Women modeling agencies in France

France for international models

• Every job you do in France is formal employment. The agency must sign a written contract with you and, before each booking, show you the booking contract with the fee the client is paying. Anyone offering work 'without paperwork' is not an agency.
• A real agency holds a state licence and a bank guarantee. The guarantee means your wages get paid even if the agency goes bust. Operating without a licence is a criminal offence in France, so licensed agencies are happy to show theirs – just ask.
• You receive at least a third of what the client pays the agency: 33% for magazine editorials, 36% for every other job. The rest is the agency's commission and taxes. Your share can never fall below the minimum rates, whatever the client pays.
• Minimum rates for 2025, the floor you negotiate up from: fittings at a designer €81 an hour or €405 a day; shoots, shows and advertising from €112 an hour and €559 a day for a beginner to €218 an hour and €1,092 a day for an established model. Magazine editorials pay least (€40–101 an hour) because they build your book, not your income. Holiday pay of 10% is added on top of everything. A show is paid for at least 3 hours: 2 hours of show and 1 hour of fitting.
• Nobody may ask you for money upfront. Advice about becoming a model is free by law in France. If the agency has paid for your test shoot or comp cards, it may only recover that gradually from your future pay – at most 20% of each payment. An invoice 'for registration' or 'for your book' before your first job is a clear warning sign.
• Before you start you will need a medical certificate confirming that your health (your BMI is one of the things assessed) is compatible with modelling – a law since 2016 meant to protect models from pressure to lose weight. And if your figure is digitally altered in an advert, the image must carry the words « Photographie retouchée ».
• If you are not an EU citizen: with a collaboration agreement from a licensed French agency, a stay of up to 3 months only needs a normal short-stay visa – no separate work permit. For longer, the agency applies for your work permit and you receive a long-stay visa of up to 12 months. The visa file includes the agency's licence document and your contract. Working on a tourist visa without a contract is not allowed and puts both you and the agency at risk.
• If you are under 16: only an agency with a special approval may work with children. You will need a doctor's opinion, working hours are limited, and part of your earnings goes into a state-held account released when you turn 18 – your parents receive only the share the commission allows. Children's minimum rates for 2025: €76 an hour for shoots and shows, €94 an hour for commercials.
• When to come: Paris Fashion Weeks run in late February–early March and late September–early October (women's collections), January and June (men's), January and July (haute couture). Agencies book show castings weeks ahead and usually arrange a season's placements months in advance – so apply in autumn for spring and in spring for autumn, not the week before fashion week.

Sources: Code du travail, L7123-1 à L7123-32 (Légifrance) · Code du travail, R7123 (retenues, licence) · Convention collective IDCC 3252, annexe V art. 3.4 (pourcentages) · Avenant n° 2 du 22 janvier 2025 – salaires minimaux mannequins · France-Visas – mannequin, collaboration avec une agence française · Code de la santé publique L2133-2 – « Photographie retouchée » · Caisse des Dépôts – enfants du spectacle et du mannequinat