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GuíaDémarches🇫🇷 France
Having a Baby in France as a Foreigner: Complete 2026 Guide (PMI, Birth Registration, CAF, Passport)
🇫🇷
Having a child in France as a foreigner is one of the most reassuring experiences the French system offers — and one of the most paper-heavy. Medical follow-up is free or nearly free, maternity is fully covered, the PMI accompanies you for the first six years, and the CAF pays a birth grant plus several allowances depending on your income. On the other side, the parallel administrative steps (city hall registration, home-country passport, birth certificate for relatives back home) demand careful organization in the first weeks.
This guide covers the full path, from pregnancy to the child's eighteen months, with country-specific notes. It speaks to foreign couples and to single parents, employed, students, on a residency permit, or in the middle of a regularization request.
As soon as you know you are pregnant, schedule with a general practitioner, a private-practice midwife, or — for free — the PMI (Protection Maternelle et Infantile). The PMI is a public departmental service present in every arrondissement and every significant commune. It welcomes every pregnant woman regardless of paperwork, which is crucial if you are in the middle of regularization.
French medical follow-up includes:
Everything is fully covered by Assurance Maladie from the 6th month of pregnancy (excluding fee overruns in private clinics). With a CPAM Carte Vitale, you pay nothing. Under AME (state medical aid), it is also covered.
Public vs private maternity: most foreigners deliver in public maternity wards (CHU, hospital). Cost for you: 0 € with CPAM or AME, except for an individual room (50 to 90 €/night). Private maternity wards may charge 800 to 2,500 € in non-reimbursed fee overruns. Top-up insurance (mutuelle) covers part of it depending on the contract.
Hoang, Vietnamese living in Nantes, gave birth in CHU with epidural, double room and zero out-of-pocket. Léa, Brazilian with corporate top-up insurance, chose private clinic in Neuilly and paid 1,800 € out-of-pocket. Karima, Moroccan, still in her residency request, gave birth at CHU Bichat in Paris through AME without advancing a single euro.
At birth, the hospital gives you a medical birth certificate. You have 5 working days (Saturdays included, Sundays and bank holidays excluded) to register the birth at the city hall of the commune where the child was born.
Past that deadline, you must go through the judicial court (jugement supplétif procedure), which delays everything: passport, CAF benefits, daycare enrolment. Do not procrastinate.
Documents to bring:
You leave with three copies of the birth certificate (keep them safe — you will need them for CAF, social security, embassy, daycare). Also request a multilingual birth certificate (CIEC form) if your country is part of the Vienna Convention — it avoids translation costs for many steps.
The city hall registration automatically triggers the creation of the baby's social-security file. The baby is attached to both parents on their Carte Vitale (only one parent reimburses care at any given time, your choice).
You receive a provisional social-security number within 1 to 3 weeks, then the permanent number (starting with 1 or 2 depending on sex, then year and month of birth) within 2 to 4 months. The baby's own Carte Vitale is not issued immediately — they use the parent's. A personal card becomes available at age 12.
If one parent is not on CPAM (e.g. residency request in progress, or AME), enrol the child under the affiliated parent — it is faster and more stable.
One of the most important — and most misunderstood — questions. 2026 summary:
Is dual citizenship possible? From France's side, yes (France does not require renunciation). From your home country it depends:
To travel with your baby outside the EU, a passport is required. Since the child is not French at birth (unless one parent is French), the embassy or consulate of your country issues it.
Typical documents: French birth certificate, country-format photos (often different from EU format), parents' passports, sometimes marriage certificate or livret de famille. Ask the consulate for the precise list — it changes.
Approximate 2026 timing and cost:
Anh, Vietnamese mum in Strasbourg, processed her son's passport in 5 weeks via the Paris embassy. Pierre and Maria, Brazilian parents in Lyon, used the Lyon consulate to skip Paris.
The CAF (Caisse d'Allocations Familiales) pays several family benefits. You are eligible after at least 3 months of regular presence in France (residency permit needed for the birth grant — AME alone does not qualify). Sign up at caf.fr.
Birth and early-childhood benefits in 2026:
The calculation is based on the CAF quotient familial, combining income and household composition. Run a simulation on caf.fr before applying to avoid surprises.
From 2.5 months (end of maternity leave), you can entrust the baby. Three main options:
On Pionra, the Chinese, Moroccan, Vietnamese, Portuguese, Senegalese and Brazilian communities share their tips on the warmest PMIs, country-language pediatricians, and consular passport procedures. Ask your questions on /fr/communautes.
Yes. If one parent has been in France for more than three months and benefits from CPAM or AME, the child is attached without difficulty. A recently arrived parent benefits from AME for their child too. Maternity care is free in any case in public maternity wards.
Yes, regardless of nationality, provided you have contributed at least 150 hours over the last 3 months (or 600 hours over 12 months). Duration: 16 weeks (6 before + 10 after) for a first or second child, 26 weeks from the third onward. Indemnity is 100 % of salary up to the social security ceiling (around 3,925 €/month in 2026).
Yes, schooling is mandatory and free from age 3 for all children present on French territory, regardless of parents' administrative status (International Convention on the Rights of the Child + Education Code). Register at city hall with the birth certificate and proof of residence.
Request a multilingual birth certificate (CIEC) or have the certificate translated and apostilled by a sworn translator. Send it to your country's civil registry via the embassy. For China, certified translation + consular authentication in Paris/Lyon (around 60 €).
Yes, but without Carte Vitale or AME you pay the full delivery cost (3,000 to 7,000 € in public hospital, more in private). Plan a travel insurance that covers pregnancy — most exclude it, check the contract carefully. Better to give birth in your country unless emergency.
