Carte de séjour pluriannuelle portant la mention « talent-carte bleue européenne »
Residency route facts
Identity
| Official name (local) | Carte de séjour pluriannuelle portant la mention « talent-carte bleue européenne » as of 2026-06-01[1][3] |
|---|---|
| Official name (English) | Not established from a qualifying source |
| Legal basis | Code de l'entrée et du séjour des étrangers et du droit d'asile (CESEDA), article L. 421-11 as of 2026-08-10[1] |
| Instrument type | residence permit as of 2026-06-01[1][3] Carte de séjour pluriannuelle. Where the intended stay is under one year the instrument is instead a VLS-TS "talent" (a long-stay visa serving as a residence permit) — see process.apply_from. |
Who can apply
| Nationals not served by this route | EU, EEA as of 2026-06-01[3][4] |
|---|---|
| Criminal-record condition | Not established from a qualifying source |
Permit terms
| Initial duration | up to 4 years as of 2026-06-01[1][3] |
|---|---|
| How the initial term is set | matches the contract |
| Renewable | Not established from a qualifying source |
| Work rights | own activity only as of 2026-08-10[1] L. 421-11: the card permits the salaried activity corresponding to the criteria that justified its issue. The employer needs no work authorisation and is exempt from the tax on employing a foreign national. |
Permanent residence and citizenship
| Counts toward permanent residence | Yes as of 2026-06-01[2] Multi-year "talent" cards are listed among the titles whose time counts toward the five years required for the carte de résident de longue durée-UE (F17359). |
|---|---|
| Years to permanent residence on this route | 2 as of 2026-08-10[1] |
Requirements
| Job offer required | Yes as of 2026-06-01[1][3] An employment contract of at least six months in highly qualified employment. |
|---|---|
| Salary threshold | |
| Labour-market test | No as of 2026-06-01[3] The employer is expressly relieved of the work-authorisation procedure. |
| Qualification requirement | degree, equivalent experience, regulated profession as of 2026-06-01[1][3] L. 421-11 offers three alternatives: a diploma sanctioning at least three years of higher education; at least five years' professional experience at a comparable level; or, for professions set by order of the minister responsible for immigration, at least three years' relevant professional experience acquired in the seven years preceding the application. The third limb is recorded as regulated_profession because it is available only within a listed set of professions. |
| Employer sponsorship | Yes as of 2026-08-10[1] L. 421-11 makes the employer's conduct a condition of the permit: issue or renewal is refused where the employer's undertaking was created or operates mainly to facilitate the entry of third-country nationals, may be refused where the employer has breached social-security, tax, workers'-rights or working-conditions obligations or has been criminally convicted of an offence under art. L. 8211-1 of the Labour Code, and the card may be withdrawn for such a breach. |
| Job-search route | No as of 2026-08-10[1] |
Process
| Where to apply from | either as of 2026-06-01[3] Two-stage consular-then-prefecture path. From abroad: a long-stay visa is applied for at the French consulate; for an intended stay under 12 months the consulate issues a VLS-TS "talent" to be validated online within 3 months of arrival, and for a stay of 1 year or more a 3-month long-stay visa "talent" followed by an online residence-card application. From inside France the card is applied for online within 2 months of entry on a long-stay visa, or between 4 and 2 months before an existing title expires. |
|---|---|
| Fees |
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Family inclusion
| Family members may be included | Yes as of 2026-06-01[1][3] Spouse and minor children use the simplified "famille accompagnante" procedure and receive a multi-year "talent-famille" card (CESEDA art. L. 421-22) without going through family reunification. |
|---|---|
| Eligible relations | spouse, minor child as of 2026-06-01[1][3] |
| Family may apply at the same time | Not established from a qualifying source |
| Family members' work rights | Not established from a qualifying source |
Your next step
Read the requirements above considering your own situation: the income multiple, the absence limits, who you can bring. Check the country record for the reference figure those amounts are calculated from, and for anything that has changed recently.
The next step is your own case. That assessment is legal work. Create profile for our assistance in this.
Profile benefits
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- An offer for legal support built around your case, covering the whole process.
Verification
| Sources cited | 4 |
|---|---|
| of which official (tier 1) | 4 |
| Oldest as-of date | 2026-06-01 |
| Newest as-of date | 2026-08-10 |
| Reviewed on | 2026-08-11 |
| Schema version | 1.1 |
Sources
- [1] CESEDA, Livre IV, Titre II, Chapitre I, Section 2 « Étranger talentueux » — articles L. 421-7 à L. 421-25 (texte consolidé)
Secrétariat général du Gouvernement — Légifrance · statute · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-10 - [2] Carte de résident de longue durée-UE (étranger en France depuis 5 ans) (fiche F17359)
Direction de l'information légale et administrative (DILA), Premier ministre — Service Public · official portal · Tier 1 · Published 2026-06-01 · Accessed 2026-08-10 - [3] Carte talent : carte de séjour pluriannuelle d'un étranger en France (fiche F16922) — porteur de projet: conditions, pièces, coût, durée, famille
Direction de l'information légale et administrative (DILA), Premier ministre — Service Public · official portal · Tier 1 · Published 2026-06-01 · Accessed 2026-08-10 · Archived copy - [4] Titres, cartes de séjour et documents de circulation pour étranger en France (dossier N110) — enumeration of French residence titles
Direction de l'information légale et administrative (DILA) — Service Public · official portal · Tier 1 · Published 2026-02-10 · Accessed 2026-08-10