France: employees of British companies no longer need a work permit for some postings

In brief

• Decree No. 2026-1001 of 26 October 2026 was published in the French Official Journal on 29 October and entered into force the next day, 30 October 2026.
• Article 13 of the decree adds a new case to the Labour Code in which no work authorisation is needed: the posting of an employee of a British company to France to supply contractual services.
• Conditions: up to 12 months in total, at least one year on the same services with this employer before the trip, three years of sector experience, a university degree or an equivalent document and the required professional credentials.
• The exemption only applies in fields to be set by a joint order of the ministers for immigration and labour. As of 31 October 2026 we have not found it in the official publication.
• The employee's nationality is not restricted: the exemption also covers third-country nationals working for a British company. Visa rules do not change.

What has changed

A non-EU national who wants to work in France as an employee normally needs a work authorisation. The employer applies for it, and for posted staff of a foreign company the service recipient or the company itself handles it. Since the United Kingdom left the European Union, this rule has also applied to Britons: a British company sending an engineer or consultant to a French client has had to obtain an authorisation for that person, as for any foreign worker.

The French Labour Code contains a closed list of cases in which no work authorisation is required. Decree No. 2026-1001 adds a new item to that list. It concerns an employee who works regularly and habitually for an employer established in the United Kingdom and is posted to France to supply services under a contract. For such trips a work authorisation is no longer needed, provided all the conditions of the decree are met.

The rule did not appear out of nowhere. The decree expressly refers to the Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union and the United Kingdom of 30 December 2020, in particular its Articles 140 and 143. The explanatory part of the decree states that it transposes the provision of Article 143 into French law. In other words, France is implementing a commitment already agreed at EU level and making it work in French labour law.

What this means for you. If the British company you work for performs a contract for a French client, your posting may go ahead without a work authorisation. But only in fields on the future list and only if every requirement on service, experience and education is met.

Who the exemption covers

The first condition concerns the employer. It must be a company established in the territory of the United Kingdom. The employee must work for it regularly and habitually, that is, be a genuine employee rather than someone hired for a single trip. That is why the decree requires the employee to have supplied the same type of services as an employee of this employer for at least one year before applying to enter France, and immediately before the trip.

The second condition concerns the format of the trip. The decree refers to the first case of posting in the Labour Code: a foreign employer sends an employee to France to work on its own account and under its direction under a contract concluded with a service recipient established or operating in France. Put simply, the British company has a French client, there is a contract with that client, and the employee travels to perform it.

The third condition is qualifications. The employee needs at least three years of professional experience in the sector covered by the contract, a university degree or a document showing an equivalent level of knowledge, and the professional credentials that French law and regulations require for that work. If the profession is regulated in France, for example if it requires membership of a professional body or recognition of qualifications, the exemption will not help without that.

The fourth condition is duration. A posting is allowed for no more than 12 months in total. The decree speaks of a cumulative period: several trips are added together, so a year of work cannot be split into short postings to get around the limit.

The fifth condition is the field of activity. The services must fall within the fields that a joint order of the minister for immigration and the minister for labour will set. Until the list exists, an employer cannot say with confidence whether a given contract qualifies. As of 31 October 2026 we have not found such an order in the French Official Journal.

What this means for you. The exemption is designed for experienced, degree-holding specialists who already work for a British company. New hires, staff recruited for one project and anyone going for more than a year need a different route.

Third-country nationals

An important detail for international teams: the decree does not limit the exemption to Britons. Its title refers to foreign nationals posted to France by a British employer, and the people it concerns expressly include third-country nationals supplying services on behalf of a British company. What counts is who the person works for and where, not their passport.

For a company this means that a specialist from India, Turkey, the UAE, Russia or any other country who works for a British company and meets all the conditions will travel to France on the same terms as a British colleague. What matters is that their work in the United Kingdom is lawful and habitual, and that they have at least a year of service with this employer.

The exemption only concerns the work authorisation, however. It does not remove the visa. British citizens need no visa for Schengen stays of up to 90 days in any 180-day period, but a longer stay in France requires a long-stay visa. A third-country national enters under the rules for their own passport: if they need a Schengen visa, they will need it for the posting too. You can check visa requirements in the United Kingdom passport index and on the French passport page.

What this means for you. If you are a third-country national working for a British company, the new rule may spare your employer the work authorisation, but you will still need a visa according to your passport.

What else the decree changes

The exemption for British companies is only one part of the decree. Its main purpose is to transpose three EU directives into French law: on the Blue Card for highly qualified workers, on the single work and residence permit and on intra-corporate transfers. Several changes affect the same companies and their staff.

The prefecture now has no more than 90 days from the filing of a complete file to decide on a residence permit application, instead of four months. In complex cases the prefecture may extend this by 30 days if it notifies the applicant. Silence after the deadline means refusal, so applicants should track the deadline themselves.

