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A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France

visa.lafrenchtech.com

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Re: A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France

#121

Post by pjc50 »

nkkollaw wrote: post #94
jlangenauer wrote: post #5

Apropos of this, I was in Paris recently at a startup event, and was pleasantly shocked at the sheer number of startups and people I saw doing things. This is a good move by the French, and will help attract entrepreneurs away from other countries (particularly like those just across the channel currently inflicting generational economic damage on themselves.)

What's "currently inflicting generational economic damage on themselves"? Would you do an ELI5?

Brexit!

When the Prime Minister was asked what this means, she replied with "Brexit means Brexit." http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-36782922

When people have asked specific questions like "am I going to be able to continue to live here?" or "am I going to continue to receive scientific funding that is distributed by the EU?" or "how is this going to affect my business?", they haven't recieved answers.

In the words of Douglas Adams, "This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."

Re: A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France

#123

Post by throwaway1892 »

bankim wrote: post #82

What are salaries like for mid-senior level software engineers working in tech companies in Paris? What are the tax rates i.e pay after taxes?

I would say 46+ k€, before taxes, which are 33% corporate tax rate and ~30% on personal income. But I'm not sure how it applies to people with tech visa.

Re: A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France

#125

Post by CretinDesAlpes »

geff82 wrote: post #69

Paris is great, grew up there. You just have to be comfortable with the fact that more than half of your money get taken by the government for taxes and social security.

I think it's more like 40%. But at least we have free schools, free universities (ok, sometimes 500EUR/year) and a decent public health service.

I also grew up and lived in France for 20+ years and have lived in UK for 5+ years. It's true that I earn more in UK than in France but for example to compare public health systems, although both are free, NHS is really the worse and it does not seem it's going to get any better in the future.

Re: A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France

#126

Post by mti »

bsaul wrote: post #60
hartator wrote: post #51

Don't go there. The limit of freedom of speech is real and can block you. Even when you run a startup that has nothing to do with local politics or anything controversial. Plus, we are still in "state of emergency", that gives the state more rights than the patriot act. Go to the US, Canada or New Zealand.

Freedom of speech issues in France ?? I'd say a good reason not to come here is bureaucracy and taxes, but not issues with freedom of speech... Do you have some facts you'd like to share ?

I don't think most of the issues with freedom of speech in France would be of much concern to a putative startup founder, but they are real.

For example, "expressing support for acts of terror" is an imprisonable offense, and it has been interpreted incredibly broadly by the courts, to the point that drunk people have been sent to prison for years over tasteless jokes. Similarly, simply browsing websites that are deemed in support of terrorism: a man from Chartres recently received a two-year sentence for the latter.

It's fair to say that the current climate is pretty Orwellian. But if you're not a brown person or a Muslim, you're not what prosecutors are after.

Re: A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France

#127

Post by kybernetyk »

MicroBerto wrote: post #55

Does the 33% corporate tax rate and ~30% personal income tax rate (at a €30k salary) apply to them?

For the startups: Don't think so. Corporations need to generate profits to pay taxes. ;)

The personal income taxes apply though.

The other huge problem with France (and Europe in general) is the problem that you can't fire bad/unneeded employees easily.

Continental Europe is a bad environment for young companies that need to be agile. Too much red tape and regulation. And when you survive all that, the state is going to take most of your profits as taxes and compulsory social contributions (and compulsory non-social contributions cough German IHK cough).

EU countries can come up with as many visa and incubator schemes as they like. But they won't attract many entrepreneurs. Because if I'm an entrepreneur in the position to start a business in another country then I'm going to choose the best one: The USA.

(I'm an European just btw.)

Re: A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France

#128

Post by jchampem »

bankim wrote: post #82

What are salaries like for mid-senior level software engineers working in tech companies in Paris? What are the tax rates i.e pay after taxes?

You can expect something from 50k to 70k€ (gross salary) dependending on the company and your experience.

Remove 25% of that to have an idea of your net salary. (Those 25% are mostly for your retirement plan, social security and unemployment insurance. All of those are mandatory)

Expect to pay between 1 and 2 months net salary in yearly incomes taxes.

Re: A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France

#129

Post by Gmo »

EnglishInFrance wrote: post #101
Gmo wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sorry, but ... typical French reaction (I'm French myself) The government and the administration is trying to improve the climate on founders/visa/startups/tech, and yes, it's far from being perfect and there are a lot of pieces missing and a lot that could be improved, but, at least, they seem to be trying. And then you come, and just tell people they should go somewhere else "because it will be too hard". So, I…

I think the problem is that there is a complete disconnect between those in government that are "trying" as you say, and those who execute the day to day bureaucracy. Let's take an example directly from this announcement: "Apply to the French Tech Visa for Investors: Contact your local French Consulate or the local "Prefecture" (if you already reside in France) and follow the general route to apply for a "Passeport T…

2 things :

- they tell you explicitly you can contact the consulate, that's when you're not in France

- If you're already in France, there is a big chance you've already been in contact with the prefecture, so you'll know what it is. Besides, it's very googleable.

Finally, yes, the prefecture is definitely not the best place to hang out, but I'd be surprised if they did not get very precise and direct instructions on how to take care of those candidates.

Re: A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France

#130

Post by EnglishInFrance »

bankim wrote: post #82

What are salaries like for mid-senior level software engineers working in tech companies in Paris? What are the tax rates i.e pay after taxes?

Let me know if you find reliable numbers.

The French culture on this is very different, people simply don't talk about money and salary.

I found a starting salary survey in a business magazine that indicated graduates of the top 5 engineering schools are getting about 40-55K/year

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