Working in France by Citizenship 2026: 9 Countries

The rules for working in France are almost the same for citizens of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Armenia, Moldova, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan: what decides is not your passport but the residence document you hold or are about to get. We, the “Vibe South of France” community, checked the points that do depend on citizenship against primary sources: EU regulations, the service-public card, the texts of the agreements and the French Ministry of the Interior’s list. The check was done on 19 October 2026. If you still have questions about your own case, you can ask them in the “Vibe South of France” community chat on Telegram.

In brief, as of October 2026

• The general rule. Salaried work in France requires a residence document with the right to work, or a work permit that the employer requests online. For citizens of the nine countries it is one and the same rule; the details are in the guide Working in France.
• Short-stay visa. Needed by citizens of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan. Not needed by citizens of Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine with a biometric passport.
• Visa-free travel and work. Visa-free entry does not give the right to work as an employee: the only exceptions are seven grounds for a short stay.
• Agreements. Bilateral work agreements exist only with Georgia and Russia. For the other seven countries the French Ministry of the Interior’s list (April 2026) has none.
• Ukraine. The APS issued under temporary protection gives the right to work without a separate permit.
• Occupations. There is one shortage-occupation list for all third-country nationals: 35 occupations in Occitanie, 39 in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur.

The nine countries in one table

Annexes I and II are those of EU Regulation 2018/1806 in the version of 30 December 2025 (last amended by Regulation 2025/2441 of 26 November 2025). The list of agreements is the French Ministry of the Interior’s page “Les accords bilatéraux en matière de mobilité professionnelle”, taken from the copy of 1 April 2026: the live page returns a 403 error.

What is the same for all nine

The work permit. If you have no residence document that itself carries the right to work (a carte de résident, for example), the employer requests an autorisation de travail online before hiring. The confirmation that the application was filed does not let you work. The conditions depend on the post and the type of document, not on the passport: the F2728 card makes a separate arrangement only for Algerian citizens, and it has nothing to do with our countries.

Your own business, study, family, talent. The types of card, their fees and their rights are described in the guide French residence permit types; for citizens of these nine countries they are the same, and only the agreements with Georgia and Russia below give special conditions. A student with a permit may work up to 964 hours a year. Once you have settled, your residence document will also matter for a social-housing application: which permits are accepted is in the guide Social housing (HLM).

A short trip does not give the right to work. Neither a visa nor visa-free entry allows salaried work on its own. During a short stay you can work without a separate permit only on seven grounds from the service-public list (card F2728, checked 18 June 2026):

1. sporting, cultural, artistic and scientific events;
2. conferences, seminars and trade fairs;
3. film, audiovisual production, stage and sound recording - as a performer or technical staff;
4. modelling and posing;
5. domestic staff of a private employer for the time of the employer’s stay in France;
6. audit and expert work in IT, management, finance, insurance, architecture and engineering - for a seconded employee under a contract;
7. teaching as a visiting professor.

For any other ground (“autre motif”) the employer must first obtain a work permit. So “I’ll come visa-free and find something there” does not work: first the residence document or the permit, then the job. If you want to come specifically to work, you need a long-stay visa; visa types are covered in the guide A visa for France, residence cards in the guide Titre de séjour.

Shortage occupations: 35 in Occitanie, 39 in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur. The arrêté of 21 May 2025 (JORF of 22 May 2025, NOR TSSD2508346A) replaced the arrêté of 1 April 2021. There is one list for nationals of countries outside the EU, the EEA and Switzerland, but it is tied to a region. If an occupation is on your region’s list, the employer does not have to advertise the vacancy for three weeks running before requesting a permit. For the South of France:

Both regions list, among others, care assistants (aides-soignants), nurses, cooks and kitchen assistants, hotel staff, bricklayers, roofers, welders, farm and vineyard employees, home helpers and software engineers. The full lists with FAP codes are in Annex I of the arrêté; they do not waive salary or contract conditions. What different occupations pay is in the guide Salaries in France, and how it looks in practice on the coast is in the guide Working in Nice.

