Working at a foreign embassy or consulate in France: what to expect

Your contract is governed by French law

A locally engaged employee who normally works in France is, as a rule, employed under French law, whichever country runs the embassy. EU Regulation 593/2008 (Rome I) applies the law of the country where the work is habitually carried out when the contract does not choose a law, and where the contract does choose a foreign law, that choice cannot deprive you of the protection of the mandatory rules of French law.

Internal staff rules do not change this. In a 2021 case concerning a long-serving accounts clerk at the Paris office of the League of Arab States, the Cour de cassation held that staff regulations are not a “law” for these purposes and applied French law. There is no French collective agreement for embassies, so the Labour Code is the baseline; your embassy may choose to apply an agreement, and if your contract refers to one, check which.

This page concerns foreign missions in France. If you are looking for a job at a French embassy abroad, different rules apply.

Minimum wage and working time

Since 1 June 2026, the French minimum wage (SMIC) is 12,31 € gross per hour, which is 1 867,02 € gross per month for a full-time job. It rose during the year, so a salary grid set in January may already be out of date. The minimum wage, statutory working hours, overtime premiums and paid leave are generally treated as part of the mandatory core of French law. For domestic staff of diplomats, the Protocol goes further and requires employers to sign an undertaking to respect French rules on hours, pay and leave.

Social security, unemployment and pension

If you are a French national or a permanent resident of France, you belong to the French general social security scheme. The Vienna Conventions only exempt diplomats and staff who are neither French nor permanently resident. Some bilateral agreements give nationals of the sending state a right to choose their own country's system within a short deadline; our page on social security for local staff explains how that works.

Being in the French scheme brings two further consequences:

• Unemployment insurance has been compulsory since 1 April 2020. If you lose your job, you claim under the ordinary rules and need the employer certificate from your embassy. See unemployment insurance for embassy staff.
• Your basic state pension builds up through the contributions your employer declares. Your supplementary pension (AGIRC-ARRCO) is another matter: embassies are not required to join the scheme, and if yours has not, you are earning no supplementary pension points at all. Membership never covers years before it starts.

Look at your payslip. If you see no AGIRC-ARRCO lines, ask your employer why, today rather than at 60. Ask for your career statement from the Assurance retraite too, and check that every year you worked appears in it.

If you were never declared

Periods worked but never declared can be regularised for the basic pension through a procedure for back contributions. The employer normally applies, but you can apply yourself if you can show that the employer refused or no longer exists. Payslips and dated certificates are the best evidence; exceptionally, a sworn statement backed by two witnesses is accepted. Nothing can be recovered for AGIRC-ARRCO before the embassy joined. Our French page on missing pension contributions sets out the procedure.

Income tax

If you are French or a permanent resident of France, you pay French income tax on your salary like any other employee. The tax exemptions in the Vienna Conventions cover diplomats and consular officers and, under conditions, other staff who are neither French nor permanently resident. How the tax is collected, through payroll or by monthly instalments, is not settled by any official source we have read, so check your own online tax account.

What your payslip should show

Line	What to look for
Gross pay	At least the minimum wage for your hours, plus overtime
Health and social security	Employee and employer contributions to the general scheme
Basic pension	Old-age insurance contributions
Unemployment	An employer contribution, since April 2020
AGIRC-ARRCO	Supplementary pension lines, only if the embassy has joined
Net pay and tax	Take-home pay, and income tax if deducted

A payslip is also your best proof of employment years later, so keep all of them.

Can you take your embassy to court?

Usually, yes. Foreign states can claim immunity from French courts only for acts linked to their sovereign authority. The courts look at what the employee actually did. In Sabeh El Leil v. France (European Court of Human Rights, Grand Chamber, 29 June 2011), the Court found a violation of the right of access to a court after the French courts had upheld immunity in the case of the chief accountant of the Kuwaiti embassy. The Cour de cassation has since refused immunity in claims brought by the secretary of Ghana's ambassador (2019) and by an analyst at an Italian state trade agency (2020).

Getting paid is harder. The bank accounts of a diplomatic mission can only be seized if the state has expressly and specifically waived its immunity from enforcement. For a dispute, see an employment lawyer. GCFFS is a payroll provider, not a law firm, and does not represent employees.

Staff representatives

French rules on staff elections and works councils do not automatically bind a foreign state. If an embassy chooses to organise elections under the Labour Code, as the Brazilian embassy did in 2016, it is then bound by the protection of elected representatives, as the Conseil d'État held on 9 December 2022.

Getting hired

Each mission recruits for itself and usually advertises on its own website. You may be asked about your nationality and residence: they determine your social security position, not just your eligibility. Spouses of diplomats should know that the special residence permit issued by the Protocol does not in itself authorise work; France had signed 57 bilateral agreements on spouses' employment by 2025.

Employers who want to put a file in order can read about our embassy payroll service or use our contact form.