Talent Passport renewals cleared at OFII reach a six-month low
Backlogs in Lyon and Bordeaux push processing times past the 90-day mark for the first time since the autumn.
The Passeport Talent — France's flagship visa for highly qualified professionals, founders and researchers — has long been the country's best-marketed immigration product. Quick to grant, valid for four years, family-friendly. This spring, the picture has dulled.
Internal data shared with this newsroom shows OFII processing in Lyon has slipped to a median of 97 days, up from 62 in October. Bordeaux is worse at 104. Paris and Marseille remain inside their service standards but only just.
The bottleneck appears administrative rather than political. A round of staff transfers between préfectures was meant to even out caseloads; instead it has compounded them. The Ministry of the Interior declined to comment on the record.
For applicants, the practical advice from our advisers is unchanged: submit a complete dossier, expect to be asked for additional payslips or contracts, and budget for a temporary récépissé to bridge the gap if your current titre de séjour expires mid-process.
Further Reading
The talk of the talk shows: immigrants now top France's income charts
Immigrants now earn more than the native-born: France faces an unexpected reversal in 2026.
UK lifts skilled-worker salary floor again, narrowing the white-collar route
Westminster's quiet revision pushes thousands of mid-career applications back to the drawing board.
Express Entry draws tilt toward French-speakers — and the math is getting interesting
IRCC's category-based selection is quietly redrawing the map for bilingual applicants outside Quebec.