Carte de séjour pluriannuelle portant la mention « talent-chercheur » (ou « talent-chercheur-programme de mobilité »)
Residency route facts
Identity
| Official name (local) | Carte de séjour pluriannuelle portant la mention « talent-chercheur » (ou « talent-chercheur-programme de mobilité ») 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), articles L. 421-14 et L. 421-15 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] Statutory ceiling of four years (L. 421-14); service-public states validity identical to the hosting agreement / contract, capped at four years. Ceiling, not a fixed term. |
|---|---|
| How the initial term is set | matches the contract |
| Renewable | Yes as of 2026-08-10[1] L. 421-14, final paragraph: by derogation from art. L. 433-1, a holder involuntarily unemployed at the renewal date has the card renewed for a period equal to the unemployment-insurance rights accrued under art. L. 5422-1 of the Labour Code. |
| Work rights | own activity only as of 2026-08-10[1] L. 421-14: the card permits salaried activity within the hosting agreement (convention d'accueil) that justified its issue. The host body 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). |
|---|
Requirements
| Job offer required | Yes as of 2026-06-01[1][3] A hosting agreement (convention d'accueil) signed with an approved public or private research or higher-education body, stating that the applicant is a researcher and the object and duration of the stay. |
|---|---|
| Salary threshold |
|
| Labour-market test | No as of 2026-06-01[3] The host body is expressly relieved of the work-authorisation procedure. |
| Qualification requirement | degree as of 2026-06-01[1][3] A diploma equivalent to master's level (L. 421-14). |
| Employer sponsorship | Yes as of 2026-08-10[1] The approved host research or higher-education body signs the convention d'accueil, which is the instrument the card rests on. |
| 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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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