France is the latest country to improve its regulations to allow spouses and family members to work freely during an expatriate assignment. A new law n° 2006-911 on immigration and integration (of persons from outside the European Union) was passed on 24 July 2006, subject to further decrees before implementation.
Among other things, this law creates new categories of residence and work permit for ‘competences and talents’ (to be decided each year) and intra-group transferees earning at least 1.5 times the minimum salary in France. The family members of both these new permits will receive a temporary residence permit mentioning ‘private life and family’ which allows the holder to work without a work permit.
Read the basics about residence and work permits
The decree on residence permit for competences and talents (Décret n° 2007-372) was issued on 21 March 2007. The list of competences and talents has not yet been published.
The decree on intra-group transferees is expected before the summer of 2007.
Read text of the decree on competences and talents
For information on prior arrangements for spouses, see our world map for France