France is trying to attract the best esports champions. His trick? Offer a talent passport to aces of the gamepad or keyboard. An announcement that comes as France will host major meetings in competitive video games.
Do you chain 360° no scope on any FPS? Are you able to clutch at the right time? You do not tilt in case of choke? Have you understood each of the previous terms? If so, you know the gaming world. And if you fit that description, you’re pretty good. Damn good, even.
If you live abroad and want to reside in France, your talent in video games will now make it easier for you to obtain a residence permit in France. This was announced on January 16 by Jean-Noël Barrot, Minister Delegate for the Digital Transition and Telecommunications, in a post on Twitter.
” France has all the assets to be a major esports country. To go further, we are opening the use of the talent passport for high-level athletes “, he wrote. This administrative device is part of a larger plan wanted by the government to raise ” obstacles to the economic development of the sector [de l’esport] and increase France’s attractiveness.
Esports pros will be eligible for the “talent passport”
The passport is an already existing mechanism that serves to ” simplify the installation of salaried or non-salaried foreigners who want to contribute to the economic attractiveness of France “explains the site France-Visas. This is the kind of mechanism that we have seen at work to attract talent in tech from 2017, but also in the climate and environmental sector.
This passport turns out to be a multi-year residence permit. Its owner is entitled to a four-year residence permit on arrival in France, on condition of having an employment contract or a settlement period of more than three months – and also of satisfying the eligibility criteria, the outlines of which have not yet been specified. Contacted, the Ministry of Culture has not yet answered us.
The implementation of this system comes at a time when France should precisely be the host country for two major events in the competitive video game sector: there is the Blast Major in May 2023, which will be played on Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (a shooter with a first-person view), then the Trackmania Games in 2024, on Trackmania (a fantasy car racing game).
In addition, it is planned to organize the Olympic Esports Week at the end of 2024 – the same year as the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris. This event, the first edition of which should take place in Singapore at the end of June 2023, should serve to “ showcasing the best of virtual sports — hybrid, physical and simulated — during this four-day festival », announces the IOC.
In addition to competitions (it is about the first live final of the Olympic Esports Series), the Olympic Esports Week should also host expert debates, discussion panels, education sessions and an overview of the latest technologies, according to the International Olympic Committee. Here, the games are about sport.
