Insee Première · September 2026 · n° 2126

More Than 9,000 Active Persons from Neighbouring Countries Settled in Northern and Eastern France, Often whilst Retaining a Job Abroad

During 2021, more than 140,000 active persons moved to mainland France from a foreign country. Among them, 10,000 settled in border areas from the immediately neighbouring country, including more than 9,000 along the Belgian, Luxembourg, German or Swiss borders.

Many of these new arrivals lived less than 20 km from the border. In most cases, they moved close to the border and kept working in their country of departure, particularly near the borders with Switzerland and Luxembourg.

The newly arrived cross‑border workers at the Belgian, Swiss and German borders were less likely to be blue‑collar workers and more likely to be white‑collar workers than those who already lived there. Half of the new arrivals declared a nationality other than that of their country of departure.

The number of arrivals in a year from across the border rose compared with 2015, particularly from Luxembourg. This increase was driven by people staying in employment in their country of departure.