Residency & Golden Visas / France / Route
France · Investment route
Start a business in France with €30,000 behind it, a master's-level qualification or five years of comparable experience, and a project that stands up to scrutiny.
Last updated: 2026-09-16
Programme overviewنظرة عامة
The business creation talent card is for founders who intend to build and run something in France. It asks for three things together: a master's-level qualification or five years of professional experience at a comparable level, a real and serious business project, and at least €30,000 of financing behind that project. You also need personal resources at least equal to the annual gross SMIC, currently stated as €22,404.20 — that is what you live on, separate from what the business runs on.
The card is issued for up to four years, carries the right to work, and brings a spouse and minor children in on talent-famille cards without the ordinary family reunification procedure.
What you getالمزايا
Multi-year talent card, up to four years and renewable.
Spouse and minor children receive a talent-famille card without family reunification.
Right to run the business and to work in France.
Entry to the French and wider EU market from inside the single market.
Counts towards the five years of residence required for naturalisation.
Investment & costsالتكاليف
Qualifying investment
Project financing
Evidenced at application · Minimum financing behind the business project. Own funds or borrowed funds both count.
Residence card tax
At issuance · Payable at the prefecture.
Stamp duty
At issuance · Droit de timbre.
Figures are indicative and exclusive of professional fees. Your advisor confirms an exact, written cost breakdown for your family size.
Eligibilityالأهلية
Requirements
Non-EU, non-EEA and non-Swiss nationality.
A master's-level qualification, or at least five years of professional experience at a comparable level.
A real and serious business creation project in France.
Project financing of at least €30,000.
Personal resources at least equal to the annual gross SMIC (€22,404.20).
Proof of funds
Who cannot apply
A project the prefecture judges not to be real and serious — a shell company or a plan with no substance behind it.
Neither the qualification nor the five years of comparable experience.
Financing below €30,000, or financing that cannot be evidenced.
Serious criminal convictions.
The processكيف نعمل
Test the project against the criteria
Confirm the qualification or experience, and that the plan is substantial enough to read as real and serious.
Build the file
Business plan, financials, evidence of the €30,000, and proof of personal means at SMIC level.
Apply for the long-stay visa
File at the French consulate covering your place of residence.
Incorporate in France
Register the company and open the business bank account.
Prefecture appointment
Give biometrics, pay the tax and stamp duty, collect the talent card.
Add the family
Spouse and minor children apply for talent-famille cards.
Trade and renew
Operate the business as presented and renew the card before expiry.
Document checklistالوثائق
Identity
Sworn translation into French where required.
- ✦Valid passport and certified copy
- ✦Passport photographs to French specification
- ✦Civil status documents
Qualification or experience
Foreign qualifications should be presented with a recognised equivalence where possible.
- ✦Master's-level diploma, or evidence of five years at a comparable level
- ✦CV and employment references
The project
This is the part the decision actually turns on.
- ✦Business plan with market, financials and timeline
- ✦Evidence of the €30,000 financing
- ✦Draft or filed incorporation documents
Means and compliance
- ✦Evidence of personal resources at SMIC level
- ✦Criminal record certificate
- ✦Health insurance covering the stay
Your XIPHIAS advisor prepares a personalised document list at onboarding. The checklist above is indicative and may vary by family size.
Family scopeالأسرة
All eligible dependants can be included in one application or added after approval.
Age limits, dependency definitions, and addition fees vary by jurisdiction. Your advisor confirms exact rules at onboarding.
Approved projectsالمشاريع
New company incorporated in France
Incorporate, capitalise and begin trading; the project must match what was presented.
Acquisition of an existing French business
Taking over a going concern, with the same financing and viability tests.
Project availability and inventory change. Your advisor confirms current options and any exclusive allocations at onboarding.
Risk notes
The €30,000 is a floor for admissibility, not a realistic startup budget. The prefecture assesses whether the project is real and serious, and a thinly capitalised plan in a capital-intensive sector will struggle on that test even though it clears the number. Budget for the business you actually intend to build.
Questionsأسئلة شائعة
This route, answered.
It is the published minimum financing, and it is genuinely the floor. But the prefecture also asks whether the project is real and serious, and that is a judgement about the plan rather than a number. A software consultancy at €30,000 reads very differently from a restaurant at €30,000.
Start the France route.
A senior advisor will confirm the exact costs, timeline and documents for your case — privately, and entirely off the record.