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Étranger Things: The Great French Address Change Relay — (CPAM, Long-Stay Renewal, and Other Tiny Paper Monsters)

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Moving in France? A practical (and funny) checklist for étrangers: address changes, CPAM transfer, and ANEF visa/titre renewal.

My American friends did the hard part already: they wrangled a French social security number through CPAM in Marseille (🎉). And now they’re doing the sequel nobody asked for: moving to Strasbourg—aka “New Department, New CPAM, New Prefecture, Same Humans, Same Anxiety.”

If French bureaucracy were a sport, moving would be the triathlon: address change + health coverage + residence status, all while carrying a folder of papers like a nervous waiter balancing six coffees.

Here’s the good news (and it surprised me too):
Your “identity” doesn’t really move in France—your proof of address moves.
That little “justificatif de domicile de moins de 3 mois” is the real VIP. It’s the golden ticket. It’s the baguette of administration. (Service Public)

And once I accepted that… things got calmer. Not easy. But calmer. Like realizing the monster under the bed is actually just a pile of unopened EDF letters.

1) What actually changes when you move?

When you move within France, you’re not changing one address. You’re changing your address in multiple separate universes:

  • La Poste (so your mail doesn’t keep living at your old place) (La Poste)

  • Impôts (your tax space is one of the few that’s refreshingly explicit about how to do it) (impots.gouv.fr)

  • Assurance Maladie / CPAM (your social security number stays yours, but your caisse can change if you change department) (Ameli)

  • ANEF / Préfecture system (for foreigners: you may have a legal obligation to declare your new address) (Service Public)

Plus: banks, mutuelles, employers, schools, subscriptions, and that one gym you joined in a moment of optimism.

Service-Public even frames moving as a bundle of urgent steps (housing you leave, school, transport, admin updates). Which is a polite way of saying: this is not a one-click lifestyle upgrade. (Service Public)

2) The “Dossier de Déménagement” you should build first (15 minutes that saves 15 hours)

Before anyone touches ANEF or CPAM, do this:

Make one digital folder called something like:
MOVE_2026_AIX_TO_STRASBOURG

Inside, drop PDFs/photos of:

  • Passport ID page + entry stamps (if relevant)

  • Current titre de séjour / residence document

  • Proof of address (less than 3 months) for the new home as soon as you have it (lease, electricity bill, etc.) (Service Public)

  • RIB-Relevé d’Identité Bancaire. (because France runs on RIB the way cars run on gasoline)

  • A couple of “identity photo” files if you’ll need an e-photo code (often requested for ANEF steps) (Service Public)

  • Screenshots of any confirmation pages (yes, screenshots count as emotional support)

This is the moment I always have a revelation:
France isn’t asking “Who are you?”
France is asking “Where, precisely, are you currently attached?”
And the answer must be recent, dated, and preferably generated by a utility company that has caused you mild suffering.

3) Before the move: stop your mail from living its best life without you

La Poste mail forwarding (“réexpédition”)

Since my friends are moving from Aix-en-Provence to Strasbourg, mail forwarding is the simplest safety net while you update everyone else.

La Poste offers forwarding for a period of 6 or 12 months (paid), and it can include letters, magazines, and certain parcels depending on the option. You can also set the start date in advance. (La Poste)

This won’t replace changing your address everywhere—but it prevents that classic plot twist where the prefecture sends something important to your old mailbox and your old mailbox develops selective amnesia.

4) The “change everything at once” trick (Service-Public)

France actually has a very helpful tool: the Service-Public “Changement d’adresse” online process.

It can update your address simultaneously with multiple bodies (energy suppliers, France Travail, social security funds, taxes, vehicle registration services, and more). It’s free and meant to reduce the admin pile-up. (Service Public)

Two important notes:

  1. You’ll need the logins/identifiers for each selected organization. (Service Public)

  2. It’s in French (consider it free language immersion, like a museum audio guide but with higher stakes). (Service Public)

I’d call this the one curated shortcut in a world otherwise built on “please mail us a letter and also time travel.”

5) CPAM: what happens when you move from Aix to Strasbourg?

The short version

  • Your numéro de sécurité sociale stays the same.

  • If you change department, you generally become attached to the CPAM of your new department. (Forum ameli pour les assurés)

  • You declare your new address through ameli (if you have an account), or by phone/mail depending on your situation. (Ameli)

How to change your address with Assurance Maladie

Ameli’s official guidance: you can declare a new postal address from your ameli account (often under “Mes démarches”), or otherwise contact them by phone. (Ameli)

And the ameli forum (with a certified expert answer) explicitly notes: if your move causes a department change, you’ll be affiliated with the CPAM in the new department, and you can change address in your ameli space. (Forum ameli pour les assurés)

Two super practical CPAM tips for movers

  1. Download a fresh “attestation de droits” once the update is processed (this is your “I still exist in the system” paper).

  2. Update your Carte Vitale at a pharmacy terminal after the change—people forget, and then the card acts offended. (If you don’t have a Carte Vitale yet, you’ll rely on attestations until you do.)