An employee with a first work authorisation is now tied to the employer for six months instead of twelve. An earlier change of employer is also possible in case of serious breaches of working conditions by the employer. For intra-corporate transfer (ICT) cards a salary condition is introduced: annual gross pay must be at least the reference average annual salary to be set by a separate order. The amount is not stated in the decree itself.

For the EU Blue Card, validity now depends on the contract: for a contract of two years or more the card is issued for the length of the contract, up to four years. Moving to France with a Blue Card from another EU country is now possible after 12 months instead of 18. For temporary workers, losing a job through no fault of their own for up to three months no longer leads to withdrawal of the card, and victims of serious exploitation get a three-month extension.

For companies with a British entity

If a group includes a British company with clients in France, the new rule simplifies short projects: system roll-outs, audits, consulting, training, equipment set-up. An employee with a year of service at the British company, three years of experience and a degree will be able to perform the contract on site without a work authorisation once the field appears on the list.

The exemption does not fit a transfer of an employee to a French company of the same group. The decree only refers to posting under a contract with a client. An intra-group transfer is handled separately through the intra-corporate transfer card, which now has a salary threshold. If a French subsidiary hires a specialist directly, the usual routes apply: a work authorisation or the Talent Passport.

Nor does the exemption remove the ordinary posting obligations. Under French labour law, a foreign employer sending staff to France to supply services files a prior posting declaration and appoints a representative in France, and during the work it observes French minimum working conditions. The new decree does not change these rules.

Before the first trip, check three things. Does the contract fit the format of a posting to a client. Does the employee have a year of service at the British company itself, three years of sector experience and a degree. And do all trips fit within 12 months. It is best to prepare education and experience documents in advance: you may need degree recognition, an apostille and a sworn translation. We covered how the EU is simplifying recognition of qualifications in our news item on the new qualifications recognition procedure.

Those still choosing where to hold a company for work with European clients should compare the options. We help with company registration in the United Kingdom and choice of jurisdiction, and when a team moves, with business relocation. A British company set up only for trips will not give the exemption: the decree requires the employee to have worked for it regularly and habitually for at least a year.

What this means for you. A British entity in the group can simplify short projects for French clients. For intra-group transfers and hiring in France the rules stay the same, and ICT cards will get a salary threshold.

Talent Passport and other routes

The exemption is designed for temporary work under a British company's contract. A person who wants to live and work in France for longer needs a residence permit. For qualified specialists, entrepreneurs, investors and creative professionals the main route is the multi-year Talent Passport card. We describe it in detail, with requirements and documents, in our Talent Passport guide.

If you do not plan to work in France but simply want to live there, the visitor status fits: it requires sufficient income and does not allow salaried work in France. We cover it in our visitor status guide. All routes for qualified specialists are collected in the talent programmes section, and general information on the country is on the France page. The glossary explains what a residence permit is and how habitual residence differs from tax residence.

For those looking the other way, from the EU to the United Kingdom: the British authorities have a separate Service Supplier visa. It is designed for employees of overseas companies performing a contract for a UK client under an international trade agreement, and for independent professionals. Employment with the overseas company must have lasted at least 12 months, and the stay is 6 or 12 months depending on the agreement. We covered other changes to British rules in our news item on the UK dropping its investor visa.

Why this matters

European countries are tightening border controls while easing the path for the specialists they need. We wrote about this two-sided trend in our article on stricter borders and more residence permits. The French decree illustrates it well: the prefecture deadline is shorter, changing employer is easier, and unnecessary paperwork is removed for experienced specialists of British companies.

Other countries are taking similar steps: Finland, for example, has capped processing times for work permits, as covered in our news item on work permit processing times in Finland. For business this is good news: short projects in Europe are becoming more predictable. But each such rule is targeted, and a mistake on a single condition turns a simplified trip into work without authorisation.

What to do now

If you need to understand which route suits you or your staff, we will go through your situation at an online consultation. The latest residence and visa news is in the residency news section, and all BRIDGES services are on the home page. We will update this article when the ministers publish the list of fields and the ICT salary threshold.

How this article was prepared

Sources: Decree No. 2026-1001 of 26 October 2026 on the rights of foreign nationals authorised to work in France, the conditions for granting a multi-year residence card to highly qualified workers and their family members, and the work authorisation exemption for foreign nationals posted to France by a British employer (NOR INTV2619006D), published in the Official Journal of the French Republic No. 0253 of 29 October 2026 on the Légifrance portal; the French Labour Code on the Légifrance portal; the Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union and the United Kingdom of 30 December 2020; the Service Supplier visa page on the UK government website gov.uk. The list of fields and the ICT salary threshold are set by separate orders not published as of 31 October 2026. This article does not replace advice from a lawyer specialising in French labour and immigration law.