Visiting
Without a visa, Australians can stay 90 days in any 180 across the Schengen area. France is not on Australia's list of bilateral visa waiver countries. Longer stays need a long-stay visa. We found no official page that says whether remote work for an Australian employer counts as work in France.
- The visitor visa suits a stay without work and asks you to commit not to work in France. Ask the consulate how that applies to remote work for an Australian employer.
- If you are 18 to 35, the working holiday visa allows up to 12 months, but it cannot be extended or changed to another card.
Sources: Service-Public.fr (French government information service), France-Visas (official French visa portal), Smartraveller (Australian Government, DFAT). Checked 15 October 2026.
Staying a year or longer
France has no visa made for remote work. The route written for freelancers is the long-stay visa marked "entrepreneur/profession libérale". The activity must be your main one, registered, economically viable and matched to your qualifications or experience. It must be able to produce more than €1,900 a month (about A$3,000), the gross monthly minimum wage.
- The first freelancer card lasts up to one year and costs €350 in tax stamps. After it, a four-year card is possible if you still meet the conditions, reach A2 French and pass a civic exam.
- The salaried route needs a work authorisation that your employer requests online before you travel. For the EU Blue Card, plan for a gross salary of more than €60,000 a year.
- The visitor card does not allow work in France. For a single person, plan for resources of more than €18,000 a year (about A$28,900), or more than €1,500 a month (about A$2,400).
More detail
These income figures follow the French minimum wage (Smic), which changes at least once a year. The requirements for 2027 need reconfirming, so check the current figure when you apply.
Neither route is approved for you, and visa permission and tax are separate questions.
Sources: Service-Public.fr (French government information service), France-Visas (official French visa portal), European Central Bank. Checked 15 October 2026.
Documents, fees and timing
France-Visas sets the document list for your situation through its visa wizard. A new freelance activity needs Urssaf registration, evidence that it can pay more than €1,900 a month, any licence for a regulated profession, and an OFII medical certificate. For the visitor card, the prefecture later asks for resources, health insurance, a handwritten statement that you will not work in France, a birth certificate and proof of address.
- Apply in Australia through France-Visas and a VFS Global centre in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane or Adelaide. The Consulate General in Sydney decides.
- Service-Public says to apply no more than 3 months before you leave, and the embassy says up to six months, so check when you book.
More detail
Silence from the authorities for 2 months counts as a refusal.
Civil documents must come with a certified French translation.
If you are issued a VLS-TS, you must validate it online within 3 months of arrival, and pay a tax. For the liberal-profession visa, Service-Public says to request a card within 2 months of arrival, and one France-Visas page gives 15 days. Confirm which deadline applies to the visa you are issued.
We found no official processing times, so they are unknown.
Sources: Service-Public.fr (French government information service), France-Visas (official French visa portal), Embassy of France in Australia. Checked 15 October 2026.
Tax
France treats you as tax resident if any one test is met: your home or main place of stay is in France, you work there other than incidentally, or your main economic interests are there. Australian law keeps someone domiciled in Australia resident unless their permanent place of abode is outside Australia. In an ATO example, a person on a one-year contract abroad who plans to return stays an Australian resident.
- For 2025 income, the French scale runs from 0% up to €11,600 per share, then 11%, 30% from €29,580, 41% and 45% above €181,917. The scale for 2026 income is not yet set.
- Australia and France signed a tax treaty on 20 June 2006, in force since 1 June 2009. If both countries treat you as resident, it looks first at where you have a permanent home, then at your centre of vital interests, then at citizenship.
More detail
Pay for employment exercised in France may be taxed in France.
France is not on Australia's list of social security agreement countries, and a 2023 French government answer said negotiations had not produced one.
If you stop being an Australian resident, assets other than taxable Australian property, such as listed shares, are treated as sold at market value on the day you stop. You can choose to disregard those gains until a later sale or your return. After that day, foreign income stays out of your Australian return, Australian interest and dividends face withholding as a final tax, and the Medicare levy no longer applies. A HELP debt may mean reporting worldwide income.
Micro-entrepreneur contributions are 25.6% of takings for non-regulated services, under €83,600 a year. Employees pay CSG and CRDS of 9.7% on 98.25% of pay. These show how it works, not your bill. As a citizen you cannot take your super out on leaving. The Age Pension can be paid abroad, at a proportional rate after 26 weeks.
