Working in Mauritania as a French National: Contract, Contributions, Tax and Economy

In Mauritania, a French national works under one of these three statuses: the local contract, signed with a Mauritanian employer; secondment, when the French employer sends their employee on assignment; and expatriation, when the employee is recruited by a foreign entity and affiliated locally. The distinction determines the social security scheme, taxation and health protection. The guide seconded or expatriate details these differences.

The CLEISS recalls the principle: as soon as you carry out a professional activity in Mauritania, you fall under Mauritanian social security legislation, unless the employer has seconded the employee under the Franco-Mauritanian agreement. Rights are then opened to the person and to the family members who reside with them. It is recommended to inform the CPAM (local health insurance office), the CAF (family allowance fund) and France Travail (the French employment agency) of the departure, to avoid having to repay benefits wrongly received.

The work authorisation conditions for a foreigner (permit, long-stay visa, residence card) fall under the Mauritanian administration: the Ministry of the Civil Service and Labour and the immigration services. Your employer generally carries out these steps; have the type of document, its duration and the delays confirmed in writing before your arrival. For entry, the two-step visa procedure is described on the page on living in Mauritania.

The guaranteed interprofessional minimum wage (SMIG) is set by decree and expressed as an hourly rate; it is revised by the government at irregular intervals. None of the official sources consulted for this page gives a single monthly amount that can be quoted without risk of error: the text of the decree in force, published by the Ministry of the Civil Service and Labour, prevails.

Pay levels for expatriate managers depend mainly on the sector (mines, energy, industrial fishing, international organisations, cooperation) and on negotiation of the package: base salary, housing, children’s schooling, flights, international health insurance. For a local contract, check that the 5% employee contributions and CNAM health cover are applied to the full salary.

Family benefits paid by the CNSS remain modest: since 1 January 2023, 50 MRU per child per month, a birth bonus of 288 MRU for each of the first three births and prenatal allowances of 216 MRU in total (CLEISS). They require being an employee, having a dependent child, working at least 18 days or 120 hours a month and earning at least the SMIG.

Affiliation to the CNSS (Caisse nationale de sécurité sociale) is compulsory for employees covered by the Labour Code or the Merchant Navy Code; it covers old age, invalidity, death, work accidents and occupational diseases and family benefits. Employees’ health insurance is run by the CNAM (Caisse nationale d’assurance maladie), and the ONMT oversees occupational medicine. The unemployment risk is not covered.

According to the CLEISS, the overall rate is 20% for the employer and 5% for the employee. Health insurance represents 5% borne by the employer and 4% borne by the employee on the full salary. Old age, invalidity, death, work accidents, occupational diseases and family benefits represent 13% for the employer and 1% for the employee, up to 70,000 MRU a month. Occupational medicine adds 2% borne by the employer, with the same ceiling. Contributions are paid quarterly.

Mauritanian retirees pay 2.5% of their pension to the CNAM for their health cover. On retirement, the old-age pension requires having reached 63 (58 in case of premature wear or arduous work), having ceased all salaried activity, having been registered for at least 20 years and showing 60 months of insurance over the last 10 years. It equals 20% of the average salary of the last three or five years, increased by 1.33% for each 12 months beyond 180 months, up to 80%.

The bilateral social security agreement, in force since 1967, coordinates the invalidity, old-age and survivors, work accident and family benefit branches (see bilateral agreement). It eases the calculation of retirement rights when a career has taken place in both countries; the guide quarters worked abroad explains the logic.

France and Mauritania signed a tax treaty on 15 November 1967 (published in the Journal officiel of 27 April 1969), supplemented by an exchange of letters on 8 March 1994; it covers income tax, inheritance and registration duties (BOFiP list of tax treaties). Its role is to prevent the same income from being taxed twice and to designate the state that taxes each category of income.

The scale of Mauritanian tax on salaries is set by the General Tax Code and published by the Directorate General of Taxes; it is not reproduced here for lack of a current official text. Tax residence is determined according to the domestic law criteria of each country, then, in case of conflict, according to the treaty. An expatriate who leaves France for the long term but keeps a home or the centre of their economic interests may remain a French tax resident: have your situation validated before departure with the individual tax office.

For social affiliation as for tax, keep proof of presence (contract, payslips, contribution receipts), as they also serve to establish retirement rights.

Non-salaried workers do not come under the CNAM or the CNSS for old age, work accidents and family benefits (CLEISS). They can join the CNASS (Caisse nationale de solidarité en santé), a voluntary health insurance open since September 2023, as a family (at least six people) or in a group, with a two-month waiting period and care to be received in approved facilities. A self-employed French national must therefore arrange their own health protection (CFE, the Caisse des Français de l’Étranger, the French expatriate social security fund, or international insurance) and their retirement.

For remote work from Mauritania for a foreign employer, no specific visa is mentioned in the official sources consulted: the 30-day visa on arrival does not allow a lasting move, and a stay of more than three months requires a residence card. The page digital nomad insurance presents the protections suited to this profile.

Whatever the status, taking out an assistance contract with repatriation is considered essential by France Diplomatie; see who reimburses what in Mauritania.

The economy rests on mining (iron, gold, copper, with a uranium project), fishing (extended exclusive economic zone and fishing agreement with the European Union signed in 2021 for five years) and offshore liquefied natural gas, with the Grand Tortue Ahmeyim project shared with Senegal and the BirAllah project. Solar, wind and hydrogen potential is presented as a further growth driver (France Diplomatie). The economy remains structurally volatile, being dependent on international ore prices.

Updated macroeconomic indicators (growth, inflation, unemployment) appear in the block above. France Diplomatie recalls that the IMF granted in January 2023 an extended credit facility of 86.9 million dollars. The currency is the ouguiya (MRU).

On economic relations, the volume of bilateral trade reaches several hundred million euros; according to France Diplomatie, about fifty French companies, including 19 subsidiaries, employ around 2,600 people there. These figures show a narrow but structured market, where technical profiles and engineering find their place.