If your headquarters decides to relocate you to France as an employee, there are some things you should be aware of:

• Any employee position requires a formal employment contract. There must be certain criteria and compulsory disclosures within this contract, such as home address, salary, number of working hours, social security number etc.
• The national body of the Sécurité Sociale was introduced in 1945, as a system similar to that described in the Beveridge Report for the NHS.
• Without a social security number in France, you cannot be employed as a wage earner on a regular basis.
• As an example, getting sick or being injured in the workplace would make your employer obliged to cover the medical expenses instead of the Sécurité Sociale
• Please note that failing to obtain this number would leave your employer exposed to risk regarding immigration laws.
• High immigration pressure has led to the Sécurité Sociale department becoming overbooked as many people want to benefit from this system.
• To compensate for this high demand, and to prevent abuse of the system, the organisation requires a hefty amount of paperwork to validate an application.
• Please be aware that this exercise will be extended to your spouse and children, and will be necessary for enrolment in any school, for example. This is not a centralized system and the application file is submitted to the relevant local branch depending on your home address. Consequently, every application requires a first contact meeting with a particular local governmental clerk.

On top of this, the French penchant for bureaucracy and paperwork involves a few extra hoops to jump through. At Maupard, we can help and take care of the document collection and validation, filing and follow-up of the registration. At the end of the process, you will have your own Carte Vitale, covering you and your family.