Working in Benin as a French National: Employment, Minimum Wage, Contributions, Tax and the Economy

The Beninese Ministry of Labour has digitised the main employment procedures: work permit, endorsement of employment contracts for nationals and expatriates, employer registration, certificates of payment of contributions. Announced in September 2021, these services are requested online on the national public services portal, which avoids filing paper documents. For an expatriate employee, the procedure is handled by the Beninese employer or by the subsidiary of a French group: the candidate prepares their diplomas, their curriculum vitae and a copy of their passport.

On the residence side, the French national enters with a visa obtained online at evisa.bj, then applies for the resident card from the Directorate of Emigration and Immigration, with the €503.08 repatriation bond described by the French embassy. The guide to living in Benin details these formalities, schooling and safety.

Three situations arise. The local contract ties the employee to a Beninese employer and places them in the Beninese social security scheme: the CLEISS points out that any French national carrying on a professional activity in Benin, outside a secondment, is subject to that scheme. The expatriate contract is a contract endorsed by the Beninese labour administration, often accompanied by a package (housing, schooling, plane tickets, health cover). The secondment keeps the employee in the French scheme when their French employer sends them to Benin under the agreement.

Before signing, ask in writing for the nature of the contract, the coverage of healthcare costs and medical repatriation, the cover of dependants and the position during your stays in France. The guide to seconded or expat and the glossary entry on the local contract explain the differences between these statuses.

The Beninese SMIG is 52,000 CFA francs a month since 1^st January 2023, or about €79 at the rate of 655.957 CFA francs to €1. The government raised it by 30% from the previous 40,000 CFA francs, a decision presented to the Council of Ministers of 7 December 2022. The CLEISS specifies that it corresponds to a working week of 40 hours.

The official sources consulted do not publish a wage scale by occupation: above the SMIG floor, the pay of managers and technicians is negotiated position by position and by sector. To compare an offer, convert each element at the fixed parity and ask for the detail of what the employer covers, in particular health insurance and medical repatriation.

The employee scheme rests on the National Social Security Fund (CNSS), which collects contributions for the family benefits, work accidents and occupational diseases, and old-age, invalidity and death branches. The table below gives the rates published by the CLEISS on 1 January 2024, calculated on gross pay.

Health insurance falls under a separate scheme: the National Social Protection Agency (ANPS) collects the ARCH contributions, and the Council of Ministers of 29 October 2025 reminded that health insurance is compulsory for all persons residing in the national territory, under arrangements set by decree in 2023 and then updated. The texts consulted do not detail how this applies to foreign employees: confirm it with the ANPS. The page on healthcare reimbursement in Benin covers each situation.

The France-Benin social security agreement, signed on 6 November 1979 and in force since 1^st September 1981, coordinates maternity, invalidity, old age and survivors, work accidents and family benefits. It provides no coordination for the sickness branch, apart from a protocol that continues certain benefits for 6 months on a transfer of residence, and it excludes unemployment insurance. A seconded employee keeps French health insurance and the coverage of care received in Benin with no additional contribution (CLEISS); the maximum length of a secondment does not appear in the pages consulted, and should be confirmed with the fund to which the employee is affiliated.

The tax treaty of 27 February 1975, signed in Cotonou, came into force on 8 November 1977 (BOFiP). Its article XXII provides that salaries are taxable in the state where the employment is carried out; an exception reserves them to the state of residence when the recipient stays in the other state for 183 days at most in the tax year, the employer is not domiciled there and the pay is not deducted from the profits of a permanent establishment. Article XXIII deals with liberal professions, taxable in the state of residence except where there is a fixed base in the other state. The scales of the tax on salaries and wages are set by Beninese tax law: seek information from the Beninese tax administration and from the French tax office for non-resident individuals.

• Self-employed: the CLEISS indicates that self-employed, agricultural and informal-sector workers can join the Caisse mutuelle de protection sociale (a mutual social protection fund) voluntarily, which reimburses 70% of care in approved establishments. The CNSS collects only the occupational-risk contributions of certain categories, under the decree of 29 November 2023. Voluntary enrolment in the CFE (Caisse des Français de l’étranger, the French expatriate health fund), which keeps rights to French health insurance, usefully complements this arrangement (see the guide to the CFE).
• Remote work: none of the texts consulted deals specifically with cross-border remote work. The treaty rule on the place of work applies: employment carried out from Benin means that salaries are taxed in Benin, subject to the 183-day exception. A remote worker who settles for more than a few weeks does well to ask their French fund and their employer for a certificate.

The DG Trésor (the French Treasury) describes an economy that is little diversified and little industrialised, centred on agriculture and agricultural processing industries (cotton, cashew nuts, soya) and on trade and logistics around the autonomous port of Cotonou. The primary sector accounts for 29% of GDP, the secondary 19% and the tertiary 52%. Growth came to 6.4% in 2023, and France Diplomatie (the French foreign ministry) reports 7.5% in 2025 for a country classed among lower-middle-income economies.

In 2023, exports reach €972 million, dominated by cotton (49%), soya (12.5%) and cashew nuts (11%); imports of €3.6 billion come mainly from India, China and France (8.6%). Benin has run a widening trade deficit for twenty years, and the Glo-Djigbé industrial zone is meant to strengthen local processing of agricultural products. The currency is the CFA franc, pegged to the euro at the fixed parity of 655.957 CFA francs to €1, which simplifies transfers and the comparison of offers.

The French presence is measured by a stock of direct investment of €265 million in 2024, about 50 subsidiaries employing 8,000 people, in agro-industry, construction, energy, logistics, banking and telecommunications, and by €309 million of bilateral trade in 2025 (DG Trésor). Before signing, check the health cover provided: see our page on expat health insurance and the overview of the Beninese healthcare system.