Also: if you move far, it’s a good moment to re-declare a médecin traitant when you settle in  to a new city like Strasbourg. The ameli expert answer even mentions this as a follow-on step. (Forum ameli pour les assurés)

6) Long-stay visa renewal vs titre de séjour renewal (and why everyone uses the wrong word)

A lot of us say “renew my long-stay visa,” but inside France, what you’re often renewing is a titre de séjour (residence permit), not the initial visa sticker in the passport.

If you entered with a VLS-TS

The Interior Ministry explains that a VLS-TS is valid for 3 to 12 months, must be validated online within 2 months after arrival, and if you want to stay beyond it, you apply for a titre de séjour in the 2 months before the VLS-TS expires (with some exceptions depending on category). (Immigration France)

ANEF is the main online portal

Service-Public describes ANEF as the portal used for multiple démarches, including VLS-TS validation, certain residence permit requests, and change of address. (Service Public)

This matters for my friends because moving departments can also mean interacting with a different prefecture workflow—so doing things early is not “being anxious,” it’s “being French-admin smart.”

Note: We tried to change our address with ANEF after we moved apartments within Aix-en-Provence, and then were notified that it's not possible to do a change of address for VLS-TS visas.  We're holding on to the address change denial documentation in a safe deposit box.

7) The foreigner-specific “gotcha”: address change may be mandatory

If you have a carte de séjour valid for more than 1 year, Service-Public is clear:

  • As a foreigner, if you move (same town or different), you must declare your new address within 3 months. (Service Public)

  • The declaration is done online, and you typically provide:

    • titre de séjour

    • passport pages

    • proof of address < 3 months

    • e-photo code (Service Public)

  • You receive an attestation to keep. (Service Public)

  • A new card isn’t always required; if you request a new card, there can be a fee (Service-Public mentions €25 in that context). (Service Public)

This is the part that feels the most “étranger”: you’re not just updating contact info—you’re maintaining the thread that ties your legal status to your location.

8) A timeline that actually works (Aix ➝ Strasbourg edition)

2–4 weeks before the move

  • Set up La Poste mail forwarding (La Poste)

  • Gather documents + make the “Move folder”

  • Check titre de séjour expiration date and put a calendar alert well before deadlines (different categories/prefectures can vary, so earlier is kinder to Future You)

As soon as you have your new address + proof

  • Use Service-Public Changement d’adresse to hit multiple services at once (Service Public)

  • Update impots.gouv address (either via profile or secure messaging—impots literally spells out the clicks) (impots.gouv.fr)

  • Update ameli/CPAM address (Ameli)

Within 3 months after moving (foreigner rule if applicable)

  • Declare address change on ANEF (especially if for holders of a multi-year card) (Service Public)

After everything updates

  • Download: attestation de droits, tax confirmations, ANEF attestation

  • Update Carte Vitale at a pharmacy

  • Find a new médecin traitant in Strasbourg (optional but useful)

9) Bureaucracy survival hacks (earned the hard way)

  • Name files like a prefecture clerk would: JUSTIF_DOMICILE_2026-03-02.pdf

  • Keep proof of every submission: confirmations, emails, screenshots

  • If you must mail something: consider tracking/recommandé for peace of mind

  • Assume nothing syncs automatically unless an official tool says it does (and even then, check)

Also: if ANEF is being moody (which… can happen), keep records and don’t be shy about using official contact channels and saving evidence of attempts.

10) Language Corner: what to say (A1 to Advanced)

A1 (survival phrases)

  • Je viens de déménager. (I just moved.)

  • Voici mon justificatif de domicile. (Here is my proof of address.)

  • Pouvez-vous m’aider ? (Can you help me?)

A2 (getting things done politely)

  • Je souhaite déclarer mon changement d’adresse.

  • Je dépends maintenant du département du Bas-Rhin.

  • Je dois renouveler mon titre de séjour bientôt.

B1 (calm + clear)

  • Mon déménagement entraîne un changement de caisse d’assurance maladie. (Forum ameli pour les assurés)

  • Pouvez-vous confirmer que mon dossier a bien été transféré ?

B2 (administration-proof French)

  • Je vous remercie de bien vouloir mettre à jour mes coordonnées et me confirmer la prise en compte de ma demande.

Advanced (the “I have become paperwork” level)

  • Je reste à votre disposition pour tout document complémentaire et vous remercie par avance pour le traitement de mon dossier.

And here’s my tiny personal victory sentence—the one I couldn’t say before without sweating:
“Mon changement d’adresse est en cours de traitement.” (impots.gouv.fr)

A few official resources worth bookmarking

Your turn (comments!)

Have you moved departments in France—especially as an étranger—and had a “CPAM file disappeared into the void” moment? Or an ANEF success story that deserves a medal?

Drop a comment with:

  1. Where you moved from ➝ to

  2. What step was surprisingly easy

  3. What step made you stare at a PDF like it was modern art

  4. One French phrase that helped you survive the process

Bonus points if you have Strasbourg-specific tips (Bas-Rhin prefecture vibes, best place to update your Carte Vitale, or which café serves the most comforting “I just did admin” chocolat chaud).

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