Working in Jordan as a French National: Work Permit, Contract, Salary, Tax and Social Protection

Under Article 12 of the Labour Code (Law No. 8 of 1996 and its amendments), a non-Jordanian worker can be employed only with the approval of the Minister of Labour, when the post requires experience and qualifications that are lacking among Jordanians or when the number of qualified Jordanians does not meet needs, priority being given to Arab experts, technicians and workers. The work permit is obtained before hiring, for one year at most, and is renewable; the employer pays fees whose amount is set by regulation. An employer who employs a foreigner without a permit, or for an employer other than the one named on the permit, faces a fine of JOD 100 to 150 per month or part of a month.

The Ministry of Labour publishes guides to the conditions for issuing permits, including a general guide updated in August 2026 and a guide for specialised skills dated March 2026; it keeps lists of occupations reserved for Jordanians. The International Labour Organization states (December 2023) that a worker can change employer with the first employer’s consent, for most sectors six months after the permit is issued, or without that consent after one year of service, and that no exit permit is required to leave the country. The settling-in formalities (visa, registration) are described on the page on living in Jordan, and the guide to working abroad helps prepare the departure on the French side.

The contract may be written or verbal; when written, it is drawn up in Arabic in two copies, with a copy in a language the worker understands if they cannot read Arabic (International Labour Organization, December 2023). For an open-ended contract, the party wishing to terminate it gives written notice at least one month in advance, and the contract remains in force during that notice period (Article 23).

• Working time: eight hours a day and 48 hours a week at most, excluding meals and rest, with a possible spread over a maximum of eleven hours a day (Article 56). Friday is in principle the weekly rest day (Article 60).
• Overtime: with the employee’s agreement, at least 125% of normal pay; at least 150% on the rest day, religious holidays and public holidays (Article 59).
• Annual leave: 14 days per year of service on full pay, 21 days after five consecutive years with the same employer; waiving one’s leave is void (Articles 61 and 64).
• Sick leave: 14 days a year on full pay on a certificate from a doctor approved by the establishment, with a further 14 days on full pay in case of hospitalisation (Article 65).
• Maternity and breastfeeding: 10 weeks of paid leave, including at least 6 weeks after childbirth, then up to one hour a day for breastfeeding for one year (Articles 70 and 71).
• End of service: an employee on an open-ended contract who is not covered by the social security law receives an indemnity of one month’s salary per year of service (Article 32).

For a dispute, the International Labour Organization describes an online complaints platform of the Ministry of Labour, conciliation by an inspector, then the court of first instance; wage disputes fall to a specific authority in Amman while the worker is in post or within six months after the end of the contract.

The tripartite committee on labour affairs decided to raise the private-sector minimum wage from JOD 260 to JOD 290 a month from 1 January 2025 (International Labour Organization, 18/12/2024). At the Central Bank rate of 05/10/2026 (about JOD 0.79 per €1), JOD 290 is about €365. The International Labour Organization factsheet of December 2023 stated that the legal minimum, then JOD 260, applied to nationals and migrant workers alike, excluding domestic workers and qualifying industrial zones.

Above this floor, the pay of a French manager hired locally comes from the contract: base salary, housing and schooling allowances, plane tickets and health cover. According to the same factsheet, wages include all sums provided for by law, the contract or the internal rules, including the housing allowance in cash or in kind, Friday and public-holiday premiums and specialty allowances. The official sources consulted do not publish a pay scale by occupation. Wages are paid at least once a month, within seven days of the due date.

The Income and Sales Tax Department (ISTD) distinguishes, in its individual tax return, between residents and non-residents, Jordanians and non-Jordanians, and income from Jordanian sources and from foreign sources. For residents, the form (tax period 2019, version consulted online) provides for a personal exemption of up to JOD 10,000 a year, an exemption for dependants of up to JOD 10,000, and other deductions of up to JOD 1,000 per child (JOD 3,000 for three children), the whole being capped at JOD 23,000; tax on residents’ foreign investment income is 10%. The scale of bands is read on the ISTD website before any calculation, as these figures may have changed since the form’s tax period.

The France-Jordan tax treaty, signed in Amman on 28 May 1984 and in force since 1 April 1985, shares the right to tax. Its Article 15 provides that a resident’s salary is taxable only in the state of residence, unless the employment is exercised in the other state; an exception applies when the stay does not exceed 183 days in the fiscal year, the employer is not a resident of the state of activity and the cost of the pay is not borne by a permanent establishment. Its Article 4 defines residence (home, residence, place of management or a similar criterion). To avoid double taxation, Jordan exempts income taxable in France under the treaty, and France exempts, while maintaining the effective rate, income taxable in Jordan, subject to a tax credit for certain categories of income (Article 23). Your personal situation (tax home, income kept in France) is checked on impots.gouv.fr.

The International Labour Organization notes, in December 2023, that migrant workers are treated like Jordanians for the compulsory cover of the Social Security Corporation: registered employees benefit from insurance against work accidents, an old-age, disability and survivors’ pension, and maternity benefits (10 weeks of leave on full pay, three days of paternity leave). The system provides neither export nor aggregation of rights, as Jordan has no bilateral agreement: a non-Jordanian who leaves the country receives a lump sum of at least one month’s salary per year worked. Contribution rates are set by the social security law and are read on the Social Security Corporation website.

France has no social security agreement with Jordan: the country does not appear in the CLEISS list. An employee sent by a French employer can be seconded for 3 years, renewable once, and remain affiliated to the French scheme, with care reimbursed within the limit of French benefits on paid invoices (form S 3125c). See the guide to quarters worked abroad and the page on healthcare reimbursement in Jordan.

The Labour Code governs employment; the International Labour Organization notes that the self-employed are among the categories excluded from unemployment insurance. For self-employment, the route is through registering an activity and a suitable residence: buying property opens a renewable five-year residence permit (see the page on retirement in Jordan), and the official Jordanian press agency describes, in July 2026, investment programmes with the creation of jobs registered with social security.

The official sources consulted do not describe a visa specific to remote work; a French national who works remotely for a foreign employer asks the Ministry of the Interior which permit suits the length of their stay. The guide to digital nomad visas and the page on digital nomad insurance complete the preparation.

France Diplomatie (the French foreign ministry) describes a service economy: 68% of gross domestic product, against 26% for industry and 5% for agriculture, with finance, tourism, textiles, pharmaceuticals and fertilisers among the important sectors. The same source states that France is the sixth foreign investor and the leading non-Arab investor, and that its exports to Jordan reached €218 million in 2021, against €179 million in 2020. The “economic benchmarks” block of this page presents up-to-date growth, inflation and unemployment.

The Jordanian dinar is pegged to the dollar: the Central Bank shows 708 to 710 fils per US dollar on 05/10/2026, which offers a stable rate for negotiating one’s pay. The population is 11.55 million (2024), and France Diplomatie states that Arabic is the official language and that English is widely spoken, an asset for international companies.