How to be covered if I am not working and I am a non-European citizen ?

How can I determine if my application is being processed?

Hi, Since 2008 I was covered by an S1 certificate from the UK as I lived in France and commuted each week to work in the UK. Last year I took early retirement at the âge of 60 and now have a private pension as my source of income. As I know longer work for a UK company I am not entitled to an S1 certificate until I reach the UK retirement âge of 67 in 6 year time!
I applied in July for PUMa and seem to be going around in circles, yesterday I received a message statuant that I need to reapply for an S1 to get my health rights again Even though I have sent a copy of my application responce from the UK autoroutes stations that I am not entitled to an S1 until I reach the UK state retirement âge of 67 in 7 years time. Canyou advise on who I can talk to as when I reply it takes 4 weeks to get a responce and there seems to be inconsistency in the replies I receive on information needed et when I phoned in July at the start because I am in the system with a carte Vital it would be a formality. I am now without health care and as I am not a UK résident any moré I am not entitled to NHS cuver in England either
Thankyou

Hello,

I have a situation where I will be employed by a French company on a CDI French contract.

I am british and moving from the UK to Aix en provence in July but my wife will be due in September
I will be employed and covered by a French employer but with my wife not working and not being an EU citizen can my wife open CPAM rights immediately on arrival as the spouse joining an insured worker, without waiting 3 months?

The hospital requires an attestation de droits for maternity care.

Which forms and documents do you want for her opening-rights application, and should we send the dossier to the CPAM 13 postal address (Marseille Cedex 20) or book an appointment at the Aix office?

Once the dossier is received, when can she get a temporary number (NIA) and, more importantly, an attestation de droits?

'If you are moving to France for family reunification, i.e. to live with a family member who is already covered by the French healthcare system, you can be exempted of the 3 months of residency requirement. You will have to provide only one utility bill, as proof of residency.' Does this statement mean we will be able to achieve this?

Thank you for your help

I applied for my carte vitale but I received a letter saying I was not eligible because I have medicare. But medicare does not cover me in France. I am in my first year of residency in France. I need it to renew my visa What do I do?

[To protect your privacy, some personal content (or information) in this message has been removed]

Dear SunnySanta,
Valérie has answered you exhaustively for what concerns the formal procedure. But please be aware there is a certain distance between what is written in the law (Code de la Sécurité Sociale) and the practical reality you can expect.

You should prepare for the following circumstances:

• a delay of 1 (typical) to 2 months (maximum, in theory) for an answer from the CPAM;
• the possibility that the CPAM will refuse your wife affiliation by opposing the requirement of a three month legal stay (even if, by law, she does not need to fulfill it);
• the possibility that the CPAM will refuse to reimburse the costs that have incurred before your partner's coverage is acknowledged (even if, by law, the right to coverage is without delay);
• the possibility that some of the correspondence between you and the CPAM gets lost (so for example, if you get mail and she does not, that is the time to call);
• if you need to appeal a decision from the CPAM, a delay of 2 months to get a decision on the appeal.

July to September is a short period to get everything sorted out. If everything goes smoothly, she will be covered by the time she has to deliver the baby. If you run into any of the possible inconveniences, she may have no coverage by the time of delivery, and you will have to appeal later to all unfavourable decisions.

Hello, I am Polish / British. I have moved to France in Nov 2024 and continued to work for my employer in England. In January 2025 I PACSed French citizen and decided to relocate here to create family. In May 2025 I quit my job. Now for 12 months my application to join CPAM gets continuously rejected. My documents were lost on a number of occasions. Now I have provided all the documents including his income, payslips and that he has paid his taxes. Just been rejected again because ''les ressortissants européens inactifs doivent disposer de leur propre couverture maladie''. What are my ways to join social security? Note that I am currently on a full time training from France Travail and my partner supports me financially. I provided letter from NHS that I am no longer insured so technically I have no insurance anywhere.

Hi Kalena19974,
I am sorry I cannot give you detailed advice as I am not familiar with all the nuances of your situation. So I am going to give you some indications, but you have to follow up with your own research.

First what you need to do is to find the exact path that should grant you coverage, file for coverage, and appeal against the refusal. First, you need to appeal at the Commission de Recours Amiable (CRA), within two months of the decision. If they further refuse, you need to appeal at the Tribunal Judiciaire (TJ).

Do not file repeatedly with the CPAM because they can always try to deny your request with a different reason, and the issue never gets escalated to a stage where someone checks the correctness of their argument!

In general, do not trust what the CPAM says because they often give wrong or misleading information. Unless you can afford a lawyer, ask your partner (that I assume is a native French speaker) to help you researching French immigration and social security laws. You may also reach out to some association or network providing assistance to immigrants.

My impression is: you are regular a stable resident and family member of an insured person working in France, and this should make you eligible for PUMA (Articles L160-1, D160-2, L161-1 of the Code de la Securité Sociale). The only exception the CPAM could raise is that you need to prove you are regular, even as an EU citizen, after three months of stay as an unemployed person.

In practice:

• if the last refusal you have from the CPAM was received less than two months ago, appeal against it at the Commission de Recours Amiable;
• if the last refusal you have from the CPAM was received more than two months ago, file again a request for PUMA;
• at the same time, file a request for "Aide médicale de l'État" (if somehow the CPAM believes you are irregular, you may be eligible for AME, if they deny it you can learn from their answer in order to better prepare your appeal).
• optional: present a "réclamation", it does not replace the "recours";
• in parallel: bring your case to the Defenseur des Droits.

I know it's complicated and can be discouraging, but you need to be persistent until your case goes to the Tribunal, if necessary.

Dear Christelle,
the CLEISS page you indicated applies to inactive EU citizens but does not consider the case of a family member of a French citizen.

It is true that an inactive EU citizen does not automatically have the right of residence beyond three months, but they acquire this right as a family member of an (employed) French national.

Since they satisfy the condition of stable and regular residence, Article L160-1 makes them eligible from PUMA.

Can you maybe clarify where why are wrong in thinking that Kalena19974 should be entitled to health insurance under PUMA?

Hello Christelle,
the URL you provided does not work and I cannot read any communication by Élodie in this thread.

Unfortunately, from personal experience, further contacting the local CPAM is not helpful. The agents on the phone just insist on the decision that has been taken (even if wrong) and they are not able to provide detailed justifications for it. Ultimately, they will say "if you do not agree, file a contestation".

Calling the advice lines can also result in receiving inaccurate or contradicting information: I called twice before sending the dossier and received different information each time. The risk is that we follow the advice, get rejected, and just accumulate delays in the instruction of the dossier.

I can however say the advice on the forum is usually better than the advice received on the phone. So maybe it is good to call at least twice, and then check in the forum the answer that we receive for confirmation.