France Golden Visa: The €300,000 Investor Talent Card in 2026

France has never had a classic golden visa in which you buy a flat or subscribe to a fund and receive a permit. Its investor route is an economic one: the money must go into fixed assets of a real business and lead to jobs. Holders of the card may carry on the commercial activity linked to the investment, with no separate work authorisation^[1][5].

Legal basis and who runs it

The 26 January 2024 immigration law (Law 2024-42) rewrote the old talent-passport articles. Former Articles L421-17 and L421-18, which covered innovative projects and investors separately, were repealed, and Article L421-16 now issues one multi-year card marked talent – porteur de projet (“project holder”) to business creators, innovative-project founders and direct investors, for a maximum of four years^[3]. Decree 2025-539 of 13 June 2025 brought the regulatory side into force on 16 June 2025. It folded the earlier sub-categories into two main labels, “talent – salarié qualifié” and “talent – porteur de projet”, and left the investor conditions unchanged^[4][21]. Consulates handle the long-stay visa, and prefectures, through the ANEF online portal of the Interior Ministry, issue and renew the card^[1][6]. Business France runs the “Welcome to France” information desk for foreign investors^[5].

Current status

The route is open. The investment threshold is still €300,000, set by Article R421-35 (as amended from 16 June 2025)^[2]. The amount dates from the 2016 reform, which replaced the old 10-year card for an “exceptional economic contribution” (€10 million of investment or 50 jobs) with this much lower threshold^[17]. The route is relatively little used compared with Southern European programmes, and France publishes no separate statistics on it.

The France business investor visa is the long-stay visa, and then the card, issued on the direct-investment ground. Article R421-35 sets three tests^[2]:

• Amount and asset type. You make, or commit to make, an investment of at least €300,000 in immobilisations corporelles ou incorporelles (tangible or intangible fixed assets) in France.
• Control. You invest personally, or through a company you manage, or through a company in which you hold at least 30% of the capital.
• Jobs. The investment must create or safeguard jobs, or you must commit to doing so, within four years.

Tangible fixed assets include production equipment, land, buildings and installations used by the business or leased to third parties. Intangible fixed assets include start-up costs, research, patents, licences and administrative authorisations^[17]. Business France says share-capital contributions, reinvested profits and loans between affiliated companies can count, and purely financial investments do not^[5]. A share portfolio, a deposit, bonds or a personal home will not qualify. Commercial property can count when it is a fixed asset of the business (for example, premises the company operates from or leases out), but how a prefecture treats a mainly real-estate project depends on the job case. Take advice before structuring around property.

No fixed number of jobs is set. The old 50-job test was replaced by a general obligation to create or safeguard employment, and the authorities assess it against your investment or business plan^[17]. Under Article R421-36 the card can be withdrawn if the project has not started within one year or if the funds come from unlawful activity^[2]. At renewal you must show that the investment and the job creation or safeguarding happened, or present a new investment project^[5][6].

Secondary sources sometimes say the investor route needs prior approval from the Economy Ministry. Under the regulations in force, the ministry opinion on whether a project is “real and serious” (R421-33) applies to the business-creation branch, and a separate opinion (R421-34-1) applies to innovative projects. Article R421-35, the investor article, contains no such step^[2].

For a first application on the investor ground, the Interior Ministry's checklist asks for^[6]:

• A valid passport, a current long-stay visa or residence permit, and a digital ID photo (ePhoto number).
• Proof of address in France less than six months old (utility bill, lease, hotel invoice or host attestation).
• Evidence that you have made, or committed to make, an investment of at least €300,000 in tangible or intangible fixed assets in France.
• Evidence that you personally manage the company or hold at least 30% of its capital.
• At renewal, evidence of the jobs created or safeguarded.

In practice, consulates and prefectures also expect a business or investment plan showing the job impact, proof of the lawful source of funds (Article R421-36 lets the card be withdrawn if funds come from unlawful activity), company documents such as the articles and Kbis extract, and a clean criminal record^[2][17]. No French-language level is required for the talent card. Holders of talent cards are listed in CESEDA Article L413-5 among those exempt from the republican integration contract, so the A2-language and civic-exam conditions for a first multi-year card that took effect on 1 January 2026 do not apply to them^[18]. Documents must be readable digital copies, with translations where needed^[6]. The Interior Ministry's checklist also labels this ground the “French Tech Visa for investors”^[6]. The route is for non-EU, non-EEA and non-Swiss nationals. Algerian nationals are covered by the Franco-Algerian agreement instead of these rules^[5].

Your spouse and minor children can come with you under the simplified “accompanying family” procedure, without going through standard family reunification. The spouse receives a talent (famille) card valid for the same period as yours^[1][5]. Family members of talent-card holders may work in France^[1]. Children receive their own card when they reach adulthood and can then apply in their own right. Parents and other relatives are not covered.

The route works in two stages: a long-stay visa from the consulate, then the card from the prefecture through the ANEF portal^[1][5].

A residence card does not on its own make you French-tax-resident, but moving your home, main place of stay, main professional activity or centre of economic interests to France normally does. Running the French business that the card is built on usually makes you tax-resident. Plan the tax position before you move.

