# Carte Vitale application process



## nrlaurin

Once one applies for a carte vitale, how long does it usually take to get it? What documents do they require to apply? Any tips for making the process go more smoothly and efficiently?


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## Crabtree

Affiliation à la sécurité sociale (assurance maladie)


Les informations contenues sur cette page s’adressent principalement aux personnes relevant du régime général de la Sécurité sociale. Les règles et formalités particulières des autres régimes n'y sont pas présentées.




www.service-public.fr





A lot is going to depend on your status-working retired inactif etc?


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## jweihl

I am a retired US citizen and provided the following in my application. I've since received my Numéro de Sécurité Sociale, so it must have worked.
1. CERFA 15763*02 (application form, with instructions for additional documentation
2. Birth certificate
3. Translation of birth certificate
4. Passport - full scan (identity document)
5. Electric bill 
6. Bank RIB
7. Visa (proof of residency status)
8. Visa validation (date of residency)
9. OFII convocation letter (summons to OFII)
10. OFII certificat de control médical
11. Insurance certificate/policy

(My wife had to supply all of that, plus marriage certificate to document name change)

The system seems to be pretty random on how stuff is processed. Four of us (two couples with essentially the same circumstance, living in the same town), submitted at approximately the same time with very different results. My wife and I got our social security numbers in the mail about one month after submission. She received a letter inviting her to send in her photo to and apply for the actual Carte Vitale about a week after that. I'm still waiting for my letter two months later. She got her card in the mail along with instructions for setting up her account on AMELI about a month after submitting the photo. For our friends, the husband got his social security number roughly a month after application, she was denied because her birth certificate was slightly cut off at the bottom. After sending to the US for a new birth certificate and submitting it, she was about 5 weeks behind her husband. She got her social security number within two weeks of submitting her birth certificate, and then this past Friday she received a code in the mail for setting up her AMELI account (none of the rest of us got that). The code didn't work on Friday, so she's trying it today or tomorrow. Her husband is like me, waiting for contact after getting the social security number. I did call the English help-line a month ago. They declined to actually try and help speed things up as I'd only been in limbo for a couple of months and "that's not a very long time, so call back in another month or so".... 

Current score: One completed carte vitale in record time. One delayed application which then zoomed into second place. Two stuck in the twilight zone.


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## saffron_gin

jweihl said:


> I am a retired US citizen and provided the following in my application. I've since received my Numéro de Sécurité Sociale, so it must have worked.
> 1. CERFA 15763*02 (application form, with instructions for additional documentation


You have to print and mail the CERFA right? Or is there an electronic option? I am stuck waiting to find a print form...have finally got an apostilled BC...so all else should be ok...although my BC doesn't have my current full name...but just the first name (as is custom in Birth country)...wonder if that would/might cause problem...


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## jweihl

Yes. You print and mail everything to the CPAM office in your départment.
If the name on your birth certificate doesn't match your identity documentation (passport, in my case) you'll need to provide documentation of name change. Typically a marriage certificate.


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## saffron_gin

jweihl said:


> Yes. You print and mail everything to the CPAM office in your départment.
> If the name on your birth certificate doesn't match your identity documentation (passport, in my case) you'll need to provide documentation of name change. Typically a marriage certificate.


ugh...I recall Bev suggesting I bring a copy of Marriage/Divorce ceertificate before getting here (although there wasn't so much time as I leeft within 10 days of getting visa)...

Have to see where I can find a printing facility anywhere near me...!


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## Bevdeforges

nrlaurin said:


> Once one applies for a carte vitale, how long does it usually take to get it? What documents do they require to apply? Any tips for making the process go more smoothly and efficiently?


All I can say is "welcome to France" here. Each departement has its own CPAM office and the exact procedures can (and will) vary from one office/departement to the next. You can always try going to the ameli.fr website and select "Assuré¨ and then "Droits et Démarches selon votre situation" and on the page you get, from the menu on the left select "Principes généraux" to see a list of general principles that might help explain a bit what they are trying to do (including a list of documents they will want from foreigners new to France). If your French isn't up to it, run the page through a translator program - or if you're using Chrome, just right-click and select English for the translation.

Just as a note, France has a problem with people misusing or fraudulently using their Carte Vitale, so they may ask you for additional documents from what you find on any list. This is just the civil servants doing their job to try to avoid misuse of the system. And yes, sometimes the system takes longer than at other times.


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## nrlaurin

Thank you! Does the birth certificate need to be apostilled?


