When you move to France, or simply buy a second home there, there are certain essential services in France that every home owner needs to know about.
France offers so much in terms of lifestyle, space, history, culture, community and heritage. It’s a wonderful place to work, retire or just spend holidays.
But to enjoy these wonderful attributes, it makes sense to get your house in order right from the start. In other words, deal with the essential services such as healthcare, utilities, pensions and tax first.
So where do you start?
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Your mairie
Your nearest and best port of call is your local mairie. This is equivalent to the town hall in the UK. The mairie in France, however, has a good deal of local control and power and not only that, will advise on all aspects of French life. People there will be particularly helpful to newcomers.
The Mairie can be grand, or more simple (Pack-Shot / Shutterstock.com)
France is a country proud of its communities and the mairie is your “go to” place for any questions you have about living in France. In my experience their willingness to help British expats has increased since Brexit.
Your prefecture
The prefecture is an administrative office usually located in your nearest town. Each prefecture actually is part of the Ministry of the Interior and takes care of most administration in France. That includes passports, driving licenses, car registration, work permits etc.
There is a prefecture assigned to each French department. Most of them operate on a ‘no appointment’ ticketing system whereby you take a numbered ticket on entry and await your turn. They are well staffed and more and more staff who speak some English are being recruited across the country.
Social security departments
There are several social security departments in France covering different topics. Everyone who is legally resident in France has a right to emergency healthcare and if you are working in France you may be entitled to register for a French state pension.
If you are employed, your employer will deal with your social security contributions. If you are self employed, you need to deal with these yourself (or have someone help you do so) and declare your earnings each quarter on URSAAF.
The main departments are CPAM (Caisse Primaire d’Assurance Maladie) which deals with healthcare and disability claims, CAF (Caisse des Allocations Familiales) which is to do with childcare and housing benefits and CNAV (Caisse Nationale D’Assurance Vieillesse) which deals with pensions.
Pole Emploi is a job seeking service, also dealing with unemployment benefit. Lastly URSAAF is the main administration services which collects your contributions.
Registering with social security and getting a social security number
To obtain your social security number you need to apply via one of the services such as CPAM either online or by going in person to your nearest office. You will need several documents so make sure these are all in order at the outset. These are usually: a valid passport, proof of residence such as a utility bill, work or residence permit, birth certificate translated into French, marriage certificate.
To apply in person, which we advise, visit your local CPAM office. They will help you with the relevant forms. Top Tip: take ALL of your documents with you!
The procedure can take several weeks so make sure you receive a receipt and check back with the same office after, say, four weeks.
France has a very successful healthcare scheme and once you have your social security number, the next step is to obtain your “Carte Vitale”. This will allow you to receive 70% of healthcare paid for by the State. Many people take out top up insurance in order to be fully covered for all their medical needs.
If this all seems a little overwhelming, you can breathe a sigh of relief! There are plenty of agencies in France who are happy to help British people with all of the French administration. It will still be up to you to gather together all your personal documents but the actual process can be done with the help of someone else.
Word of mouth works so well in rural France too and these days you will almost always find someone who speaks a little English who can point you in the right direction.
The trick is to make yourself known in your locality, ask around and use social media. Most villages have an expat forum who can be hugely helpful. You will also make new friends this way!
My top tips:
Having patience is important: the wheels grind slowly in France. You can help yourself at the outset by getting together a file with all of your documents: passport details, visa details, proof of purchase of property, bank account details, birth and marriage certificates. The French are big on paperwork and just having all your papers neatly together will pay huge dividends as you establish your new life in France.
The French are big on paperwork and just having all your papers neatly together will pay huge dividends.
Making friends and acquaintances is also very important. As well as introducing yourself to your local “maire”, talk to people in local shops, have a drink in your local bar, chat to your baker as you go to get your morning baguette. Don’t be afraid to ask questions; people in general love to be helpful.
Lastly, don’t fret if you don’t have all your administration done in the first few weeks: these things do take time. You are in France to enjoy life and embrace it.
