Bonjour. On 1st July I need to go and register at CPAM in Limoges for my social security number. It says I need a birth certificate. I have the original which should be ok. Has anyone been asked for a translation and/or for it to be notarised?
Thanks for any advice
I haven’t had to do this but honestly, to preempt a lot of potential hassle I would get a traduction assermentée in any case and take it with me.
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That’s what we did. It wasn’t hugely expensive and I just view it as taking out insurance. If you have it, they probably won’t ask for it but if you don’t have it then they most definitely will.
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As @JohnH suggests, and Sod’s Law dictates, if you get it translated they’ll be happy with the English version. If you don’t, they’ll ask for it in French.
If you do get it translated, choose a traducteur assermenté as you then won’t have to get it witnessed by a Notaire.
Your Mairie will probably have a list of suitable bods. If they don’t, have a look on this site.
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We sent in our details as requested, including an untranslated birth certificate.
A month or so later we were asked to supply a further copy of the birth certificate
When this was repeated four times I asked for a RDV to discuss the problem.
The fonctionaire called up my file online, and studied it. My certificate was very old and handwritten.
“I see the problem” she said “they can’t read the handwriting”
“Well no matter how many times I send a copy they will still be unable to read it” I replied “so how are we going to solve OUR problem (I have a little technique when dealing with foncionaires – I make it OUR problem not MY problem)
She suggested that if I told her what the handwriting said, she would make an official translation and send it with the copy of certificate.
The next communication was our carte vitale.
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I just worked with a fantastic person to translate my driver license documents: Carmen Bruno at bctraductions11@gmail.com, € 30 a page, exclusive of tax plus VAT 20% : that is in total € 36. She got them back to me within 48 hours.
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They wouldn’t ask that it be notarized, but apostilled. Not likely unless thay had some reason to be suspicious of its provenance.
I’ve only supplied original English certificates.
A friend of mine who’s been here three years, as opposed to our 14 months, told me something very wise, back when I was in the throes of the first year paperwork: try to make their job as easy as possible. Yes, it might cost you a bit more, but things will probably go more easily and quickly if you get it translated first. Why risk having to go back and get it translated, and then have to resubmit? It already takes months to get into the system. If they don’t ask for it to be translated, someone else probably will. We’ve followed that advice ever since, and have been pretty successful in getting what we needed on the first try.
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When we first arrived we brought with us a heap of official copies of everything, translated and with stamps over them. They were very useful!
Is it the the long version with full details of your parents, rather than the short one? You need the long one. And if you have the initial copy handed over to your parents at birth then don’t hand this over but get a new one.
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Sage advice. Give them as few reason to say “no” as possible 
BTW, I think that advice is as valid for any civil service as it is for the French one.
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Ditto - except mine were Scottish, if in Glaswegian would deffo need translating?
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Birth certificate for CPAM
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Bonjour. On 1st July I need to go and register at CPAM in Limoges for my social security number. It says I need a birth certificate. I have the original which should be ok. Has anyone been asked for a translation and/or for it to be notarised?
Thanks for any advice
I had to register Limoges and no RDV was possible. It all had to be submitted by post.
My experience was no translation sent and not requested. T h my husbands was barely readable ( as per one persons experience )
However ee had no problem.
Still as been said it will probably pay to have it done.
Thank you for that advice. The mairie told me that I could not make an appointment but that I had to go in person to Limoges. She recommended arriving before they open to minimise a long wait. Interesting that you sent by post. How did you know exactly which forms to send?
I knew because, after I’d rung the English-speaking help line, I had a helpful email listing what they wanted:
- certified copy of the complete birth certificate,
- copy of the passport or ID card,
- RIB (bank account details),
- form S1106, (attached)
- proof of residency,
- marriage certificate (if necessary),
- copy of visa/titre de séjour,
- S1/S1 refusal/work contract copy/doc confirming your independent activity,
- general practitioner’s registration form (when you’ve found a doctor)
I got it all together and then made an appointment at CPAM, which uses a room at our Mairie. The lady checked and photocopied what she needed.
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Out of interest, do you mind saying roughly when you submitted your initial “demande d’ouverture de droits”?
My husband submitted his in February and the matter has since been referred to the CREIC. Which I thought was just for “inactif” EU nationals but apparently @JimCable (who’s British) has been referred there too.
Apologies to Jim if I’ve got this all wrong.