France has implemented key changes in the French immigration system that allow foreigners to come and study or work in the country. Significant changes to the French immigration system have been introduced by a new decree that was announced on June 13, 2025. These changes mostly affect residence permits for foreign nationals who wish to live in France for academic or professional purposes.
Category Changes
The new rules substitute the more straightforward term “Talent” for the previous “Passport Talent” classification. It creates two primary categories out of the six existing resident permit categories:
Talent – Qualified Employee
Talent – project leader
To draw in medical professionals, a new multi-year residency permit called “Talent – Medical and Pharmacy Profession” has also been developed.
The “passport talent” residence permit is available to foreign employees and self-employed individuals. It allows up to four years of stay, with employment contracts exceeding three months.
Why new rules
The European Union has amended conditions for the entry and residence of foreign nationals for highly qualified employment. The amendments include derogatory time limits for notifications of decisions and the issue of multiannual residence cards. The provisional residence permit for mobility EU Blue Card beneficiaries allows them to work for up to thirty days after application submission. The new mentions on multiannual residence cards and long-term resident cards for former Blue Card holders are also included.
The changes will affect various sectors, including employers, research establishments, foreign nationals applying for residence permits, and administrative services responsible for foreigners’ entry and residence, as well as students and researchers.
In some recent changes, France’s new regulation allows for citizenship rejection based on illegal immigration history, despite having valid documents for five years. People who may speak French but have no knowledge of French history or ideals, and who have occasionally entered the nation illegally, have been granted French passports for decades.
Provincial prefects have been instructed to decide who receives a passport, to be far more stringent in their evaluation of who is deserving of French nationality. No more ticking boxes. Citizenship should no longer be viewed as a reward for merely spending five years in France. Even if the individual now has documents, the new regulation allows for rejection based on any history of illegal immigration.