France is pushing forward with plans to become a leading hub for entrepreneurs and startups by expanding its “Passeport Talent” scheme to include a French Tech Visa.

The scheme, which launched in 2016, was set up to attract foreign tech talents to France with the French Tech Ticket. The French Tech Ticket is a 12-month seed accelerator program set up for international entrepreneurs who want to build a startup in Europe.


The French Tech Visa is part of this scheme. It is open to foreign startup and scale-up founders and employees, foreign talents joining a French startup or scale-up, foreign investors and business angels.

If successful, the visa is valid for four years on a renewable basis, it covers the spouse of the main applicant and no work permit is required for any work performed as an employee.

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Within the Tech Ticket, selected entrepreneurs and projects will work in one of 41 French partner incubators, which will provide mentorship to help with fundraising, expert advice and pitch practice. Currently, people within the EEA and Switzerland don't need a visa to work in France in this way.

Within the scheme, the government will be creating a list of France's leading startups and people joining these companies in various capacities and roles will qualify for a visa.


La French Tech is an initiative by the French government to support local startups. It is managed out of the French Ministry for the Economy and Finance, in partnership with the Direction Générale des Entreprises, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development, the Commissariat général à l'Investissment, Bpifrance, Business France, and Caisse des Dêpôts et Consigation.

It is a key area of growth for the French government, and this was shown in the recent State of European Tech report produced by Slush with investment firm Atomico.

The report found that, overall, tech hubs are growing in places such as London, Paris, Berlin and Stockholm – as is to be expected – but the report also finds European entrepreneurs are cropping up across the continent.

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In WIRED's top 100 startups list, Lisbon was featured for the first time. And the report shows that Paris is challenging the primacy of London and Berlin in VC capital invested and deal volume, with growth also being seen in Munich and Copenhagen.

Half of the top ten computer science institutions are in Europe, with ETH in Zurich leading the way. Others include UCL in London, Edinburgh and Karlsruhe Institute of Technology.

The report also shows that Europe has more developers than thought, and they are becoming more engaged in entrepreneurship. Data from Stack Overflow Insights shows there are more professional developers in Europe (4.7 million) than in the US (4.1 million) despite the general consensus assuming it is the opposite.

Elsewhere, France's rising status hasn't gone unnoticed by the US tech giants. Station F, in Paris, is set to become the world's biggest startup space and, opening in April, will also play host to Facebook's first startup incubator.


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Based in a former train station built in 1929, Station F will host 3,000 desks for 1,000 startups across 34,000m2 of space. Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg has announced that the social network will have 80 desks near the building's entrance.

On a six-monthly cycle Facebook will work with ten to 15 startups in the location to help them develop their businesses. “We’re thrilled to be a founding partner and start the Facebook Startup Garage here,” Sandberg said at the event in Paris. It's the first time Mark Zuckerberg's company has invested in a physical space for startups.