5) or Bac+3 for shortage occupations.
02
Filing the application
Filed at a French consulate (entry) or a préfecture (status change from within France).
03
Salary-threshold check
Checked against €39,582/year — a fixed figure not tied to the current minimum wage.
04
VLS-TS issued, then the multi-year card
A long-stay visa is issued first, then a multi-year Talent card for the contract term, up to 4 years.
05
Renewal / change of employer
Requires separate confirmation at the préfecture — the procedure is not fully standardised and depends on the specific case.

A good fit if

You have a job offer from a French employer for a role matching a master’s degree (Bac+5) or Bac+3 for shortage occupations.
The contract salary is at least €39,582/year — a fixed threshold decoupled from the minimum wage.
You want to avoid the labour-market test (opposabilité) — the Talent Passport does not require one, unlike the standard permit.
The salary exceeds €59,373/year — then the EU Blue Card may be worth considering for a stronger EU-wide status.

A poor fit if

You have no job offer for a qualified position — the Talent Passport requires actual employment, not a speculative application.
The salary is below €39,582/year and the role is not a shortage occupation — then only the standard carte de séjour salarié remains, with a labour-market test and a less predictable outcome.
You need certainty on renewal or changing employer — both, based on available data, require separate confirmation at the préfecture and are not uniformly standardised by law for every case.
The diploma is below Bac+3 and the role is not on the shortage-occupation list — the applicant does not meet the Talent Passport’s formal criteria.

Who runs this programme

Your request goes to two or three firms from this list. You see exactly which ones before it is sent, and you can exclude any of them.

No matching firms in the directory for this category yet — the list is curated by hand and grows over time.

This is an independent list of firms in the market, not our partners — we do not forward requests to them or receive payment for referrals. Contact them directly via the link.

Frequent questions

Why isn’t the standard carte salarié’s salary shown as a number?

Because it officially has no fixed salary threshold — instead, the check is that the vacancy was posted for 3 weeks over 6 months with no suitable French/EU candidate found (opposabilité). This site does not invent a figure where officially there isn’t one.

Why isn’t the threshold tied to the minimum wage (SMIC) anymore?

Decree No. 2025-539 of 29.08.2025 fixed €39,582/year as a standalone figure — previously the threshold was calculated as a multiple of the minimum wage and changed with it every year.

How does the EU Blue Card differ from the Talent Passport?

The Blue Card uses the same base but with a 1.5 coefficient — a higher threshold (€59,373/year), but the status offers more mobility across the EU.

What diploma is required?

A master’s degree (Bac+5) for most positions, or Bac+3 if the role is on the official shortage-occupation list (métiers en tension).

How long is the card valid?

For the term of the employment contract, up to 4 years at a time; renewal and changing employer require separate confirmation at the préfecture.

Does the labour-market test apply to the Talent Passport?

No — opposabilité du marché applies only to the standard carte de séjour salarié outside the Talent Passport, not to the Talent Passport itself.

Sources

Service-public.fr — official Talent — salarié qualifié (Talent Passport) page↗

Figures are for reference only. Verified against official sources on 26 August 2026. A precise quote is issued by the appointed firm after document review. This material is not legal advice, a public offer or investment advice.