How I got my French social security number (Canadian in France)

French social security… a real mystery for everyone. Obtaining a French numéro de sécurité sociale (let’s abbreviate it to NSS) as foreigners requires a lot of patience – at least it did for me. But in the end, I was able to do it, and here’s how.

My social security marathon

The story starts in May 2023. It was a stressful time, since my need for a NSS was not a question of pleasure, but of survival. I absolutely needed one in order to be paid my salary, following the compulsory liquidation of my employer’s business.

I went to my local CPAM office early in the morning. There were already lots of other people gathered there. My first obstacle was that the agent wouldn’t let me in because I didn’t have an appointment. Even though I explained the urgency of my situation, he wouldn’t budge. So I just insistently stood there in front of him for a good 10-15 minutes. This wasn’t in my nature, but I wasn’t going to move as long as I didn’t find a solution. In the end, he told me that a slot opened up for next Monday. First obstacle down.

The day of my appointment

Monday came and the marathon continued. I was waiting for my turn in the waiting room. When I was called, I approached the service window. My confidence quickly evaporated when the agent stopped me as soon as I mentioned that I had a WHV (Working Holiday Visa). Even though I tried to explain the exceptional nature of my situation, he didn’t want to hear it. He was very cold and robotic in his discourse. I asked him to take my files anyway. I had nothing to lose.

My papers included:

• My passport
• My visa
• A copy of my birth certificate (front)
• My bank account numbers (relevé d’identité bancaire)
• My lease agreement

Following this encounter, the problems surrounding the compulsory liquidation kind of worked themselves out, so I no longer saw the need to fight tooth and nail for a NSS with CPAM. Plus, since I had started working as a freelancer (auto-entrepreneur) following the compulsory liquidation of my previous job, I was automatically assigned a NSS upon the creation of my micro-enterprise. I now had a NSS, though without access to public health care. By this point all seemed well and I had forgotten about my CPAM application. Little did I know that CPAM wasn’t done with me just yet.

News from the CPAM office…

I received a letter from CPAM in early June. Finally! However, they indicated that my application was supposedly missing a few documents, and that I had to re-send everything. But I had shown and given all my documents in person to the agent, who would have told me if anything was missing… Basically I had to read between the lines to eventually understand “We lost your application, so send everything again”. This wasn’t a letter of denial, like the agent had tried to make me believe. So I was cautiously optimistic enough to mail them everything again. And so the saga continues… let’s see what they say.

The second half of the marathon

A month went by, and we are now in August. I received another letter from CPAM. I thought to myself, one month is pretty fast by French standards, not bad. Well, to my dismay, there was another problem. The letter explained that my application was missing a legalised* birth certificate and my prefecture’s AGDREF Number. At that time, I didn’t even have my APS (autorisation provisoire de séjour) yet, I was still on my first WHV. The AGDREF Number would be on the APS, but since I didn’t even have an APS yet, I couldn’t have known the AGDREF Number. Plus, I didn’t have my original birth certificate on me. CPAM said that I would have only one month to get them what they needed.

So my mother mailed me my birth certificate right away. When I received it, time was already running out so I wasn’t super optimistic.

The final stretch

September and October came and went. I was late in sending the additional items, but it was my own fault. Finally in mid November, I finished getting the remaining papers ready for CPAM. I didn’t end up apostilling my birth certificate because I thought that maybe sending full copies of the front and back would be enough (fingers crossed).

Believe it or not, my mail never arrived at its destination. I had patiently waited two months for nothing. So once again, I gathered my last ounce of motivation to resend everything again-again.

By late February of the following year, my hope had left me. But right then, I received another letter from CPAM. This time, it didn’t say that I was missing documents or that my application was rejected, but that I am now enrolled with public health care (Assurance maladie)! I had finally arrived at the finish line of this marathon, I could take a deep breath.

And now?

Having public health care won’t change your life, but it is comforting to know that if something ever happens, I will be taken care of. And this extends beyond just medical emergencies, which is nice since I no longer have provincial health coverage for that back home in Québec.

Now I just have to wait for a final letter from CPAM inviting me to create my account on Ameli.com and request my carte Vitale. Hopefully these final steps will go smoothly.

This experience has prepared me to face just about any administrative task in France, as it probably won’t be my last…