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## Bevdeforges

nrlaurin said:


> Thank you! Does the birth certificate need to be apostilled?


That is one of the many things that seems to vary from one departement to the next.


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## JayBee1

saffron_gin said:


> ugh...I recall Bev suggesting I bring a copy of Marriage/Divorce ceertificate before getting here (although there wasn't so much time as I leeft within 10 days of getting visa)...
> 
> Have to see where I can find a printing facility anywhere near me...!


As for printing government forms or forms you need to print out for them I went to our nearest branch below. They were very helpful. 








France Services|Agence nationale de la cohésion des territoires


Un nouveau modèle d’accès aux services publics pour les démarches du quotidien




agence-cohesion-territoires.gouv.fr


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## BackinFrance

JayBee1 said:


> As for printing government forms or forms you need to print out for them I went to our nearest branch below. They were very helpful.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> France Services|Agence nationale de la cohésion des territoires
> 
> 
> Un nouveau modèle d’accès aux services publics pour les démarches du quotidien
> 
> 
> 
> 
> agence-cohesion-territoires.gouv.fr


And thankfully they are all now open to the general public.


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## saffron_gin

JayBee1 said:


> As for printing government forms or forms you need to print out for them I went to our nearest branch below. They were very helpful.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> France Services|Agence nationale de la cohésion des territoires
> 
> 
> Un nouveau modèle d’accès aux services publics pour les démarches du quotidien
> 
> 
> 
> 
> agence-cohesion-territoires.gouv.fr


Thanks I had looked into that too...the nearest one is good 10km away...and only open in mornings...do you need to make appointment or can you drop by?


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## BackinFrance

saffron_gin said:


> Thanks I had looked into that too...the nearest one is good 10km away...and only open in mornings...do you need to make appointment or can you drop by?


Maybe France Services would be easier for you 









France services


Pour votre demande de carte grise, une question sur vos impôts, votre retraite, ou vos allocations familiales… À moins de 30 minutes de chez vous, les agents France services vous accompagnent dans toutes vos démarches du quotidien. Aujourd'hui, plus de 2 379 France services pour vous aider...




www.cohesion-territoires.gouv.fr


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## JayBee1

saffron_gin said:


> Thanks I had looked into that too...the nearest one is good 10km away...and only open in mornings...do you need to make appointment or can you drop by?


We just dropped by. We've been twice. Once they were slow and once they were very busy. I don't think they take appointments.


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## BackinFrance

JayBee1 said:


> We just dropped by. We've been twice. Once they were slow and once they were very busy. I don't think they take appointments.


Different offices function differently and some do take appointments so it could be worth checking, especially since the office in question is only open in the mornings.


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## JayBee1

I just received my temporary ss number (15 days after dossier submission!). My husband who had submitted exact same dossier documents as me..except in his name...not so much. They lost some of his dossier)

So I now just wait for another letter to ask for my photo Id etc for the carte vitale? I have a medecin traitant too.


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## saffron_gin

I am kind of dragging my feet on this one. As my B.C was issued in Birth country with only my First name (not even maiden last name)...and now all my docs are in my married name that I've kept after divorce. Even getting a marriage/divorce certificate from the States won't link my B.C with my current name, as they would only show the link from 'maiden' name to 'married' name...

Any suggestions as to how to proceed?


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## Bevdeforges

Can your embassy/consulate give you any help? If your birth country has an embassy or consulate in France they have somehow had to deal with this situation before. Perhaps they can give you an information sheet or just a form letter from the consulate that would explain the situation and/or the custom where you were born. 

OTOH, the CPAM folks are considerably less "demanding" about birth certificates than the immigration and other administrative offices are. You may want to simply contact them to see what they advise.


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## saffron_gin

Bevdeforges said:


> Can your embassy/consulate give you any help? If your birth country has an embassy or consulate in France they have somehow had to deal with this situation before. Perhaps they can give you an information sheet or just a form letter from the consulate that would explain the situation and/or the custom where you were born.
> 
> OTOH, the CPAM folks are considerably less "demanding" about birth certificates than the immigration and other administrative offices are. You may want to simply contact them to see what they advise.


Thanks Bev...The Birth country embassy won't deal with those not holding citizenships apparently. I think I will just send things as they are and see what they say...Was wondering if I should myself write a little explicatory note saying how it wasn't custom to have last names in that part of country (it was a regional thing and esp in that post-60s time...and BCs still remain a micro regional thing there...it was a lot of work to get it even!)...or just send it simply, and wait and see.


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