Working in New Caledonia When You Come from Mainland France: Local Employment, Minimum Wage, Tax and Contributions

The labour, employment and vocational training department (DTEFP) states that the work authorisation issued by the government of New Caledonia applies to “any national who does not hold French nationality”, including nationals of the European Union. A French citizen coming from mainland France therefore has no application to file in order to be an employee. This does not, however, free them from every rule on access to employment: country law no. 2010-9 of 27 July 2010 organises the protection, promotion and support of local employment.

This scheme covers private-sector jobs and those of private-law contract staff in the public sector. The job must be filled in priority by a citizen of New Caledonia; failing that, by a person who can show a sufficient length of residence. The priority only applies where qualifications and skills are equal. The length of residence required depends on the occupation: the table of professional activities (inter-professional agreement of 16 December 2011, revised by order no. 2024-35-GNC of 17 January 2024) sets it by ROME code (the French occupation classification), with for example 10 years for a machining equipment operator and 5 years for a senior technician in the same field. Vacancies are filed with the province’s public placement service (the South province’s employment and training service, Cap Emploi in the North province, the EPEFIP in Lifou for the Islands), and the joint commission on local employment (CPEL) can be called on by the employer before hiring or by a candidate who disputes the recruitment conditions.

The DTEFP page does not specify how a French citizen recently arrived from mainland France is classified. Depending on their occupation, they fall into the residents category, with the length of residence set in the table. Before accepting an offer or going self-employed, it is better to ask the DTEFP (dtefp.cpel@gouv.nc) about the classification of the occupation concerned.

The New Caledonian labour code is published online by the DTEFP, which offers up-to-date files and links to collective agreements, minimum wages and thematic sheets. It is not the mainland labour code: working hours, notice periods and termination procedures are those of the territory. The contracts offered by employers are the fixed-term contract, the intermittent contract, temporary work, part-time work and work-study, in addition to the permanent contract (see also the definition of the local contract).

• Working time: monthly pay is based on 169 hours for 39 hours a week. Beyond the 39th hour, the premium is 25% up to and including the 47th hour, then 50% from the 48th (DTEFP).
• Paid leave: 2.5 working days per month of actual work, up to 30 working days a year, with a reference period from 1 January to 31 December. The allowance is the more favourable of two calculations: one tenth of the gross pay for the period, or continued salary.
• Payslip: compulsory at each payment; salary is paid at least once a month, and a claim for payment is time-barred after five years.
• Bonus: a bonus provided for by an agreement or by the contract counts as salary and bears contributions, including the thirteenth month where there is one.

For an employee seconded by a mainland employer, the guide to secondee or expatriate and the glossary entry on secondment complete the page.

The SMG stands at about CFP 1,000 gross an hour, i.e. about CFP 169,000 gross a month for 169 hours, set by order of the government, published in the Official Gazette of New Caledonia and revised regularly. The agricultural minimum wage (SMAG), set by a separate order, is about CFP 850 an hour (about CFP 143,700 a month). The DTEFP page states that minimum wages set by collective agreements may be lower than the SMG, in which case the SMG applies.

The ISEE pages consulted give no average salary figure: the series of monthly net salaries and of minimum wages set by collective agreements are published as downloadable files, and the scales by industry are available on the DTEFP website. No pay level by occupation is therefore put forward here; it is checked in the industry’s collective agreement, published with its agreed wages.

State civil servants: their salary is increased by a coefficient set by the order of 28 July 1967, in force according to Légifrance: 1.73 in Nouméa, Mont-Dore, Dumbéa and Païta, and 1.94 in the other communes of New Caledonia.

New Caledonia’s income tax is a single annual tax, assessed on all the income of people whose tax residence is in the territory. According to the tax department (DSF), a year’s income is in principle taxable for that same year, and the tax is calculated and paid the following year. The progressive scale appears in Article 136 I of the New Caledonian tax code; the DSF offers an online simulator and does not publish the scale on its presentation pages. Amounts are expressed in Pacific francs.

