I have a very complex situation.
I started a doctoral contract in November 2025.
I was born in Malaysia, but changed nationality to Australian. Malaysia does not allow dual citizenships so I had to renounce my citizenship. I have no access to national identity documents from there. The same applies to all my immediate family members, they all emigrated and are in the same situation as me.
I started applying for assurance maladie through the CPAM in November 2025.
I sent them my original birth certificate (Malaysian), an official French translation (from a translator on the government list), name change certificate in Australia, Australian Passport, bulletin de paie, confirmation of address, work contract, and every other document they have asked for.
They are now asking for a Birth Certificate Extract Issued less than 1 Year ago.
This is physically impossible for me to provide. I contacted the Malaysian consular in France and got the following reply (paraphrased):
"Get in touch with JPN in Kuching or Putrajaya" (my father tried online and we cannot access the portal as we have no Malaysian IDs)
"request your immediate family members to visit the nearest JPN office to apply for a new birth certificate extract on your behalf." (impossible)
"[to use] Embassy's service, [request] an appointment and this process will take a minimum of 6 months." (6 months wait on top of another 6 months with no guarantee of solution).
I have replied asking for an attestation.
What else can I do?
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Inscrit(e) le 20/05/2026
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Les meilleures réponses sont les réponses certifiées par un expert ameli ou approuvées par l'auteur de la question.
Inscrit(e) le 12/02/2026
Voir le profilHi John.
I am afraid you will ultimately have to go through the Malaysian Embassy to obtain a birth certificate, even if this takes a long time. That said, the CPAM refusal of your birth certificate may delay the attribution of your definitive social security number but should not prevent you getting health coverage.
So you should insist with the CPAM to get an attestation des droits. If they refuse, you have to appeal the decision at the "Commission de Recours Amiable". If they further refuse, you may have to escalate to the Tribunale Judiciaire. Unfortunately, also this process takes a long time.
Please try to bring this problem to the attention of your research institute, the HR of your lab, the international office of the university, the director of the doctoral school and the University vice-president delegated to student affairs. They will not be able to directly help, but they should be made aware of their institutional responsibility towards their grad students and employees. An employee being unable to access their healthcare rights is not a private matter. You may also try to contact a syndicat, but they are not the best equipped to deal with the issues of international researchers, unfortunately.
Best of luck.
