OK so I realise getting a carte vitale is testing and I'm exercising patience but after numerous exchanges backwards and forwards with documents etc I have now been told that I need a certificate showing both my wife and my parents names and dates of birth! The CPAM office seemed to think it should be on our birth certificates but of course it is not so they suggested I contact the mairie who would hold the information which of course does not exist in the UK. Please has anyone any ideas as to how I can get this information and is it really necessary!!
Yess!! Congratulations!! It may be a while till you get the actual card, but as long as you have your provisional number, you can start claiming back using your brown forms (feuille de soins).
Nicole, we sent back a very large dossier to CPAM on 1 Feb containing everything they asked for, and told them when we had sent it previously including dates etc. Today we have finally been sent a letter of acceptance. Whoopeeee…
I understand that this procedure is being introduced gradually, so it may be some time before this new procedure gets round to your office.
Hi Simon - thanks for that, I already have all that down pat! :) Just wondered if there was a link to the legalese to confound them with their own rules!
Maybe you will have aged in the photo? I went to get a new photo this week and when I looked at my last CV one done about 10 years ago- oh dear!!!!!!
You may well be right Simon but what’s really pi$$ing me off is that if we fill out the new form,and send it back with the requested info,they won’t actually get anything they’ve not had before.Aarggh!
Chris - hopefully that will speed things up for you! No wonder some people resort to violence!
The French Administration generally have no concept of us being their customer and are oblivious to the fact that they work for us - paid for with our taxes. It's a shame I don't live near you - I love nothing better than 'cleaning' them....:-)
We have been asked to fill in the affiliation form that Simon mentions and now think that they are going to ignore everything we have sent in the previous 6 months and start from scratch again because of the new “simplified” regulations as of 1 Jan. Seems like we may have completely wasted our time!
Top of the page, under the 'logo', third heading along, Useful Links, subheadings like health, official sites and legal should give you most of what is available. It is always being added to so anything it leads you on to that is not there feel free to feedback a link to us.
Nicole - I've already posted this relevant to EU citizens - new legislation from 01 Jan 2016. Just to be clear though - the Carte Vitale is simply an automatic payment / reimbursement tool - you need to affiliate to the Assurance Maladie as a first step and, if successful, you will be issued with a Carte Vitale.
To be honest I just don't understand the why some people are made to jump through hoops - they're obviously (and unfortunately!) dealing with complete prats!
As an EU citizen, you have automatic rights to join the CMU after only 3 months of stable residence in France - a lot has changed recently and new legislation came into effect on 01 January 2016 - essentially simplifying the whole process - that is if you are a bona fide resident e.g. proof of your tax returns, income, bills etc. If you are not working and therefore not paying and social security contributions if France, your quarterly contributions will be assessed and set according to any income you have over 9,611 € pa (as per 2016). Naturally, when you are in receipt of a UK State pension - you will be issued with an S1 which will negate the need for any contributions from you as the UK will pick up the tab.
This link will give you all the info you need:
http://www.ameli.fr/assures/soins-et-remboursements/cmu-et-compleme...
And this one will give you the brand new application form for affiliation:
http://www.ameli.fr/fileadmin/user_upload/formulaires/735.cnamts.pdf
Brian - I seem to remember you know some links to the French legal requirements regarding Carte Vitale applications. Could you possibly point me in their direction please so I can arm myself for clients? Thanks! :)
We have never had problems with these issues, although we have had a couple of times with things we have done that French people do but because our documents are different... but that is another story. However, over time we have seen both sides of all of this and a vast range of variations between. If, at the very least, we keep on getting the kind of information made available in the Useful Links space then we can develop a reasonably comprehensive defence against these things happening to people. When I have needed supporting 'evidence' to my claim that I do not need umpteen translations, sign under sworn oath to all of the Norse gods and probably Asterix and Obelix to keep it French, I have slammed a sheath of paper, all in French, and especially with French ministry and EU tops to the paper and get my little foot stamping way. If I can do it, then probably most other people can. So any documents SOLVIT recommend, recommend on in case we don't know then and then in the end we'll wear the buggers down!
SOLVIT is right. It should take about six weeks for them to deal with CPAM in Chalon, but well worth it!
Do not expect an apology.
I've been in touch with SOLVIT (link at the top of the page) extremely helpful. They have quoted various EU regulations and CPAM should not require anything other than our passports and the S1 form !!!The whole idea behind the S1, which has been issued by the UK government for heavens sake, is to REDUCE paperwork! Try telling that to the French. Its taken me 2 days to insure a car and a new printer ink cartridge there is so much paper work!!
Well we sent the tax info as requested, and have now received another letter requesting 7 different items! Of course they have had them anyway, but after a call to the English speaking helpline we have been told to comply and send everything again. Becoming a little exasperated now!..
I lived in Italy for 20years and all I need to do for a medical card was register as resident. Here in France I have been told that there is no need to register as resident because I am European. I have my Italian medical card so why can't it be automatically transferred into the French version? When you get your birth certificate with parents names and details be sure to give it to the French authorities before three months have passed otherwise they will say it is out of date. That is what they told me which seems stupid, how can a birth certificate be out of date? I was told the only way to get a carte vitale is to get a job, even if you work only a few hours a week for a company, the company will have to sort out your carte vitale for you.
I don't know if the rules have changed in the last 15 years but I went to my local CPAM with the birth certificates for the kids and I, our passports, my husbands death certificate, my EDF bill, the letter from the Notaire with the bill of sale for the house and that was it, I received my carte vitale 3 weeks later. In the letter it asked me to mise à jour it to check all my rights were present and I had full 100% covereage and repayments were made within a week of handing over the feuille de soin. So unless the rules have changed they're being a pain because they can and to justify their job. I live in Normandie and it was very straight forward, it was the same for the CAF and each year I made a declaration of my income which was 0 until I found work. Now I work for the dept of Agriculture I have a card from MSA and now I have a mutual of AG2R, it's much easier since the system got computorised now when I go to the doc's he swipes my card in his computor MSA know immediately so don't have to send off Arrete de Travaille forms anymore and I receive reimbursement with 3 days and it prints a copy off for my boss. MSA notify the Hotel D'Impot of my salary and pension so my tax form is filled in when I receive it all I have to do is to declare no other income, sign and date it. It's very efficient.
Surely, they are not allowed to do this David.
It must be against the Eu Regulations for freedom of movement.
Oh dear Macon have transferred our documentation to Chalon!!Luck is not on our side. We are between St Gengoux and Buxy . So why the documents were sent to Macon in the first place I don't know.