The “Skills and Expertise” permit is one of the first residence permits to be valid for more than one year, enabling holders to carry out a professional activity in France (salaried or commercial business activity).

It can be issued to any foreign nationals who, by dint of their skills and talents, are likely to contribute in a significant and lasting manner, to the economic development or to the intellectual, scientific, cultural, humanitarian or sporting achievements in particular of France and the holder’s home country.

The “Skills and Expertise” residence permit is issued for a three-year period (which can be extended) and is a valid work permit and/or authorization to register a new business at the company register.  Members of the “Skills and Expertise” permit holder’s family (spouse and children) are issued with a “Private and Family Life” residence permit, which automatically enables them to seek employment (without having to apply for a work permit). The “Skills and Expertise” permit holder and their family can enter France at the same time.

 

Obtaining the permit came about through a meeting with someone from Film France, who, in turn, introduced me to the Invest in France Agency. The process went amazingly quickly for anything bureaucratic, thanks primarily to the Invest in France Agency.

Compared to the first carte de séjour my wife and I obtained in 1996, it was amazingly fast and easy.  The Invest in France Agency was always there for me, extremely responsive, made the necessary appointments and I was treated like royalty. It was a wonderful experience.

 

Most of them have to do with the film business, although over the last four years I have co-written two books in English about French(...) They have been published by a French Publisher, Les Editions Diateino.
 
I have been coming to France since May 1968 (yes, I confess, I was there, pavé in hand, on the Boulevard St Michel), but I came to France on a more permanent basis in 1995 to work with Roman Polanski on a film project, originally for a week, which became a year (...).

 

Ironically, my next two projects also required me to be in France.  I wrote (and am directing) a film, originally for Warner Brothers/Castle Rock, about the true story of the theft of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre Museum in 1911, entitled Lovers, Liars and Thieves, and being shot with an entirely French crew and cast.  This required extensive research at the Bibliothèque Nationale.

 

How is France different from other countries?

Of course, one can write a novel, a screenplay, and theatrical play about how France is different from other countries.  I can compare it only to America, which I also love.  I have found the French to be much more social than the Americans, and I have many more French friends with whom I talk, dine, and just maintain contact than I do in America, dating all the way back to our days in St. Germain-en-Laye, where, in the one year we lived there, we had more contact and spent more time with our neighbors than we have in the nearly 30 years total we have lived in our present home in Connecticut.
 
Further, I have the impression that the French value the artistic and intellectual life, as a whole and as a nation, far more than in America.  There never has been an "Apostrophe" or a "Dictée" on American television, nor, I can say with some safety, will there ever be.

And then, of course, there is Paris, with the quiet streets, a walking city (which New York is not oftentimes), with a calm that is, to me as an artist, inspirational.
Finally, I love the country, itself, from Nice to St. Malo, Alsace to Bordeaux, and we spend every August in St. Jean de Luz, which is a wonderful very French family place, and for which I have found no equivalent in America.

This is not to say that America, with its energy and its own culture is not as good in any way as France, but I write what I, and I think the world, loves about France.