Income tax and investment income

French residents are taxed on worldwide income at progressive rates up to 45%, plus social charges. For 2026 income, the flat tax (PFU) on dividends, interest and securities gains rose to 31.4% (12.8% income tax plus 18.6% social levies) after the CSG on capital income went up 1.4 points. Life insurance, rental income and real-estate gains keep the old 9.2% CSG^[19]. The 2026 Finance Law also extended the contribution différentielle sur les hauts revenus, a minimum 20% effective tax for incomes above €250,000 (single) or €500,000 (couple), until the public deficit falls below 3% of GDP^[15].

The impatriate regime (Article 155 B)

Employees and company officers taxed as employees who are recruited from abroad and were not French-resident in the previous five years can exempt an impatriation bonus (actual, or 30% of pay on a flat-rate basis) and 50% of certain foreign-source passive income (dividends, interest, securities gains) until 31 December of the eighth year after taking up the post^[14]. The self-employed are excluded. Whether a founder-investor who appoints themself to a salaried officer role in their own company qualifies depends on the facts, so get a ruling or specialist advice.

Wealth, holdings and inheritance

France taxes net real-estate wealth above €1.3 million on 1 January (IFI). Residents are taxed on worldwide real estate, but a newcomer who was non-resident for the previous five years is taxed only on French real estate until 31 December of the fifth year after arrival. Property used for your own professional activity can be exempt^[12]. From financial years ending 31 December 2026, a new 20% tax applies to “sumptuary” assets (such as yachts, aircraft, luxury cars and residential property) held in family-controlled passive holding companies with assets of €5 million or more^[15]. Inheritance tax applies to worldwide assets when the deceased was domiciled in France: spouses are exempt and each child has a €100,000 allowance per parent, but direct-line rates reach 45%^[13].

The talent card leads to permanent status and then, possibly, French nationality, but neither is automatic. French nationality by naturalisation is discretionary. France offers no citizenship by investment. For programmes that do, see our guide to EU citizenship by investment options.

Permanent residency: the 10-year card

After five years of regular, continuous residence, talent-card holders can apply for the EU long-term resident card, valid for 10 years and renewable. Absences of up to six consecutive months and 10 months in total are allowed. Since 1 January 2026 you need B1 French and a pass in the civic exam, plus stable resources of at least the minimum wage and health cover. It costs €350^[8][18]. Business France also notes access to permanent residence after five years^[5].

Naturalisation

The standard requirement is five years of residence in France, cut to two years for people who obtained a diploma from a French higher-education institution after two years of study there, who have rendered, or can render, important services to France through their abilities and talents, or who have completed an exceptional integration record (civic, scientific, economic, cultural or sporting activities)^[9]. Since 1 January 2026 applicants need B2 French and must pass the civic exam, and there is an assimilation interview. The stamp duty is €255, and the administration has up to 18 months to decide (12 months if you have lived in France for at least 10 years)^[9][18]. “Residence” means your actual home and centre of interests in France, not just holding a card. France allows dual nationality, but check whether your current country does.

If you want to live in France on your own means without running a business, the investor route is the wrong tool. The France passive income visa is the long-stay “visitor” visa followed by the carte de séjour temporaire visiteur. You must show resources of at least €1,477.93 net a month (€17,735.19 a year) for a single person, linked to the net minimum wage, hold health insurance for the whole stay and sign a handwritten undertaking not to work in France. The card lasts one year and is renewable. The first card costs €350 and each renewal €250^[7]. In practice consulates expect well above the minimum for families, plus housing. Visitor-card years count towards five years' residence for the 10-year card, subject to the B1 and civic-exam conditions^[8].

It suits entrepreneurs and family businesses that will actually operate in France: buying or expanding an operating company, setting up a production, hospitality or tech site, or bringing a foreign business to the French market, with jobs as a natural result. It also suits investors who want a four-year card from the start and a credible route to long-term residence for a family.

Look elsewhere if you want a passive, hands-off permit. A fund route such as the Portugal golden visa fund route or Greece's property thresholds on the Greece residence-by-investment page fit that better. Look elsewhere too if you want low personal taxes (consider Monaco residency or Swiss lump-sum taxation), or if you only need a Schengen base without moving your life. If you have the means but no business plan, the visitor card is simpler.

• Italy's investor visa: €250,000 in an innovative startup or €500,000 in an Italian company, plus an optional flat tax on foreign income. It is the closest business-based peer.
• Portugal's residence-by-investment programme: €500,000 in qualifying funds and light stay requirements, but a longer road to nationality after the 2026 reform.
• Greek golden visa via real estate: from €250,000 for conversion properties, with no stay requirement.
• Malta Permanent Residence Programme: permanent status from day one, in return for government contributions plus property.
• Luxembourg investor residence: €500,000 into a company, or much larger deposits.
• Monaco residence: a bank deposit and housing next door to France, with no personal income tax.

For the full side-by-side picture, see our European golden visa comparison, the lowest-budget residence-by-investment options, the programmes with the quickest route to a passport and the golden visa hub by region and budget. Spain's former programme is covered on the Spain golden visa status page.