Health insurance

Researchers who switch from a “Student” residence permit to a ” Talent : Chercheur ” ‘s have to change their Health Insurance scheme: contact us to get to know how to proceed.

You are employed and receive a salary from France with a visa or a residence permit “Talent : Chercheur ” =  you must register to the CPAM of Paris, online with our organization or with your employer. 

You are salaried researcher (for Algerians, see section below) :

Please send us by email your complete postal address, your phone number and the following documents, 5 separated PDF files, each file must not exceed 2MO

• File 1 : for non-european, your visa D (= long stay) “Talent : Chercheur”, AND the date of entry into France, AND your “Talent : Chercheur” residence permit OR your certificate of positive decision called “attestation de décision favorable”. If you have a long-stay-visa-valid-as-a-residence-permit (VLSTS), your visa “Talent: Chercheur” is required AND the date of entry into France AND the validation of your visa. For the children, the first page of the passport; for non-european children, add the visa D AND the date of entry into France AND the DCEM if you have it.
• File 2 : first page of your passport with your identity and validity dates (no file 2 for the children).
• File 3 : your birth certificate with filiation (no need for legal validation nor apostil) AND its translation in French. Are accepted birth certificates in Albanese, German, English, Danish, Croat, Spanish, Finnish, French, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Dutch, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Swedish, Czech and Turkish. Otherwise, it needs to be translated
  • by a sworn translator: see the list by language here (see pages 21 to 28)
  • by the French Consulate or Embassy in the country where the certificate was established
  • by the Consulate or Embassy in France of the country where the certificate was established
• File 4 : your Host Agreement “Convention d’Accueil” (except for european researchers) AND your recent salary slip for this position (ask your HR) OR your working contract
• File 5 : your bank details (RIB) in France

For family members (spouse and children): your spouse’ phone number and email, his/her date of entry into France, and the following PDF documents, each file must not exceed 2MO:

• File 1 : for non-european, your “Talent : Famille” visa D (= long stay) and the date of entry into France, AND your “Talent: Famille” residence permit OR your certificate of positive decision called “attestation de décision favorable”. If you have a long-stay-visa-valid-as-a-residence-permit (VLSTS), your visa “Talent: Famille” is required, the date of entry into France, and the validation of your visa.
• File 2 : first page of the passport with identity and validity dates
• File 3 : birth certificate with filiation (no need for legal validation nor apostil) AND its translation (see explanations above)
• File 4 : For spouse only, bank details (RIB) in his/her own name, or a letter giving authorization for the refund on your spouse (the researcher)’s account (see template here).

Health Insurance will let us know if other documents are required. If you haven’t heard from them two months after your application, you can get an update on your file by calling Monday to Friday from 8:30AM til 5:30PM. There are English speakers: 09 74 75 36 46. Before talking to one of them, you may be asked to mention which Health Insurance office you depend on. To answer, please dial 75, as you depend on CPAM Paris (department n°75). You might be asked for personal information such as the 4 last digits of your IBAN, so take your bank account details with you before calling. You will first receive a temporary Health Insurance number. Thanks to it, if you have medical expenses, send all related proof of payment and medical forms and send them by post (ideally with acknowledgment of receipt) to :

ASSURANCE MALADIE DE PARIS
SRI / Talents
75948 PARIS CEDEX 19

As soon as you will have your definitive Health Insurance number, you’ll receive postal mails : if you change your address, make sure you’ll still receive your postal mail, e.g. thanks to the forwarding service from French Post Office. You will receive by post a form to fill out and send back for Health Insurance to issue your Vitale card. It will be sent to you by post. Remember to open your personal account online on www.ameli.fr. To do this, call the Health Insurance and they will give you a code or send it by text message. Use it for the 1st connexion only and immediately personalized it. In your personal account online, check that your personal data is up to date. Finally, to benefit from the maximum reimbursment rate, you must declare who is your referent doctor using this form, to fill out and send by post to Health Insurance.

Algerian salaried researchers who benefit from a social security convention will have to register to the Health Insurance in Nantes.

You need to fill out the form “Demande d’affiliation au régime général” and gather all the documents requested on page two of the form:

1. a copy of your passport: pages with your identity and validity dates
2. a copy of your residence permit « scientifique-chercheur » OR a copy of your long-stay visa « scientifique-chercheur » in your passport (date of entry and OFII sticker if possible)
3. a copy of your birth certificate with filiation and readable authentication stamp
4. a copy of your last salary slip for your current position
5. your bank account details (RIB) with your current adress. If not, add a copy of a recent residence proof with current adress.

