French Retirement Pension & Life Certificate

In accordance with the pension agreement that was reached on March 2nd 1987 between France and the United States, any person living in the United States must make his or her request for French retirement benefits at a local US Social Security office.

 The form will be sent to the Social Security office in Baltimore, which is the central location at which applications for retirement benefits are processed. As soon as the SSA in Baltimore receives your application they will send you a receipt.

 A linkage form that certifies the date at which the request for French retirement benefits has been made and the identity of the person making the request will be communicated by the SSA in Baltimore to the CLEISS (Centre des Liaisons Européennes et Internationales de Sécurité Sociale, (i.e. the Center for European and International Liaison on Social Security) which will then transfer it to the CNAV (Caisse Nationale d’Assurance Vieillesse).

 The CNAV will then contact you so that you can complete the French national form for requesting retirement benefits. The person making the request must attach to his or her application a form with his or her bank details that has been translated into French so that the pension benefits can be wired to him/her.

Bank details

(Word - 29.5 kb)

For more information on how to claim your retirement benefits, visit the Social Security Administration’s website.

In the event that a person who receives retirement benefits from France’s national retirement program passes away, the death certificate must be sent to its central agency, the CNAV, so that payments are stopped. Checks that have not been cashed must be returned as well. The spouse can then apply for survivor benefits, following the same procedure as when these benefits were applied for by the original beneficiary of these funds.

CNAV (Caisse Nationale d’Assurance Vieillesse)
Département des Français de l’étranger
110 rue de Flandre
75951 Paris Cedex 19
Tél 01 40 05 50 21
Fax 01 40 05 54 91
www.cnav.fr

Social Security Administration
OIO - totalization POB 17049
Baltimore, MD 21235-7049
Tél 410 965-8882

For questions about the interpretation of the pension agreement that was reached between France and the United State in 1987:
Social Security Administration
Office of International Policy
POB 17741, room 1104
West High rise
6401 Securité boulevard
Baltimore MD 21235-7741
Phone: 410-965-0160
www.ssa.gov

General number for the Social Security Administration 1 800 772 1213

You are retired and live abroad? You have to send a proof of life certificate once a year for all your pension plans.

The consulate does not deliver life certificates anymore. Individuals who receive French retirement benefits must obtain their life certificates from local agencies (Public Notaries) and either send their certificate by mail to the “Union Retraite” or online through their retirement account.

Up until now, each one of the retirement plans that you were affiliated with requested a life certificate as a condition for continuing to receive benefits. As of now, you only have to provide one life certificate (and in some cases proof of your marital status) per year for all of the plans you are affiliated with. This pre-filled out life certificate will be sent to you by the “Union Retraite” either by mail or through your internet-based retirement account if you have one.

In conformity with publication number 2001/31 of the Caisse Nationale d’Assurance Vieillesse), the Consulate does not provide life certificates any more. Individuals who receive French retirement benefits must obtain their life certificates from local agencies.

You may refer to a “notary public”, which has the authority to fill out your life certificate. You can find a “notary public’ in banks, financial service companies, with tax preparers, insurance companies, some public libraries, legal offices, companies that offer express travel services, etc.

Once your life certificate has the public notary’s stamp of approval you must send the original to the “Union Retraite” in the pre-filled envelope they sent you, without passing through the intermediary of the Consulate. We strongly encourage you to hold onto a copy of your life certificate as a precautionary measure.

You can also upload the document through your online personal retirement account.

If you do not fill out your life certificate and send it back by the deadline, your pension payments may be suspended.

And to save time, you can now submit your form electronically!

« Ma retraite à l’étranger » enables you to receive and send the documents directly with the website.

This service is accessible at:
www.lassuranceretraite.fr, www.agirc-arrco.fr or retraitesolidarite.caissedesdepots.fr) by logging to your personal account.

If you haven’t created an account you can do so in a few clicks at www.info-retraite.fr.

How to fill out my life certificate?

How to create my online account on info-retraite.fr ?

How to upload my life certificate on my online account

You receive a French pension but your payments have been suspended ? Find here some key advice to help you solve this situation.

For several reasons, a valid proof of life certificate may not have been taken into account in time by Info-Retraite and the payment of your pension has been subsequently suspended.

If that is the case, you must either :
 Send a valid proof of life certificate through your personal online account that you can create
 Contact Info-Retraite through this contact form: https://aide.info-retraite.fr/mce (mon certificat de vie => ma pension est suspendue => formulaire de contact)

See above for:
 How to fill out my life certificate?
 How to create my online account on info-retraite.fr?
 How to upload my life certificate on my online account

Yes. An agreement was signed on July 1st 1988, referred to as the bilateral social security agreement, whose purpose is to avoid that a French or American national who is temporarily working in the other country has to make their retirement contributions twice, or that s/he loses her or his rights while s/he is away.

