THE « ARTIST-INTERPRETER » TALENT PASSPORT: THE ONLY WAY FOR AN ARTIST TO SETTLE DOWN IN FRANCE

Since the entry into force of the law of 7 March 2016, foreigners who exercise the profession of artists, or are authors of a literary or artistic work, may be issued a multi-year residence permit bearing the mention « talent passport ».

This residence permit can be requested in France, from the prefecture territorially competent in the context of a change of status, or from the French Consulate if the person is abroad.

The « artist-interpreter talent passport » residence permit is issued for a maximum period of four years to foreigners whose professional artistic activity is carried out on French territory for a period of more than three months.

According to Article L. 212-1 of the Intellectual Property Code, the artist « is the person who represents, sings, recites, declaims, plays or otherwise performs a literary or artistic work, a variety, circus or puppet play ».

The notion of literary or artistic work is defined by Article L. 112-2 of the of the Intellectual Property Code, which states that:

« For the purposes of this code, the following shall be considered as intellectual works in particular:

1° Books, brochures and other literary, artistic and scientific writings;

2° Conferences, speeches, sermons, pleadings and other works of the same nature;

3° Dramatic or dramatico-musical works;

4° Choreographic works, circus acts and tricks, pantomimes, the implementation of which is fixed in writing or otherwise;

5° Musical compositions with or without words;

6° Cinematographic works and other works consisting of animated sequences of images, with or without sound, referred to together as audiovisual works;

7° Works of drawing, painting, architecture, sculpture, engraving, lithography;

8° Graphic and typographical works;

9° Photographic works and those made using techniques similar to photography;

10° Works of applied arts;

11° Illustrations, maps;

12° Plans, sketches and plastic works relating to geography, topography, architecture and science;

13° Software, including preparatory design hardware;

14° The creations of the seasonal clothing and ornament industries. Seasonal clothing and ornamental industries are those industries which, because of the requirements of fashion, frequently renew the shape of their products, and in particular sewing, fur, lingerie, embroidery, fashion, footwear, gloves, leather goods, the manufacture of high-novelty or special haute couture fabrics, the production of ornamental and botanical fabrics and the manufacture of upholstery fabrics ».

To obtain this residence permit, it is therefore necessary for the applicant to prove that he or she is a performer within the meaning of the above-mentioned provisions of the Intellectual Property Code. To this end, different documents may be provided depending on the artistic activity carried out.

In addition, the supporting documents to be attached to the application for a permit, in particular those relating to the conditions of resources, differ according to whether the applicant wishes to exercise the profession of performer on French territory as an employee or self-employed.

Depending on the nationality of the applicant, the conditions for obtaining the « talent passport » residence permit may also differ.

Whatever their situation, the lawyers of the Terravocats network support people wishing to obtain the « talent passport » residence permit in their capacity as performers.