There are two offices in Nantes:

You can directly drop your file there, or send it by post at:

CPAM de la Loire-Atlantique
9 rue Gaëtan Rondeau
44958 Nantes Cedex 8

If you haven’t heard from them two months after your application, you can get an update on your file by calling Monday to Friday from 8:30AM til 5:30PM. There are English speakers: 09 74 75 36 46. Before talking to one of them, you may be asked to mention which Health Insurance office you depend on. To answer, please dial 44, as you depend on CPAM Nantes (department n°44). You might be asked for personal information such as the 4 last digits of your IBAN, so take your bank account details with you before calling. You will first receive a temporary Health Insurance number. Thanks to it, if you have medical expenses, send all related proof of payment and medical forms and send them by post (ideally with acknowledgment of receipt) to the above address.

As soon as you will have your definitive Health Insurance number, you’ll receive postal mails : if you change your address, make sure you’ll still receive your postal mail, e.g. thanks to the forwarding service from French Post Office. You will receive by post a form to fill out and send back for Health Insurance to issue your Vitale card. It will be sent to you by post. Remember to open your personal account online on www.ameli.fr. To do this, call the Health Insurance and they will give you a code or send it by text message. Use it for the 1st connexion only and immediately personalized it. In your personal account online, check that your personal data is up to date. Finally, to benefit from the maximum reimbursment rate, you must declare who is your referent doctor using this form, to fill out and send by post to Health Insurance.

You must apply to the Health Insurance in order to register with the social security and benefit from the refund scheme.

There are different possibilities for you to have a health insurance:

• ask the health organisation in your country of residence. This organisation should be able to inform you about your rights when moving to France or suggest a health scheme payable to them.
• for long stays, you can register for French Health Insurance on the basis that your residence is in France, meaning after you spent at least 3 months in France. We advise you to pay a private insurance for at least the first five months of your stay.
  

To apply for French Health Insurance, you have to fill out this form “Demande d’affiliation au régime général” and provide all the required documents mentioned on page 2 of this form

1. a copy of your passport: pages with your identity and validity dates
2. for non-europeans, a copy of your residence permit or a copy of your long-stay visa in your passport with date of entry and online validation of it
3. a copy of your birth certificate with filiation and readable authentication stamp AND its translation (see above for Health Insurance requirements concerning the birth certificate’s translation)
4. any document to proof that you spent at least three months in France (energy or phone bills…)
5. your bank account details (RIB) with your current adress. If not, add a copy of a recent residence proof with current adress.
   

You can directly drop your file there, in Nantes there are two offices :

or send it by post at:

CPAM de la Loire-Atlantique

9, rue Gaëtan Rondeau

44958 Nantes cedex 9

• you can get in touch with AXA insurance via the Fnak website or ACS AMI insurance. Both have developed packages specially made for expats.
• if you have low incomes, you can enquire at the CPAM to apply for CMU, a basic health insurance.
  

For any questions regarding work accident and work related diseases insurance, and also for third party insurance, please get in touch with us.

If you are coming to do some research in France and you do not have a salary from a French employer, you may have a grant, a funding other than a salary, per diems… In this cases, you will not be automatically integrated to the French social security system. The three months delay apply.

• Ambulance/SAMU: 15 (health related emergency)
• Firemen/Pompiers: 18 
• Local police: 02 40 41 95 30
• Police headquarters: 02 53 46 70 00
• Emergency number for deaf people or people with hearing problems: 114
• European number for missing children: 116000
• Social emergency: 115 (for homeless people – 7j/7 de 9 h à 23 h)
• Doctors outside of working hours: 02 40 50 30 30
• Number for abused children: 119
• European emergy number: 112 
• Anti poison centre: 02 41 48 21 21
• Late night chemist: 3237 (or outside of working hours)

Here is a list of emergency contacts. For more contacts about support regarding health problems, you can check the Ville de Nantes website. 

For common health care, we advise you to use Doctolib (in French) to get an appointment with a doctor: type “Médecin généraliste” in the search tool, and the town, and then in “plus de filtres” you can choose the language spoken by the doctor.