France ICT Permit (Salarié détaché ICT): 2026 Employer Guide

The France ICT permit, known in French as the Salarié détaché ICT, is a residence permit for non-EU managers, specialists, and trainees temporarily moved into a French entity within the same corporate group. It runs on the EU ICT Directive (2014/66/EU), so the framework is harmonised across member states.

This guide walks HR teams through the routes, salary rules, employer actions, costs, timelines, and compliance for 2026.

What is the France ICT permit and who is it for?

The France Intra-Company Transfer (ICT) permit officially known as the Salarié détaché ICT is a specialized immigration route designed for multinational companies. It allows a corporate group to second an existing foreign employee to a French subsidiary or branch without the need to hire them on a local French employment contract. The assignee remains on the payroll of their home country entity while executing a defined, temporary mission in France, ensuring seamless knowledge transfer and business continuity.

• Senior Managers: High-level executives responsible for directing the French entity or managing a major department or function within it.
• Specialists: Key personnel possessing advanced, highly specialized knowledge or proprietary expertise that is essential to the host company’s operations, services, or equipment.
• Graduate Trainees: Recent university graduates who are transferring to France as part of a structured, corporate career development or management trainee program.
• Same-Group Requirement: The sending (foreign) entity and the host (French) entity must belong to the exact same corporate group. Immigration authorities require documented proof of a genuine capital link between the two companies.
• Temporary Nature: This route is strictly for temporary assignments, not open-ended employment. The employee is expected to return to their home entity or move to another global branch once the mission concludes.

For a full picture of employer-sponsored routes into France, see our guide on how to sponsor employees in France, which sets out the wider sponsorship landscape and where ICT fits.

What are the types of France ICT permit?

The specific ICT pathway you choose depends entirely on the applicant's seniority and how long the mission will last. France offers two primary ICT types, alongside a streamlined mobility option for permit holders already residing within the EU.

• Salarié détaché ICT (over 12 months): This is a multi-year residence card designed for senior managers and specialists embarking on extended, strategic assignments.
• Stagiaire ICT (up to 12 months): Issued as a long-stay visa valid as a residence permit (VLS-TS), this route is strictly tailored for graduate trainees and shorter-term missions.
• Mobile ICT (from another EU state): A simplified, fast-track route for foreign nationals who already hold a valid ICT permit in another EU member state, allowing them to move into France for a project without starting a full application from scratch.

Duration caps and strict renewal rules:

• Maximum stays: The maximum allowable duration is strictly capped at three years for managers and specialists, and one year for trainees.
• Non-renewable: Neither of these permit types can be extended beyond their respective caps. At the end of the term, the assignee must either initiate a status change (e.g., to a local French contract) or observe a mandatory cooling-off period outside of France.

France ICT permit types compared (2026)

If your group also moves people into other markets, our Spain intra-company transfer guide explains how the same EU directive plays out under a different national procedure.

What are the salary thresholds for the France ICT permit?

Compensation is one of the most heavily scrutinized elements of any ICT application. French authorities review salaries stringently to protect the local labor market and ensure compliance with national standards.

• The 2026 minimum salary: As of June 1, 2026, the absolute minimum salary benchmark is the French national minimum wage (SMIC), which stands at €1,867.02 gross per month.  
• Guaranteed by the corporate group: The sending entity abroad must provide a written, formal guarantee that this exact salary will be maintained for the entire duration of the French assignment.
• Higher local thresholds: Meeting the SMIC is not always sufficient. French labor law enforces "equal treatment," meaning certain prefectures or sector-specific collective bargaining agreements may mandate a salary significantly higher than the SMIC for comparable local roles.
• Paid in euros: To prevent compliance issues stemming from exchange-rate fluctuations, the full equivalent salary must be paid in Euros, ideally into a French bank account.
• Group seniority: The employee must have accrued at least 6 months of continuous employment within the corporate group before initiating the transfer.

Salary discrepancies are where most application rejections start. It is strongly advised to aim comfortably above the SMIC rather than exactly at it, especially in higher-cost regions like Paris. You can pressure-test a profile before committing using our France pre-hiring eligibility checker, which flags salary and route issues up front.

What employer actions are required for a France ICT permit?

The France ICT permit is an entirely employer-led process. Your company carries the vast majority of the early administrative workload, and adhering to the exact procedural sequence is critical because the employee's visa stage cannot begin until the work authorization is fully secured.

