Rights of asylum seekers: care, housing, financial assistance...

Verified 20 April 2021 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

Until your application is reviewed, you have rights related to health and housing. You also receive financial assistance.

Upon registration of your asylum claim, you can benefit from accommodation in a reception center for asylum seekers (Canada) or in another similar structure, depending on your situation and available places.

You benefit from social and administrative support.

If you refuse the accommodation offered to you, you will not be able to receive other forms of assistance.

A financial contribution may be requested depending on your resources, including a deposit (a sum paid to serve as a guarantee) upon entering the accommodation. The amount of such security may not exceed €150 per adult and to €75 per child.

You will be accommodated for the duration of your asylum application, including the appeal period before the NDA: titleContent or until you are transferred to another European country.

If no space is available, you are registered on a waiting list and you can be referred to temporary accommodation solutions, in a collective structure or a hotel.

If you are granted asylum, you must leave the place of accommodation within 3 months, renewable once.

If you are refused asylum, you must leave the place within one month.

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For the first 6 months

You cannot get permission to work for the first 6 months after the application is registered by theOfpra: titleContent.

FYI  

if you entered France with a long-stay visa issued through an asylum application, you will receive a receipt valid for 6 months at the prefecture. It allows you to work.

After 6 months

You can apply for work authorization if you meet the following 2 conditions:

  • You have the proof of refugee claim
  • Your application is currently under review for more than 6 months by Ofpra

In this case, when you apply to renew the expired attestation, you can also apply for work authorization. A promise of employment or a contract of employment must accompany the application.

If the proposed employment contract is in the course of validity of the certificate, your future employer must request a work permit.

Whatever the time of filing, the application shall be examined in accordance with rules applicable to all foreigner workers in France. In particular, the employment situation is against you.

The duration of the work authorization cannot exceed the duration of your receipt, which is 6 months. The work authorization shall be renewable until Ofpra has taken a decision. You retain the right to work in the event of an appeal to the CNDA.

The application for authorization shall be examined under the same conditions as those applicable to all foreigner workers.

If you did not obtain the right to work during the proceedings before the Opfra, or if you did not exercise it, you will no longer be able to work during the entire period of examination of your appeal before the CNDA.

As an asylum seeker, you are not allowed to work for 6 months. If you are an adult, a asylum seeker's allowance (Ada) can be paid to you. To qualify, you must meet the following 2 conditions:

  • Have the asylum claim certificate
  • Accept the material conditions offered to you (including accommodation)

The Ada is paid to you until the final decision granting or refusing you asylum or subsidiary protection.

You can receive emergency care in the first place. Then, when your application is under review, you can benefit from universal health coverage (UHC).

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Emergency care

Waiting to be covered by the universal health protection (Puma)), you can, in case of emergency, access care in different ways:

  • In some hospitals where health care hotlines have been set up - PASS (you are then taken care of by doctors and medicines can be delivered free of charge)
  • Some associations offer permanent access to dental, ophthalmological or psychological care without the need for social insurance
  • At the Maternal and Child Protection Services (PMI), responsible for the regular monitoring of children aged 0 to 6 years and their vaccination without any social security application

Puma

While your application is being reviewed, you can access the Puma.

You have to produce proof of residence in France for more than 3 months to benefit from it.

Minors have been exempt from the residence requirement in France for more than 3 months.

You must apply to the primary health insurance fund (CPAM) of your place of residence or domicile.

Who shall I contact

Your children must be in school from 3 to 16 years of age.

Registration in nursery school or primary school is done by the city hall.

Enrollment in a secondary school (college or and secondary school) is made directly at the establishment closest to your place of residence.