Mail forwarding in France: how the réexpédition actually works

From La Poste's own product page: moving within France, the réexpédition nationale définitive — à partir de 55,00 € — transfers letters and Colissimo parcels to the new address in France or Outre-mer, for 6 months (renewable once) or 12 months. Moving abroad, the réexpédition internationale définitive — à partir de 134,00 € — forwards courrier up to 2kg to the foreign address. The page's own framing states the split: new address abroad → international contract; new address in France → national contract.

Source: La Poste — Réexpédition définitive de courrier, read 10 September 2026.

The product page lays out the flow: 1. choose the offer and subscribe online in a few clicks; 2. La Poste vérifie mon identité en ligne, par courrier ou en Bureau de Poste — the contract is secured only after identity verification; 3. forwarding begins from your chosen date. The identity step is the one movers trip on from abroad — do it before leaving France if you can, at a counter if online verification balks.

Source: La Poste — souscription en ligne, vérification d'identité, read 10 September 2026.

Twelve months of forwarding is the safety net under every French administrative thread you might have missed — payslips, tax notices, bank cards, the carte Vitale arriving late. Its limits: it's a paid bridge, not a change of address — each administration still needs the new address (service-public's change-of-address service batches much of that), and the international contract covers letters, not parcels. The equivalent Spanish service was unreachable on official channels when we checked — for Spain, handle critical mail before the move.

Source: La Poste — réexpédition, offres et fonctionnement, read 10 September 2026.