• Prove the group link: Compile official documentation such as an organizational chart, certificate of incorporation, and a legal attestation showing the direct capital relationship between the sending and host entities.
• File the work authorization: Submit the official détachement (secondment) authorization request directly through the employer portal on the ANEF (Administration Numérique pour les Étrangers en France) digital platform.
• Issue the assignment letter: Draft and sign a comprehensive secondment or assignment letter detailing the assignee’s specific mission, job title, exact duration, and compensation package.
• Submit the SIPSI declaration: Prior to the employee's start date, file a posting declaration on the national SIPSI portal. Be aware that labor inspectors routinely cross-reference SIPSI data with ANEF records to ensure full compliance.
• Confirm salary evidence: Supply robust proof that the compensation meets the 2026 SMIC threshold alongside a detailed job description justifying the employee's specialized skill set or managerial status.

In practice, the group-relationship proof is the step that delays applications most, so start gathering shareholder registers early. Our overview of France's employer tax rules for foreign hires is worth a read alongside this, since payroll structure feeds directly into your ICT evidence.

Where do you apply for the France ICT permit?

Managing a France Intra-Company Transfer (ICT) in 2026 requires navigating a multi-stage immigration process. ICT applications move across distinct administrative touchpoints, and knowing exactly which government body handles each specific phase prevents costly delays and keeps your global mobility case on track.

• ANEF (Employer Space): The Administration Numérique pour les Étrangers en France (ANEF) is the mandatory digital platform where your company initiates the immigration process. The corporate employer must log into their dedicated ANEF space to file the official détachement (secondment) work authorization request. This crucial first step must be fully approved by French authorities before the employee can take any action on their visa.  
• French Consulate (or Visa Application Center): This is the physical location in the employee’s current country of residence where they formally submit their long-stay visa application. The consulatefrequently working alongside outsourced partners like VFS Global or TLScontact verifies the approved corporate paperwork, collects biometric data (such as fingerprints), and issues the visa sticker permitting legal entry into the Schengen Area.  
• France-Visas: The official, centralized French government portal used to prepare for the consular process. After the employer secures the ANEF authorization, the employee uses the France-Visas platform to complete their digital application form, generate a customized checklist of required supporting documents, and securely book their mandatory appointment at the local consulate.
• Local Prefecture: The post-arrival administrative hub for longer assignments. For senior managers and specialists arriving on a standard salarié détaché ICT entry visa (often marked to require a card request upon arrival), the employee must finalize their immigration status by applying for a physical, multi-year residence card at the regional prefecture. This step must generally be completed within two months of arriving in France and requires proof of a local address.  
• ANEF (Online Validation): The streamlined post-arrival step designed for shorter assignments. Graduate trainees holding a stagiaire ICT permit typically receive a VLS-TS (Long-Stay Visa Equivalent to a Residence Permit). Instead of navigating appointments at a physical prefecture, these individuals must validate their visa entirely online via the ANEF platform within three months of arriving in France. Failing to complete this digital validation renders the employee's stay illegal.

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Because the ICT card is collected locally, the prefecture handling your case depends on where the employee lives in France. Our France residence permit (carte de séjour) service explains how the prefecture stage works and what to expect on collection.

How do you apply for the France ICT permit step by step?

Here is the end-to-end sequence for a typical over-12-month salarié détaché ICT case. Trainee cases follow the same shape but end with online validation instead of a prefecture card.

If you are weighing ICT against a French-contract transfer, our comparison of the France work visa versus Talent Passport shows when each route serves your mobility plan better.

What does the France ICT permit cost and how long does it take?

While the direct government fees for an ICT permit are relatively modest compared to the substantial financial commitment of the assignee's salary and overall relocation package, navigating the processing timelines should be the primary driver of your global mobility planning. It is absolutely essential to build in a generous time buffer; peak immigration seasonsuently stretch both consular appointment availability and regional prefecture queues to their limits.  

• Employer ANEF tax: A nominal employer tax, typically around €108, is payable online at the exact moment the corporate work-authorization request is filed on the ANEF portal. Notably, the ICT route is strategically advantageous for corporate budgets because it is strictly exempt from the hefty 55% OFII employer tax (capped at €2,506.67) that applies to standard local French employment contracts.  
• Consular visa fee: The initial long-stay visa application fee processed at the consulate is roughly €99, which is typically paid by or on behalf of the employee at the time of their physical appointment. However, HR teams must also budget for the post-arrival residence permit issuance or VLS-TS validation fee, which formally increased to €300 effective May 1, 2026, under France's updated national immigration fee structure.  
• Work-authorisation target: The French administration sets a standard processing target of approximately 30 days for reviewing the initial employer application during the ANEF stage. However, this is an administrative goal rather than a legally binding guaranteemissing corporate documents, mismatched salary data, or poorly translated evidence will instantly pause this clock and delay the entire transfer.  
• End-to-end timeline: When the application is managed comprehensively with expert immigration support, a standard ICT process typically takes 4 to 8 weeks from initiation to the employee's legal arrival in France. By contrast, companies attempting to navigate the employer portals and appointment booking systems unaided frequently experience drawn-out timelines of 3 to 4 months due to procedural missteps and preventable technical rejections.  
• Family add-on: If the assignee is relocating with a spouse or dependent children, the accompanying ICT famille permits should be processed concurrently. While this derivative status is highly beneficial for the employee (granting the spouse immediate work rights), synchronizing family applications, gathering officially translated marriage and birth certificates, and booking joint consular appointments generally adds an additional 2 to 3 weeks to the overall project timeline.