Country by country

Russia: the visa and the 2009 agreement

Entering France requires a visa (Annex I). The agreement on professional migration was signed on 27 November 2009 and has been in force since 1 March 2011; on the French Ministry of the Interior’s list of 1 April 2026 it appears among the bilateral agreements on professional mobility, and on the French Foreign Ministry’s page on the working-holiday programme (updated 16 October 2026) Russia is not named among the 15 countries. Under the text of the agreement, permits are issued without a labour-market test for intra-company transfers, company managers and highly qualified workers (the threshold in the text is €3,200 net a month), and also to young professionals aged 18-30 (up to 500 people a year, no more than two years in total) and under “vacances-travail” visas for ages 18-30 (up to 500 a year).

For the EU restrictions that concern Russian citizens in France, see the guide EU sanctions: what changes for Russians and Belarusians; the general rules for getting a work permit do not depend on them. More about our community is on the page Russians in France.

Ukraine: visa-free entry and temporary protection

Ukrainian citizens with a biometric passport enter without a visa for up to 90 days in 180, but visa-free entry does not allow salaried work. The main difference from the other eight countries is temporary protection. The APS “protection temporaire - Ukraine” allows work, and the employer does not need to request a work permit. The employer only checks the document’s authenticity with the prefecture for the place of work no later than two working days before the hire, and if you are registered with France Travail, even that is not needed. The conditions of protection, its term and how it is extended are in the guide Temporary protection in France. There is no work agreement between France and Ukraine on the Ministry of the Interior’s list. If you hold a different document, a residence card for example, the general rules apply. About our community: the page Ukrainians in France.

Georgia: visa-free entry and the 2013 agreement

With a biometric ICAO passport, a short-stay visa is not needed. The agreement on residence and circular migration of professionals was signed on 12 November 2013 and has applied since 1 February 2019, with no end date (décret 2019-779 of 24 July 2019); on the Ministry of the Interior’s list of 1 April 2026 it appears among the bilateral agreements on professional mobility. It provides:

• up to 500 “salarié” permits a year, for one year with renewal, from a list of 50 occupations, without a labour-market test;
• an exchange of young professionals aged 18-35: up to 150 people a year, work of 6 to 12 months, no more than 18 months in total;
• a 12-month permit to look for work for those with a master’s degree or a licence professionnelle (obtained in France or, under conditions, in Georgia).

For Georgian diplomatic, service and official passports, visa-free travel has been suspended for 12 months since March 2026 (Regulation 2026/496 of 6 March 2026); ordinary passports are not affected.

Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Moldova: the general rules

These six countries have no bilateral work agreement with France (Ministry of the Interior list, April 2026). Salaried work follows the general rules: a residence document with the right to work, or a permit requested by the employer. How the countries still differ:

• Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan: a visa is needed for entry (Annex I);
• Moldova: no visa with a biometric passport, but that does not give the right to work (Annex II);
• Armenia (2011), Moldova (2008), Azerbaijan (2013): EU mobility partnerships are EU framework documents, not French employment treaties;
• Belarus: the EU restrictions that concern its citizens are covered on the page EU sanctions.

About the Armenian diaspora, see the page Armenians in France. About the smaller post-Soviet communities, see the page Post-Soviet diasporas in France.

What we don’t know

The community chat gives us no figures on how citizens of different countries obtained work permits at the prefectures of the South: we have no data on that, and we don’t make it up. How many permits are actually issued under the agreements with Georgia and Russia, our sources do not say. We don’t give the full list of 50 occupations for Georgia: it is in the annex to the agreement on Légifrance. Rules change: before deciding, check the type of document and the list of occupations against card F2728 and the France-Visas page.

Ask our people

If you are choosing between salaried work, study and your own business, and your passport falls into one of these nine rows, you can ask in our chat how it went for people with the same citizenship in Montpellier, Toulouse, Marseille and Nice.

The “Vibe South of France” community chat on Telegram - work, moving and life in the South of France

See also

• Moving to the South of France: paperwork step by step
• Working in France as a Russian-speaker
• Salaries in France
• Temporary protection in France
• EU sanctions for Russians and Belarusians in France
• A visa for France
• Titre de séjour: residence permit in France
• French residence permit types: which card to pick
• Social housing (HLM): who can apply and how
• Working in Nice
• Ukrainians in France
• Russians in France
• Armenians in France
• Post-Soviet diasporas in France
• Recognition of diplomas and professions in France: doctors, nurses, lawyers