France startup visa (French Tech Visa)

France startup visa requirements for founders

The main filter for the startup visa is not money but recognition of the project. A founder gets the talent - porteur de projet card (talent - project leader) through the projet économique innovant (innovative economic project) route, and the decisive document is an opinion from the French Ministry of the Economy confirming the project is innovative. The rules sit in Article L421-16 of the Code on the Entry and Residence of Foreigners and the Right of Asylum (CESEDA) and Decree No. 2025-539 of 13 June 2025.

What a founder needs:

• An innovative project. The startup has to introduce new technologies or solutions with international demand.
• A partner and the ministry opinion. In practice the project is first selected by a partner incubator or accelerator on the French Tech programme list, then the Ministry of the Economy confirms that it is innovative.
• Own means. Income or savings for you and your family at least equal to the full-time SMIC (salaire minimum interprofessionnel de croissance, the French minimum wage): $25,200 (22,404.20 euros) gross a year in 2026, about $2,100 (1,867 euros) a month. The $22,500 (20,000 euros) figure from older guides no longer applies.
• Business plan. The project has to be set out as a business plan that explains how innovative it is and what potential it has.
• A clean immigration record. No criminal convictions or other bars on entry to France.

Who can get a France startup visa: founder, employee, investor

Behind the words "startup visa" France hides four different files, and people mix them up more often than you would think. A founder with an idea, a founder with money, an investor and a startup employee all get the same talent card but prove entirely different things.

Older guides still quote a $41,600 (37,000 euros) salary and a 10% investor stake. Those figures are as out of date as a paper form in the age of the France-Visas portal: in 2026 the consulate checks your file against the thresholds in the table.

If the project is not innovative enough for the ministry opinion, the company creation route with $33,700 (30,000 euros) may turn out more realistic: there the test is how serious the business is, not how new. The full list of talent card categories, including the EU Blue Card and researchers, is on our page on the France talent passport visa.

Costs item by item

• the consular fee for a long-stay visa: $112 (99 euros);
• the first talent card: $394 (350 euros): from 1 May 2026 the tax rose from $225 (200 euros) to $337 (300 euros) and the stamp duty from $28 (25 euros) to $56 (50 euros);
• the founder's personal resources: from $25,200 (22,404.20 euros) a year;
• for the company creation route, an investment from $33,700 (30,000 euros), for an investor from $337,000 (300,000 euros);
• document translations into French and health insurance for the first months.

Government fees for one founder start from $505 (449 euros), not counting living funds. Dollar amounts use the market rate of 20 October 2026, 1.1229 dollars per euro, rounded up. Our support fee is quoted by a manager in the chat.

What changes in 2026

• The French minimum wage rose twice: by 1.18% on 1 January and by 2.41% on 1 June. The founder's resource threshold is now $25,200 (22,404.20 euros) a year.
• From 1 May 2026, under the 2026 budget law, the first talent card costs $394 (350 euros) instead of $253 (225 euros).
• The procedure for recognising a project as innovative is set by the decree of 13 June 2025.

Taxes for a founder in France

You become a French tax resident if your main home, work or centre of economic interests is in France. Income tax rates run from 0% to 45%, with social levies on investment income. Company profits are taxed at 25%, and small businesses pay 15% on the first $47,800 (42,500 euros). Young innovative company status reduces contributions on researchers' salaries. More on the Taxes in France page.

How to get approved the first time

• no selection by a partner incubator and no ministry opinion on innovation;
• personal resources below the annual minimum wage;
• the business plan describes an ordinary business with no novelty or international market;
• for the company creation route, an investment under $33,700 (30,000 euros) or no master's degree and 5 years of experience;
• for an employee, a salary below $44,500 (39,582 euros) gross a year;
• documents not translated into French.

Comparison with start-up visas in other countries

France gives the longest first term but requires recognised innovation. Spain is easier on money and faster to decide.

Benefits of the French startup residence permit

How to get the French startup residence permit: step by step

FAQ