Step 1
Establish which route your profile actually fits — the four are not interchangeable and the evidence differs sharply.
Advising Indian families on residency abroad since 2009, from our Koramangala office in Bangalore.
What France does not have
France has never run a residency-by-investment programme. The official index of French residence permits lists every card the country issues — private and family life, salaried worker, entrepreneur, the general multi-year card, talent, talent-famille, seasonal worker, posted employee, visitor, retiree, resident cards, student cards — and there is no investor card among them.
This matters because France is advertised as an investment destination anyway. If you have been offered a "France investment programme" at a fixed price with a promised return over a fixed term, what you have been offered is a private fund with immigration language wrapped around it. The French state does not guarantee returns to visa applicants, and no percentage of profit appears anywhere in French immigration law. The only percentage that does appear is a thirty per cent capital-holding test — a control requirement for investing through a company, not a share of anything.
What it does have
Four routes carry real weight for people relocating from India or the Gulf.
- Direct economic investment — €300,000 into tangible or intangible fixed assets, held personally or through a company you control, with a commitment to create or preserve jobs.
- Business creation — a master's-level qualification or five years of comparable experience, a serious project, and €30,000 of financing behind it.
- Innovative economic project — no investment floor at all, but the project must be recognised by the ministry responsible for the economy. This is the route the French Tech ecosystem runs on.
- Long-stay visitor — no work of any kind, but no business required either. Proof that you can support yourself is the whole test.
The EU Blue Card sits alongside these for salaried professionals and is covered under our skilled migration section, since it turns on an employment contract rather than on capital.
Talk to an immigration consultant in Bangalore
XIPHIAS Immigration has guided Indian families abroad since 2009, from our office in Koramangala, Bangalore. We were named Best Immigration Consultant by The Times of India in 2022. Our immigration consultants in Bangalore will take you through the legal requirements, costs and timeline for France.
