Health insurance for a French student visa

France's general long-stay rule is strict: private cover for the full stay, with travel and short-stay Schengen policies expressly refused. The student route inverts it. Rather than requiring you to buy cover, France brings you into its own system — Campus France, the state operator, puts it plainly: registration to social security is free and mandatory for all students in France, whether French or international.

So if you have been quoted a policy as a visa requirement for studying in France, the requirement being cited does not exist. We would rather tell you that than sell against it.

Free does not mean immediate. You can only request affiliation after academic enrolment, and your social security number is not issued on the spot. Between landing and being covered you pay medical costs upfront and claim nothing back — and that window covers exactly the period when you are travelling, moving into accommodation and most likely to need a doctor.

That gap is the only thing private cover genuinely solves in France, and it is why we would only ever suggest a short bridging policy rather than a year of duplicate cover.

Every student pays the CVEC before enrolling — €105 for 2026-2027 — and it is routinely mistaken for the health cover requirement. It is not. The CVEC funds campus welcome services, health services, sport, social support and culture. It reimburses no medical treatment.

The state scheme itself reimburses roughly 60% of costs, which is why French students commonly add a mutuelle. That is optional; Campus France recommends it without requiring it.

This is the part most likely to catch you out, because France's own pages were slow to update it. A decree of 22 June 2026 re-based the student resources test on 47% of the gross monthly minimum wage, which works out at €877.50 a month for applications lodged from 1 August 2026.

The figure it replaced was €615, set in 2002 and never updated — a 43% jump. When we checked in July 2026, several official French pages still quoted €615, including a downloadable Interior Ministry checklist. Budget from the new figure. Because it is now pegged to the minimum wage and indexed, it will move again without a new decree.

UK students are third-country nationals since Brexit and are fully caught by this. EU students are not.

The student card itself carries the right to work up to 60% of annual working time — about 964 hours a year, or roughly 20 hours a week. No separate permit is applied for; the right attaches to the status.

If your plans are wider than study, the visa finder sets out every French route with its published work rule, and the income checker shows what each asks you to earn.