France is famous all over the world for its luxury products (perfume, jewellery, fashion, high class wines, fine food) and is appreciated as a touristic destination by over of 70 million of foreign visitors each year. But, just like India, France is also one of the most powerful industrial countries in the world. You have certainly heard about its most famous industrial achievements : high speed trains (TGV), Airbus planes (a European company mostly based on French technical skills), space industry (Ariane skyrockets), cars (firms like "Peugeot", "Citroën", "Renault"), nuclear power plants, chemical and pharmaceutical industries, top-level technical skills in building transportation infrastrucures (bridges, motorways, aiports), a highly efficient telecommunication system, inter alia.

As such, France is fully involved in the globalization process and widely open to the world economy. On the one hand, at least 25% of his GDP is aimed at export, on the other hand, we welcome a huge number of foreign companies on our soil, including, of course, Indian ones. A lot of Indian people, working in Indian companies settled in France or in French companies settled in India are more and more submitted to professional mobility between our two contries. Furthermore, migrations for professional purpose are a common phenomenom in today's world since the work market is becoming more and more international. Despite - or maybe because of - the present world economic crisis, these migrations will do nothing but increase in the coming years.

This reality, added to a long-established tradition of of welcoming migrant workers has led the French government to introduce a new set of rules to make it easier for foreign workers, employees and professionals to come and work in our country. Mr LAVOIR, the official representative of the French Ministry of Immigration, has undertaken a one week trip to India (Mumbai, New Dehli, Bangalore) to promote these new rules and the new Frenche immigration policy, a policy which widely opens the doors of our national work market to skilled and highly skilled foreign workers. We know that Indian people willingly travel all over the world, as tourists, of course, but also as workers, businessmen, doctors, scientists, IT and computer experts,...artists, and so on ! We understand that for linguistic and cultural reasons they have until now chosen to settle mostly in English-speaking countries. This is of course quite natural but we would like to convince them that they ought to try France as well ! To achieve this aim, France offers them new very open and attractive resident permits :

1. The "Skills and Expertise" residence permit ("La carte compétences et talents") is a temporary permit valid for up to three years at a time (when the usual rule for work permits is one year only) on a renewable basis. It is delivered directly by the French consulates and enables the holder to perform a salaried or business activity in France. It is designed for foreign nationals who have the potential to carry out a professional project, particularly in intellectual, scientific, industrial, commercial, cultural, humanitarian, and even sporting fields.

2. The "Intra-company transfer" permit ("La carte salarié en mission"), created to facilitate the intra-group mobility within international company groups or establishments. This permit gives its holder the permission to work and is valid for up to three years at a time on a renewable basis for employees expatriated by their company to a French subsidiary or reassigned within the same group.

Families accompanying the holders of the "Skills and Expertise" or "Intra-company transfer" residence permits receive full entitlement to a temporary "Private and Family Life" residence permit which enables them to come to France, seek work without having to apply for a work permit or create a business without any formalities.

3. Finally, a new mesure has been designed for foreign students to give them the opportunity to have a first professional experience abroad after having achieved their studies in France. Once foreign students have got a Master degree in a French university, they can be granted a provisional six-month permit (non renewable) to seek and accept a job related to their studies. If they do find such a job during that period and conclude a work contract, they then entitled to apply for an ordinary one-year-work permit or for the "Skills and Expertise" residence permit.

This set of new tools designed to ease the access of our country to non EU workers were implemented very recently, through two laws adopted in July 2006 and November 2007.

If anything, they show the will of our governmental authorities to maintain a tradition of welcome, especially to those wanting to take an active part in the economic development of France.

We are quite sure they will make France an even more attractive place all over the world and specialy in India..