Job-search or business-creation card: your year after graduating
It gives a recent graduate of a French master’s programme one year to find a job related to their studies or launch a business.
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After graduating: is your salary enough?
Simplified status change
yes
| Threshold (strictly above) | €2,800.53 |
| Gap | €99 |
The "recherche d'emploi ou création d'entreprise" card, often called the RECE card, lets a non-EU student who has just earned a master's, a professional bachelor's (licence professionnelle), a mastère spécialisé or an equivalent degree in France stay for one year to look for a job or start a business linked to their studies. The degree must be less than twelve months old if you are still in France; if you have gone home, you can apply within four years of graduating, as a VLS-TS visa. It costs €150 when applied for in France, or €100 at visa validation if you come from abroad. During that year you can work without a work authorisation in a job related to your degree paying more than €2,800.53 gross a month, and the student limit of 964 hours no longer applies. The card cannot be renewed. For a student card ending on 31 October 2026, the application can go in from 31 August 2026; the card would then run until 31 October 2027.
Who can apply
Two groups are covered. First, students still in France on a student or student-mobility card who have earned, within the last twelve months, a professional bachelor's, a mastère spécialisé, an accredited Master of Science or a degree at least equivalent to a master's; the list of equivalents is in the order of 12 May 2011. Second, graduates who have left France, who have four years after their French degree to come back on a VLS-TS. A third case exists: holders of a talent-researcher card whose research is complete. These rules come from the official job-search and business-creation card page (in French) and sections L422-8 to L422-14 of the CESEDA immigration code.
What the card allows for one year
It lets you stay in France for one year to look for work or start a business in a field related to your studies or research. You may work as an employee meanwhile: the employer needs no work authorisation, provided the job relates to your degree and gross monthly pay exceeds €2,800.53, one and a half times the minimum wage (Smic). The 964-hour annual limit that applied on the student card falls away. The card is not renewable: the year is a bridge to a work permit.
Timeline for a June 2026 graduate
Take a student who earned her master's in June 2026 and whose student card ends on 31 October 2026. She must apply at the prefecture where she lives within the two months before that date, so from 31 August 2026. A complete file earns her a receipt (récépissé) while she waits for the answer. The one-year card would run from 1 November 2026 to 31 October 2027, and the next permit must be requested before that last date.
| Step | Date or amount |
|---|---|
| Student card ends | 31 October 2026 |
| Application possible from | 31 August 2026 |
| Stamps for the card applied for in France | €150 |
| VLS-TS validation tax (applying from abroad) | €100 |
| End of the job-search year | 31 October 2027 |
The file
The prefecture asks for your valid student card or validated VLS-TS, proof of nationality, proof of address under six months old, three photos, proof of health insurance, the degree obtained within the last twelve months or the final pass certificate, the signed commitment to respect the principles of the Republic and, if you are aiming to start a business, a description of a project in a field matching your studies. Married applicants from a country that allows polygamy also sign a sworn statement that they do not live in a polygamous situation in France.
Finding the job: the salary rule
The €2,800.53 threshold is strict: the official page says pay must be "above" that amount. The mini calculator at the top of the page checks the offer you have received. An offer at €2,950 gross a month passes (yes), one at €2,700 does not: the employer would then need an ordinary work authorisation, with the job advertised first or listed as a shortage occupation, as the work authorisation page explains. To compare your offer with every threshold, talent cards included, use the change-of-status calculator.
Starting a business
If the year leads to a business, two permits are possible. The "entrepreneur / profession libérale" (self-employed) card requires a business able to bring in at least the minimum wage, €1,867.02 a month, and costs €350 on first issue. The talent card for business founders requires a real and serious project, at least €30,000 of funding and resources at least equal to the annual minimum wage. The self-employed card page covers the first in detail.
Three mistakes that cost you the year
The first is letting the student card lapse: the application goes in before it ends, in its last two months, not after the degree ceremony if that comes later; the final pass certificate is enough. The second is accepting a job unrelated to your degree in the belief that the card covers it: if the job is unrelated or below the threshold, the employer must request a work authorisation. The third is waiting until the last week of the job-search year to prepare the next permit: since the RECE card cannot be renewed, it is the new application, filed in time, that keeps your stay lawful. Note too that the student card did not let you register as a micro-entrepreneur (auto-entrepreneur); the RECE card, by contrast, is designed for preparing a business launch. If you are applying from abroad, remember that the visa must be validated online within three months of arrival, otherwise your stay becomes irregular and you cannot re-enter the Schengen area after a trip.
Special cases
Algerian students cannot get this card. Nationals of a country with a migration agreement with France may prefer a temporary residence authorisation for a first professional experience; the official page on working after your studies lists those countries and the jobs open to them. Information, not legal advice: the prefecture judges whether the job is really linked to your degree.