Fans of Netflix’s popular series Emily in Paris are wondering how long the titular character’s visa lasts after the show was renewed for another season.
The series, created by Sex and the City‘s Darren Star, has developed a cult following over the years and has become a guilty pleasure for many Netflix users. Emily in Paris follows the exciting life of stereotypical Chicago 20-something Emily Cooper (Lily Collins) who lands a job as a marketing executive in Paris, uprooting her entire life to live her Parisian fantasy.
At the end of Season 4, it showed Emily traveling to Rome and while Star told Deadline that this doesn’t result in a permanent move to the Italian city, he explained that Emily will occasionally be working there to help her boss, Sylvie Grateau, expand her marketing business.
GIULIA PARMIGIANI/Netflix
The TV show has since been renewed for Season 5 and while fans are excited to see what Emily will get up to, many couldn’t help but wonder what visa Emily had that has allowed her to live—and traipse—around Europe for so long.
Newsweek emailed a spokesperson for Netflix for comment on Tuesday outside of normal business hours.
“When does her visa expire,” one person asked on X, formerly Twitter. At the time of writing, it had received 15.6 million views and 528,000 likes.
“What kind of visa is Emily on in Paris?!” another viral post with 8.9 million views reads, to which someone responded: “Ikr [I know right]. It’s giving illegal immigrant.”
However, another X user explained that there was an episode of the show where Emily was assisted by her boss to get a work visa. This allows non-European citizens to work in France for longer than 90 days.
“There’s actually an entire episode dedicated to Sylvie getting Emily her work visa,” they wrote.
The X user is correct. In episode five of season three Emily’s work visa is discussed when employees at Agence Grateau, the luxury marketing agency owned by Sylvie, are promoting the company.
“Until her work visa is approved, Emily isn’t an official full-time staffer and has to hustle for clients (and Sylvie’s approval) if she wants to prove to the visa board that she’s so “exceptional” that no French person could do her job,” it reads on Tudum, the official companion site to Netflix.
“Luckily, Emily proves her worth almost immediately, because Janine Dubois (Kate Colebrook), a columnist at Le Monde, follows @emilyinparis, and Sylvie happens to be desperate to get featured in ‘La Liste.'”
France relocation consultant Allison Lounes took to Threads to explain how she believes Emily is still legally residing in Paris.
“Emily almost certainly got sent to Paris with an ICT (Intercompany Transfer) Visa. This visa is valid for up to 3 years, and it requires being sent by a foreign company for a specific mission in France,” she wrote. “The employee has to have worked for the non-French company for at least 6 months and she remains on a foreign contract. The US company would have done a SIPSI declaration.
“They’d continue paying her US salary, she’d need private healthcare, and they’d also pay US social security charges.”
She added: “This visa would be for a max of 3 years and then she would have to go home. And Emily would have to wait 6 months in the US to get the same visa again. Quitting would technically leave her in a precarious situation, visa-wise.
“She also could have had a ‘Passeport Talent Salarié en Mission’ visa, which is similar except that she would be on a French local contract. And she would have to have a master’s or 5+ years of professional experience. Unclear if she has these at the start of the show, which is why my bet was ICT.”
According to Welcome to France, a website that helps professionals settle in France, those who want to live in the country for longer than three months must apply for a long-stay visa.
