Talent Passport: buying a French business to settle in France

Taking over a business that already trades – with customers, premises and staff – can feel safer than starting from scratch. Can it also be the basis of a French residence permit for up to four years? Yes, under conditions, and provided the acquisition is structured correctly.

The short answer

Buying the shares of an existing company does not, by itself, satisfy the Talent Passport business creator route. A company newly formed in France, funded with at least €30,000 and backed by a consistent business plan, which then acquires a fonds de commerce, can be treated as creating a business. This is recent administrative practice: it is not written in any statute, it is not binding, and each file is assessed case by case.

The legal framework

Article L. 421-16 of the CESEDA (the French immigration code) opens the multi-year « talent – porteur de projet » residence permit, for up to four years, through three routes:

• 1° – creating a business: a master’s-level qualification or five years of professional experience at a comparable level, a real and serious economic project, and the creation of a business in France; minimum financing of €30,000 (art. R. 421-33-2) and personal resources at least equal to the annual gross minimum wage (art. R. 421-33-1), with a prior opinion from the Ministry of the Economy on the project;
• 2° – an innovative project recognised by a public body;
• 3° – direct economic investment of at least €300,000 in fixed assets, with an undertaking to create or safeguard jobs (art. R. 421-35).

Why the structure matters

An acquisition of shares changes who owns an existing company; it creates nothing. And at €30,000, €50,000 or even €100,000, it is far from the €300,000 investor threshold. The workable structure is a new French company – in practice a SAS or SASU – that you run, funded by your capital contribution, which acquires the fonds de commerce. The money then finances a business project, not the seller’s pocket. An existing business also brings a track record: the seriousness of the project is assessed on established figures, not only on forecasts.

The order of operations

1. Analysis of the project and of the financing, choice of the route.
2. Incorporation of the new company, with capital consistent with the project.
3. Promise of sale of the fonds subject to a condition precedent: the residence permit is obtained.
4. Deposit held in escrow on the lawyer’s CARPA account, the Bar’s regulated escrow fund – the seller is protected, and so is the buyer.
5. Business plan built on the seller’s accounts, the lease and the forecast; application for the Ministry of the Economy opinion, then the visa.
6. Arrival in France, satisfaction of the condition precedent, signature of the deed, taking possession of the business.

Never sign the final deed before holding the permit: you would own a business you have no right to operate.

If the Talent Passport conditions are not met

Without the qualification or the experience required, or if you buy shares or a business in your own name, the one-year « entrepreneur / profession libérale » permit (art. L. 421-5 CESEDA) remains available. See Buying a business in France: the entrepreneur permit.

The acquisition itself follows its own rules – lease, employees, escrow of the price: see Fonds de commerce purchase: lease, employees and escrow, and the three Talent Passport routes.

Watch: these questions are answered on video, in French, in the podcast Cessions d’entreprise – full episode on YouTube.

The firm is subject to a duty of best efforts; the decision on the opinion, the visa and the residence permit lies with the competent authorities. General information; this article is not individual legal advice. Legal basis: CESEDA, art. L. 421-5, L. 421-16, R. 421-33-1, R. 421-33-2 and R. 421-35.