France shortage occupation list 2026 and the work permit test employers skip
The arrêté of 21 May 2025 lists about 80 shortage occupations region by region and removes the labour market test from the French work permit file.
A job on the French shortage occupation list opens the work authorisation without the labour market test: the employer does not have to prove that no local candidate was available. The list in force is the one set by the arrêté of 21 May 2025, published in the Journal officiel under reference NOR TSSD2508346A.
That order replaces the list of 1 April 2021 and applies under article L. 414-13 of the CESEDA, the French code on entry, residence and asylum. It carries about 80 occupations and, unlike its predecessor, it is drawn up region by region. That second point changes how a file is prepared far more than the number of lines does.
Who decides, and what the decision covers
The work authorisation is examined by the interregional foreign labour platforms, under the Ministry of the Interior through its directorate general for foreigners in France, together with the Ministry of Labour. The employer files the application, and the first question the administration answers is whether the labour market situation can be raised against it.
Off the list, the employer must have advertised the vacancy with the public employment service and show that no suitable application came in. On the list, that demonstration disappears. Everything else stays: the employer must be current with its social security obligations, the contract must comply with French labour law, pay must reach at least the SMIC or the applicable collective minimum, and the company must be free of prior undeclared work sanctions. Listing removes one condition, not the file.
The arrêté of 21 May 2025 concentrates the listed occupations in eight families: health, personal care services, hotels and restaurants, construction and public works, agriculture and food processing, transport and logistics, cleaning, private security. The same job title can be listed in one region and absent from another, and the composition varies sharply between regions.
The region of the workplace governs the file
The working rule fits in one sentence: the annex that applies is the one for the region where the work is performed, not the region of the company's registered office. A group opening one site in Toulouse and another in Lille runs two files read against two different annexes, for the same job title and the same standard contract.
| Checkpoint | Occupation listed in that region | Occupation not listed |
|---|---|---|
| Vacancy advertised with the public employment service | not required (CESEDA L. 414-13) | required, with proof that no suitable candidate applied |
| Employer documents (company extract, contract, social security certificate) | required | required |
| Pay at or above the SMIC or the collective minimum | required | required |
| Effect of naming the wrong region | the benefit of the list is lost | not applicable |
That last line is where employers lose the most time. A file built on a neighbouring region's list is examined as an off list file, the administration asks for proof of advertising, and the company then starts an advertising period it should have run before signing the contract. The mobilisation calendar slips by the same margin, usually after flights are booked. How the filing itself works and how long it takes is set out in the introduction procedure for a foreign employee.
Cost, calendar and the end of 2026 clause
Being on the list changes neither the price nor the duration. The employer still owes the tax set by article L. 436-10 of the CESEDA: 55 percent of the gross monthly salary capped at 2.5 times the SMIC for a contract of twelve months or more, roughly 2,506.67 euros in 2026. The administration has two months from a complete file to decide, and the clock starts only when the file is genuinely complete.
Two dates belong in the company calendar. First, article L. 414-13 of the CESEDA requires the list to be reviewed at least once a year: an occupation listed in 2026 may be gone at the next review, and a file lodged after a new order is published is examined against the list in force on the day of examination. Second, article L. 435-4 of the CESEDA, created by law 2024-42 of 26 January 2024, opens an exceptional admission to residence for a worker already employed in a listed occupation, and that route is limited to the end of 2026. Any regularisation built on it has to be prepared during 2026, not afterwards.
For qualified profiles the list is not always the right door. A well paid managerial post often moves faster on the talent permit, described in the talent residence permit for qualified employees. The list is also not a quota: France sets no numerical ceiling for economic immigration, which is what what actually limits the volumes in France explains.
An employer preparing a season or a site opening is better served by fixing two things before the job description is written: the region of the workplace and the exact occupation title. Those two choices decide which annex the file is read against, and therefore whether three weeks of advertising sit inside the schedule. What Werklist takes on at that stage, and what stays with the company, is set out on our employers page.
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