Student visa holders of any nationality and EU nationals
If you are either
- A student visa holder (“visa étudiant”)
- A student who is also a European Union national
You can register for the French national health insurance scheme (known as l’Assurance maladie, or Ameli).
Registering with the French national health insurance scheme will unlock the right to be reimbursed for most (though not all) of your medical costs when seeing practitioners in France.
In practice, you must pay all medical practitioners for consultations at the time of the consultation. The national health insurance scheme will automatically reimburse you once you are fully registered (until that point, you will need to submit your orange feuille de soins for reimbursement). Reimbursement always takes place after the medical consultation has happened.
Register here: https://etudiant-etranger.ameli.fr/#/ and follow the prompts.
In doing this, you are simultaneously registering for la Sécurité sociale and will receive a Social Security number and a green carte vitale*.
Generally speaking, you will be required to upload
- Proof of your student status (please contact the Kent Paris office for a status letter; do not use the status letter you used to apply for your visa)
- Identification (passport, national ID card)
- Your student visa (for visa holders)
- Your bank account details (RIB/IBAN)
If you are not an EU national, you may also be required to upload
- A copy of your birth certificate
- You may be required to include an official French translation
- Proof that you have registered/validated your visa upon arrival in France
- Once you have a permanent address, you can register your visa here: https://administration-etrangers-en-france.interieur.gouv.fr/particuliers/#/vls-ts/demarches/etape/numero-visa
EU nationals who are in possession of either an S1 form or their EHIC card will have slightly different prompts. If you are an EU national who has neither an S1 form nor an EHIC card, you can still register for French social security.
*Once you are in possession of your green carte vitale, reimbursement will take place automatically. Until then, you will receive an orange feuille de soins from each medical appointment/consultation. The feuille de soins acts as a form of receipt. You will need to physically post this to your local CPAM in order to be reimbursed. Once you receive your carte vitale, you will present the carte vitale at all medical appointments, and will no longer receive the feuille de soins.
UK nationals who are not student visa holders
If you are
- a UK national normally resident in the UK
- coming to France to study but do not hold a student visa
You should apply for a GHIC (formerly EHIC) card prior to coming to France. Due to high demand, you should apply as early as possible.
You can use your GHIC (formerly EHIC) card to access medically necessary state-provided healthcare when you’re visiting an EU country or Switzerland.
Medically necessary healthcare means healthcare that cannot reasonably wait until you return to the UK. Whether treatment is necessary is decided by the healthcare provider in the country you’re visiting.
In France, routine GP visits are not normally covered by GHIC/EHIC, though visits to A&E will be covered, so remember to bring it along should you require emergency care.
Please read the following for a comprehensive summary of health care protocols whilst abroad: https://www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/healthcare-abroad/apply-for-a-free-uk-global-health-insurance-card-ghic/
Everyone else
If you are not a student visa holder nor a UK national, you may wish to consider obtaining medical insurance while abroad or check to see if your normal health insurance policy covers trips abroad.
You are not required to have medical insurance to see a medical professional in France, and medical costs are very reasonable compared to some other countries. With that said, you may wish to consider medical and/or travel insurance based on your specific health care needs. Practitioners charge different rates; we advise you to enquire about rates or costs before reserving a consultation or medical procedure.