France SARL Incorporation (Complex Structure)

The French government does not impose any nationality or identity restrictions on foreigners registering a French company and does not require EU residency as a nominee director.

At least one shareholder is required to register a French company. This can be a natural person or a company. The French government does not have any requirements or restrictions on the nationality or legal domicile of the shareholders of a French company.

Both are limited-liability companies. A SAS's statuts can be drafted more freely than a SARL's, but a SAS cannot offer its shares to the public.
Both must deposit their cash capital before registration.
A SAS président is treated as an employee for social security and owes contributions only on pay received; a SARL gérant holding more than half the capital, counting the spouse or PACS partner and minor children, is self-employed and owes contributions even without pay.

For a French SARL, in practice 100% of the cash share capital needs to be paid up before incorporation. A contributions auditor (commissaire aux apports) values contributions in kind.

It depends on the jurisdiction. Some jurisdictions, or the banks involved, require each shareholder to pay its contribution from an account in its own name; others regulate only the account that receives the capital and the confirmation that proves the payment; and some have no capital verification at all. Check the rules that apply to the company before paying in any capital.

The company's registered capital belongs to the company, not to its shareholders, so the shareholders cannot simply withdraw it after incorporation. The company may spend it on its business. Returning capital to the shareholders requires a procedure the applicable company law provides, such as a formal capital reduction, and profits can be paid out to them only as a lawful distribution.

No. For company-registration purposes a utility bill must be used as proof of address rather than a bank statement. (Note: for bank-account opening, bank statements are accepted as proof of address.)

France requires a sworn/certified translation produced by a sworn translator registered in France. Ordinary translations, or translations produced by a translator not registered in France, are not accepted and may be rejected. A France-registered sworn-translation service is needed where foreign documents (e.g. proof of address used in incorporation or amendments) must be filed.

A KBIS extract must be dated within the last 3 months at the time of submission. A KBIS older than 3 months is generally rejected by the French registry/authority.

Any individual holding more than 25% of the company, or controlling it by other means, must be declared as a beneficial owner (UBO). This is assessed by tracing the ownership chain through to the ultimate individual — including through a listed parent company. If a new financial report later shows that an individual crosses the 25% threshold, the UBO declaration must be corrected and supplementary supporting materials may be required. In Malta, where all the registered shareholders are individuals, none of whom acts as a trustee or in any other fiduciary capacity, no other individual owns or controls more than 25% of the company or otherwise controls it, and no senior managing official counts as beneficial owner, the register of members serves as the beneficial owners register and no separate UBO declaration is filed. In Malta, these rules do not apply to a company that is listed, or indirectly fully owned by a company that is listed, on a regulated market with disclosure requirements consistent with EU law or equivalent international standards.