About us

Fifteen higher education institutions and research centers have joined our program.  You will most likely have a referent in your establishment, a person who will help you prepare your file and will assign you an appointment at the sub-prefecture to complete your residence formalities.

The GATE will facilitate you with most installation formalities in one place. You will find three types of help when you arrive in France:

• a permanent presence at the Prefectural counters
• the Point Information Science Accueil (PISA), which advises and guides you through all your procedures; if necessary, the PISA will replace any absence of a referent for your application for a residence permit
• a permanent presence, or digital information points, for institutions such as CAF, CPAM, CROUS, RATP and Pôle Emploi
• Campus France and HEYME workshops

How we welcome you when you arrive in France

Welcoming internationals is a major challenge for the academic and scientific influence of all universities, higher education institutions and research centres in the Paris-Saclay Cluster territory.

This is an essential condition for the successful creation of a world-class campus. International students and researchers now represent 23% of the total population of the Paris-Saclay Cluster. Currently around 20,000 people, their number should change considerably in the coming years with the development of the Cluster.

The Guichet d’Accueil des Talents Étrangers (GATE), was inaugurated on the Orsay campus of the Université Paris-Sud on 6 September 2018 by the President of the Université Paris-Sud and the three founding members, the Sous-Préfecture de Palaiseau, the Université Paris-Saclay and the Science Accueil association.

Students, scientists and international employees who join the Paris-Saclay cluster can now complete, in one place, the main administrative and practical steps related to their installation and stay in France.

The GATE co-pilots

In the booming Paris-Saclay region, the Palaiseau Sub-Prefecture, the Paris-Saclay University and the Science Accueil association have joined forces to set up an effective system for welcoming students, researchers and employees from R&D centres, and to make the hospitality of this scientific cluster attractive and visible on a global scale. The Coordinators of the GATE system are as follows:

• The University of Paris-Saclay, represented by the Campus Life Department, which manages and leads the international reception of COMUE institutions; it supports the platform in the following areas:
  through its expertise in intercultural communication and translation (LINkS group and International Office)
  through its digital application for hosting international nationals e-International Welcome Solution
• The Palaiseau Sub-Prefecture, in charge of issuing residence permits, informing partners about changes in the legal environment of this mission;
• The Science Accueil association, an organisation that has specialised for 20 years in supporting national and international scientists on incoming mobility in the Ile-de-France region, as well as their families.

Together, they manage the Guichet d’Accueil des Talents Etrangers, which brings together multiple administrations and operators under a single banner.

The motto of GATE

Its motto, “Ex pluribus, unum“, in English “Out of many, one“, clearly illustrates the platform’s primary objective, which is to bring together the strengths of the various players for the same cause: to reduce the mobility itinerary and provide, in a single place and with a minimum of time, all the solutions needed to obtain the different sesames necessary for life in France.

A one-stop shop: why, for whom and how ?

The implementation of this multiservice platform was officially confirmed on March 3, 2017, by the official signature of an agreement with the State.

This platform is dedicated to welcoming students, researchers, employees and international collaborators of the scientific institutions that signed the convention, and their families.
This platform allows in a single place to accomplish most of the installation formalities by finding three types of assistance through a physical presence or by making digital tools available to the main actors:

• prefectural counters
• main operators such as CAF, CPAM, DIRECCTE, CROUS, RATP…
• dematerialized applications to help you prepare for your stay in France
• Science Accueil staff for information and verification of your file

Fifteen higher education institutions and research centres have joined in this process. Thus, you will most probably have a referent in your establishment who will help you prepare your file and all the necessary documents to validate the formalities to be carried out on the GATE. Science Accueil will replace the absence of referents if necessary. In any case, do not hesitate to come and meet us at GATE for information.