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Having a child in France as a foreigner is one of the most reassuring experiences the French system offers — and one of the most paper-heavy. Medical follow-up is free or nearly free, maternity is fully covered, the PMI accompanies you for the first six years, and the CAF pays a birth grant plus several allowances depending on your income. On the other side, the parallel administrative steps (city hall registration, home-country passport, birth certificate for relatives back home) demand careful organization in the first weeks.
This guide covers the full path, from pregnancy to the child's eighteen months, with country-specific notes. It speaks to foreign couples and to single parents, employed, students, on a residency permit, or in the middle of a regularization request.
As soon as you know you are pregnant, schedule with a general practitioner, a private-practice midwife, or — for free — the PMI (Protection Maternelle et Infantile). The PMI is a public departmental service present in every arrondissement and every significant commune. It welcomes every pregnant woman regardless of paperwork, which is crucial if you are in the middle of regularization.
French medical follow-up includes:
Everything is fully covered by Assurance Maladie from the 6th month of pregnancy (excluding fee overruns in private clinics). With a CPAM Carte Vitale, you pay nothing. Under AME (state medical aid), it is also covered.
Public vs private maternity: most foreigners deliver in public maternity wards (CHU, hospital). Cost for you: 0 € with CPAM or AME, except for an individual room (50 to 90 €/night). Private maternity wards may charge 800 to 2,500 € in non-reimbursed fee overruns. Top-up insurance (mutuelle) covers part of it depending on the contract.
Hoang, Vietnamese living in Nantes, gave birth in CHU with epidural, double room and zero out-of-pocket. Léa, Brazilian with corporate top-up insurance, chose private clinic in Neuilly and paid 1,800 € out-of-pocket. Karima, Moroccan, still in her residency request, gave birth at CHU Bichat in Paris through AME without advancing a single euro.
At birth, the hospital gives you a medical birth certificate. You have 5 working days (Saturdays included, Sundays and bank holidays excluded) to register the birth at the city hall of the commune where the child was born.
Past that deadline, you must go through the judicial court (jugement supplétif procedure), which delays everything: passport, CAF benefits, daycare enrolment. Do not procrastinate.
Documents to bring:
You leave with three copies of the birth certificate (keep them safe — you will need them for CAF, social security, embassy, daycare). Also request a multilingual birth certificate (CIEC form) if your country is part of the Vienna Convention — it avoids translation costs for many steps.
The city hall registration automatically triggers the creation of the baby's social-security file. The baby is attached to both parents on their Carte Vitale (only one parent reimburses care at any given time, your choice).
You receive a provisional social-security number within 1 to 3 weeks, then the permanent number (starting with 1 or 2 depending on sex, then year and month of birth) within 2 to 4 months. The baby's own Carte Vitale is not issued immediately — they use the parent's. A personal card becomes available at age 12.
If one parent is not on CPAM (e.g. residency request in progress, or AME), enrol the child under the affiliated parent — it is faster and more stable.
One of the most important — and most misunderstood — questions. 2026 summary:
Is dual citizenship possible? From France's side, yes (France does not require renunciation). From your home country it depends:
To travel with your baby outside the EU, a passport is required. Since the child is not French at birth (unless one parent is French), the embassy or consulate of your country issues it.
Typical documents: French birth certificate, country-format photos (often different from EU format), parents' passports, sometimes marriage certificate or livret de famille. Ask the consulate for the precise list — it changes.
Approximate 2026 timing and cost:
Anh, Vietnamese mum in Strasbourg, processed her son's passport in 5 weeks via the Paris embassy. Pierre and Maria, Brazilian parents in Lyon, used the Lyon consulate to skip Paris.
The CAF (Caisse d'Allocations Familiales) pays several family benefits. You are eligible after at least 3 months of regular presence in France (residency permit needed for the birth grant — AME alone does not qualify). Sign up at caf.fr.
Birth and early-childhood benefits in 2026:
The calculation is based on the CAF quotient familial, combining income and household composition. Run a simulation on caf.fr before applying to avoid surprises.
From 2.5 months (end of maternity leave), you can entrust the baby. Three main options:
On Pionra, the Chinese, Moroccan, Vietnamese, Portuguese, Senegalese and Brazilian communities share their tips on the warmest PMIs, country-language pediatricians, and consular passport procedures. Ask your questions on .
Yes. If one parent has been in France for more than three months and benefits from CPAM or AME, the child is attached without difficulty. A recently arrived parent benefits from AME for their child too. Maternity care is free in any case in public maternity wards.
Yes, regardless of nationality, provided you have contributed at least 150 hours over the last 3 months (or 600 hours over 12 months). Duration: 16 weeks (6 before + 10 after) for a first or second child, 26 weeks from the third onward. Indemnity is 100 % of salary up to the social security ceiling (around 3,925 €/month in 2026).
Yes, schooling is mandatory and free from age 3 for all children present on French territory, regardless of parents' administrative status (International Convention on the Rights of the Child + Education Code). Register at city hall with the birth certificate and proof of residence.
Request a multilingual birth certificate (CIEC) or have the certificate translated and apostilled by a sworn translator. Send it to your country's civil registry via the embassy. For China, certified translation + consular authentication in Paris/Lyon (around 60 €).
Yes, but without Carte Vitale or AME you pay the full delivery cost (3,000 to 7,000 € in public hospital, more in private). Plan a travel insurance that covers pregnancy — most exclude it, check the contract carefully. Better to give birth in your country unless emergency.