How do I join the CFE, the Caisse des Français de l'Étranger?

You can join the CFE (Caisse des Français de l'Étranger) at any time while you live abroad, at any age and without a health questionnaire. You apply online on cfe.fr or by post, with an identity document, family documents for your dependants and your bank details, then pay the first quarterly contribution. To avoid any waiting period, apply within three months of becoming eligible, in practice within three months of leaving France. You can even apply before you leave.

This guide covers who can join, each step and document, when cover starts, which CFE product to choose and what it costs since 1 April 2026, joining through an employer, paying, and leaving the CFE. For an overview of the CFE and what it reimburses, read what the CFE is.

Who can join the CFE?

Membership is voluntary. The law opens it to nationals of the EU, the EEA or Switzerland who live abroad and are not covered by French social security. The CFE's 2026 joining guide sets out the conditions for health cover:

• French nationals who live abroad.

• Nationals of an EEA country or Switzerland who live outside those countries.

• People of other nationalities who live outside their own country, only if their employer has enrolled its staff with the CFE.

There is no age limit, no health questionnaire and no exclusion. The CFE insures French people abroad "sans questionnaire de santé ni critères d'exclusion", and once you are a member it cannot exclude you. From age 70, the contribution is capped.

Family members

A family contract covers your dependants (ayants droit): your spouse, PACS partner or partner living with you, and dependent children who do not work, up to the age of 20. Apprentices, students and children with a permanent incapacity are covered up to the same age if they cannot be insured in another way. For RetraitExpat Santé, the guide gives 18 as the limit for minor dependants. Every dependant aged 16 or over needs their own online account, with their own email address.

Students and expats under 30

JeunExpat Santé covers expats under 30 worldwide, at the lowest rates of the scale. Students should check their position first: the CFE's student page explains that a student over 20 who studies abroad for more than 6 months can also join the host country's student scheme or local social security. Students on an internship agreement with a company abroad can take work-accident cover for 60 € a quarter.

Retirees

RetraitExpat Santé is for people with no professional activity who receive a pension from the French basic scheme and who also meet one of these conditions:

• at least 15 years of contributions to the French basic scheme;

• residence in the EU, the EEA, Switzerland, the United Kingdom or a country whose bilateral agreement with France covers care (Morocco and Tunisia, for example);

• at least 10 years of French basic pension contributions, if before 1 July 2019 the general scheme already covered their care during stays in France.

For a family contract, both adults must meet the retiree condition. A retiree who does not qualify can join MondExpat Santé, which has no age limit.

Source: Code de la sécurité sociale, articles L762-1 and L762-5-1; CFE joining guide 2026, pages 3, 6, 7 and 30; CFE student page, read 4 Nov 2026.

When should you join, and when does cover start?

As early as you can. You may send your application before you leave France: your membership then takes effect on the date you move abroad, never earlier. If you apply once you have moved, it takes effect on the date the CFE receives your form. Your rights open on that date, unless a waiting period applies.

Waiting periods are set by article R762-8 of the Code de la sécurité sociale. During a waiting period you pay contributions but receive no reimbursements.

Some CFE product pages say "under 44" for the 3-month wait. The legal text applies the 6-month wait from age 45, and that is the rule we use. A government inspection (IGAS-IGF) has also suggested a surcharge for joining late, "par exemple après 45 ans"; the CFE says it is being studied at ministry level, and nothing has been decided. If your three months have already passed, our guide on how to stay covered during the CFE waiting periods sets out the options.

Source: Code de la sécurité sociale, article R762-8; CFE joining guide 2026, pages 7, 9 and 17; CFE annual report 2025, page 25, read 4 Nov 2026.

How do you join the CFE online, step by step?

1. Choose your product and solo or family cover: JeunExpat Santé under 30, MondExpat Santé from 30, RetraitExpat Santé for eligible retirees, or FrancExpat Santé if you only want cover for care in France. The table below sets out who each one is for.

2. Check your contribution in the April 2026 table below. The CFE product pages also offer an online estimate by country, age band and solo or family cover.

3. Apply online on cfe.fr, which the CFE calls the simplest and fastest way. You can also download the paper form (MondExpat or JeunExpat, solo or family) and send it by post.

4. Add your supporting documents (list below).

5. Add options if you want them. Health, work accidents and old age are three separate insurances, each with its own contribution, and you can join one, two or all three. Salaried members can also add daily allowances, death capital and invalidity for 39 €, 51 € or 78 € a quarter, depending on annual resources.

6. Set up your personal space, and one for each dependant aged 16 or over. You log in with the first 13 digits of your Sécurité sociale number, a password and a code sent by email.

7. Pay the first quarterly call. The CFE does not have to reimburse care if the contributions due were not paid before the care took place.

Which documents do you need?

• Your identity card or passport.

• For your dependants: your livret de famille, or an extract of the marriage or birth certificate; failing that, a PACS certificate, or a sworn statement (attestation sur l'honneur) if you live together without being married or in a PACS.

• If you have an exemption from co-payment (exonération du ticket modérateur) for a long-term condition (ALD): proof of your French Sécurité sociale rights.

• If you are an employee: your employment contract or an employer certificate if you have been employed for less than 3 months, otherwise your last 3 payslips.

• Your bank details (RIB) for reimbursements.

How long does it take? In 2025, the CFE answered membership requests sent by email to its sales team within 48 hours. It does not publish the time from application to confirmation of membership. Because the date that counts for the waiting period is the date the CFE receives your form, do not wait until the last days of your three months.

CFE contact details, as published: +33 1 64 14 62 62, Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 17:00 Paris time; infoexpat@cfe.fr; CFE, 160 rue des Meuniers, CS 70238 Rubelles, 77052 Melun Cedex.

