This article covers the best visa strategies for couples moving to France. The typical questions you may have as a couple are: Should we come under the same visa? Should I come on a working visa, employee or business? Should I come with a long-stay visitor visa? Or can we apply with the same business project?
Important note before we get started, that whenever I’ll mention the term couple, this is an official legal couple, meaning married or with a civil union.
If you live together, but are not legally bound, you are looking at two independent visas. I’m not saying get married for the sake of it. Although I had two couples who moved their wedding plans sooner for visa purposes.
If you are a European couple, you can go ahead and work together without visas and start your own business.
1 - The golden visas for couples
I’m using the term “golden visa” as it opens doors, but this isn’t the name of an actual visa. Let’s see it as getting a golden ticket. You might be lucky and save yourself some time if:
- You are married to a French or European citizen. In this case, you will apply for the spouse visa - Visa conjoint citoyen Français/ Europeén.
- Your spouse has a visa talent employee or entrepreneur, and you'll get the conjoint visa “Visa talent - famille accompagnante” for the same length of time.
Both enable you to do whatever you want once in France: work, be self-employed, or be inactive. Don’t be in a hurry to work, as this will be slow to get your own visa/ titre de séjour.
2 - Visa strategies for couples moving to France.
As this website talks about freelancers and business owners, I’m assuming that at least one of you wants to freelance. If not, you are simply looking at long-stay visitor visas (no work, no side income, i.e. fully inactive).
There are 3 different strategies for couples moving to France:
- Strategy #1 - Go for a Visa Talent - Employee/ Salarié or Entrepreneur Créateur d’entreprise.
- Strategy #2 - Go for two business visas Profession liberale : same project or one each.
- Strategy #3 - Go for 2 different visas: 1 Profession liberale + 1 long-stay visitor.
Please note that the visa talent requires a Master’s degree or 5 years of experience in the considered business sector, plus 30,000€ investment in the business in France. This visa can be issued for 1 to 4 years. While a visa profession liberale is issued for one year, it doesn’t require a qualification (unless your activity is regulated) or any investment in the business. Both are renewable from France.
3 - How do you decide which visa to choose?
The questions to ask yourselves to make a decision are:
- Does your other half plan to work?
- Is one project not quite strong enough to validate a business visa? ( irregular income, built from scratch, no network).
- Does your project require an investment or cash flow of 30,000€? (this is one of the requirements for visa talent)
- Do you have the money to invest in the business?
- Will your business project earn enough income for 2?
- Are you OK to run a French-incorporated business such as SARL/SAS? It's important to understand how taxes work and know how much you will pay on your income, short-term and long-term. It's very different between a SAS and a SARL!!
- Are you ready to put more work up front? Legal contracts, letters of incorporation, and moving funds to France.
4 - Examples of couples' strategies who moved to France in 2025
Now, let me share a few examples of couples I’ve worked with this year.
- Kathy and Steve from the UK, who bought a multi-gite business in Dordogne called Cours De Fleuve. Katie applied for a visa profession liberal visa with the gite business, while Steve came as a long-stay visitor, as he didn't plan on working. Katie registered her business as a Micro Entrepreneur and has just finished her first summer season.
- Scott & Lauren from the US. Each of them already had a freelancing business in the US. They therefore applied for a visa profession liberale each: Scott as a web designer and Lauren as a fitness instructor. Luckily, they applied before the new ANEF rules changes and they moved to France 3 months later. They moved in May and registered their French micro entrepreneur businesses in June.
- Sophie & Lee, a British and Australian couple with a gite and retreat business. Sophie applied for a visa talent with the gite-retreat business, as Lee's former professional activity is regulated in France. So Lee came as a spouse of a visa talent "conjoint famille accompagnante", enabling him to work or be self-employed. They created SARL this summer and are putting the finishing touches to their property's renovation project..
The strategy will vary from one couple to another, based on your experience, wishes & finances. I recommend booking a Power Hour to talk through your options and best strategy.
5 - Extra tips for couples moving to France
Here are my final tips for couples wanting to move to France:
- Be patient! Going for a joint visa as a couple takes more time, but it will save you time in the long run.
- As a female, I would warn any other female to think about their independence if they are tied to their other half’s visa. Your Visa will end with your relationship - you'll have to apply for something else if it ends. What would your options then be? For example, I had a Russian customer whose civil union /PACS ended while living in France (no children). As she had already started her own French business as a micro entrepreneur, she asked to switch to a visa profession liberale. And she could show that she was self-supporting. PS: Always speak to a lawyer in this type of situation.
- As a spouse or other half, always think about what you may do next. What do you want to do once in France? You may get bored after a year without working. Would you like to work part-time as an employee or be self-employed? Which visa would give you the most options?
- As the main visa holder, keep the options open for your other half. It’s better for your couple in the long term. It can be good to take a little bit longer to move, and give them more options with the right Visa.
- Don't force two visas on one business if it's not generating enough income (2 x the French minimum wage called SMIC). The visa may be rejected or not renewed in a year.
For support on preparing your business visa application as a couple, join My French Business Visa course and coaching, which covers both business visas mentioned in this article.
