Working in Chad as a French National: Visa, Contract, Tax and Economy

France Diplomatie specifies that entry to Chad requires a visa, to be obtained from a Chadian diplomatic or consular representation; no visa can be issued at the border. The page details neither the types of visa, nor their cost, nor their length, nor the existence of an e-visa, nor residence permits or work permits. For business travel, a mission order is strongly recommended, and entering through N’Djamena airport is strongly recommended.

An employee recruited by a local employer or by an international organisation in practice has the work and residence authorisations arranged by the employer, who knows the procedure in force. As the exact documents, timescales and fees could not be read in an official text, they are not detailed here: it is better to ask the employer for a written summary of the permits to obtain before departure. For settling in, see the page on living in Chad.

An employee on a local contract signs a contract under Chadian law. The official pages consulted publish neither a minimum wage in force nor a pay scale: these amounts fall under the Chadian authorities responsible for labour and should be checked with them or with the employer before any signature. A figure not read on an official source is not reproduced here.

An expatriate recruited from France generally negotiates a more complete contract: secure housing, children’s schooling, return tickets and health cover with repatriation. The latter is crucial, as France Diplomatie judges medical infrastructure not to meet European standards. Reading the contract carefully covers the applicable law, the length of the secondment, the health cover clause, the safety of the post and repatriation at the end of the assignment. For the statuses, see seconded or expatriate.

The page on international tax treaties on impots.gouv.fr lists no treaty between France and Chad. The domestic law of each country therefore applies, and a risk of double taxation cannot be ruled out: tax residence is determined by French criteria and Chadian rules. The Chadian tax scales and the contribution rates of the national social welfare fund could not be read in an official text; they should be requested from the tax authority, the fund and the employer.

Chad is not on the list of social security agreements published by CLEISS: there is no totalisation of insurance periods between the two schemes. See healthcare reimbursement in Chad for health.

A seconded employee of a French employer comes, in the absence of an agreement, under secondment outside an agreement. According to CLEISS, the duration is three years, renewable only once, so six years at most, and a new secondment in the same country for the same company is possible only after two years. Beyond that, the employee becomes an expatriate and comes only under the local scheme. A seconded employee remains affiliated to the French scheme and, if the host country’s scheme is compulsory, to that one as well; formalities are handled with the international mobility service of Urssaf (the French social security contributions collector). Sickness-maternity is reimbursed within the limit of the benefits that would be paid in France, and family benefits are paid only for children living in France.

A self-employed person has no employer to handle their file: the authorisation to practise and the residence permit are prepared with the Chadian authorities. A remote worker coming to work for a foreign employer must also check the applicable visa. Given that France Diplomatie classes the territory in orange and red zones, an isolated settling-in should be examined with extreme caution. See digital nomad insurance.

According to the DG Trésor record (the French Treasury’s economic directorate), Chad is the second most populous country in the CEMAC (Central African Economic and Monetary Community) but its fifth-largest economy, with GDP of about €11 billion. Oil, exploited since 2003, is its main driver; livestock is the second export item; agriculture (cereals, cotton, sesame, gum arabic) suffers from climatic hazards; the cotton sector has recovered since the takeover of the national cotton company by a private operator in 2018; industry remains marginal.

The World Bank indicators (growth, GDP per capita, population) and the trend in inflation and in the CFA franc exchange rate appear in the ‘Economic indicators’ block above.

A professional project in Chad is prepared with the family: the Lycée Français Montaigne in N’Djamena takes 851 pupils from the youngest nursery class to the final year (record of the AEFE, the Agency for French Education Abroad). France Diplomatie classes the whole territory in an orange or red zone, reports a kidnapping risk targeting Westerners and strongly advises against travel in the regions for minors and elderly people. The page on the Chadian healthcare system details the care, and the guide to health insurance in Chad presents the cover requirements.