Well done Fiona!
I was tempted to add a comment here because of something CPAM-related that I am involved in, but to be fair, itâs a separate issue. Something I saw in this post reminded me that I need to do something, but need advice â so Iâll start another topic.
The number for the English speaking Health care help line is: 0033 97 47 53 64 6
They can give you help and advice and when you send off your application form for CPAM and it has been received ( send by registered mail : reception accuse and include your marriage certificate even though they donât ask for it on the form, they will later) they can give you a tracking number which you can track the progress of your application with. You will hear some French on the call but it will be an English speaker.
This is the incomprehensible Clusterf$ck that Brexit has caused. I canât begin to wade my way through all this without speaking French.
Therefore, I have only two hopes:
- Find a French speaking girlfriend soon!
- Hope my German passport/nationality comes through soon and makes all this cobblers irrelevant!
If you want to live in France then you canât escape these sorts of things! Part of the cultureâŠ
Well, these sorts of problems arenât really part of the cultureâŠthey are actually the consequences of Brexit, arenât they? Or was this always so?
The third alternative of just selling my house in France (that Iâve owned for the last 12 years) seems less likely to meet with success before the first two solutions! Hahaha
Joining CPAM is a lot simpler now than it used to be! When OH first arrived it was a Kafkaesque performance that took quite a while, bundles of documents and everything translated!
At the moment there are a people who arrived in France rather late (in terms of meeting deadline for getting rights under the Withdrawal agreement). So many have not done much preparation, or speak enough French, and are trying to do things very quickly. In normal times you just plod through the process step by step presenting copies of your dossier again and again and it all works out.
But presumably you have had to do all this anyway to be resident here?
Except for those who have had a French Numéro de Securite Sociale before and reactivation is a sticking point.
Is there anything we can do to help @Derin100 ?
You can read all about healthcare and how to apply to the French healthcare system . If you prefer to have the information in English the CPAM also have information in English and an English speaking helpline .
Well, itâs slightly complicated, Jane.
I have hadâŠshall we say⊠a âsomewhat turbulentâ past couple of years. Therefore, as a Brit, I havenât applied for residency in France etc. Iâm not even sure I will be able to live (or perhaps even wish to) in my house in France on a permanent or full-time basis.
However, Iâm hoping to circumvent all the post-Brexit restrictions placed on Brits by simply (itâs actually anything BUT simpleâŠhahaha) obtaining my German citizenship. If you want to experience something that makes France bureaucracy seem simple try German bureaucracy ! 14 page forms, interviews, nearly all day language examsâŠHahaha!
I might possibly end up spending half my time in France and half in Germany if this works out.
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Thanks ToryâŠthatâs most kind and helpful. 
My dossier for German nationality weighed 1.5kgâŠ
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HAHAHA! Exactly! 
It took me so long to fill out the forms the first time. Then, by the time Iâd done itâŠtheyâd changed the forms to a new format and I had to start all over again!
CPAM in English 0033811363646
New number: 0033974753646
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Hello
My experiences gie the lie to some of what you were told by CPAM so may help.
Before coming to France I obtained an S1 from the NHS because I am drawing the OAP, which also covered my 60 year old wife.
In early December my wife applied for residency on the newer on-line system and at the same time we submitted all the requested documents to CPAM with the S1. My wife has received her CdS (so Browie points to part of the French system) and I have received my Carte Vitale but my wife is trapped in a cycle of reuests for the same document! It seems to me that the clericals gie the impression of attending to their work by requesting further information and do not trouble to see if they have it already, it ticks their box to be asking - the delay is then YOUR fault. Even as I type my wife is replying to an email request for her birth certificate because the one they received in January is too blurred. She is explaining tactfully that that is why we twice went into their office in Cahors for them to photocopy the original for themselves and since we had also had to send a certified translated copy (40 Euros) with the original application would this not do? She is not going to query why, when the UK government is paying, they have to do more than satisfy themselves that she is indeed the person the UK are willing to pay for and does the passport (which they have acepted) not prove her identity to the British?
So no residency required for CV beyond that which is required to apply for the Withdrawal Agreement Carte de Sejour. CPAM have not mentioned Residency, maybe that is next?
Bon Chance.
Oh dear. So far as I can tell that same service lost 11/13 of my documents including one original birth certificate that had been very expensive and onerous to obtain. Am still trying to sort it out but the British government has gone AWOL on providing needed documentation now.
I too had wondered about apparently completely over the top requests for further documentation and documentation which had already been provided being a âput the onus on the customerâ tactic. But when I found out most documentation had been lost I put it down to that. I attributed my shock at the document loss and excessive âfishing tripâ further documentation request to this being my first encounter with French administration that hasnât been in person (as the office was closed in its up to date working hours that had been checked).
Itâs taking ages to sort out now & this is not being helped by the British govt
dept despite calling them every ten days or so. If I survive this I think I had better give some serious thought to moving house to some other area within France.
I asked once after we hade provided the same documents 3 times why they kept asking again and again, and realised that because our documents âlook differentâ the person the the receiving end doesnât recognise them for what they are - especially if they speak no English.
Since then any request for documents is accompanied by a polite cover note saying exactly what they are, in both languages.
But still no excuses for losing docs. They lost my original birth certificate at CPAM, and I made such a fuss they suddenly found it - thankfully. These days people have to make do with a certified copy as not letting that one out of my sight again!
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Have a query, not residency but definitely CPAM.
We did the CPAM application at their office 22 Feb (they said the temp SS number would arrive in a month) and by last Monday as nothing had arrived Madame did a âwalk byâ of the office waving the S1âs - why no SS number?
Back she came with a RDV and when we went Wednesday, the guy pressed a button and out came the attestation de droits! (He said there was an administrative delay - Madame thinks they forgot about us but hey, I think they were being nice - though it was dated on the Monday when she askedâŠ)
Anyway, they have handed us form 52269 demande de complementaire sante solidaire, and have asked us to come back on Thursday with the figures - have made another RDV to help us fill it in. Explained this was the mutuelle âtop upâ to get to the 100% reimbursement level.
Now, having done some research, unless I will be pleasantly surprised, this will be the scheme with the income limit (of around 18K for 2 people)? - and Iâm pleased to say, we have more income than that limit. I did the simulator on our figures and computer said no.
So Iâm just wondering if
- anyone else has been given this form, or asked to complete it, as part of their CPAM application process; and
- whether to politely explain at the RDV we wonât be within the income band to qualify, so thanks but no thanks?
Wonder if this has anything to do with the accounts of people being asked for their last 12 months income?
I know I can phone the english CPAM number to enquire - thanks @graham and wondered if anyone else has encountered this as there is no mention of people being asked to complete the form elsewhere when applying?
@captainendeavour - capitaine, the temp SS# number has arrived! Only took three months - presume no sign of your CV?
Perhaps you hadnât put your heels on? This is a joke my OH and I have as so many of our french friends âput their heels onâ when they go anywhere official - as in change clothes, add make-up, jewellery and the like (official can actually just mean the supermarket!). We just tend to make sure we are clean. So are always the scruffiest people, and perhaps the impression is that we have no money for âheelsâ. But we have never been offered the cheap top-up!