Many of us come to France to work for ourselves as artists, as freelancers or as the founders of a new French business. Others come for retirement or for education. But more than a few of you are sent here by U.S. employers for work. In international law, we refer to people working under this arrangement as “seconded” or “posted” employees, or more recently, “Intra-corporate Transfers” (ICT).  In French, you will may see the words “salarié détaché” or “salarié impatrié” (while expatrié would suggest a French employee posted to work outside of France).

 There are a few things to know about how someone becomes a seconded employee and even more to understand about the consequences. So let’s take a look.

What is a seconded employee?

 Seconded employment has several required elements:

1.     You are sent by your home country employer to work in another country.

2.     Your work remains directed by and under contract with your original employer.

3.     Your posting is temporary, even if “temporary” stretches to several years.

4.     You continue to participate in the social, health and state retirement systems of your home country.

By way of example, a “seconded” employee might be sent by the U.S. office of the multinational corporation where she works to the French office of a company recently merged within the same corporate group. The employee never stops working for her U.S. office and expects to stay in France only long enough to assist in the transition period.

Our hypothetical employee never becomes a French worker under this arrangement, and won’t participate in French state social programs. But she does become a French resident. What does this mean for her finances?

French income taxes

 Since she is physically living and working France, she is a tax resident of France regardless of her seconded status. So she will file a French tax Déclaration after the close of her first calendar year in France. And she will pay French income taxes. She will also pay U.S. income taxes and will then use tax credits available in the U.S. to avoid double-taxation. 

But she will not pay French social charges, which would normally be her contribution to the state’s health, retirment and other programs. As a result of the U.S.-France Social Security Totalization Agreement, she will instead continue to pay her U.S. payroll taxes (U.S. social security, medicare, unemployment, etc…). And this is true even if she is a French national, but she must be a U.S. citizen to benefit from the Totalization Agreement. 

This employee’s seconded status also means that she can continue to contribute to her U.S. retirement programs, like 401k’s, pensions, and IRA’s, something she could not do if she were earning her income as a French employee. And under the France-U.S. Tax Treaty -- a separate treaty from the Totalization Agrement above – both France and the U.S. will recognize the deduction of those retirement contributions for the purpose of income taxes.

It's also worth noting that our U.S. employee can continue to participate in any other sort of profit-sharing, stock option or similar program offered by her U.S. employer. But of course, she will not be able to participate in programs like these offered to her colleagues in the French office.

What is “temporary”?

The Social Security Totalization Agreement between France and the U.S. allows the employee of a U.S. company to work for up to 5 years in France without becoming subject to French social charges. But there are, confusingly, some other time frames involved.

Unless our seconded worker has EU citizenship or other considerations allowing her to work in France, she will need a French visa and work authorisation. The time frames for those vary considerably depending on the type of visa and the type of work involved. The most common talent passeport visa for a seconded employee has a three-year limit, after which the employer and/or employee will need to explore a different visa option. And then there is France’s special tax deal to lure company directors to the country. The special impatrié régime can go up to 8 years but does not change the time limit on that Social Security Totalization Agreement ,no matter what visas you use.

What are the labor rights of a seconded employee?

Our hypothetical worker may be employeed by a U.S. company, but she does have certain minimum rights as a worker in France. Specifically, her salary must not be any lower than that of her French colleagues, and she must receive the same paid leave, overtime pay, etc… as those colleagues. After she has been working in France for 12 months, she is also entitled to certain rights granted her colleagues under whatever collective bargaining agreement applies to her industry (for more on this, see the relevant government webpage here, Finally, her U.S. employer is responsible for paying for certain expenses (i.e. legal, professional, transport…) that are related to her secondment.

What if she decides to stay on?

Just because her posting ends, it does not necessarily mean that our hypothetical employee will choose to return to the U.S. In many cases, the French company may choose to keep her on, now as a French salaried worker. And the visas for foreign skilled workers are far easier for French companies to get than they would be for U.S. companies looking to hire in the same circumstances.

Likewise, our employee may choose to apply for her own visa to create a business or advance a project in France. In any of these cases, she will begin participating fully in the French social security as soon as her new visa status takes effect. She will claim a place in the French pension system, as well. Fortunately, the Totalization Agreement that exempted her from French social charges will now exempt her from U.S. payroll and will give her full credit for the years worked in both countries when she eventually retires.

French guidance

Looking for more information as a seconded employee or an employer? The French authorities have created a Welcome to France website (with English translations) just for you.

If you have comments or questions for us, please feel free to leave them below.