Company directors and entrepreneurs: learn more about social security coverage
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Throughout your stay in France, regardless of its duration, you must be covered by a social protection system.
For company directors and entrepreneurs, the social security system you are covered by in France depends on your company’s legal status and your role within it.
Depending on these factors, you may be covered by:
- The general social security system for employees.
- Or the social security system for the self-employed, formerly the Régime social des indépendants (RSI).
Investors must ensure that they are covered by private insurance for at least the first three months of their stay in France.
Any foreign national residing in France legally for at least three months can receive a daily sickness or maternity allowance thanks to the Universal Sickness Protection (Protection universelle maladie – PUMA) system. Unpaid directors who hold no other role cannot be registered under the general security system by virtue of their directorship.
Thanks to PUMA, the Social Security portion of their medical expenses may be covered.
Independant or assimilated-salaried employee
For more information visit the Mycompanyinfrance.fr website, the official advisory service for business creators. There you will find all the resources you need to set up your business, from selecting a legal status to recruiting your first employees.
Special exemption for newly-starting businesses in the overseas departments
Entrepreneurs wishing to set up business in the overseas departments (Martinique, Guadeloupe, Reunion Island, French Guiana) may be granted a partial exemption from contributions (health and maternity insurance, daily allowances, family allowances, CSG and CRDS, in particular).
This exemption, intended to facilitate the arrival of new businesses, applies from the date of creation for a period of two years. The social dues and contributions in this respect will not be payable until the end of the 24th month of operation.
This rule applies to non-salaried workers (individual company manager, majority manager of SARL, sole shareholding manager of EURL, majority manager of SNC, etc.).
See more information on the social benefits available to non-salaried workers in our fact sheet on the topic.
Temporary mission in France
While the self-employed are registered under the French social security system in principle, certain self-employed individuals who provide services in France can still be covered by their usual social security system for a limited period of time, subject to terms and conditions, thanks to the various bilateral agreements France has signed.
For more information, visit the Center of European and International Liaisons for Social Security (CLEISS) website