Starting a Business - France

There is no general cap on foreign shareholding in French companies; a foreigner may own 100% of an SAS or SARL. Sensitive/strategic sectors are subject to separate foreign-investment screening (contrôle des investissements étrangers en France), but ordinary business creation is unrestricted.

For the most common forms — SAS/SASU and SARL/EURL — share capital is set freely by the founders and can be as low as €1. A société anonyme (SA) requires €37,000. At least half of cash contributions to an SAS must be paid in at incorporation, the balance within five years.

Since 1 January 2023 all business formalities (registration, amendments, accounts filing, cessation) go through the Guichet unique des formalités d'entreprises run by INPI, feeding the Registre national des entreprises (RNE). This replaced the former CFE network and centralises the procedure.

Typical sequence: choose legal form and company name, draft and sign the statutes (articles of association), deposit the share capital with a bank/notary to obtain the depositor's certificate, publish a notice of constitution in a legal-announcements service, then file the registration dossier (with beneficial-ownership declaration and directors' non-conviction statement) on the Guichet unique to obtain SIREN/SIRET and Kbis.

EU/EEA/Swiss nationals create a business on the same terms as French citizens, with no permit needed. Non-EU nationals who want to live in France and run the business need a residence permit authorising self-employment — the 'Entrepreneur/profession libérale' card or 'Passeport Talent – Création d'entreprise' — conditioned on a viable, sufficiently financed project; a non-resident managing remotely generally does not need one.

Once the dossier is complete, registration via the Guichet unique typically takes a few days to about two weeks. For foreigners, additional friction comes from opening a French business bank account for the capital deposit, providing a French registered address, and (for non-EU founders) the residence-permit process, which can take several weeks to months.