New employee onboarding documents in France: what to ask for, and what you can't require

Friday, 6 pm. Your new hire starts on Monday at 9. You open the hiring declaration and realise you don't have their social security number, their bank details are somewhere in a WhatsApp thread, and nobody has checked whether their residence permit lets them work. You send a message. They reply on Sunday night, with a blurry photo.

In a small business, there's no HR department behind a new hire: it's the founder, or whoever already runs payroll. This article covers the French rules, which apply to any employer hiring someone on a permanent or fixed-term contract (CDI or CDD) in France. Here are the new employee onboarding documents in France to ask for, what you can't require, when to ask, and a welcome message you can copy.

What must a French employer do before day one?

Three obligations fall before the employee starts, and they set the timetable for the documents.

The pre-hiring declaration (DPAE), filed with the Urssaf (or the MSA for farm workers). According to entreprendre.service-public.gouv.fr (opens in a new tab) (in French, our translation), it must be sent "before the employee takes up the post or the trial period begins, at the earliest within the 8 days preceding the hiring date". It includes the employee's "surname, first names, sex, date and place of birth, social security number (if already registered)". Without a DPAE, the employer faces an administrative fine of €1,305 per employee concerned and, if the omission was unintentional, a criminal fine of €1,500; an intentional failure counts as undeclared work, punishable by up to 3 years in prison and a €45,000 fine (same page).

The permit check, for a foreign employee. The employer "must verify the authenticity of the residence permit authorising them to work in France with the prefecture of the place of hiring at least 2 working days before the effective hiring date" (service-public.gouv.fr (opens in a new tab), in French, our translation). That page covers nationals from outside the EU, the EEA and Switzerland, does not apply to Algerian nationals, and waives the check if the person is registered as a jobseeker with France Travail.

The single staff register (registre unique du personnel), which is "mandatory from the first employee hired" (entreprendre.service-public.gouv.fr (opens in a new tab), in French).

In practice: the documents need to be with you about ten days before the start date, not on the morning itself.

Which documents should you ask a new employee for?

The CNIL, France's data protection authority, distinguishes between what serves a legal obligation (social declarations, payroll) and what is simply useful for managing staff (CNIL, rules for personnel management (opens in a new tab), in French). Its personnel management framework (opens in a new tab) (in French) lists the data an employer may process. For a new hire, that means:

• An identity document, to copy the employee's civil details into the DPAE without mistakes.
• For a foreign employee, their work permit. The framework mentions the "type, serial number and copy of the permit for foreign employees".
• The social security number, for the DPAE and payroll.
• Bank details, to pay the salary.
• A postal address and phone number.
• An emergency contact, an example the CNIL gives itself.
• Diplomas or certificates, if the job requires a specific qualification.
• A driving licence, if the job involves driving: the CNIL mentions the "type of driving licence held".
• Information about dependants, only if an employer benefit depends on it.

For each line, apply the framework's rule: the employer "should only collect the data it really needs, and only from the moment that need materialises".

When should you ask for these documents?

After the hiring is agreed, not before. The framework uses the social security number as its example: using it is justified when the contract is signed, but it "cannot be requested from a candidate before their application is finally approved". The same goes for bank details: the CNIL forbids asking candidates for either, except for temporary work agencies (CNIL, recruitment in small businesses (opens in a new tab), in French).

So the window is short, between the "yes" and the first day:

1. As soon as the hire is agreed, send the welcome message with the list and a deadline.
2. Ten days before the start date, everything is in.
3. At least 2 working days before, the permit check goes to the prefecture, if needed.
4. Within the 8 days before hiring, and before the employee starts, file the DPAE.

A copy of the DPAE or its acknowledgement must then be given to the employee; this is covered if their written contract names the body the declaration was sent to (entreprendre.service-public.gouv.fr (opens in a new tab), in French).

What are you not allowed to require?

For a candidate, Article L1221-6 of the French Labour Code (opens in a new tab) (in French) sets the rule: the information requested "must have a direct and necessary link with the job offered or with the assessment of professional aptitudes". Once the person is hired, the CNIL keeps the same logic of necessity. Three topics come up often.

Health data. "Can an employer know about it?" The CNIL answers "No": the medical file is held by occupational health services, and "the employer or the human resources department therefore has no right to hold medical information about staff", except for a workplace accident or occupational disease for which it is responsible (CNIL (opens in a new tab), in French, our translation). Your job is to arrange the check-up: the employer "must organise an information and prevention visit or a medical fitness examination on hiring", and the DPAE is also used to request it (entreprendre.service-public.gouv.fr (opens in a new tab), in French).

Criminal records. According to the CNIL (opens in a new tab) (in French), where no specific text applies, the employer may ask to see the extract (bulletin n°3), but "cannot keep a copy of it": a "yes/no" note is enough. For certain sensitive roles, specific texts provide for a check. And refusing to hire someone is only justified by the "incompatibility" of the conviction with the job.

Anything unrelated to the job. Family composition, plans to have children, a photo nothing requires (the CNIL calls it optional, even for internal directories).

What message should you send the new employee?

One message, as soon as the hire is agreed, saying what, why and by when. The CNIL requires employees to be told, among other things, the purpose, whether answers are mandatory or optional, and who receives the data (CNIL (opens in a new tab), in French): the welcome message is the right place.

Hello [First name],

We're delighted to welcome you on [start date]. To prepare your hiring declaration and payroll, I need the following by [date]:

1. An identity document (front and back, readable)
2. [If you are a national of a country outside the EU, EEA and Switzerland] your residence or work permit
3. Your French social security number
4. Bank details in your name, for your salary
5. Your postal address and phone number
6. An emergency contact (optional)
7. [If the job requires it] a copy of your [diploma / driving licence]

This information is used only for your hiring and your employee file. Only the people in charge of HR and payroll have access to it.

Readable photos or PDFs are fine. If any document is a problem, just let me know.

See you soon,
[Your name]

And never write:

Please send me all your paperwork before Monday: family record book, medical certificate, ID photo, and a copy of your criminal record for our files.

Unlike the documents for a rental application, which are set by decree, here necessity makes the list. The method is the same one used to collect documents from multiple people: an exact list, a date, one message per person.

What if a document is still missing three days before the start?

Follow up right away, only about what's missing, and say why it's urgent.

Hello [First name],

Thanks for your documents, I just need your social security number now.

I need it by [day] to file your hiring declaration before you start. A photo of your health insurance certificate (attestation de droits) is fine.

Thanks,
[Your name]

You'll find other wordings in our reminder email templates.

Where should you store these documents, and for how long?

In one folder per employee. Apart from the authorities notified of the hire, "only the people in charge of personnel management may consult" employees' information, the CNIL (opens in a new tab) points out (in French, our translation). Not in a shared inbox; and once a document is filed, delete it from the WhatsApp chat it arrived in.

Data is kept "for as long as the employee is with the organisation"; after they leave, some is archived, "for example, 5 years after the employee's departure for payslips" (same page). A criminal record extract, on the other hand, is not kept at all, unless a specific text says otherwise.

One hire a year is manageable with a good email. For new employee onboarding documents every month, or for five seasonal workers starting the same Monday, Please Send It sends each person their own link with your list, follows up by email or text message with those who still have something missing, and shows you, employee by employee, what has come in. Sensitive documents (ID, bank details) are deleted automatically 30 days after receipt: long enough to file them in the employee's folder, no longer.