France ICT Assignment Expiry: The Three-Year Limit, No Ordinary Renewal and Six Months Outside the EU

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France's employee ICT temporary intragroup posting card is issued for the assignment period, up to three years, and is not ordinarily renewable. The official public-service guidance includes the relevant long-stay visa period in the overall timetable. A new card may be considered after six months accumulated outside the European Union for a genuine new temporary intragroup posting; a short trip does not automatically reset three years.

Separate the maximum from the actual documents

Read the assignment, visa, residence card and formal decisions together. An employer planning an 18-month mission should not promise a three-year permission merely because that is the legal maximum. The person's actual start and expiry dates establish the immediate planning position.

Service Public explains that the relevant long-stay visa or VLS-TS period is deducted when establishing the remaining multi-year card period. Its example is a maximum of two more years after a year under the relevant VLS-TS. Do not advertise an initial visa year followed by an additional complete three years without regard to that total.

Understand the absence of ordinary renewal

Article L421-26 expressly states that this card is not renewable under the ordinary provision. A contract extension, address change or new passport does not remove that limitation. Company approval to continue a project is a business decision, not a government extension of residence.

If the mission changes, establish the actual new duties, employer, period and contractual arrangement. Review those facts against the current documents and appropriate procedure rather than continuing to describe a finished assignment as ongoing. An adviser or HR timetable should not be presented as administrative approval.

Treat a new ICT posting as a separate assessment

The statute and Service Public describe six months accumulated outside the EU before a new card can be issued for a new temporary intragroup posting. Leaving France for another EU Member State should not automatically be counted as time outside the EU. Retain genuine travel and residence evidence and assess the person's actual history.

A fresh posting still requires the real qualifying enterprise relationships and assignment basis to be established at that time. Previous approval does not guarantee that a later corporate restructuring, new contract or changed role has the same result. Do not simply alter dates on the first application and describe every condition as unchanged.

Distinguish mobility from a fresh three-year clock

The French legislation separately addresses a person admitted in another Member State for the relevant ICT purpose. The shorter French assignment branch involves prior notification; a longer assignment has the mobile ICT framework and its own conditions.

The longer mobile ICT limit takes relevant similar-assignment stays in other Member States into account. An unrelated European residence card is not automatically an ICT mobility document, and changing the group office's country does not necessarily create a new complete period. Identify the original state, exact document, periods and proposed French work.

Coordinate family and later plans

The applicable family card follows the principal worker's remaining period. A spouse arriving later should not be promised an independent three years. Review family work, school and housing commitments against each person's actual documents and the assignment's expected end.

If the genuine plan changes to local employment or another residence purpose, assess that route's own requirements and procedural availability separately. ICT experience may form part of the background but does not establish automatic permanent residence or a guaranteed conversion. Keep a practical record of the present authorised period, proposed next activity and evidence needed before making longer commitments.