How To Get A Talent Visa And Move To France: Personal Experience And Tips

Moving to another country to develop a business and a permanent life is a difficult but exciting process. In this interview, Elizabeth shares her experience of obtaining a French talent visa, and also tells how she generally lives in this country.

The main thing is to prove the innovativeness of your idea.

About how I decided to move

— My name is Lisa, and I am 29 years old. In 2019, I founded the online French language school Francile, to which I currently devote most of my working time. I started out teaching, and then gradually began to gather like-minded people, starting my Instagram in 2017. At the moment, there are 20 people in my team.

By the way, due to the fact that I have always been connected with the French language, of course, I have always had a desire to try to live in France. Back in 2019, my husband and I tried to move on a student visa using French courses, but, unfortunately, we were refused then. We made the next attempt in 2022, finally moving in 2023.

I found out about the talent passport back in 2019, just after we received the first refusal. Thanks to Instagram, I got to know guys who were involved in a similar way. But at that time it seemed to me that you really need to have some outstanding abilities to get such a visa.

When I returned to the idea of moving in 2022, I studied the topic again and realized that I could well apply for this document. Since I speak French, it was easier for me to search for all information from official sources and not contact agencies, which, by the way, charge a very large fee for processing all documents.

A small spoiler: even if you contact an agency, you will still need to go through many stages on your own. That’s why I absolutely didn’t see the point in it.

About getting a French talent passport in practice

— As soon as I understood how the algorithm of actions works, I realized that I needed to prepare a project. Initially, I planned to use my school as such, but since this is not exactly an innovative enterprise (and it was in this category that I intended to get a visa), I decided to come up with something else. With my startup partners, we settled on the tourism sector and decided on its fundamental idea.

It is worth clarifying here that the lack of a ready—made business in this case is normal. The key point is the innovativeness of your idea and its “necessity” to France.

Preparing for the move and collecting documents for a talent passport looks a bit like a Mario game where you need to pass certain levels.

The first level is the formulation of the idea of a future startup.

The second is the search for an accelerator or incubator. This is a French company that helps a startup develop. Unfortunately, it is pointless to apply for a visa without an invitation from the incubator or a contract with it.

Since my project is related to regional tourism, I was looking for incubators that are located in small towns. Accordingly, I also considered the regions, not Paris, for the move. After 3 months of searching, I received a letter of support from one of the incubators.

By the way, the incubator is a paid story. That is, you pay money to the incubator for his help in the development of your project. All incubators have completely different conditions: somewhere you pay one large amount at once – I paid monthly. At the moment, we have already finished working with the incubator, but, as I said, initial cooperation with it is a prerequisite for obtaining a visa.

— The next stage — receiving confirmation of the innovativeness of your project from the French Ministry of Economy. This is done online by filling out a rather voluminous questionnaire: in it you need to argue the innovativeness of a startup, tell about your market, competitors, monetization opportunities, and so on.

My first attempt was unsuccessful — the refusal came. Then I prepared an additional presentation, where I spoke in more detail about the innovativeness of our idea. This time I got a confirmation. In total, this step took about 1.5 months.

And finally: with these documents, you can catch a slot and apply for a visa.

The key point in choosing a startup visa was that all family members of the main applicant receive exactly the same residence permit and receive the right to work legally here.

The second advantage is that often with this visa, a residence permit is given for four years at once. Unfortunately, this did not happen to us, and we received our first residence permit for only a year. It happens, it depends on the prefecture. Now we are on an extension and we are waiting: we should be given three or four years of the next residence permit.

At the moment, a startup is not a priority for me, since this is my second project after French school — I devote most of my time to it. But, of course, within one or two years I would like to see some kind of formed idea of this project and slowly begin to implement it. I hope that in the second year of emigration it will become easier, and then I will start working more closely on my startup in the tourism sector.

The French are afraid to rent out their apartments.

About bureaucracy and prices in France

— At the moment we live in the small town of Perigueux, Dordogne region. This is a very provincial region, but in general, it is a good option for the first year of life.

I am glad that I have a French school, as it is much easier for me to make content in this country. In addition, after the move, we have seen a great increase in the number of students.

Of the disadvantages of living in France, we note, of course, the bureaucracy. It’s an insanely long and complicated system. For example, to open a bank account with a Russian passport now, you need to go through a difficult procedure.

In general, the whole first year is devoted to the registration of various kinds of papers to legalize your stay here: insurance, medical documents, new driver’s licenses and so on.

The standard of living and prices depend heavily on the city. In Paris, of course, most of the budget will be eaten up by rent. In our small town, renting a three-room apartment costs 850 euros, which is very inexpensive.

According to my most conservative estimates, at least 2,000 euros are needed for a family. We probably spend more than 3,500 euros, but we do not deny ourselves some purchases or travel. But at the same time, we have not yet got a car: we plan to do this in the near future and, naturally, this will increase our expenses.

About the French rental market

— The degree of accessibility of real estate, again, depends on the location. That is, conditionally, Paris and the Cote d’Azur are very crowded places, and it can be very difficult to find an apartment there.

Plus, the French require a lot of documentation. For example, to confirm your identity, you usually need a work contract or proof of payment for a previous apartment, and when you just arrived, it is simply impossible to provide such documents. The French language helped me a lot in this case.

In France, the owners, in principle, are afraid to rent an apartment. This is facilitated by the law, which states that tenants cannot be evicted in the winter months, even if they do not pay rent.

I was looking for housing not through an agency, but directly contacted the owners through the Leboncoin website (this is a local prototype of Avito). At the same time, to increase our chances, we raised the cost of rent: that is, initially our apartment cost 800 euros, and we offered 850 in order for it to be rented to us. Plus, we made a double deposit.

By the way, apartments in France are usually empty. Therefore, it is worth considering that funds will also need to be allocated for its arrangement.

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Even speaking French, it can be difficult to make acquaintances.

About leisure and travel

In my region, without a car, it is difficult to find entertainment. If we want civilization, we go to the nearest Bordeaux or Paris.

During this year, I went to Paris more than five times — for some short outings or for a week. I go to the capital when I really want a cultural life: to go to museums, to go to some exhibitions. And just when you want to see more people than in my provincial town.

In general, when you live in France, traveling is much easier. During this year we managed to travel to Italy, Spain, Switzerland, My favorite region in France itself is Normandy.

In terms of tourism, France is, of course, a country where you can always find some amazing new places. Therefore, if you like to travel, this country is perfect for you.

Tips for those who want to move to France

For those who want to move to France, I would advise you to start learning French, because this is still a country where the locals speak their native language.

Secondly, I advise you to lower your expectations, especially temporary ones. Everything is much slower here, and even after a year I periodically complain about the slowness of the locals. But there’s nothing you can do about it, so you just need to let go of this moment.

Well, there is another point: France, it seems to me, is not the easiest country to move to, because the French are very closed. I speak French very well, but even with this in mind, it can be difficult to make acquaintances.

Therefore, it is important to remind yourself why you are here and what it gives you. Because the first year is really very difficult, even for me, a person who has always wanted to move to this country.