Healthcare for Researchers
In France, a portion of healthcare expenses is covered by the government. To benefit from healthcare, individuals must be registered in the social security system.
The registration process varies depending on your status (employee, scholarship recipient, student), the duration of your stay and your residence permit.
Healthcare for Employees
In France, it is mandatory to register in the social security system for stays longer than three months, unless there is a bilateral agreement between France and your country of origin.
An employee and their family can benefit from the comprehensive French healthcare system as follows:
- Health, maternity, paternity, disability and death;
- Accidents at work and occupational diseases;
- Retirement pension;
- Family benefits;
- Unemployment benefit.
Before my arrivalEuropean Healthcare Card
If you are a European Union or EEA citizen, you can apply for the European Health Insurance Card (Carte Européenne d’Assurance Maladie—CEAM) in your home country. This personal card helps you to obtain and pay for any health care that may be necessary during a temporary stay in France and gives you access to the public health system.
It should be presented at each visit to a health professional to ensure that treatment is received. To be reimbursed, the medical treatment form (feuille de soins) received from your doctor, the prescription and a copy of your CEAM should be deposited at the Local Illness Insurance Fund Center (Caisse Primaire d’Assurance Maladie—CPAM) in the area where you live.
Beware!
The validity period of the card varies from one issuing country to another (you may obtain information on this from the social insurance body in your country of origin, or consult the CLEISS website).
Private Healthcare for Fellows or Guest Researchers
If you do not have a work contract and are not enrolled in a French institution of higher education, you must take out private health insurance at your own expense for the first three months of your stay. You can then register for Social Security as a resident after three months of having lived in France.
I am in StrasbourgEuropean Citizens
If you are an employee at the University of Strasbourg, you and your family will be registered with the Bas-Rhin CPAM retroactively from the first day of your employment contract. In order to be registered, you must fill out the 15763*02 form, and the 14445*02 form for your children, as well a send the required documents by postal mail to the CPAM du Bas-Rhin.
Documents to provide
- the 15763*02 form and the 14445*02 form for your children;
- a copy of your passport: page(s) with identity and validity date;
- a copy of your birth certificate mentioning filiations*;
- a copy of your employment contract;
- your bank statement (RIB), preferably from a French bank.
Beware!
*Birth certificates in the following languages are accepted: Albanian, German, English, Danish, Croatian, Spanish, Finnish, French, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Dutch, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Swedish, Czech, and Turkish.
For other languages, they must be translated, either by a sworn translator or by the French Embassy or Consulate in the country where the document was issued.
Talent Passport—Researcher
If you are an employee with a Talent—researcher passport visa /residence permit, you and your family will be attached to the Paris Caisse Primaire d'Assurance Maladie from the first day of your employment contract.
University's Euraxess centre can manage your social security registration via the employers’ platform if you request it. You can also send the documents yourself to the CPAM de Paris (with the 15763*02 form filled out).
Documents to provide
- a copy of your passport: page(s) with identity and validity date;
- a copy of your residence permit or long-stay visa equivalent to a residence permit bearing the words “Talent—researcher passport”;
- a copy of your birth certificate mentioning filiations*;
- a copy of your Hosting Agreement;
- a copy of your employment contract;
- your bank statement (RIB).
Algerian Citizens
If you are an Algerian citizen, with a Scientist-researcher or a student visa/residence permit, you and your family will be registered to the Bas-Rhin CPAM. In order to be registered, you must fill out the 15763*02 form and the 14445*02 form for your children, as well as send the required documents by postal mail to the CPAM du Bas-Rhin.
Documents to provide
- a copy of your passport: page(s) with identity and validity date;
- a copy of your residence permit or long-stay visa equivalent to a residence permit bearing the words “Talent - researcher passport”;
- a copy of your birth certificate mentioning filiations*;
- your bank statement (RIB).
Fellows or Guest Researchers
If you are welcomed to the University of Strasbourg to conduct your research with a scholarship or as a visiting researcher (employed by your home institution), and you don't have a work contract in France, then you may be eligible for social security based on residence criteria.
After three months of having lived in France, you can register for Social Security as a resident. In order to do this, you and your family will have to send your documents by postal mail to the Bas-Rhin CPAM.
Documents to provide
- the form 15763*02 and the form 14445*02 for your children;
- a copy of your passport: page(s) with identity and validity date;
- a copy of your residence permit or long-stay visa equivalent to a residence permit;
- a copy of your birth certificate mentioning filiations*;
- a copy of your Convention d’accueil or Convention de séjour de recherche;
- proof of address of the last three months (electricity /gas/internet/phone bill or leasing contract);
- your bank details (RIB).
PhD Students Enrolled in France
If you are a scholarship-funded PhD student or have no funding at all but are administratively enrolled in a French higher education institution, you are covered by the French student healthcare system, which is free of charge. We invite you to refer to the procedure provided for students.
Healthcare (Social Security) partially reimburses your healthcare expenses (70% for the general scheme, 90% for the Alsace-Moselle scheme).
To cover the remaining costs, you can subscribe to an additional healthcare (a private health service called “mutuelle” in French). It will reimburse the remaining expenses based on the chosen contract. Some contracts also provide coverage for services not covered by Social Security.
Tip
If you are a Unistra employee, you can get 15 euros a month of your complementary health insurance reimbursed by filling out a form and sending an attestation of your complementary health subscribtion to your HR manager. For more information about this, contact your HR manager.
If you have very low income, you may be eligible for the Complémentaire Santé Solidaire (C2S) after residing in France for 3 months.