Broadly speaking, the agreement ensures that an employee only makes his or her retirement contributions once, in the country in which s/he works, and that his or her contributions will be calculated in such a way that s/he will be able to benefit from the rights s/he has accrued in the other country. For more explanations, contact the Social Security Administration at +1 (800) 772-1213 and ask for the administrative brochure SSA Publication No 05-10187 "Agreement between the U.S. and France".

N.B.: By “Social Security,” the United States only refers to the right to a pension, a survivor’s pension, and some disability pensions, but not to a health insurance plan (except the Medicare program which retirees covered by the American national retirement program that live in the US are entitled to), family allowances, or unemployment insurance.

You qualify for France’s retirement program if you are 60 years old and:
 You have contributed to France’s retirement program as an employee, even if this occurred a number of years ago and for a very short time period (at least one trimester); if you have not accrued enough trimesters to qualify for a full pension, your benefits will be proportional to the number of trimesters that you contributed, or if:
 You contributed to the French Social Security voluntary retirement insurance program (through the “Caisse des Français de l’étranger” (fund for French citizens living abroad));
 You are employed by a French firm in the US: your company has its headquarters in France, so you are treated like all employees in France and your employer pays retirement contributions on your behalf.

You are eligible for these plans if:
 Your company (French or foreign) adheres to France’s complementary insurance programs, and if it has decided to make you eligible for the territorial extension that it has established for its employees regardless of nationality (insofar as they already entitled to ARRCO and/or AGIRC benefits, or, if they are affiliated with the “Caisse des Français de l’Etranger” i.e. the fund for French citizens living abroad).

In any one of these circumstances you will be able to qualify for the complementary insurance plan that is managed by :
ARCCO (both executives and non-executives)
Association des régimes de retraites complémentaires
44, boulevard de la Bastille - 75012 Paris
Phone : 01.44.67.12.00 - Fax : 01.43.42.14.61
Website:www.arrco.fr
AGIRC (executives in the second and third salary levels)
Association générale des institutions de retraite des cadres
4, rue Leroux - 75116 Paris
Phone : 01.44.17.51.00 - www.agirc.fr

In the event that your employer has not subscribed for the territorial extension, you can join the CRE and the IRCAFEX on an individual basis regardless of your nationality, so long as you are already entitled to ARRCO and/or AGIRC benefits, or if you are affiliated with the “Caisse des Français de l’Etranger” i.e. the fund for French citizens living abroad.

Both of these institutions, the CRE and the IRCAFEX, have the exclusive authority under ARRCO and the AGIRC to manage individual enrollments as well as enrollment from companies that are based abroad. For executives, the individual enrollment presupposes that s/he will already be enrolled with IRCAFEX.
4, rue du Colonel Driant - 75040 Paris Cedex 01
Phone: 01.44.89.44.44 - Fax : 01.44.89.44.48 -
Emai: international@groupe-taitbout.com
Website : www.groupe-taitbout.com

You can also purchase supplementary retirement coverage from a private insurance company.

 If you contributed to France’s social security program:
To plan for your retirement, you can ask for your career record as soon as you are 55 years old on the CNAV orinfo-retraite websites.
 If you contributed to the Social Security program in the US:
The Social Security offices will give you form SSA-7004 : "Request for Earnings and Benefit Estimate Statement" to fill out.

In accordance with the pension agreement that was reached on March 2nd 1987 between France and the United States, any person living in the United States must make his or her request for French retirement benefits at a local US Social Security office.

Steps to take:
 Appear at a local US Social Security office to fill out the SSA 2490 form.

 The form will be sent to the Social Security office in Baltimore, which is the central location at which applications for retirement benefits will be processed. As soon as the SSA in Baltimore receives your application they will send you a receipt.

 A linkage form that certifies the date at which the request for French retirement benefits has been made and the identity of the person making the request will be communicated by the SSA in Baltimore to the CLEISS (Centre des Liaisons Européennes et Internationales de Sécurité Sociale, i.e. the Center for European and International Liaison on Social Security) which will then transfer it to the CNAV (Caisse Nationale d’Assurance Vieillesse i.e. National Pension Fund for Employees).

 The CNAV will then contact you so that you can complete the French national form requesting retirement benefits. The person making the request must attach to his or her application a form with his or her bank details that has been translated into French so that the pension benefits can be wired to him/her.

If you are a widower or the divorcee of someone who was covered by the French Social Security pension program and you have not remarried, you could receive survivor benefits. To qualify you must:

 Be at least 55 years of age;

 Have been married for two years. The length of the marriage can be less than two years if you have a child from the marriage.

 Have personal resources that are inferior to a certain sum at the time of applying for survivor benefits.

Survivor benefits can be shared between the surviving widow and one or more divorcees or spouses that have not remarried. In this case the survivor benefits are divided between each of these individuals in proportion to the length of their marriage to the deceased. For more information on survivor benefits: https://www.service-public.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/N378

Administrative steps to follow:

 Appear before a local US Social Security office to fill out form SSA 2490.

