You are an employer based in a State that has not signed a Social Security agreement with France and you are sending an employee to France

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You are an employer based in a State that has not signed a bilateral social security agreement with France and you are sending an employee to France? Your employee is required to join the French social security system for all risks.

Your company has a place of business in France

An employee who is sent to a place of business that your company operates in France is required to join the French social security system. All contributions will be paid by your French office under the same conditions as for its other employees.

For more information: URSSAF ; MSA (France's agricultural scheme)

Your company does not have a place of business in France

Membership in the French system

As the employee you are sending to France comes from a State that has not signed a social security agreement with France, s/he will become a member of the French social security system according to the same terms as all other employees working in France, and be liable for the same contributions.

This means that the employee will be insured for:

Compulsory contributions in France

  • French Social Security Code, article L.243-1-2
  • French rural and maritime fishing code, article L. 741-1-1 (France's agricultural scheme)

When a foreign employer sends an employee to France and the employee becomes a member of the French Social Security system, French law requires the employer to pay all mandatory contributions in France. For all declarations and payments of social charges (CSG, CRDS) and Social Security contributions, a single collections organization, URSSAF Alsace (or MSA Alsace if the company's business activities come under France's agricultural scheme), is in charge of notifying the mandatory social security organizations with which your company will be registered (Insee, Carsat, Centre des Finances Publiques [Direction des impôts des non-résidents]).

For more information: URSSAF: You are a foreign company

Finally, Malakoff Humanis is the competent organization for supplementary pensions:

If your company's business activities come under France's agricultural scheme, the National Foreign Firms Center (CNFE) is MSA d'Alsace:

The MSA fund also administers any contractual contributions.

Requirements for foreign employers

You will need to complete a set of administrative formalities to ensure that your employee can work legally in France. You can also conclude a written agreement to appoint a representative residing in France. Your representative will then ensure that all of your social obligations regarding payment and declarations are carried out.

On the official social declaration website net-entreprises (or msa.fr if your company's business activities come under France's agricultural scheme), you can complete several formalities related to the registration of your company, or to a change in your company's activities, at the same time. Indeed, when you submit the E00 form, Urssaf Alsace (or MSA d'Alsace if your company's business activities come under France's agricultural scheme) will carry out all administrative formalities with the Social Security organizations and with Insee (the French office for statistics). Additionally, the EE2/EE4 form can be used to report changes to your company's administrative status or a change in your company's representative to these organization.

Before you hire a worker, you will need to submit a pre-hiring declaration (déclaration préalable à l'embauche/ DPAE) through the net-entreprises portal (or on msa.fr if your company's business activities come under France's agricultural scheme). This operation will register your employee as a member of the French Social Security system. A registration number (social security number) is assigned at birth to those born in France and following a DPAE for those born abroad.

In addition, you will be required to submit a monthly electronic declaration, the DSN (déclaration sociale nominative).

The Foreign Firms' Slip (Titre firmes étrangères/ TFE) is an optional system intended for companies with fewer than 20 employees and no place of business in France. If a company uses the TFE, it will be required to use only this system for all of its employees working in France. The TFE will determine which formalities and declarations are replaced by the DSN.

Entry and residency in France

With regard to immigration formalities, you will need to apply for employment authorization for your employee.