When you live abroad, to continue receiving your French pension, you must prove every year that you are still alive. A sometimes tedious process that has just been simplified.
Go to an embassy or a police station to have a document validated. The 1.4 million retirees living abroad are familiar with this process. Once a year, they must complete a certificate of life to continue receiving their French pension. And for this document to be valid, it must be completed by the competent local authority of the country of residence. Depending on the place of residence, this may be a police station, a town hall, a consulate or an embassy.
To make this step easier, the Union retraite, a public interest group which brings together basic and supplementary pension organisations, has launched a service biometric recognition. It is free and can be used by retirees who wish to do so. To benefit from it, it is essential that your phone is technically compatible. Specifically, a press release from the Union retraite specifies that if you have an iPhone, your iOS version must be equal to or greater than 14.3. If you have an Android, your version must be greater than or equal to 9. Another condition to meet: your identity document must be eligible for biometrics. Your passport or identity card must have an optical reading zone called MRZ.
Reasons why retirees want to return to work
A process that takes a few minutes
To begin this process, you must wait to receive a letter or email notification with a QR code. This will allow you to load the secure application My certificate of life. Once the application is installed, you will have four days to photograph your identity document and proceed with biometric recognition. “by filming yourself in selfie mode or by having a loved one help you”explains the Union retraite. Finally, all you have to do is validate your life certificate. This document will automatically be sent to your pension plans and you will not have to take any additional steps to continue receiving your pension.
In case your certificate is not validated or if you do not wish to use biometrics, you will always have the option to use the form received by mail. You will also be able to download it to your retirement account. Then, you will be required to have it validated by the competent local authority.
Receive our latest news
Every week, articles to read to better anticipate your retirement.