WHAT IS EXPATRIATION?
Expatriates are people who work abroad under contracts from their host country. French social security considers employees working abroad as expatriates and are therefore not covered by french social security any more, unless they have joined a specific insurance fund for expatriates, the “CFE”.
HEALTH INSURANCE
You may ask for the European social security card which gives you the same rights as people insured by public services in your host country.
However, the easiest solution is to work in a company that provides you with a private health insurance. It covers you better and avoids bureaucracy.
You can also subscribe to a private health insurance on your side.
UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE
If you are working in the EU, you automatically contribute to local unemployment funds. In this case, you don’t contribute in France any more but you’re not losing your unemployment rights there.
You can recover those rights by getting the U1 file from your host country and send it to the french unemployment organisation “Pôle emploi”. You also have to work for a day in France to have your rights reactivated.
PENSION CONTRIBUTIONS
Usually, when working abroad you contribute to local pension funds and no more to French ones.
You may then calculate your rights in the host country and in France to find out how much you have contributed in each country. EU countries have partnerships on this matter.
However, if you want to keep contributing to french pension funds, you can join specific pension funds for expats, the “CFE”.
