You are probably here since your renewal is up and you want to know what the process looks like :) Let's dive in!
Disclaimer: this is not legal advice. I'm simply documenting my process.
Background
I came to France in December 2021 with "French Tech Visa for Founders", officially known as “Talent Porteur de projet économique innovant reconnu par un organisme public”. Then, I registered the company (HYVOR) in mid-2022. My wife came to France in December 2023 with the "famille" version of the visa.
My visa was set to expire in December 2025. I was eligible to renew the visa starting from August (120 days before the expiration). I started the process as soon as it was available. I did the renewal on the ANEF website. My préfecture is the Paris préfecture.
The Renewal
When renewing, I had to first select that I’m intending to renew to get a passport talent visa again. Then, you have multiple passport talent variants to select from (projet économique innovant, création d'entreprise, etc.) To keep things simple, I requested a renewal in the same category (projet économique).
There were only two requirements:
BPI Attestation: Wording here is wrong. BPI France probably has nothing to do with this visa now. Here, you should upload an attestation from the DRIEETS (see below). But when I started the renewal, DRIEETS hadn’t reviewed the file that I submitted in July. So, not knowing how long it will take, I uploaded the original letter I got from DGE in 2021 in the hope that I can get started with the visa process as fast as possible, and I will have the attestation from the DRIEETS to upload later if they request it.
Financial Proof: proving that I earn (or have in savings) more than the current SMIC. I uploaded an attestation from my accountant and avis d'impĂ´ts for the last 2 years.
I applied. I waited.
Nah, Too Profitable
About 3 weeks later, they asked me to upload the following documents:
KBIS
Balance sheet for 2024
An attestation from my accountant with the turnover, profit/loss, and my remuneration.
I thought their asking for this meant my old DGE letter was okay. I uploaded and waited again.
After a few days, they told me, "Hey, it looks like you have already registered the company. You should change your visa to création d'entreprise". I knew this was a possibility. Then, I contacted the French Tech Visa team, and they kindly explained to me the reasoning: 'you must be too profitable'. Basically, if you have registered the company in France and you are reasonably profitable, you are no longer a "project" - you are a "company", which makes sense in a way. But, on the other hand, if you stayed in France for 4 years and did not register the company or did not become profitable, you can simply renew your visa. Some might call this "suffering from success".
Anyway, création d'entreprise, a whole new rabbit hole for me to dig. ANEF asked me for two documents to continue:
Statuts of the company (you have this if you created a company)
An attestation from the DRIEETS for this visa
La DRIEETS
When I applied for the initial visa in 2021, it was the DGE (Direction générale des Entreprises) that gave me a letter attesting that my project was innovative. In 2021 (after my first visa), a new organization called La DRIEETS was commissioned to handle this.
I was not sure what to expect from a new agency. But, it turned out, they are actually professional, well-organized, and efficient. Partly, this efficiency comes from the amazing demarches-simplifiees.fr website they use (if you don't know, it's a forms site for the French administration, and run by a competitive web development team. The platform is even open-source.)
I applied for two attestations for each visa category from the DRIEETS, and both were accepted:
1. Attestation: Projet Ă©conomique innovant
I first applied for this in July. It took about 5 weeks to complete this (there were some back-and-forth messaging with the administration, and it was also August vacations!)
First, you need to explain details about your project's origin, target market, business model, why you chose France, etc. Then, the documents:
A letter from your incubator: Unfortunately, my incubator had gone incommunicado. I first applied with the contract I had with them in 2021, but the DRIEETS told me it's too old to accept. When I told them about the situation, they advised sending them two letters of support.
Or, two letters of support: you can get letters from a French university, a company, or any other establishment within the French Tech Ecosystem. I got two letters from the founders I knew.
It was accepted, but, well, ANEF did not want that.
2. Attestation: Création d'entreprise
The document and questions they asked in the projet Ă©conomique attestation were almost identical to the questions they asked when I applied for the initial visa years back. I was comfortable answering them, and I knew the exact documents I needed.
However, this visa, création d'entreprise, was unfamiliar territory. So, to be safe, I provided extra information for all answers and extra proof for documents whenever possible. It worked! They accepted it within 4 working days.
The questions were quite similar to the previous one: project origin, business model (had to attach a PDF), potential market (had to attach a study of the potential market), potential competition, expected turnover in the next 3 years, etc.
Second, you need to prove that you have invested or can invest €30,000 in your business. I provided documents of the compte courant for the amount I had invested and additional personal bank statements to cover the rest.
Finally, you need to provide a master's degree or 5 years of experience. I do not hold a master's degree, so I provided evidence of experience, which was also tricky since I have always been self-employed after dropping out of college. I provided links to GitHub repositories I had maintained over the years, blog posts I have written, etc.
Decision Favorable
ANEF again requested documents to prove 5 years of experience, even though this was checked by DRIEETS earlier. I submitted the same documents again, and in late October, I received the "décision favorable". Getting the actual card will take longer, but I now have the right to stay until 2029.
My wife's "famille" visa is currently pending. I'll update this once it's accepted.
FAQ
Who can I contact?
DRIEETS: drieets-idf.passeports-talent@drieets.gouv.fr
They can help with questions related to the attestation and required documents, and they were helpful for me.
Business France: welcometofrance@mail.businessfrance.fr
These guys run the welcometofrance.com and are incredibly helpful (they even contacted a préfecture on my behalf in 2021). Ask them any questions you have about the visa.
ANEF: Through the ANEF website for any questions regarding uploading documents, etc. Their support is generic - might not be helpful for passport talent-related questions.
Should I change to creation d'entreprise if I have created the company?
I don't know. There does not seem to be a strict criterion to decide between those two types, but profitability also seems to play a part than just creating the company. I know some people who had a company and then renewed their visa. So, it's ultimately up to the agent who reviews your file to decide what to do. If it looks more like a "company" than a "project", you will probably have to change.
If unsure, do what I did. Apply to renew projet Ă©conomique innovant, and they will ask to change if needed. Note that you don't have to reapply from scratch. They can change the type on their end and ask you only for the relevant documents.
What if I cannot meet the requirements of these two visas?
There are other passport talent visa types.
Thanks
Special thanks to those who helped me with this process with information and guidance.
Mohommad Nasri
Cynthia Asije
Business France Team
DRIEETS team
ANEF
Good luck with your application. Feel free to comment below to ask questions.
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