To hire a non-European national under local work contract in France, employers must first obtain approval on a work permit application by the authorities. Depending on the profile of the candidate and the position offered, one of the conditions to be satisfied to obtain the said work permit is an unsuccessful local labour market search, forcing the employer to look for candidates outside the European Space.
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Labour market test (LMT) in France is not required for highly qualified workers or intra-company employees, for instance, but remains a must to hire foreigners under the traditional “salarié” category. It supposes advertisement of the position for a month on national job-hunt websites (APEC or Pôle Emploi). French platforms connect with European platforms, making it possible for European nationals to apply easily and get preference over non-European nationals.
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Nonetheless, there are a number of positions that are not subject to market test. Shall an employer have a need there, they are free to apply for work permit for a foreigner without evidencing that the local search was vain, without even needing to search locally first. Indeed, these professions lack qualified workers so no check needs to be first made locally.
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On 1st April 2021, French authorities have released a new list of positions exempted from labor market test. It updates the previous one dating from 2008 and is still organized by geographical area to reflect local situations and priorities.
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It also allows easy reference to the national description of positions, so that employers can ensure the details of their vacancy fully match the exempted position and apply for a work permit straight away. Full list by territory is available here.
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Is there any other exemption?
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It is to be noted that, on top of this national list of “exempted positions” that stands for all non-European nationals, France has signed a number of bilateral agreements on immigration with third countries (mainly countries with common history). Some of them do include an extended list of LMT-exempted positions to allow easy access to the French market to those nationals. Accordingly, before proceeding to a market test, employers shall first check not only the national list of exemptions but also the specific one linked to nationality of candidate that may apply.
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What about UK nationals?
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Last but not least, this LMT applies to “non-European nationals” that is nationals that are not citizens of a Member State of the European Union (27 countries), of Island, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, or legally residing third-country nationals with access to the labour market according to national legislation. Now the UK has left the EU, UK nationals are not given access to the EU labour market and shall accordingly comply with market test condition before they can be granted a “salarié” status in France.
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Any questions? Contact us on contact@22-55.fr or via our LinkedIn page!
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