I’m wondering if anyone could advise me. I am a UK born and raised citizen with dual nationality with a EU country. I moved to France 4 months ago to accompany my French fiancé who works full time. We made this decision because he had a higher paying job than what i did in the UK. I entered France with my EU passport, so no visa required.
I was under the impression that after 3 months i was able to apply for an SS number and a carte vitale. I have had my application refused because i registered to France Travail and i am a Job Seeker. I am now starting to understand that as an EU citizen, i can search for jobs without a visa, but can’t have healthcare from the french government. I was told by Ameli i should of applied with my British passport, but that requires a visa.
I do have PHI, it is basic but i do have it. I was told by Ameli the UK is responsible for my healthcare, despite me having an S1 refusal and they told me to use my GHIC. I do have one, but it runs out soon and can’t get one sent to France.
I would like some clarification if anyone has any or if anyone has had the same experience maybe some advice.
I may be able to help clarify, but not sure what to advise!
First being a fiancée of a French national gives no extra rights, you will be treated as an individual not as half a couple.
As a european you have freedom of movement, but this is not unqualified and there are conditions if you wish to stay longer than 3 months.
As a non european British person you don’t have freedom of movement so can only stay in France 90 days without a visa. The UK is not responsible for your healthcare after 90 days.
Here is the link to the conditions for a European to stay longer than 3 months (which are very similar to the conditions for a British person to get a visitor visa).
You and your partner need to decide which route to take, but both require you to have a stable income around SMIC level.
Ideally you should have found a job during your first 3 months and then all would be well. Now it is more complex and the route you take probably depends on how you plan to support yourself.
Jane is much better informed than I am as regards the conditions for staying on in France after 90 days but having just been through the process of getting my husband registered with Ameli as an inactif européen, I would just add that by far the fastest route into the health system is to find a job. Any job. I’ve lost count of the number of friends who advised simply getting a job stacking shelves in a supermarket for a few months or something similar.
My husband did eventually get into PUMA but he’s a genuine inactif, ie he wasn’t registered as a jobseeker. It took 10 months and a humongous amount of paperwork.
Also, because we’re married, my income was taken into account when determining whether he has sufficient means to support himself in France.
I don’t know how old you are but just be aware that if you work in France, you probably won’t ever be able to get an S1 from the UK. There are considerable advantages to holding an S1 but if you’re youngish, this won’t be relevant. If you were very near UK state pension age, it might be worth not working in France and sticking with private health insurance until the UK state pension kicks in. And with it the S1.
I understand him being my fiancé doesn’t really matter regarding healthcare and rights etc.
I have been looking for work, attending interviews etc but just not getting the jobs. I have savings to support myself, but i was under the impression i was eligible after 3 months for healthcare with or without a job. It does seem a bit confusing, even my french fiancé didn’t know being a job seeker would make it so i cant get healthcare here. I just didn’t want to be unemployed for too long!
I have been applying for jobs for the last 4 months i’ve been here, just not getting those jobs unfortunately. My french also is a work in progress, so a lot of companies are not accepting me due to this. I am due to attend french classes soon with France travail which should help me in this regard.
I had no idea registering to France travail would stop me from getting healthcare, but i just didn’t want to be unemployed for too long, so i suppose i panicked as i just wanted to get back into working. I do have savings, thankfully, so i’m not a burden to the system.
I am not of age for state pension. I am in my 20’s, but i read somewhere i needed an s1 refusal to send to CPAM, so i did get one even though i knew i would be refused due to my age.
I suppose i am just in shock and unsure what to do next. I suppose the answer is to find work and keep paying for my PHI until i find work.
I was thinking of unregistering as a job seeker and trying again, but i think having the opportunity to learn more french is more valuable to me than that.
Thanks again for your comment. I’m glad your husband is now in the system, after all that time! (:
I cant see your comment fully unfortunately but my partner makes 2.5k a month. I do have savings and did declare this to Ameli. I think the job seeker thing did make me unqualified for the healthcare, you are right. I uploaded my France travail letters, which is i think what they saw and made a decision based on that.
Yes. I posted forgetting that he is your fiance’ not your husband. You appear to meet the conditions anyway for residency as an EU inactif, but CPAM isn’t the place to look for healthcare if you are looking for a job, I don’t think. There is another fund for that… somewhere.
I agree with Nunthewiser that as an EU citizen, you should qualify to reside in France under the EU’s regulations on freedom of movement. I appreciate that carte de séjours (residence permits) are probably fairly low on your list of priorities, given they are entirely voluntary in your case. However do maintain the 2 criteria that permit you to reside freely in France under those regulations, even if you never apply for a carte de séjour.
Maintain your PHI until such time as you can access the French health system via a job.
Ensure that you have your fiancé’s salary at your disposal - eg paid into a joint account. EU guidance accepts that funds placed at your disposal (ie are available to you) from a third party including a partner, spouse etc count towards demonstrating sufficient income - if ever challenged, or if you wished to obtain a permanent residence carte de séjour after 5 years of legal, continuous residence in France.
Has been here 4 months so needs PHI and access to finance to continue to qualify. So I agree that as long as she maintains PHI and can rely on partner’s income all is fine.
No, i think the information everyone has given me has been sympathetic and also very informative so thank you.
I do have one question though, me and my french fiancé are planning to get married soon, does this change my rights here? Because i did some research and apparently i can reapply as i will be married to a french citizen? Or is this totally wrong? Thanks
Hello and good luck, there does appear to be leeway in that direction, I have no special knowledge about that. My wife and I got married here (first foreigners in the village, we were told) and it was a bit tortuous, as one would expect with French bureaucracy (we did not expect it of course, being not long here). Here is a link to a description of the process. It talks about marrying in your home country first as being easier, but your situation precludes that. Unless UK rules make it easier to marry foreigners. (I doubt that, these days.)
How lovely! Your fiancé is French so I presume you will be marrying here in France?
Our commune is only small, but we have weddings every year at our Mairie. Sometimes the couple are both French, sometimes both are NOT French, sometimes one is and one isn’t… but it is always a happy occasion.
He is french yes, but we haven’t decided where yet! we both have elderly grandparents, mine are in the UK and cant travel, his are here in France and also cant travel so it will be a hard decision. I think for the sake of our mental sanity, getting married in France is far easier. I do feel for my elderly grandparents, though, as i am the only granddaughter for my mum’s parents so we may need to do a livestream sort of thing.
We live in the city in France, but i think we will get married where my fiancé is from in the Var, as i love it there and his village is just so calm and welcoming!
but it is always a happy occasion. 