Two routes to engage an expert in France — and the compliance risk that separates them
Hire in France — legally, without a local entity Foreign companies have two real options for engaging expert talent in France without creating a subsidiary. Their legal consequences are not equivalent.
Hiring a self-employed professional directly (micro-entrepreneur / freelancer)
A foreign company can contract directly with a self-employed professional in France who operates as a micro-entrepreneur (auto-entrepreneur) or through their own registered company (SASU, EURL).
The relationship is purely commercial: the company issues a purchase order, the consultant issues a B2B invoice, and payment is made to the consultant’s business bank account. No URSSAF registration is required from the foreign company. No payslip is produced. The engagement is fast and administratively light.
However, this route carries a significant legal risk specific to France: reclassification (requalification).
French labour law — and French labour courts (conseils de prud’hommes) — look at the substance of the working relationship, not its label.
If, in practice, the consultant works exclusively for your company, follows your schedule, uses your tools, and has no other clients, French courts will consider them an employee, not a contractor.
Reclassification triggers retroactive payment of all employer social contributions (42 to 45% of gross salary) for the entire duration of the relationship, plus penalties for undeclared work (travail dissimulé). The foreign company becomes a de facto employer under French law — even without a French legal entity. Additionally, the micro-entrepreneur status carries a revenue ceiling (€77,700 for services in 2025). Above this threshold, the consultant can no longer legally operate under that status, and the relationship must be restructured.
Engaging an expert through a wage portage company (portage salarial)
Wage portage is the route that eliminates reclassification risk structurally, while preserving the B2B nature of the relationship. The foreign company — the client — signs a commercial service agreement directly with the wage portage company. The expert — the salarié porté — signs an employment contract with the wage portage company.
The wage portage company is the legal employer. It invoices the foreign client each month with a single B2B invoice, manages all payroll, declares and remits all social contributions to URSSAF, and issues the consultant’s payslip. The foreign company has no employer obligations in France whatsoever.
The key legal protection for the foreign client is structural: because the salarié porté already holds an employment contract with the wage portage company, no reclassification claim against the client company is possible. The labour relationship runs between the consultant and the portage company — not between the consultant and the foreign client.
The foreign client is a commercial counterpart, not an employer. This is not a technical workaround. It is the explicit purpose of the portage salarial framework under French Labour Code Articles L.1254-1 to L.1254-31, confirmed by the collective bargaining agreement IDCC 3219. The consultant must operate with genuine professional autonomy — sourcing their own assignments, managing their own schedule — which is what justifies the B2B commercial structure and eliminates the subordination test that triggers reclassification.
Step by step — how to engage an expert in France through wage portage
Intro text: The process is straightforward and can be completed in 48 hours. Here is exactly how it works, from first contact to monthly invoicing, for a foreign company with no French entity.
Step 1 — Identify your expert and agree on the scope and rate
The first step takes place between your company and the consultant directly. You define the assignment: scope of work, deliverables, timeline, and the agreed daily or monthly billing rate.
The wage portage company is not involved in this negotiation. The rate you and the consultant agree on will be the basis for the monthly B2B invoice that the portage company issues to you.
At this stage, the portage company verifies that the consultant is eligible for portage salarial: they must hold a minimum level-5 qualification (two-year post-secondary degree, Bac+2) or three years of professional experience in their field, and their assignment must qualify as an intellectual or advisory service — IT, consulting, engineering, marketing, finance, training, legal advisory, or similar. Manual trades, medical professions, domestic services, and construction do not qualify.
Step 2 — Sign two separate contracts simultaneously
Two contracts are signed at the same time. The first is a commercial service agreement between your company (the foreign client) and the wage portage company.
This contract defines the assignment, the billing rate, the payment terms, and the duration. It is a standard B2B contract and can be drafted in English on request. The second is an employment contract between the consultant and the wage portage company. This is a French-law employment contract — either a fixed-term CDD de portage (up to 18 months, renewable once) or an open-ended CDI de portage.
The consultant is employed by the portage company from the moment this contract is signed. Your company is not a party to this employment contract and bears no employer obligations arising from it.
Step 3 — The assignment runs: the portage company handles everything
Once both contracts are signed, the consultant begins work. At the end of each month, the consultant submits a time report to the portage company detailing hours worked, any absences, and any professional expenses to be reimbursed.
The portage company processes payroll: it calculates the consultant’s gross salary based on the billing rate, deducts employer social contributions (approximately 42 to 45% of gross salary), employee social contributions, income tax (withheld at source under the French PAYE system, prélèvement à la source), and its management fee (typically 5 to 10%). It pays the consultant’s net salary, issues a French-law payslip, and makes all URSSAF declarations. It then issues your company a single B2B invoice — one line, one amount, inclusive of everything. You pay the invoice. That is the entirety of your administrative obligation in France.
Step 4 — Closing or extending the assignment
When the assignment ends — at its planned completion date, or earlier with one month’s notice from either party — the commercial contract between your company and the portage company is terminated.
This automatically triggers the end of the consultant’s employment contract with the portage company. No redundancy procedure is required. No mutually agreed termination (rupture conventionnelle) is needed.
No severance payment falls on your company. The consultant receives their salary reserve — 10% of gross salary accumulated throughout the assignment — as a lump sum at contract end. They are then entitled to apply for French unemployment insurance (assurance chômage) through France Travail, having contributed throughout the assignment.
If you wish to extend the assignment, an amendment to the commercial contract is signed with the portage company. Fixed-term contracts can be renewed once, up to a maximum total of 18 months.
After 18 months, or at any point during the assignment, the relationship can continue under an open-ended CDI de portage, with no cap on duration other than the 36-month mission limit with the same client.
What this model does not cover — and when to consider alternatives
Wage portage is designed for project-based, mission-driven, intellectually autonomous work. It is the right framework for engaging a data architect, a CFO for a six-month restructuring project, a marketing director for a product launch, a legal compliance consultant, or an IT project manager.
It is not the right framework for engaging a worker who will be fully integrated into your operational structure — following your internal schedules, reporting into your management chain, working exclusively under your daily direction for an indefinite period.
In that configuration, French authorities would likely view the relationship as standard employment, regardless of the contractual form. The appropriate route in that case is either direct employment through registration as a foreign employer in France (ESEF status — Entreprise Sans Établissement en France), or incorporation of a French legal entity.
Both options involve a heavier administrative setup and ongoing French employer obligations.
Didaxis can help you assess which structure is most appropriate for your situation before you commit to any contractual arrangement. You can return to the parent page Hire in France — legally, without a local entity for a full overview of available frameworks.
