All countries → Europe → France
🇫🇷 France visa and residence routes
World-class healthcare and infrastructure. No dedicated nomad visa, but a workable visitor route and a strong talent scheme.
The lowest published bar starts from €1,500 a month in income. Documented routes cover passive income or pension and employer-sponsored. Naturalisation becomes possible after roughly 5 years of qualifying residence.
How France compares
Living costs sit mid-table for this list, at roughly €2,200 a month for one person. English will not carry you far in daily life or administration — expect to need the local language. Healthcare is among the strongest on this list. As an EU member state, it also opens the rest of the Union to anyone who eventually naturalises here.
Who these routes are built for
Based on the routes currently included in our database for France, these options suit retirees and those living on pensions, rents or dividends.
They are a poor fit for remote workers, who have no dedicated route here.
What the bar means in practice
The lowest income requirement, €1,500 a month on the Long-Stay Visitor Visa, sits against living costs of about €2,200 a month. That is below typical single-person living costs, so meeting the paperwork bar does not by itself mean the budget works. If that is out of reach, the nearest lower bar in Europe is 🇨🇿 Czechia, which starts at €1,400 a month.
Routes at a glance
| Route | Built for | Financial bar | Processing | Leads to residency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Long-Stay Visitor Visa | Passive income or pension | €1,500/mo | 1–3 mo | Yes |
| Talent Passport | Employer-sponsored | €3,600/mo | 2–3 mo | Yes |
The financial bar is the main money test for that route — a monthly income floor, or the savings to show where no income floor applies. Figures are for a single applicant; most programmes scale upward for a partner or children.
Which of these would actually take you?
This page lists the routes currently included in our database for France. The free 3-minute check compares those rules against your own passport, income, savings, age and family, and stamps each route clear, stretch or blocked — with the reason.
No account, no card, results in 3 minutes.
Routes in our database, in detail
Long-Stay Visitor Visa
You commit not to work in France; income roughly at French minimum-wage level. Remote work is a grey area — treat it as passive-income route.
Talent Passport
Multi-year permit for qualified employees (~1.5× average salary), founders and investors.
Worth knowing: The exact Talent Passport category, qualifications and supporting evidence still need official verification.
Before you rely on any of this
Visa and residence requirements on this page are compiled from the linked official sources and current as of 2026-08-07. Cost of living, English, healthcare and cross-country comparison indicators are ExpatSuccess estimates, not government figures. Governments change immigration rules without notice and consulates apply them with discretion, so confirm on the linked official portal before making decisions or spending money. This page is research, not legal, immigration, tax or financial advice.
Other Europe destinations
🇵🇹 Portugal · 🇪🇸 Spain · 🇩🇪 Germany · 🇳🇱 Netherlands · 🇮🇹 Italy · 🇬🇷 Greece · 🇲🇹 Malta · 🇨🇾 Cyprus