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For foreign nationals with a valid residence permit, family reunification signifies the possibility of their family members (spouse, underage children, etc.) joining them in France. Companies are faced with the need to keep foreign Talent in their workforce, yet being far away from family constitutes a key factor in failed expatriation projects.
Who does this apply to?
Foreign employees may bring their spouse and children into the country if they hold a long-stay visa equivalent to a residence permit and have resided in France for at least 18 months. Employees who hold a Passeport Talent are not required to fulfil a minimum residence period to bring their family into the country. Steps to be taken by families vary according to the nationality or residence permit of the holder currently living in France, and may include compiling a dossier for the OFII with regional jurisdiction, or the prefecture.
Family reunification applies to all non-European nuclear families (the holder's mother, father, and siblings are not eligible for leave to remain).
Eligibility requirements for family reunification
Recipient spouses are eligible for family reunification if they have been living in France for at least 18 months as an employee, temporary worker, student or visitor and can demonstrate stable and sufficient means, in addition to access to accommodation considered suitable for a family of comparable size in the same geographical area. For example, living space required for a couple without children is approximately 24m2, and 44m2 for a couple with 2 children.
Families of individuals who hold a Passeport Talent or have qualified employee status on their residence permit, i.e. holders of a Master's degree in receipt of a salary of €37,310 or more*, can come directly to France as accompanying family members. Spouses are issued with work permits.
Assisting foreign employees with family expatriation
Barriers to integration
Our teams at Cooptalis who provide everyday assistance to employees have noted the following: waiting 18 months to begin family reunification is long and can compromise the motivation of foreign employees, who have had to leave their spouse and occasionally their children behind in their country of origin. Further to this, prefectures require additional administrative processes to be carried out, which can be both tedious and lengthy. Expatriated employees are then required to focus on professional matters alongside managing these time-consuming personal processes.
Outsourcing administrative procedures: the advantages
At Cooptalis, we assist you with procedures related to mobility, and, more generally, your employees with their expatriation projects. We facilitate the daily life of our clients and their employees within the scope of administrative processes, managing immigration procedures for them in order to obtain the correct residence permits, and assist with relocation by housing families and helping them settle and integrate into their new city. Our teams can also offer language training sessions, which help expatriated employees to integrate successfully into their companies.
by Julie Leprohon
