Being covered by the French social security

The affiliation to the French social security is free and mandatory for any non-EU student currently enrolled in French higher education.

To have your health expenses covered in France, you need to register on https://etudiant-etranger.ameli.fr. Make sure to have a scan of your passport, visa and enrollment certificate.

Once you are registered, you will receive a temporary certificate of affiliation with your provisory identification number (NIA). With these, you can already get your health expenses back, but you will still pay upfront.

Your request is then processed by the CPAM, after which you receive a final certificate, which allows you to request your vital card. For more information, consult the CPAM website.

How it works

In France, there are two levels to the coverage of health expenses:

• The "mandatory" part, the one covered by social security. It allows for the reimbursement of health expenses, partial or total, depending on set rates.
• The "complementary" part, alo called "ticket modérateur (TM)" is either for you to pay, or covered by your mutuelle (complementary health insurance).

CPAM, ameli, Assurance Maladie... What is the difference?

The CPAM (Caisse Primaire d'Assurance Maladie), or simply "l'Assurance Maladie" is the structure in charge of handling the French social security.

"ameli" is the name of the CPAM's website. When speaking of an "ameli account", we mean the account created so that you can oversee your health reimbursements.