Social Security registration

How to register

Once you have arrived in France and been issued with your certificate of enrollment by a French institute of higher education, you will be able to register on "l'Assurance Maladie"'s dedicated website. At this time, you will need to enter the required information and upload the requested supporting documents, as determined by your circumstances and country of origin. When you have completed all of these steps, a personal account is created for you. You will be able to log in to it using the email address you provided at the time of registration.
 

 

Protecting your health

To make sure you get the most out of your health care coverage, you will need to take the following steps:

• Order your French health insurance card ("carte Vitale"): your card will need to be updated once a year, and whenever you have a change in circumstances. You can update it at the terminals available at all local health insurance funds ("CPAM") and at most pharmacies. This guarantees that all of your information is up-to-date and streamlines the reimbursement of your health care expenses.
• Open an ameli account (on the ameli app or on ameli.fr) to track your reimbursements, update the personal information that is crucial for smooth communications with the French health insurance system, and ask any questions by email.
• Declare a doctor you see in France as your primary care physician ("médecin traitant") for optimum follow-up care. Your primary-care physician will prescribe the care you need and refer you to a specialist if appropriate. Your care will also be reimbursed at a higher rate.
• Take out supplementary insurance to cover the percentage not reimbursed by "l'Assurance Maladie" and cut down on any out-of-pocket expenses. Depending on your income, you may be entitled to complementary health insurance. For more information, please consult the flyer in the "PRACTICAL INFORMATION SHEETS" section on the right of this page.

 

Useful information

• "You are coming to study in France" section on ameli.fr website (in French)
• Memo for international students
• Complementary health insurance flyer (in French)

Attention : there are exemptions

• Students who are nationals of a member country of the European Economic Area and Switzerland: you will continue to be covered by the social security system of your country of origin. Before you leave for France, apply for a European health insurance card so that your expenses are covered.
• Students who are nationals of Monaco: you will continue to be covered by the Monegasque social security system. Before leaving for France, apply for a certificate of entitlement.
• Students who are nationals of Andorra: you will continue to be covered by the Andorran social security system. Before leaving for France, you must ask your Andorran health insurance institution to issue form SE 130-04 "attestation de droits aux prestations en nature de l'assurance maladie, maternité pendant un séjour sur le territoire de l'autre État contractant".
• Students from Quebec: before leaving for France, you must ask the RAMQ to issue the form SE 401 Q 102 bis "attestation d'affiliation au régime québecois préalablement au départ pour la France". When you arrive in France, you must register with the Caisse Primaire d'Assurance Maladie of your department of residence.

​If you're experiencing difficulties with your Health Insurance registration, call 3646 (free service + cost of a call) from Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5:30pm. On request, you can be put in touch with an English-speaking telephone advisor to answer your questions.