Source: CFE joining guide 2026, pages 7, 30, 35, 36 and 41; CFE, MondExpat Santé; CFE individual scale "Avril 2026"; CFE annual report 2025, page 14, read 4 Nov 2026.

Which CFE product should you choose?

A separate offer, "Santé +" (EmiratExpat Santé), exists for the United Arab Emirates.

How much does each product cost in 2026?

Contributions are paid every quarter, in euros. They depend on your age band and on whether you join solo or with your family, not on the country where you live: a 40-year-old pays the same in Hong Kong as in Thailand. The table shows a selection of the scale in force since 1 April 2026, when individual and group contributions rose by 11%.

RetraitExpat Santé costs 492 € a quarter solo and 894 € for a family, at any age. The full 11-band scale is in our guide to what the CFE is. On 4 Nov 2026, the "from" monthly prices on the CFE home page still matched the January 2026 scale; the April 2026 table above is the one in force.

The reduced rate: catégorie aidée

If your household's declared resources are below half of the annual Social Security ceiling, 24,030 € a year for 2026, you can pay a flat 228 € a quarter, with the CFE paying part of the cost. The conditions:

• French nationality and registration with your consulate;

• an individual MondExpat Santé or RetraitExpat Santé contract (the joining guide adds JeunExpat Santé family), not FrancExpat;

• residence outside France and Europe: residents of the EU, the EEA and Switzerland are excluded.

You apply through your consulate. The reduced rate starts on the first day of the month after the CFE receives the consulate's decision, the file is reviewed every three years, and it cannot be combined with other discounts. The amount did not change on 1 April 2026.

Source: CFE individual scale "Avril 2026"; CFE joining guide 2026, pages 6 to 8 and 27; CFE, catégorie aidée; CFE newsletter, January 2026; Sénat, ministerial answer of 29 May 2025; CFE home page, read 4 Nov 2026.

Can your employer enrol you in the CFE?

Yes. A French or local company can affiliate its expatriate staff, pay the contributions and subscribe on your behalf. French employees, EEA and Swiss nationals previously affiliated to a French scheme, and employees of other nationalities can all be covered this way. For other nationalities, it is the only way in. The employee package combines health insurance (with optional daily allowances), work-accident insurance and old-age insurance.

Company contracts have their own scale. Since April 2026, health cover costs from 270 € to 822 € per employee per quarter, depending on the number of expatriate employees (under 100, 100 to 399, 400 and over), the employee's age band (under 30, 30 to 35, over 35) and their resources category. The CFE has announced new company health contracts from 2027, with hospital direct billing and assistance where available; the terms are due in the first quarter of 2027. Employers will find more in the CFE for companies.

Source: CFE joining guide 2026, page 21; CFE company scale "Avril 2026"; CFE newsletter, July 2026, read 4 Nov 2026.

How do you pay CFE contributions?

The CFE calls contributions at the start of each calendar quarter. You pay in euros, from France or from abroad, by bank transfer from a French or SEPA account, bank card, American Express, PayPal, cheque or direct debit. If you pay late, the CFE sends a reminder, then a formal notice, and can then cancel your membership.

Source: CFE joining guide 2026, pages 35 and 36, read 4 Nov 2026.

How do you leave the CFE or return to France?

Returning to France for good

1. Request your cancellation (radiation) in your personal space.

2. Download the "attestation de fin de droits".

3. File it with form 1106 (adults) and form 3705 (minor dependants) at the health insurance fund where you live.

If you told the CFE about your return, you and your dependants keep your rights for up to three months from your first day of residence in France, as long as you are not yet covered by a compulsory French scheme. If you start a job in France, your rights there open immediately; without a job, they can open after 3 months of stable residence. The CFE product pages say there is no waiting period on your return.

Staying in France for a while

The CFE covers care in France on French Sécurité sociale terms as long as your stay does not exceed 3 months. Beyond that, you must end your CFE contract and register with the local health insurance fund.

Leaving while you stay abroad

If you consider leaving the CFE while still abroad, for example to switch to first-euro insurance, weigh one rule first: rejoining later after a cancellation that was not due to a return to France means a 12-month waiting period. The CFE guide we read does not describe a separate procedure for this case, so ask the CFE in writing. Our comparison of a CFE top-up and first-euro insurance can help you decide.

Source: Code de la sécurité sociale, article R762-8; CFE joining guide 2026, pages 38 to 40; CFE, MondExpat Santé, read 4 Nov 2026.

What this means in Hong Kong, Singapore, China and Thailand

Joining works the same way in every country, and so does the contribution. What changes is what the CFE pays back, which depends on the zone of the country where you are treated.

Take someone aged 35 to 39 who moves to Hong Kong and applies within three months of arriving. For 315 € a quarter, they have no waiting period, cover whatever their health history and continuity with French social security. On a hospital bill, though, the CFE pays 19% of the real cost and they advance the money, and a consultation is reimbursed a fixed 21 €. That gap is the reason to look at a CFE top-up when you join. All four places are outside Europe, so French nationals there who meet the resources condition can apply for the catégorie aidée. See our guides for Hong Kong, Singapore, China and Thailand, and the full balance sheet in the pros and cons of the CFE.

Source: CFE guarantees 2026 (arrêté of 17 December 2025); CFE list of countries by zone; CFE individual scale "Avril 2026", read 4 Nov 2026.

How Alea helps you join

Alea is the official CFE representative for Hong Kong, China and Singapore. The CFE describes its referents as guiding members in joining the CFE and choosing a top-up. We help you choose the right product and family cover, prepare the documents and apply in time to avoid a waiting period, then compare CFE top-ups and first-euro formulas from more than 50 insurers. Our CFE page explains how we work. When you are ready, talk to an advisor: the quote is free and without commitment.

Source: CFE, complementary insurers and referents, read 4 Nov 2026.