Oh my goodness no they won’t accept that card and as a resident you shouldn’t be using it anyway, it is just for tourists. If something happened you may not be covered if they know you live here. Does you travel insurance actually cover you as you are not a UK resident (many in the small print specify that you need to be UK resident).
You need to call and get your S1 sorted as soon as possible. You are able to use the S1 itself as your proof for the prefecture (although they may ask you to send in proof once you are in the French system and you have your SS number).
This is the number you need to call, it will be sent to you at your French address. You need to be clear that you arrived in France before 31/12/20 but just hadn’t got around to calling yet:
For S1 Overseas Healthcare Service on +44 191 218 1999
This seems strange when you are claiming to be resident here, are you maybe a new arrival?
Until you get your health care situation in order you wont’ be summoned or be finalising your card, it is one of the few things that they ask you for. Once you have that it is an easy process - the same looking forms as the original so you’ll just need to upload your S1 when you get it.
Hi Jane,
Thanks for your help. I have filled in all the questions and photos requested including my British Pension and my Private Pension. I have an EU Health Card and even though it is out of date now I was told to send a photo of it. I also gave them my new EU health card reference number. I can’t find anything in the FAQs to help but the form does say I have until October 2021 to complete the application.
I need to get back to the U.K. but trying to get the Titre de Sejour as it should make it easier getting back into Europe.
Thanks again.
Martin
Yes you have time to sort this, and far better to do so properly that get it rejected for lack of health insurance! Don’t worry about coming back into France. Even if you sent everything in tomorrow you may well not have a residents card by April anyway. We applied 4 months ago and will get them in about another month.
If your card looks like this then it is an EHIC card and ABSOLUTELY NO USE for your resident card (sorry to shout but this is important). Read what Tory says and phone on Monday for your S1
Thanks for the pic Jane, I didn’t realise they said ‘European Health Card’ on the top, so excuse my earlier comments! I don’t think he saw my reply as he was replying to you the same time I posted!
@Christopher_Walker Martin, I just thought I’d tag you as not sure if you saw the rest of the posts (including mine just before your last post as we cross posted).
Hi Tory.
More changes with Covid-19 in England!!!
I am hoping to receive my Health Card this week as it could only be posted to a U.K. address.
Fortunately I have a French friend in England who is posting it on the me in Bergerac this week
I am worried that is the EU Health Card is not accepted for my Titre de Sejour I will be stuck until the summer. If I am governed by the new 90 day Brexit rule within 180 days I will have to be back in England from March 16th and not able to return until mid June.
I have somewhere to quarantine for 2 weeks in England so that is not a problem.
I can then have my vaccination done but wondered if With my current British passport I can pay to have the vaccination done in France. At least that would be one thing less to do.
I am hoping to sign on with a doctor at the Health Centre in Creysse. I can’t go there as you have to ring so I hope my French is good enough?
However, if I could have a Covid-19 test that’s Negative I think I am allowed to go back to England, but I can’t afford £1,750 for 10 days and 3 meals a day accommodation in a designated hotel. I only eat one meal a day!
Has anyone on SurviveFrance encountered similar problems please.
Best wishes.
Martin Walker
Hi Martin,
I’m putting my small person to bed and then need to sort dinner for the rest of us. But please rest assured you do not need to worry about the 90/180 rule as you were resident here before the end of last year so you do not need to go back to the UK. I will send you a private message in the morning.
Tory. You’re so helpful. And with a family to look after? And then there are people like me needing a helping hand. Do you or the organisation need any funding as the site seems too good to be true!
Just get back to me in your own time as I am sure you have more urgent things to attend to.
Cheers. Martin
Dear Tory,
I have been reading your comments about a Titre de Sejour, which I only thought about when a French friend in England suggested I apply as a backup now the U.K. is no longer in the EU.
What I hadn’t realised was the importance of your comment about me not owning a property in France, still driving a U.K. registered car, not to mention the lack of paper information like bills, etc.
And on reflection the Welsh landlord of the apartment in Frejus just used to to tell me how much the utilities like electricity, etc. were and I would just pay him in £s Sterling where he would then pay it into his British Bank Account in the U.K. He is a very honest and careful man and I am sure he will have put the rental amounts on his tax return.
So overall it’s not looking good and at my age of 81 years I really don’t want the hassle and will reluctantly just head back to the U.K. and return as a tourist a couple of times a year in the future as long as I can.
When I mentioned my animal sitting hobby it was only some English people who paid me, partly because house sitting in sunnier countries like Spain, Italy and the South of France did not need any temptation so they never paid anything except a bit of loose change in case the animal needed anything.
Looking back the silliest thing I did when the family’s lifestyle changed was to close my bank account with the Société Général bank in Ste. Maxime-sur-Mer.
When my S1 card finally arrives I will eventually send it in to the Prefecture but in the meantime before I return to England Mr. Owen asked if I could just drive to Frejus to check his appartement as it has been empty for 6 months or so. The Ministre de L’Interior have told me I can legally make the journey in daylight hours.
I would like to thank you for your sterling work in helping me.
Very best wishes.
Martin
PS Is there a system set up in France where I can obtain a negative Covid test and then quarantine in England?
If you meet the residency/income requirements is there any reason not to continue in France as an inactif. You won’t, perhaps, be able to easily get a WA TdS but you should be able to get a shorter duration residence permit, in the same way that someone moving post Brexit would.
I can understand that tackling administration in a rush may not be what you want to do. It seems a shame, and possibly worth one more go at asking the préfecture how to regularise your position if that’s what Tory advises.
However, rest assured that France will not be off limits to you.
If you want to visit for up to three months you just need to make sure that there is 6 months or more on your passport, that you have a UK issued EHIC, and can show that you have enough money to cover your stay. A bank statement or pension certificate would do it. Proper travel insurance also recommended.
If you want to stay for up to a year then a bit more work involved as you will have to spend 99€ and get a visa. You can only apply in the UK, and 3 months or less before you want to travel. You have to fill in a form online, print out the documents and take them with passport and photos to a centre in London, Manchester or (I think) Newcastle. Same sort of requirements. You will need o decide in advance where you will stay, or get a friend to write you a letter of accommodation.
But all these things are do’able if you do decide to leave.
We too would have been there about 5 minutes, but for the taking of the finger prints. Which (as I mentioned elsewhere) proved to be “interesting”. OH with one thumb in a bandage caused the machine to have apoplexy. And it then flatly refused to read the prints of my right hand. This required the two colleagues in the room (one being trained) to seek the opinion of a third. And the three of them had one of those long technical conversations along the lines of “well have you tried switching it on and off”. We “escaped” some 20 minutes later.
We went to Niort and were the only people there apart from the clerks. Although our appointments were 15 minutes apart we were both seen together and it went very smoothly, despite me being somewhat challenged in the finger department.
All you need is your passport, the email you got making the interview (it has a ref number on it) and a single photograph. The lengthiest time is finding the place (Niort is very medieval) and although there’s a multi-storey nearby, it can be packed. Got lost coming out of Niort and saw lots of French countryside - ah well, no problems, now we’re legally resident !
