# health insurance required while on spouse visa?



## mbsfrance

I'm in the process of getting my long term visa to begin living in France. My wife is French so I will be applying for the spouse visa. I see something about a requirement to have medical insurance in place in time for the visa interview. Is this correct? Will I need to provide proof of insurance? If so for how long? I plan on signing up for the social security in France as soon as I can or being on my wife's "plan" until I can get my own card/account.


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## Bevdeforges

Your wife will only be on the French national insurance if she is already working in France. If she is returning to France with you, she'll have to re-enroll in the French system when she gets here and so it's possible you could both require private insurance to cover you for several months on arrival. In your case, you'll be required to provide proof of health cover for the period of your initial visa (i.e. one year). For your wife, it depends on her work status whether or not she's already enrolled.


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## mbsfrance

Bevdeforges said:


> Your wife will only be on the French national insurance if she is already working in France. If she is returning to France with you, she'll have to re-enroll in the French system when she gets here and so it's possible you could both require private insurance to cover you for several months on arrival. In your case, you'll be required to provide proof of health cover for the period of your initial visa (i.e. one year). For your wife, it depends on her work status whether or not she's already enrolled.


my wife did start working so she's in the process of getting her insurance back to active. I'll make sure to have something lined up before the visa interview


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## mbsfrance

I read something about not needing to provide health insurance if you are on a spouse visa. Is that correct?


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## Bevdeforges

mbsfrance said:


> I read something about not needing to provide health insurance if you are on a spouse visa. Is that correct?


No idea where that comes from. Check the visa requirements - but normally someone on a spouse visa would be eligible for CPAM coverage based on their French spouse's cover. However, a French citizen doesn't have automatic cover unless they are working (and paying into the cotisation system) or has met the 3 month residence requirement and has registered with CPAM.


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