Working in Guam as a French National: Work Visa, Salaries, Territorial Income Tax and Contributions

France Diplomatie is clear for the United States: ESTA, valid for 2 years for stays of 90 days at most, allows neither work, paid or unpaid, nor study, and a visa is required beyond 90 days. Overstaying the authorised period leads to removal and, generally, an entry ban of several years. To work in Guam, you must therefore obtain an American work status. The federal routes are presented by USCIS: temporary worker visas, permanent worker categories, investor statuses.

Guam has a particularity for temporary non-agricultural workers. For the H-2B visa, the employer applies for labour certification from the Guam Department of Labor when the employees will work in Guam, instead of the US Department of Labor. A 2018 law also created, for certain employers in Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, an exemption from the requirement to demonstrate that the need is temporary. The general federal cap is 66,000 H-2B visas per fiscal year, split into 33,000 per half-year. The Foreign Labor Certification division of the Guam Department of Labor can be reached on (671) 475-8003 or 475-8029.

The Guam and Northern Mariana Islands visa waiver programme (45 days) does not open a right to work either, and its list of nationalities does not include France. A work project is prepared with the employer, the French Consulate General in San Francisco and a specialist immigration lawyer.

The US Department of Labor indicates, for Guam, a basic minimum wage of $9.25 an hour, with a reference week of 40 hours and a 50% premium for overtime, unless otherwise provided. Rules on wages and hours fall under the Guam Department of Labor, which also specifies that employers may only hire people authorised to work in the United States.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics gives, for Guam, an average hourly wage of about $22, against more than $33 for the United States as a whole. The best-paid occupational groups on average are legal occupations (around $43 an hour), healthcare occupations (around $42) and management (around $41). Average weekly earnings of non-supervisory private-sector employees are around $740, and those of Government of Guam employees $1,400 (Guam Bureau of Labor Statistics). The table below summarises these benchmarks.

To place these averages within the job market, the Guam Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the private sector provides the great majority of jobs, ahead of the Government of Guam and the federal civil service. Differences between sectors should be checked position by position with the employer, the figures above being averages.

Income tax. Guam has its own income tax system, based on the same laws and rates as those of the United States: the IRS indicates that bona fide residents of Guam, whether US citizens, permanent residents or non-residents, file their return with Guam on their worldwide income and generally have no federal return to file, apart from self-employment tax. Bona fide resident status requires three tests: presence (at least 183 days in the year or one of the alternatives provided), tax home and closer connection to the territory.

Tax treaty. The France-US treaty defines in its article 3 the term “United States” without Guam or any other territory or possession: the rules provided for US residents therefore do not apply as a matter of principle to an employee in Guam. Validation by a Franco-American tax adviser should precede departure.

Social contributions. The general rule of the France-US agreement is affiliation to the legislation of the country where the activity is carried out, with an exception for secondment: the French employer can keep its employee on the French scheme with form SE 404-02, for 5 years for an initial secondment and with no extension (CLEISS). The agreement expressly names Guam in its territorial scope. The seconded employee keeps their French health cover. See seconded or expatriate.

The IRS specifies that a self-employed person in Guam who has no federal return to file fills in a specific form for self-employment tax (form 1040-SS). The 1987 agreement also provides a secondment scheme for self-employed workers, the duration of which should be confirmed with CLEISS and Urssaf (the French social security contributions collection body).

For remote work, the official sources consulted describe no scheme specific to Guam. The principle stated by France Diplomatie stands: an ESTA holder cannot carry out any professional activity, paid or unpaid, during their stay. A French national who wishes to work remotely for a French employer from Guam checks their situation with USCIS and CBP before leaving. See also digital nomad insurance.

Wages and prices are expressed in US dollars. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) statistics show an economy driven by service exports, largely visitor spending.

The Guam Bureau of Labor Statistics counts about 68,000 jobs, a very large majority of them in the private sector, the rest in the Government of Guam and the federal civil service. According to the BLS, office and administrative occupations, construction and extraction, and food preparation and serving are the most numerous. The outlook therefore depends on tourism, construction and public employment, which makes a solid health and social protection budget useful. Updated macroeconomic benchmarks appear in the block above; see also living in Guam and the healthcare system in Guam.

The carte Vitale has no effect in Guam: the France-US agreement coordinates neither sickness nor maternity. A local employee generally goes through their employer’s insurance; a seconded employee keeps the French scheme and applies to their fund with form S 3125c. CLEISS advises checking the top-up health insurance, as costs in the United States can exceed those in France. The details are in the page healthcare reimbursement in Guam. Expavy compares international health cover for employees and self-employed workers.