 The form will be sent to the Social Security office in Baltimore, which is the central location at which applications for retirement benefits will be processed. As soon as the SSA in Baltimore receives your application they will send you a receipt.

 A linkage form that certifies the date at which the request for French retirement benefits has been made and the identity of the person making the request will be communicated by the SSA in Baltimore to the CLEISS (Centre des Liaisons Européennes et Internationales de Sécurité Sociale, i.e. the Center for European and International Liaison on Social Security) which will then transfer it to the CNAV (Caisse Nationale d’Assurance Vieillesse i.e. National Pension Fund for Employees).

 The CNAV will contact you so that you can fill out a national request for survivor benefits.

The person making the request must join to his request file a bank certificate that has been translated into French so that the wire transfer of the pension funds can subsequently be made.

Before leaving the US, contact the Social Security Administration and ask for the administrative booklet SSA Publication No 05-10137 : "Your payments while you are outside the United States".

Once you have arrived in France, contact the US Embassy in Paris:
Service des pensions (Federal Benefits Unit)
2, rue St Florentin - 75382 Paris Cedex 08
Phone : 01.43.12.22.22 - Fax : 01.42.66.97.83

Don’t forget to notify your pension program in France as well so that they have your new mailing address and banking information.

France has a number of complimentary retirement funds spread out through the different professions. Requests for retirement benefits must be addressed to them directly. If you have contributed to a supplementary retirement fund in France and you are living abroad when you decide to cease working, you must contact the association for supplementary retirement funds (ARRCO) so that they can provide you with more details and advice, and so that they can process your request.

ARRCO
Service des Résidents hors de France
16-18 rue Jules César - 75012 Paris
Tél : 01.71.72.13.00
Website: www.arrco.fr

If you have contributed to a plan for executives, contact the association for pensions for executives:
AGIRC
16-18, rue Jules César - 75012 Paris
Tél : 01.71.72.12.00 - Fax : 01.71.72.16.00
Site internet : www.agirc.fr

When you write to the ARRCO or the AGIRC, make sure to include the contact details of your last French employer.

In conformity with publication number 2001/31 of the Caisse Nationale d’Assurance Vieillesse, the Consulate does not provide life certificates any more. Individuals who receive French retirement benefits must obtain their life certificates from agencies in the United States.

You may refer to a “notary public”, which has the authority to fill out your life certificate. You can find a “notary public” in banks, financial service companies, tax preparer offices, insurance companies, some public libraries, etc.

See above complete information.

When you work abroad, the amount of time that you worked could be counted differently depending on the country in which you worked.

The calculation of your retirement benefits could take into account the time you spent working abroad if you worked in a country that is covered by European legislation, or in a country that has signed a social security agreement with France. This is the case of the United States.

For more information on how retirement benefits are calculated and the Franco-American agreement:

http://www.cleiss.fr/pdf/guide_inforetraite.pdf
https://www.lassuranceretraite.fr/portail-info/home.html
http://www.cleiss.fr/docs/textes/conv_etatsunis.html
http://www.cleiss.fr/pdf/conv_etatsunis.pdf

If you haven’t yet applied for your retirement benefits, there are certain conditions under which you can make-up past payments to France’s retirement fund that were not made by you or your employer by contributing to the “régime général de la Sécurité Sociale” (France’s main public retirement fund).
You cannot make-up more than 12 trimesters.

Please note: If you are already receiving your retirement benefits from France’s general public retirement fund, you cannot make-up for past trimesters retroactively.

For more information: https://www.service-public.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F15675

In France:

The website “info-retraite” contains all the information that pertains to retirement in France: https://www.info-retraite.fr/portail-info/home.html.
In fact, it is info-retraite that manages the life certificates for all the public retirement plans.

The Caisse Nationale d’Assurance Vieillesse (C.N.A.V.) is the most important of the national retirement centers. It manages the old age insurance and the widower insurance for the “régime général de la Sécurité sociale” (France’s main public retirement fund).

C.N.A.V.
110 rue de Flandre, 75951 Paris Cedex 19
Tel : 01.55.45.50.00 - Fax : 01.55.45.51.99
Website: https://www.lassuranceretraite.fr/portail-info/home.html
Information about retirement: Tel : 01.40.37.37.37
Information about payments: Tel : 01.55.45.52.20
General information and welcome desk for retirement-related matters: 01.40.37.37.37

In the United States:
https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/

If your retirement benefits are taxable in France, part of these benefits will be withheld before they are sent to you in the United States to cover your tax liabilities. The rate at which your benefits will be withheld will depend on the amount of your retirement benefits.

For all questions about taxes on your retirement benefits you can consult the question and answer forum of the fiscal services department at the French Embassy in Washington and the sheet on taxes French retirement benefits that are received by residents of the United States.