In summary…
A company that regularly sends employees outside of France has three obligations that do not stop at the border: safety of its employees, social security actually applicable in the host country, and the tax compliance of the chosen device.
The choice between detachment and expatriation This is not a convenient HR choice: it determines which social security scheme the employee is affiliated with, what the company pays, and what remains unpaid. An error on this point will not be noticed until the first accident.
We act as an outsourced unit: framing the system, building the coverage, contracts, monitoring employees and their families, and providing individual wealth management support when the company wishes to offer it.
A small business with 90 employees sends four to six engineers to projects outside Europe each year. These assignments last from three to eighteen months. No one internally has "international mobility" in their job description: HR handles it between recruitments, using a standard contract found six years ago and insurance taken out at the time for a country that is no longer the one being sent to.
This is not negligence. It is what mechanically produces a subject that crosses four areas — labor law, social protection, taxation, insurance — and therefore belongs to no one.
1. Secondment or expatriation: the choice that determines everything else
It's not a question of vocabulary
The posting of an employee keeps them covered by the French social security system. It requires a continued link with the French employer, a limited duration, and—this is the crucial point— an agreement or convention with the host country. Expatriation, on the other hand, takes the employee out of the French system: they fall under the local system, and everything not covered locally must be rebuilt by contract.
Specifically. Within the European Union, the EEA and Switzerland, posting works well and is documented by an A1 form. Outside this area, everything depends on the existence of a bilateral social security agreement with the host country — France has signed about forty. Sending an employee to a country not covered by social security, believing they are "posting" them, amounts to letting them contribute to the French system without being protected there., or the reverse. Both situations exist, and both are discovered at the time of the disaster.
For the technician. Within the EU/EEA/Switzerland: Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 and its implementing Regulation No 987/2009, posting documented by form A1, standard duration of 24 months, possible extension by agreement between institutions. Outside the EU: Articles L. 761-1 et seq. of the French Social Security Code, and the text of the applicable bilateral agreement, the list of risks covered by which varies considerably from one agreement to another—some agreements only cover retirement.
In the absence of a social security agreement, remaining covered by the French system requires voluntary membership in the Caisse des Français de l'étranger (French Nationals Abroad Fund), which is not mandatory and does not exempt individuals from local affiliation when required by the host country. This dual coverage is common and rarely factored into the budget.
2. The obligation of security does not stop at customs
The employer remains bound, regardless of the employee's location.
The employer's duty of care applies to employees sent abroad as well as those remaining at headquarters. It covers country risk assessment, employee information, prevention measures, assistance and repatriation capacity, and traceability of all these measures.
This is the aspect most often covered by a line item in a travel assistance contract, and it is the aspect that exposes the most. A company that cannot demonstrate that it has assessed the risk of the country to which it sends an employee finds itself in a very uncomfortable legal position in the event of an accident. — regardless of the quality of its insurance.
3. The true cost of an expatriate
What the budget includes, and what it omits
The cost of an employee sent abroad is almost always underestimated because it's calculated based on salary rather than the overall cost. What's missing, in order of frequency:
- Double social security contribution — Mandatory local affiliation despite remaining under the French system, in countries without a treaty.
- Healthcare for the first euro — The French group contract only reimburses at the French rate, far from the actual costs in the United States, Asia or the Middle East.
- Insurance rejected — Death and disability benefits often remain based on an old system, with no link to expatriate compensation.
- Spouse and schooling — Spouse's job loss, family health coverage, school fees — the primary reason for mission failure, and rarely budgeted.
- Back — Reinstatement, resumption of rights, and taxation of the return. The system stops at the departure; the employee, however, returns.
Specifically. The true full cost of an expatriate is not limited to salary and airfare: health, insurance, assistance, package taxation and return must also be considered. The point is not to spend more: it's to know what you're spending beforehand, rather than discovering it at the first incident. Reviewing the system also helps to identify guarantees paid for twice, for example assistance provided both in the group contract and in an individual contract.
4. What we cover
The framework for the arrangement—secondment or expatriation, country by country, with the corresponding written agreement. The development of coverage: basic CFE (French Social Security for Expatriates) coverage or local scheme, international health insurance, supplementary insurance, assistance and repatriation, civil liability abroad. Contract drafting and implementation. Support for employees and their families during the assignment, including spousal issues. And, when the company wishes to leverage it as an attractive feature, individual wealth management support for the employee : tax residence, savings, real estate remaining in France, retirement.
This last point is the one that most significantly changes the perception of a mission. An engineer who is told, before leaving, what will happen to their retirement savings plan, assurance-vie, mortgage, and pension leaves with one less worry. It's inexpensive and extremely effective for retention.
Four questions. If even one remains unanswered, your system deserves a review.
For each country to which you send employees, do you know if there is a social security agreement and what it covers? Are your death and disability benefits based on the actual expatriate salary? Can you provide the country risk assessment given to your last departing employee? And do you know the true, all-inclusive cost of an expatriate for you?
Our position
International mobility should be treated as a system, not as a series of contracts signed for each assignment. The companies that experience it often share the same profile: they have grown rapidly internationally, each departure has been managed on a case-by-case basis, and no one has ever taken over the entire process.
Restarting the whole process takes a few weeks. Failing to do so generally costs only one case — and that's always the most painful one.
Are you sending employees abroad and want to know where you stand?
We conduct a review of the system: what is covered, what is not, what you pay for twice, and what exposes you. The report is written and remains with you, whether we work together afterward or not.
Are you a chartered accountant or a business consultant? We operate as a subcontractor, without ever entering into your client relationship.
Book an appointment
Forty-five minutes to review your plan: what's covered, what isn't, what you're paying for twice. The report is written down and you're free to do it.
