FRANCE: Measures to Facilitate Talent Passport Applications

Expedited application submission

• The note provides that Prefectures must accept initial and renewal Talent Passport applications within a maximum period of 15 days from the request for an appointment. The same access should be facilitated for family members.
• Prefectures must give companies access to a dedicated email address, allowing them to obtain application appointments.
• Access to dedicated online Talent Passport procedures must be fully implemented by the end of 2020.
• The Ministry recommends that, for Talent Passport applications, a decision is made within 15 days of acceptance of the application.

Required documents list reduced

• A birth certificate will no longer be required for Talent Passport applications.
• The period of validity of the proof of address is increased from three to six months.
• A reduced list of documents, compared to the list published in the decree of 28 October 2016, will be implemented for both Talent Passports and ICTs – this new list has not yet been specified.

Issuance of temporary residence permits and travel documents for minor children

The Ministry already requires Prefectures to issue a six-month temporary residence permit (“Autorisation Provisoire de Séjour” or APS) to Talent Passport applicants who have been issued a three-month D visa. This allows applicants to exit and re-enter France without applying for a new visa and to travel within the Schengen area, if their three-month D visa has expired before issuance of their initial residence permit.

The APS is not normally issued to Talent Passport applicants who will stay in France for up to twelve months, who are normally issued a VLS-TS D visa, which allows residence for up to a year without a separate residence permit application.

This provision is now extended to applicants of first-time ICT residence permits.

Also, the Prefecture must now systematically ask if an applicant intends to travel with their minor children, and if so to issue a travel document known as a DCEM (Document de Circulation pour Étranger Mineur’) at the same time as the parent’s APS.

Broadening the scope of change of status

From now on, holders of an ICT residence permit may request a change of status to Talent Passport or other professional title if they meet the requirements.