You will be asked for your RIB (bank details) before you finish unpacking. Then a justificatif de domicile (proof of address), then another copy of it, then a third. Moving to France is less a single big formality than a chain of small ones, and the trick is to know which link comes first. Here is a move to France checklist in the order that saves you the most phone calls.
What do you need to do before moving to France?
Start with the question that decides everything else: what will you do there? Citizens of the EU, the EEA and Switzerland can move freely, but after three months the rules look at your situation: a job, studies, or, for everyone else, health insurance and resources that will not make you a burden on the French social assistance system. Retirees and remote workers fall in that last group.
Before leaving, ask your current health insurer how long it keeps covering you and request a European Health Insurance Card for the first weeks. If your home country should keep paying for your care, for instance as a pensioner, ask for an S1 form (our guide to healthcare in France for expats explains it). Keep original birth and marriage certificates, because administrations ask for them. Documents from an EEA country or Switzerland need no translation for the health insurance fund, other documents do.
Do I need a residence permit to move to France?
Not if you are European. The French administration says plainly that a residence card is optional for citizens of the EEA and Switzerland, though it "can be useful" as proof of your right to stay. If you want one, it is free to apply for online through the ANEF, the online portal for foreigners in France. Our guide to the residence card in France for EU citizens covers who applies, with which papers and for how long it lasts.
If you are British and arrived after 1 January 2021, the picture is different: you are a third-country national, and you need a long-stay visa before departure. That is the subject of moving to France from the UK.
What are the first things to do when you arrive in France?
- Secure an address. Sign the lease, or ask your host for an attestation d'hébergement. Everything else depends on it. The details are in our guide to renting in France.
- Open a bank account. A French RIB is asked for by your employer, your landlord and the health insurance. If a bank refuses you, you have a legal right to an account, explained in opening a bank account in France.
- Sort out your health cover. If you work, your employer starts the registration with the Assurance Maladie and you receive a social security number. If you do not work, you apply once you have lived in France for more than three months. After that you create your ameli account, order your carte Vitale and name a médecin traitant, your referring GP.
- Register children at school. The town hall issues the certificate for nursery and primary school (see schools in France for expat children).
- Register as a job seeker with France Travail if you are looking for work, as explained in working in France.
What about tax, car and driving licence?
Your tax number is not something you request on arrival. The numéro fiscal is allocated once you file your first income tax return, in the spring of the year after you arrive (details in how to get your French tax number). Your first return goes to the tax office of your new home, the SIP, which first has to check your identity before you can use the online service; ask it which route it expects.
For your car, service-public.gouv.fr gives you one month from your settlement to register it in France, whatever your nationality, through the online ANTS platform or an authorised professional. A European licence stays valid as long as it is valid, with no obligatory exchange unless it expires, you want a new category, it is lost or stolen, or you lose points in France. A Swiss licence, or a British licence issued from 2021, only works for a limited time after you settle, so the exchange is not optional and the deadline depends on your status. See driving in France.
In what order should you do all this?
The sequence that works for most people:
- Week 1: address, bank account, local SIM card, home insurance (compulsory for an unfurnished rental).
- Weeks 1 to 4: health registration (employer or fund), school registration, job seeker registration if relevant, car registration if you brought one.
- Months 2 to 3: ameli account, carte Vitale, médecin traitant, optional residence card.
- The following spring: first tax return, then your online tax account.
Nobody will send you a reminder. A French administration rarely contacts you first, so you launch every step yourself.
How do you avoid the paperwork traps in France?
Keep a folder, paper and digital, with your passport or ID, birth certificate, proof of address, RIB, lease, pay slips and the letters you receive. You will use all of them.
Beware of paid websites that imitate government pages for procedures that are free or almost free. Official procedures run on addresses ending in .gouv.fr, ameli.fr, urssaf.fr or caf.fr. If you feel stuck, a France services counter gives free help with online procedures. And do not forget the exit from your previous life: most countries have a tax or social security declaration to make when you stop being resident.
Is moving to France worth the effort?
Most people who make the move say that the first three months are tiresome and the following years are much easier, because the system, once it knows you, is consistent. The reward is a country with public services that work, excellent food and a long list of regions to choose from. For that last choice, start with the best places to live in France.
Who does what in the French administration?
Once you know the cast, the move to France feels less like a maze. The préfecture deals with the residence of foreigners, but EU citizens have no obligation to hold a card. The mairie handles civil status (births, marriages), school registration for the youngest children, and electoral lists, where EU citizens can vote in municipal and European elections. The Assurance Maladie is the health insurance fund, called CPAM in mainland France, CGSS in most overseas departments and CSS in Mayotte. The public finance directorate runs your tax account, and the Urssaf collects contributions from the self-employed and employers.
Then come two bodies you may need depending on your life. The CAF pays family allowances and housing aid, subject to conditions of residence and stay. France Travail registers jobseekers and pays unemployment benefit. Finally, the ANTS (now also called France Titres) issues driving licences and vehicle registration certificates, only online.
Which online services will you use?
Most of this move to France runs through screens. FranceConnect is a single login button for more than 1,500 public services: you sign in with an existing account such as impots.gouv.fr or ameli.fr, or with a digital identity from La Poste. A reinforced version, FranceConnect+, protects sensitive procedures like money or medical records and requires a digital identity.
One thing to know: the France Identité app, which puts an ID card on your phone, only works with the new French ID card, so as a foreigner you cannot use it. In practice, a European newcomer gets the ameli account first (once the social security number exists), then the tax account (once the tax number exists), and then FranceConnect through either. At the very beginning, before these numbers exist, some procedures are done on paper or at a counter. This is normal and not a sign that you did something wrong.
What is the quickest way to get help with French paperwork?
France has a network of France services counters, local offices where an adviser helps you with online procedures: tax, health insurance, family allowances, driving licence and more. It is free. Take your documents and your phone. If you speak little French, bring a friend or a relative who does, and ask the adviser to write down the next step.
Your emergency numbers belong in the checklist too: 112 is the European number, 15 the SAMU for medical emergencies, 17 the police and 18 the fire brigade. Save them before you need them.