• Who files: self-employed workers whatever their income; adults resident in the territory who earn more than one million francs a year; non-residents with income from a New Caledonian source, taxed on that income alone. The DSF advises filing even where there is no tax to pay, in order to obtain a notice that can be used with social bodies.
• Couples: spouses and civil partners (PACS) sign a joint return; cohabiting partners file separate returns.
• 1983 convention: the tax convention between France and New Caledonia, signed in March and May 1983, avoids double taxation. It provides that private-sector salaries are taxable where the activity is carried out (Article 14), that State civil servants resident in the territory are taxable only there, and that public or private pensions are taxable only in the territory of residence (Article 17).
• Targeted allowance: the DSF notes an additional, time-limited 20% allowance on professional income for nurses and certain medical specialists.

The CAFAT has managed the basic cover of employees (sickness, invalidity, maternity, old age, unemployment and family) since 1958. Contributions are split between an employer share and an employee share, on a base that is gross salary including benefits in kind, within ceilings revalued on 1 January, and that cannot be lower than the agreed wage or the industry SMG. The rates are set by a resolution of the Congress and published in the CAFAT parameter sheets, updated several times a year: they are not reproduced here to avoid an outdated value. The employer declares the hiring to the CAFAT, which assigns the social cover number.

• Reimbursement of medical costs: entitlements opened for 1, 3 or 6 months (or for a year under annualised entitlements) depending on the hours worked or the salary shown at the date of care; no reimbursement during the first month of activity, except for apprentices, vocational training trainees and civic service volunteers.
• Allowances for sick leave: you must have worked at least 252 hours over three months or show a declared monthly salary at least equal to 1.5 times the SMG; the allowance covers 50% of the loss of salary up to two dependent children (66.66% from the third), for 360 days at most over three consecutive years.
• New Caledonian solidarity contribution (CCS): it applies to earned income and allowances (1.3% on daily allowances according to the CAFAT).

The consequences of these rules for health cover, dependants and care in mainland France are detailed in the page on healthcare reimbursement in New Caledonia.

Affiliation of self-employed workers to the unified health and maternity insurance scheme (RUAMM) is compulsory, with no residence condition, as soon as the activity is carried out in New Caledonia. It covers craft, industrial or commercial, professional, agricultural and artistic activities, as well as majority managers of SARLs or SELARLs (private limited companies) and certain partners. A self-employed person in activity can be neither a dependant of an insured person nor a voluntary insured person. The CAFAT offers several contribution options: under full integration, all care is reimbursed at RUAMM rates; under partial integration, only care covered at 100% (long-term illness, long-term hospitalisation, medical evacuations) is reimbursed.

For remote work by an employee who keeps a mainland employer, the CLEISS (the French centre for international social security links) reminds readers that as soon as a professional activity is carried out in New Caledonia, New Caledonian legislation applies, unless there is a secondment; a secondment lasts 2 years, renewable for 2 years (form SE 988-01). The situation is settled with the employer, the Urssaf (the French social contributions collector) and the CAFAT before departure. The pages on the digital nomad and on working abroad give general benchmarks, to be adapted to a territory that is not a foreign country.

The ISEE’s rapid accounts describe an economy in which the weight of nickel in value added has fallen sharply, with exports of intermediate nickel products (NHC) and of ferronickel, and an import coverage rate well below 100%. Services mechanically gain weight, the other sectors having fallen more.

On the labour market, the ISEE counts nearly 77,000 declared employees (about 56,000 of them in the private sector). The IEOM regularly publishes the business climate indicator and surveys of business leaders, which should be consulted before any plan to settle.

The currency is the Pacific franc (CFP franc), whose parity with the euro is fixed and written into the French monetary and financial code (IEOM). The “Economic benchmarks” block on this page uses international series that may differ from the local statistics cited here.