Travel Restrictions Reduced for Eligible Talent Passport Holders

The situation

Due to a legislative change, Talent Passport holders with a three-month visa are now granted a six-month temporary residence permit (Autorisation Provisoire de Séjour or APS), which allows travel outside France, when applying for a residence permit in country in addition to the filing receipt (récépissé). All subtypes of Talent Passport, including EU Blue Card and Salarié en Mission, benefit from the change.

A closer look

• Previous process. Previously, these applicants were only issued a filing receipt (récépissé), which does not allow travel for initial applications. As a result, applicants were not allowed to travel outside France after the expiration of their three-month visa until their residence permit was issued, which could take between one and five months after filing the application, depending on the region of application.
• Unaffected categories. The change does not affect Talent passport holders with a visa valid between three and 12 months, as this visa includes travel authorization for the entire validity period. The change also does not affect those applying for a Talent Passport renewal, as the filing receipt for this group of applicants already allowed travel.

Impact

Eligible Talent Passport holders should benefit from increased mobility during their permit application, making the application process less cumbersome and reducing the impact of processing delays. Overall, this change should make the Talent Passport category more attractive to applicants.

Background

This is the second measure to streamline visa processing in France in two months, after a recent policy change moved the visa validation process online. Separately, an immigration law reform that would expand the Talent Passport program to more companies and projects, among others, is currently pending implementation through ministerial decrees.

Looking ahead

• Increased compliance measures. The French government continues to keep a close watch on compliance, with amended rules on compliance checks for posted workers expected to take effect on July 30, 2020, and a package of 16 laws aimed at preventing illegal and unauthorized work in France still under discussion.
• Streamlining efforts. Overall, these changes appear to indicate the French government’s intention to further streamline the immigration process, both to keep France an attractive destination for global business and to reduce the workload of regional immigration departments in light of increasing application numbers. In line with this, a more streamlined, online process for residence permit applications is expected be implemented in the coming years.
• Higher application volume forthcoming. The government workload reduction that comes as a result of these recent measures is very timely in light of the expected workload increase caused by Brexit.

Fragomen in France is Fragomen France AARPI., operating as an immigration consultancy/law firm in France. This alert is for informational purposes only. If you have any questions, please contact the global immigration professional with whom you work at Fragomen or send an email to parisinfo@fragomen.com.