VisaFrench Polynesia’s 2026 protected-job table requires a sector and occupation check
Current guide: jobseekers and employers must match both the occupation and business activity, document residence where required and keep local-employment priority separate from foreign-worker permission.
Official source date: 2026-01-29
Edited and checked by the VisaWand editorial team
Use the 2026 table, not the job title alone
Employers recruiting in French Polynesia should check the current protected-activities table before assuming a candidate can fill a position. SEFI’s local-employment protection page identifies the February 2026 table and cites the amending order of 29 January 2026. This is a current guide to that annual framework, not an announcement that the list has just changed in November.
The Tableau des Activités Professionnelles Protégées, or TAPP, combines an occupation classification, a particular employment description, the employer’s economic activity and the protection level. That combination matters: checking only a broad occupation such as construction, banking or hospitality can miss the sector-specific entry that applies to the vacancy.
For example, the 2026 table assigns maximum protection to civil-engineering engineers in the specified engineering and technical-studies activity, while the listed building-electrician role in electrical-installation activity has minimum protection. These are examples of different classified entries, not a conclusion that an individual candidate qualifies. Use the exact role and business activity in the official table when asking SEFI which residence condition applies.
Document residence and assess contract amendments
SEFI’s local-employment FAQ explains that the protected activity combines the job and economic sector, including the relevant main or secondary activity. An employer with several business lines should therefore establish where the proposed employee will actually work. The company’s general trading name does not answer that classification question.
The FAQ also addresses an amendment placing an employee in a protected activity. It says the employer must obtain a declaration concerning the necessary residence duration at the amendment’s commencement. If the employee does not satisfy that condition, the employer must lodge the vacancy with SEFI so that suitable candidates meeting the residence requirement can be considered.
SEFI describes an attestation de carence where the service finds that the protected vacancy cannot be filled after its search or after the employer provides a candidate assessment showing that the proposed profiles do not match the job. That certificate records the unsuccessful local recruitment process. It should not be described as a residence permit or an authorisation for a foreign national to begin employment.
Use the official declaration and keep supporting records
The declaration available through SEFI asks for the employee’s identity, CPS identifier, address and a signed statement of the relevant residence duration. It also provides an option relating to the partner’s residence, subject to stated relationship and shared-residence conditions. Do not assume that merely having a partner somewhere in the territory establishes that alternative.
The declaration’s notes explain that certain periods abroad for study, training, national service or family, professional or medical reasons need not interrupt the relevant residence period for people previously domiciled in French Polynesia. Those circumstances require an accurate personal history. An applicant should record the dates and reason for an absence rather than automatically subtract every day abroad or conceal the absence.
The form warns against false declarations. Its role is to document the applicable residence condition, while SEFI’s current table identifies the protected activity. Complete the two checks together and retain the evidence supporting the statement. The material reviewed does not establish one residence duration covering every occupation or every protection level; ask SEFI to confirm the threshold for the matched table entry.
Foreign-worker authorisation remains a separate approval
SEFI’s Foreign Workers guidance says the employer needs authorisation for salaried foreign staff, including EU nationals. Its general FAQ separately distinguishes registration as a jobseeker from permission to work. A person already present in French Polynesia may be able to register with SEFI, but registration itself does not replace the employer’s authorisation.
The foreign-worker guidance says the vacancy is displayed for 30 days and the employer then needs the unsuccessful-recruitment certificate or a candidate assessment, as applicable. Build that recruitment period into the proposed start date. The resulting work permission is tied to a specified employer, occupation and geographic area; changes need prior assessment rather than an assumption that the original approval follows every new role.
No verified universal fee or guaranteed completion date for this combined recruitment and permission sequence was established from the resources reviewed. Use SEFI’s local-employment page for the TAPP and residence declaration, its FAQ for an amendment or unsuccessful-recruitment question, and its foreign-worker page for the separate employment-authorisation process. Confirm the required immigration status as well. A job offer, declaration or vacancy certificate alone is insufficient evidence that all permissions are in place.
