How to work in France as a freelancer on a WHV

This chapter is a direct continuation of chapter 2.

If it’s your first visit to the INPI portal, then you’ll need to create an account here too.

You’ll see a few different options for how to sign in. Most WHV holders will have to select the last option, as FranceConnect is more intended for French citizens and residents with residence cards or French ID.

Once you’ve completed registration and logged to INPI, click on the following to start creating your micro-entreprise. You will be prompted to provide personal and business details.

You are required to name your application draft (Nom du brouillon). Doing so allows you to save progress and come back to it later. In the following example, the draft is named “test”.

The section called “Périodicité de versement” is asking whether you want to pay tax contributions on your earnings on a monthly or quarterly basis. The decision is entirely up to you.

In the very important and somewhat confusing section called “Volet social de l’entrepreneur”,

• Numéro de sécurité sociale is not a required field, so skip it if you don’t have one.
• Organisme d’assurance maladie actuel: As a working holiday maker, you are technically not currently registered to any public health insurance because you’re not eligible. Select Régime general, as that is the default option that URSSAF suggests for people who are not sure of their category.
• Activité simultanée : Non, unless you plan to exercise another remunerated activity outside of this freelancing capacity.
• Activité non salariée antérieure : Non, unless you have already worked as a freelancer in France in the past.
• ACRE : Oui, unless you DON’T plan on applying for ACRE (explained in chapter 4).

The “Options fiscales” section asks you if you want to opt for “versement libératoire”.

Depending on your business type and earnings, you may or may not want to opt into this. This official source describes in detail which kinds of micro-entrepreneurs might benefit from it. For most working holiday makers, it won’t make a huge difference either way.

Fill out the rest of the form to the best of your ability based on the nature of your business.

At the end, you’ll be asked to upload supporting documents.

Upload your passport ID page and your Working Holiday Visa. Since the WHV would have been issued by the consulate of France in your home country and not a specific French commune, for that field you should write the name of the commune where you currently reside.

Canadians in year 2 of a working holiday on an APS should upload that instead of their expired WHV. The commune is the one that issued your APS document.

You will also see an optional section for supplementary documents.

While it is not mandatory to do so, we advise you to attach a letter explaining your special status, your rights, and the reason for your application (but without going into unnecessary personal detail). Working holiday makers are relatively rare in France, so this would help the processing agent to understand why your application and supporting documents look different from most others (i.e. those of French citizens and permanent residents). Otherwise there is a chance that he or she may toss it aside without doing proper diligence.

Once you’ve validated and submitted everything, your application will be transferred to various administrative departments for processing (URSSAF, DGFIP, Insee, greffe, chambre de métiers et de l’artisanat, assurance maladie, etc.). Within a couple of weeks, you will receive by mail your SIRET number (business identifier) and social security number.

Even while waiting for these various numbers, you can start your freelancing activity. In the meantime, you should also verify your eligibility for the ACRE exemption, explained in the next chapter.