We did not find whether Australian super contributions still apply while you work in France, so that is unknown.
Sources: BOFiP-Impôts (official French tax doctrine), Service-Public.fr (French government information service), impots.gouv.fr (French tax authority), Urssaf (French social contributions collector), Australian Treasury, Parliament of Australia, Federal Register of Legislation (Australian Government), Australian Taxation Office, Services Australia, Assemblée nationale (French National Assembly). Checked 10 October 2026.
Setting up
Australia has no reciprocal health care agreement with France, so do not expect Medicare-style access. Both visa routes need health cover for the stay. If you work in France, you can join the public health scheme (PUMa) as soon as your application is accepted. Without work, you wait 3 months, then must live in France at least 6 months a year.
- Members with little work income and large capital income may owe the cotisation subsidiaire maladie, up to 6.5% above a threshold. A 2026 law adds a contribution for some members without work, awaiting a decree.
- If the tax office has not written to you, ask your local tax office (SIP) with your civil status, a postal address and a copy of an ID. You then get an email to create your online account. Online filing is compulsory if your home has internet, and returns for 2026 income open in April 2027.
More detail
If you stop being an Australian resident, interest on accounts you keep in Australia is subject to withholding as a final tax.
Anyone living in France who is refused a bank account can ask the Banque de France to name a bank that must open one with basic services. You need the refusal letter, or proof the bank did not reply, plus ID and proof of address.
For an unfurnished lease, the deposit is capped at one month's rent before charges. For a furnished lease, it is two months. A landlord may accept a foreign tax notice where your income was not taxed in France.
Sources: Service-Public.fr (French government information service), Smartraveller (Australian Government, DFAT), Urssaf (French social contributions collector), Banque de France, Victorian Department of Health, Australian Taxation Office. Checked 15 October 2026.
Living in Toulouse
Toulouse is the main place the research looked at. France's tourism agency calls it the country's fourth-largest metropolis, known as la Ville Rose for its red-brick façades. The government's 2025 asking-rent indicator for small unfurnished flats is about €16 per m² including charges, below Montpellier and Bordeaux at about €18 to €19 and central Lyon at about €19 to €20. It is a modelled average, not a quote for any one home.
- Toulouse has one of the largest universities in France outside Paris, Airbus, and the Canal du Midi, a World Heritage waterway linking it to the Mediterranean.
- It is about 4 hours 10 minutes by TGV from Paris Montparnasse, or about 1 hour 20 minutes by plane to Toulouse-Blagnac.
More detail
Summers are hot. Météo-France's 1991 to 2020 normals for Toulouse-Blagnac give an average August high of 28.5°C and about 33 days a year at 30°C or more.
The same normals give about 27 frost nights and 627 mm of rain a year.
We found no official source for energy bills, transport passes, internet, groceries or health cover, so those costs are unknown here. We give no total because it would be incomplete, and personal tax and social contributions are not included.
Sources: Atout France (French national tourism agency), Météo-France, Ministère de la Transition écologique (data.gouv.fr). Checked 10 October 2026.
Other places we looked at
The research also looked at Clermont-Ferrand and Lyon, for contrast. Clermont-Ferrand is a smaller university city with colder winters. Lyon is a larger city with rent control and higher rents.
- Clermont-Ferrand: the government's 2025 indicator puts small-flat asking rents at about €14 to €15 per m², below Toulouse. Météo-France normals give about 56 frost nights a year and a January low of 0.6°C.
- Clermont-Ferrand: the tourism agency describes the volcanoes of the Chaîne des Puys, Michelin's headquarters and a black lava-stone cathedral. It is about 3 hours 45 minutes by train from Paris.
More detail
Lyon: for leases signed since November 2021, base rent must stay under a published upper reference rent unless a justified supplement applies. The 2025 indicator for small flats is about €19 to €20 per m² in central arrondissements.
Lyon: Météo-France normals for Lyon-Bron give 821 mm of rain a year and about 31 days at 30°C or more.
Sources: Ministère de la Transition écologique (data.gouv.fr), Atout France (French national tourism agency), Météo-France, Service-Public.fr (French government information service). Checked 10 October 2026.
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France