Answers before you start, hire, operate or expand in France

Start with your business goal rather than a service name. Tell us whether you want to create a French company, move a founder, hire or post employees, establish a business address, manage accounting or payroll, protect a trademark, or meet a compliance requirement. The project enquiry form lets us review the situation and identify the relevant service or combination of services.

Yes. Many projects are connected. Company formation can require a registered office and accounting; an international hire can connect with work-authorisation and payroll; a posted-worker project can require SIPSI and a representative in France. We review dependencies so the steps can be organised in the right order.

No. We work with founders before incorporation, foreign companies preparing a French operation, and existing French companies that need operational, employment or compliance support. The right starting point depends on what already exists and what you want to do next.

Many administrative and document-preparation steps can be handled remotely, but not every project is fully remote. Banking, identity checks, immigration appointments, regulated activities and third-party requirements can introduce in-person or country-specific steps. We confirm the practical sequence after reviewing the file.

Submit the project enquiry form with your current situation, target timing and enough detail to understand the scope. If several services are involved, describe the full project rather than submitting separate forms for each service.

Foreign founders can create French companies, subject to the requirements of the chosen legal form, the activity and the people involved. Company ownership, management and the right to live or work in France are separate questions, so residence or work-authorisation issues must be assessed separately when a founder plans to relocate and work in France.

Common structures for international projects include SAS, SASU, SARL and EURL. The appropriate form depends on shareholders, governance, management status, tax considerations, financing and future plans. We review the project before the formation route is prepared.

The project normally needs a company name, activity, shareholders, management, registered office, legal form, share-capital arrangements where applicable and the corporate information required for the formation documents. Regulated activities can require additional evidence or authorisation.

French business creation formalities are filed online through the Guichet unique des formalités des entreprises. The exact supporting documents depend on the legal form, activity and participants in the company.

There is no guaranteed universal timeline. Timing depends on document readiness, legal form, registered-office evidence, capital or banking steps, regulated-activity requirements and processing by the authorities or other third parties. We set out the sequence and dependencies once the file is reviewed.

No. Creating or owning a company and obtaining the right to reside and work in France are separate legal matters. A founder planning to move to France should identify the appropriate professional residence route and its eligibility requirements before relying on the company project for immigration purposes.

Yes, where the project is within our scope. We organise the company documents and business information around the residence route identified for the founder, while the competent authorities remain responsible for eligibility and the final immigration decision.

Not always. A French employer generally needs to check the employee’s immigration status before employment begins. Some residence permits or visas already authorise salaried work, while other situations require the employer to obtain a work authorisation. The route must be checked for the individual employee and contract.

Yes, for cases within our service scope. We review the role, employer and candidate situation, prepare the employer-side work-authorisation steps where required, and connect the approval process with employment documents and payroll onboarding.

No assumption should be made. The employer should confirm that the employee has the required right to work for the planned employment before the start date. A filing receipt by itself does not necessarily authorise employment.

A local hire joins the French employment structure of the employer and is handled through French employment and payroll processes. A posted worker remains employed by the foreign employer for a temporary assignment in France, with specific posting, notification, representation and document obligations. These are different routes and should not be treated interchangeably.

SIPSI is the French Ministry of Labour online service used for prior declarations for workers posted to France where a declaration is required. The assignment must be reviewed first because exemptions or special rules can apply in certain situations.

A representative in France is required for many posted-worker situations and the representative information is handled as part of the SIPSI process. However, posting rules include exceptions, so the assignment should be checked before a representative is appointed or a declaration is filed.

Yes, where the assignment falls within our representative service scope. We act as the local contact for the agreed posting period and help keep the required documentation organised for communication with French labour-control authorities.

Yes. The accounting service can cover the agreed recurring bookkeeping, tax-declaration and year-end preparation scope for a French company. The exact engagement depends on the company, activity, tax regime, transaction flow and any work that must be carried out by an appropriately authorised accounting professional.

No. VAT obligations depend on the company’s activity, transactions, tax position and any cross-border operations. We first identify the company’s applicable accounting and declaration scope instead of assuming the same VAT treatment for every business.

Potentially, yes. We first review the company’s current accounting position, available records, tax regime, outstanding periods and the handover information needed to establish a clean recurring process.

The agreed payroll scope can include recurring payroll calculations, payslip preparation, monthly variables, DSN reporting, and administrative handling for starters, changes and leavers. The employer remains responsible for providing complete and accurate employment and payroll information on time.

The Déclaration sociale nominative (DSN) is the recurring electronic social declaration used by employers to transmit payroll and social-protection data to the relevant bodies. For employers within the standard DSN system, it is a monthly process linked directly to payroll data.

Yes. A French company needs a registered office address (siège social), and that address must be established as part of the company-formation process. The registered office is the company’s administrative and legal address and appears on its corporate documents.

Business domiciliation provides a company with an eligible registered-office address through a domiciliation provider. Depending on the service, related mail handling or administrative services may also be available. The address service is distinct from leasing a permanent operational office.

Business domiciliation is focused on the company’s registered-office address. A virtual office can combine a business presence with additional services such as mail handling, a French phone number or call-handling support. The exact package should match whether you need a legal address, day-to-day phone and mail support, or both.

A domiciliation provider can be used as the registered office for a company when the arrangement meets the applicable requirements. We confirm the address and documentation needed for the formation file as part of the domiciliation setup.

Yes, where the requested phone setup is available. Our French business phone service gives an international company a professional French contact number without requiring a permanent physical office simply for telephone presence.

It provides agreed business-call and message-handling support for companies that need a professional French-facing call-handling process. The exact instructions, languages and escalation method are confirmed before the service starts.

Yes, within our trademark-registration scope. A French trademark application is filed through the INPI process. Before filing, the sign, applicant, relevant goods and services, and availability risks should be considered carefully.

Yes. The INPI recommends checking whether the proposed mark is valid and whether earlier rights may conflict with it. A filing does not by itself guarantee that no opposition or earlier-right issue exists.

Yes, where EU-wide protection is the appropriate route. The filing strategy should be chosen according to the countries, goods and services that actually matter to the business rather than assuming a national or EU filing is always the better option.

It is an umbrella service for selected protection and compliance needs that fall within Francosetup’s service catalogue, including trademark work and certain representation or product-compliance projects. We confirm the exact scope before accepting the project because regulated obligations vary significantly by activity and product.

No. Product obligations depend on the product category and the EU legislation that applies to it. CE marking, technical documentation, declarations, labelling, instructions and responsible-person requirements are not identical for every product. The product and supply chain need to be reviewed first.

Only where the product, legislation and required representative role fall within our accepted service scope. We do not assume that every non-EU seller needs the same representative arrangement; the applicable product rules must be identified first.

No. Representation does not replace the manufacturer’s or other economic operator’s underlying product-safety and conformity obligations. Required technical documentation, declarations, labelling and other product-specific requirements must still be satisfied.

No. Francosetup can prepare, organise and support processes within the agreed scope, but registrations, permits, visas, work authorisations, trademark decisions and other regulated outcomes remain subject to the competent authorities and the facts of each case.

Usually not responsibly. Timelines can depend on document readiness, third-party checks, banks, authorities, consular appointments, employee status, regulated activities and requests for additional information. We prefer to identify the dependencies first and then explain the practical sequence.

Explain what you want to achieve in France, whether a company already exists, where the founders or employees are currently based, your target date, and any known legal, immigration, employment or compliance constraint. Attachments are not required to explain the initial project unless specifically requested later.

We review the information against the relevant Francosetup services, identify any missing context, and then come back with the appropriate next step and, where suitable, the proposed service scope and quotation.