France ICT permit costs and timelines at a glance (2026)

Fees change at short notice, so treat these as planning figures. To scope a specific case with current numbers, book a demo with our France team.

What compliance obligations come with the France ICT permit?

Securing the visa is only the beginning of your corporate mobility journey. Ongoing compliance rests squarely on the employer’s shoulders throughout the assignee’s mission in France. Most critically, the strict three-year maximum durationoften referred to as the "ICT cliff" the primary regulatory hurdle that frequently catches global HR and mobility teams completely off guard.  

To ensure continuous legal compliance, employers must proactively manage the following post-arrival conditions:

• The hard three-year cap: The Salarié détaché ICT permit is strictly valid for a maximum of three years and is entirely non-renewable. HR teams must rigorously track this expiration date and finalize the employee's exit or transition strategy well before the current permit expires.  
• Mandatory cooling-off period: Once the three-year limit is reached, the assignee is required by law to leave France. If the corporate group wishes to send the same employee back to France on another ICT permit, the individual must observe a mandatory six-month cooling-off period outside of the European Union before a new application can be filed.  
• Strategic status change options: If the business requires the employee to remain in France beyond the three-year cap, you cannot simply extend the ICT. The company must offer the employee a local French employment contract and seamlessly transition them to a different immigration route, such as the highly flexible Talent Passport (Passeport Talent). This status change must be initiated via the ANEF portal no later than two to four months before the existing ICT card expires.  
• No unauthorized cross-border telework: The ICT permit is explicitly granted for a mission to be physically performed at the French host entity. Prolonged or unauthorized remote work executed from a third country during the assignment can trigger compliance audits and potentially void the French ICT permit and associated social security coverage.
• Strict post-arrival validations: Immigration procedures do not end at the airport. Upon arrival, assignees on long-term missions have just two months to apply for their physical residence card at the local prefecture. Alternatively, trainees on a Stagiaire ICT visa must validate their VLS-TS online via ANEF within three months of entry. Missing these non-negotiable deadlines immediately invalidates the permit, rendering the employee's stay and work illegal.

Missing a renewal or validation window is the single most common way a compliant transfer turns into a problem. Our France ICT permit management service tracks every deadline and status-change window for your HR team, so nothing slips before the three-year cap.

Should you manage France ICT transfers in-house or with a partner?

While executing a single transfer in-house may seem manageable, managing a continuous talent pipeline across multiple French prefectures, varying mission lengths, and evolving digital platforms (like ANEF and SIPSI) is where administrative burdens compound rapidly. Without a centralized, tech-enabled strategy, minor procedural oversights can quickly spiral into costly operational delays, visa rejections, and compliance risks.

• Scalable volume and standardization: Recurring corporate transfers require a structured, repeatable framework rather than disjointed, ad-hoc efforts. Standardizing your immigration workflows across all assignment tiers ensures consistent application quality, clear operational benchmarks, and predictable arrival timelines.
• Mitigating compliance risks: Implementing automated tracking for non-negotiable regulatory milestones such as mandatory post-arrival prefecture validations, SIPSI posting filings, and the strict three-year ICT cap dramatically reduces legal exposure and protects your organization from labor audit penalties.
• Optimizing HR bandwidth: Adopting a managed mobility process liberates internal HR and global mobility teams from tedious administrative mechanics, such as chasing foreign documentation, monitoring ANEF portal updates, and navigating local prefecture communications.
• Synchronized family coordination: Spousal and dependent (ICT famille) permit applications must be processed in tandem alongside the primary assignee's case. Managing family logistics concurrently prevents split-family arrivals and ensures immediate work authorization for spouses upon arrival.
• HRIS integration and data integrity: Seamlessly connecting your mobility workflows with existing HRIS platforms (such as Workday, BambooHR, or SAP SuccessFactors) eliminates redundant manual data entry, prevents costly typographical errors, and maintains a single source of truth across your global workforce.

If you are planning transfers into France this year, the next move is simple: map your pipeline, confirm each employee's route and salary, and decide who owns the deadline tracking. Talk to our France immigration experts to run your first ICT case end-to-end.

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